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  3. The promise of finding long-term technological solutions to the problem of world food shortages seems difficult to fulfill Many

The promise of finding long-term technological solutions to the problem of world food shortages seems difficult to fulfill Many

admin2009-03-16  83
问题     The promise of finding long-term technological solutions to the problem of world food shortages seems difficult to fulfill Many innovations that were once heavily supported and publicized have since fallen by the wayside. The proposals themselves were technically feasible, but they proved to be economically unenviable and to yield food products culturally unacceptable to their consumers.
    One characteristic common to unsuccessful food innovations has been that, even with extensive government support, they often have not been technologically adapted or culturally acceptable to the people for whom they had been developed. A successful new technology, therefore, must fit the entire sociocultural system in which it is to find a place Security of crop yield, practicality of storage, and costs are much more significant than what had previously been realized by the advocates of new technologies.
    The adoption of new food technologies depends on more than these technical and cultural considerations; economic factors and governmental policies also strongly influence the ultimate success of any innovation. Economists in the Anglo-American tradition have taken the lead in investigating the economics of technological innovation. Although they exaggerate in claiming that profitability is the key factor guiding technical change -- they completely disregard the substantial effects of culture—they are correct in stressing the importance of profits. Most technological innovations in agriculture can be fully used only by large landowners and are only adopted if these profit-oriented business people believe that the innovation will increase their incomes, Thus innovations that carry high rewards for big agribusiness groups will be adopted even if they harm segments of the population and reduce the availability of food in a country. Further, should s new technology promise to alter substantially the profits and losses associated with any production system, those with economic power will strive to maintain and improve their own positions. Therefore, although technical advances in food production and processing will perhaps be needed to ensure food availability, meeting food needs will depend much more on equalizing economic power among the various segments of the populations within the developing countries themselves.
选项 A、decrease
B、fail to continue
C、cancel
D、forget
答案B
解析 句意推测题。这一句整体的意思是：许多曾经得到大量支持和宣传的新方法后来都______。由上下文文意和句中的once及since之间的关系可以看出，空格处的意思应当与前一句中的fulfill(完成)意思相反，因此答案为[B]。事实上，fall by the wayside是一个习惯用语，指“半途而废，中途失败”。
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