考研英语第13套题

第十三套题 Part A Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points) Text 1 07.8

With medicine, the boon of biotechnology has been obvious. People readily accept it when they see how better drugs and clearer diagnoses improve their lives. Why is it different when biotech is applied to agriculture? The answer is that the clearest gains from the current crop of genetically modified (GM) plants go not to consumers but to producers. Indeed, that was what their developers intended: an appeal to farmers offered the purveyors of GM technology the best hope of a speedy return. For consumers, especially in the rich world, the benefits of super-yielding soybeans are less clear: the world, by and large, already has too much food in its stores; developing countries principally lack money, not food as such. Yet companies still pitch their products as a cure for malnutrition even though little that they are doing can justify such a noble claim. In hyping the technology as the only answer to everything from pest control to world hunger, the industry has fed the popular view that its products are unsafe, unnecessary and bad for the environment.

Of the two main charges against GM crops, by far the weaker is that they are unsafe to eat. Critics assert that genetic engineering introduces into food genes that are not present naturally, can not be introduced through conventional breeding and may have unknown health effects that should be investigated before the food is sold to the public. GM crops such as the maize and soybeans that now blanket America certainly differ from their garden variety neighbours. But there is a broad scientific consensus that the present generation of GM foods is safe. Even so, this does little to reassure consumers. Food frights such as “mad cow”disease and revelations of cancer-causing dioxin (二噁英)in Belgian food have sorely undermined their confidence in scientific pronouncements and regulatory authorities alike. GM food have little future in Europe until this faith can be restored.

The second big worry about GM food is that it may harm the environment. The producers argue that the engineered traits—such as resistance to certain brands of herbicide or types of insects and virus—actually do ecological good by reducing chemical use and improving yields so that less land needs to go under the plough. Opponents retort that any such benefits are far outweighed by the damage such crops might do . They worry that pesticide-resistant genes may spread from plants that should be saved to weeds that have to be killed. They fear a loss of biodiversity. They fret that the in-built resistance to bugs that some GM crops will have may poison insects such as Monarch butterfly, and allow other, nastier bugs to develop a natural resistance and thrive.

Many of the fears are based on results from limited experiments, often in the laboratory. The only way to discover whether they will arise in real life, or whether they will be any more damaging than similar risks posed by conventional crops and farming practice, is to do more research in the field. Banning the experimental growth of GM plants as some protesters want simply deprives scientists of their most fruitful laboratory.［527 words］

1.GM crops are crops that.

［A］ consumers readily accept［B］ does nothing to benefit consumers ［C］ developing countries urgently need［D］ are basically safe to eat

2.Companies introduce GM food to the market as a solution to all these problems EXCEPT. ［A］ world hunger［B］ environment［C］ malnutrition［D］ pest control 3.The author suggests that the public does not accept GM food because. ［A］ biotech already caused problems like mad cow disease ［B］ GM foods are cheap to produce but dear to buy

［C］ the public no longer believes in scientific pronouncements ［D］ consumer confidence collapsed in recent food scares 4.Critics of GM food argue that the pesticide-resistant genes. ［A］ may poison good insects and let bad insects thrive ［B］ may kill the plants instead of the harmful weeds

［C］ have benefits far outweighing the damage they might do ［D］ do ecological good by reducing the use of chemicals

5.By presenting the case of GM food, the author of the passage probably aims to. ［A］ expose its risks［B］ propose an objective attitude to it

［C］ answer various charges against it［D］ exhibit its advantages Text 2 07.8

Parents try it often: more pocket money for good behavior, less for bad. Now the British government wants to introduce a similar scheme for the nation’s teenagers. From 2008, it proposes that everyone aged between 13 and 19 should have an Opportunity Card, loaded with ￡12 ($21)worth of credits. Those from poor backgrounds and engaged in useful activity such as voluntary work, or attending school regularly will get more credits, perhaps another ￡12 per month. Those who misbehave through truancy, vandalism and the like will get fewer, or none. The credits will be redeemable for sessions at sports centers, dancing lessons and other worthy pastimes.

This is prime example of the government’s favourite approach to public policy: interventionist, but delivered through a market mechanism. It sounds tempting, benefiting both the participants and, by keeping them out of trouble, everyone else too. The government cites academic research that shows a correlation between inactivity and misbehaviour. Healthy hobbies such as sport, art and music, by contrast, give young people a sense of purpose.

But there are flaws. If the incentive for good deeds mutates into a mere “payment”, it risks blunting goodwill. To link so tightly doing good to immediate material reward can end up corroding community spirit. As many parents find out, a child paid fo …… 此处隐藏：14606字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……