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  3. British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their w

British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their w

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问题     British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more. Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University’s School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty. The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to【C1】______which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this【C2】______into crops, starting with rice. It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares of agricultural land are【C3】______because salt gets into the soil and stunts plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves(红树林)that【C4】______swamps and traditionally formed【C5】______to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of【C6】______have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is【C7】______by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind. Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning【C8】______. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive. To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants’ growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for【C9】______use. Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the【C10】______genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.
A)evaporated I)create
B)barriers J)capability
C)normally K)establish
D)economic L)ensure
E)excluded M)capacity
F)lost N)commercial
G)droughts O)appropriate
H)perfectly
【C1】
选项
答案K
解析 空前不定式符号及空后从句提示所填词应为及物动词原形，故可将答案限定在I)create、K)establish和L)ensure中。疑问连接词which提示Tim Flowers和Tony Yeo进行一项为期三年的研究的目的就是明确哪种基因能使植物在含有盐分的土壤中生存。establish是个多义词，主要含义有“建立”、“安置”及“确定”，其表示“确定”的这个释义不常见，若忽略的话，会很容易误选L)ensure，但ensure后接宾语从句时通常为肯定句，而不是疑问句，故可排除。答案为K)establish(确定)。
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