Question

Ever since 1790s, society has worried periodically about whether it will be able to produce enough food to feed people in the future. Yet until recently, most of the debate surrounding the issue of food scarcity focused on the potential for increasing the food supply. The key questions were whether there would be enough land and water to produce the amount of food needed and whether technology could keep increasing the yields of food grains. Now, however, scientists are growing concerned that the intensive use of land, energy and fertilizer that modem agriculture seems to require endangers the health of the environment. This anxiety has been integrated into the general debate about food scarcity, but the question of the demand for food has not. In fact, relatively little attention has been paid to the issue of demand despite the fact that like energy and water, food can be preserved and the demand for it adjusted to meet human needs and lessen the burden that modern agriculture places on the environment.

Unlike with many other forms of consumption, there are limits to the physical quantity of food that people can consume. In a number of high-income countries, that limit seems to have been reached already. If global population does double by 2050, as many have predicted, providing everyone with a rich and varied diet would only require a tripling (三倍) of food production. Alternatively, with sufficient improvements in efficiency and adoption of a healthier diet in high-income countries, it would be possible to provide such a diet for the entire global population with just a doubling of food production. But even a doubling of current production could strain Earth's ecosystems (生态系统), as critics of modem agriculture's intensive use of resources will prove. Clearly, then, increases in food demand will have to be slowed if we hope to achieve a sustainable agricultural system. Central to the issue of demand, however, is the question of how much food the world really needs.

　　 1. What people used to worry about most is——.

　　　　 A. the rapid increase of populations

　　　　 B. to adjust our demand for food so that we can make the total demand go down

　　　　 C. whether we have enough land and technology to feed the rapidly climbing populations

　　　　 D. the environmental deterioration thanks to excessive grains production

　　 2. What people worry about most now is——.

　　　　 A. the rapid increase of populations

　　　　 B. to adjust our demand for food so that we can make the total demand to go down

　　　　 C. whether we have enough land and technology to feed the rapidly climbing populations

　　　　 D. the environmental deterioration thanks to excessive grains production

　　 3. According to the author, one potential way to reduce the total food demand is——

    　　  A. to adjust our diet to be more reasonable

　　　　  B. to produce more grains

　　　　  C. to employ more advanced technologies for more grains

　　　　  D. to develop a land, energy and fertilizer intensive agriculture

　　 4. From the passage it can be inferred that critics are not satisfied with current agriculture in that ——.

　　　　  A. it is low efficiency

　　　　  B. it has not produced enough grains to meet the growing demand

　　　　  C. it depletes too much land, energy and fertilizer

  　　　　D. it gives rise to many environmental problems

　　 5. According to the author, to achieve a sustainable agricultural system, the first thing we should do is——.

　　　　   A. to develop more advanced agricultural technologies

　　　　   B. to have a comprehensive survey on the exact total food demand

　　　　   C. to associate agriculture with environment

　　　　   D. to adjust people's diet

 

Answer 1

答案：C;D;A;C;B
解析：

1．C。根据第一段可知，从18世纪90年代以来，人们担心的关键问题是能否有足够的土地和水资源生产所需要的粮食，以及技术水平能否使粮食产量不断提高。     2．D。第一段第六行指出：“Now，however，scientists are growing concerned that…”(但是，今天，科学家渐渐担心现在农业必需的土地、能源和肥料的过度使用威胁到了环境的健康。)土地、能源和肥料的过度使用是影响环境的间接因素。     3．A。作者在最后一段提到通过充分提高效率以及在高收入国家采用更健康的饮食结构，整个世界人口的粮食需求可能只是现在粮食产量的两倍，这句话暗示通过改变饮食结构，可以减少对粮食的需求。     4．C。根据最后一段倒数第三至第六行可知批评家批评现代农业对资源过度使用，由此可以判断C项正确。现代农业消耗了大量的土地、肥料和能源，正是对资源的过度使用。     5．B。文章最后一句指明了答案，认为关键是要了解世界人口到底需要多少粮食。

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