Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
Some of the world's most sign significant problems hit headlines. One example comes from agriculture. Food riots and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely talked about. This is the decline in the growth in yields of some of the world's major crops. A new study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how far, this decline is occurring.
The authors take a vast number of data points for the four most important crops: rice, wheat, corn and soyabeans(大豆). They find that on between 24% and 39% of all harvested areas, the improvement in yields that took place before the 1980s slowed down in the 1990s and 2000s.
There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in the world's most populous(人口多的)countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food markets. That self-sufficiency cannot be taken for granted if yields continue to slow down or reverse.
Second,yield growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in corn and soyabeans. This is problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all calories consumed. Corn and soyabeans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that "we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals and cars rather than on crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world."
The report qualifies the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for farming in order to feed 9 billion people in 2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation has argued.
Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed up for crops might be able to revert(回返)to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the forecast assumes continued improvements in yields, which may not actually happen.
1.What does the author try to draw attention to?
A.Food riots and hunger in the world.
B.The decline of the grain yield growth.
C.News headlines in the leading media.
D.The food supply in populous countries.
2.Why does the author mention India and China in particular?
A.Their self-sufficiency is vital to the stability of world food markets.
B.Their food yields have begun to decrease sharply in recent years.
C.Their big populations are causing worldwide concerns.
D.Their food self-sufficiency has been taken for granted.
3.What does the new study by the two universities say about recent crop improvement efforts?
A.They fail to produce the same remarkable results as before the 1980s.
B.They contribute a lot to the improvement of human food production.
C.They play a major role in guaranteeing the food security of the world.
D.they focus more on the increase of animal feed than human food grains.
4.What does the Food and Agriculture Organisation say about world food production in the coming decades?
A.The growing population will greatly increase the pressure on world food supplies.
B.The optimistic prediction about food production should be viewed with caution.
C.The slowdown of the growth in yields of major food crops will be reversed.
D.The world will be able to feed its population without increasing farmland.
5.How does the author view the argument of the Food and Agriculture Organisation?
A.It is built on the findings of a new study.
B.It is based on a doubtful assumption.
C.It is backed by strong evidence.
D.It is open to further discussion.
第1题
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-educatedwell-off and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individuals and society, are profound.
The world is facing an astonishing rise in the of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity(长寿)translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will lead to slower economic growth, while the swelling ranks of pensioners will create government budget problems.
But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are failing among younger unskilled people, whereas older skilled folk are working longer.The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers(二战后生育高峰期出生的美国人)areputting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have abandoned policies that used Xto retire early. Rising life expectancy(预期生命),combined with the replace- Xpension plans with less generous defined-contribution ones, means that even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to reap rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive that the preceding generation. Technological charge may well reinforce that shift; the skills that complement computers, from management knowhow to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age.
1.What is happening in the workforce in rich countries?
A.Younger people are replacing the elderly.
B.Well-educated people tend to work longer.
C.Unemployment rates are rising year after year.
D.People with no collage degree do not easily find work.
2.What has helped deepen the divide between the well-off and the poor?
A.Longer life expectancies.
B.A rapid technological advance.
C.Profound changes in the workforce.
D.A growing number of the well-educated.
3.What do many observers predict in view of the experience of the experience of the 20th century?
A.Economic growth will slow down.
B.Government budgets will increase.
C.More people will try to pursue higher education.
D.There will be more competition in the job market.
4.What is the result of policy changes in European countries?
A.Unskilled workers may choose to retire early.
B.Morepeople have to receive in-service training.
C.Even wealthy people must work longer to live comfortably in retirement.
D.Peoplemay be able to enjoy generous defined-benefits from pension plans.
5.What is characteristic of work in the 21st century?
A.Computers will do more complicated work.
B.More will be the educated young.
C.Most jobs to be done will be creative ones.
D.Skills are highly valued regardless of age.
第2题
请将以下文字翻译成英语:
中国五年前根本没有高速铁路。但是现在高铁列车(high-speed trains)的票经常很快就售罄,尽管发车间隔比较短。人们能够很方便地以两倍于美国火车最髙速的速度在全国周游。高速铁路系统的运菅非常成功,它运载的乘客是全国民航(civil aviation)系统运载的乘客的两倍。中国有世界上最先进的、低排放的快速运输系统之一,而做到这一点仅仅用了五年。
第3题
请将以下文字翻译成英语:
端午节,又叫龙舟节,是为了纪念爱国诗人屈原。屈原是一位忠诚和受人敬仰的大臣(minister),他给国家带来了和平和繁荣。但最后因为受到诽谤(vilify)而最终投河自尽。人们撑船到他自尽的地方,抛下粽子,希望鱼儿吃粽子,不要吃屈原的身躯。几千年来,端午节的特色在于吃粽子(glutinous dumplings)和赛龙舟,尤其是在一些河湖密布的南方省份。
第4题
请将以下文字翻译成英语:
人口老龄化已经成为一个全球性的现象。这种现象不仅已成定局,还将随着时间的推移愈演愈烈,发展中国家尤其如此。它的社会影响广泛且表现形式多样,如若忽视,社会必将为此付出巨大代价。为了保证老年人口的可持续发展,国家、非政府组织、社区、家庭成员、特别是老年人自己,都要扮演重要的角色。
第5题
请将以下文字翻译成英语:
中国成语是汉语中意义完整的表示一般概念的固定词组或短语。“成语”中的“成”既是约定俗成。成语是比词大而语法功能又相当于词的语言单位。绝大多数的中国成语由四个汉字组成,例如:自强不息、青出于蓝、厚积薄发。成语主要从民间谚语、古代文学作品、诗歌、寓言、典故、名言警句等方面提炼而成,是汉语语言中精炼而又富有生命力的一部分。
第6题
请将以下这段话翻译成英文:
汉字是从原始人用以记事的简单图画,经过不断演变发展最终成为一种兼具音、形、意韵的独特文字。现存中国古代最早成熟的文字是甲骨文,被认为是现代汉字的初形。此后,汉字又经历了金文、隶书、楷书、草书、行书等不同的阶段。汉字结构“外圆内方“,源于古人”天圆地方“的观念。汉字有五种基本笔画,即:横、竖、撇、捺、折。
第7题
请将以下这段话翻译成英文:
长城是人类创造的世界奇迹之一。如果你到了中国却没去过长城,就想到了巴黎没有去看看菲尔铁塔,或者就像到了埃及没有去看金字塔一样。人们常说:“不到长城非好汉。”实际上,长城最初只是一些断断续续的城墙,直到秦朝统一中国后才将其连城长城。然而,今天我们看到的长城——东起山海关,西至嘉峪关——大部分都是在明代修建的。
第8题
请将以下这段话翻译成英文:
剪纸(paper cutting)是中国最为流行的传统民间艺术形式之一。中国剪纸有一千五百多年的历史,在明朝和清朝时期(the Ming and Qing Dynasties)特别流行。人们常用剪纸美化居家环境,特别是在春节和婚庆期间,剪纸被用来装饰门窗和房间,以增加喜庆的气氛。剪纸最常用的颜色是红色,象征健康和兴旺。中国剪纸在世界各地很受欢迎,经常被用作馈赠外国友人的礼物。
第9题
请将以下这段话翻译成英文:
许多刚毕业的大学生找不到工作,在校学生则担心他们的未来。多个调查显示,三分之二的中国毕业生想在政府或者国有企业工作,而不是为中国令人瞩目的经济增长提供动力的民营企业。政府和国有企业被认为能免受经济萧条的影响。如今几乎没有大学生愿意放弃政府的铁饭碗而下海、加入初创企业或自己创业。
第10题
请将以下这段话翻译成英文:
现代人类约公元前5000年第一次从中亚或印度来到中国。这些石器时代(Stone Age)的人,居住在洞穴中,穿着毛皮。公元前4000年左右,这些人开始种植水稻,并饲养羊和鸡。约公元前3000年,他们开始使用陶器(pottery)并住在房子里。到公元前2000年,中国人已进入青铜时代(Bronze Age),并开始用于写字。约公元前700年,中国的金属工人学会制作铁器工具和武器。
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