首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The threat of diseases such as influenza or tuberculosis re-emerging in virulent form has been a common theme in recent years. T
The threat of diseases such as influenza or tuberculosis re-emerging in virulent form has been a common theme in recent years. T
admin
2014-06-20
66
问题
The threat of diseases such as influenza or tuberculosis re-emerging in virulent form has been a common theme in recent years. That threat is not limited to human diseases. Our food plants get sick too, and just as human diseases evolve to evade antibiotics, so the diseases that strike our crops evolve to sidestep the resistance genes we’have bred into them. For the vast majority of the calories the world eats, the key crop is grain.
A ruinous wheat disease we have not had to worry about since the 1950s is making a comeback, and unless we are very lucky, we will not have sufficient defences to protect crops everywhere in the world against it in time. That stem rust would evolve and return to plague us was inevitable , but our lack of preparation to ward it off was not.
Research into stem rust was bound to tail off once the disease seemed beaten, but the world let down its guard too far, for ideological reasons. In the 1980s governments of industrialized countries, especially the UK and US, started to lose patience with the "multilateral" agencies that engineered much of the global progress in agriculture after the Second World War. Each government wanted the agencies to dance only to its tune. This included the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the global network of labs that created the " Green Revolution". The CGIAR remains the leading, sometimes only source of agricultural research devoted to global good rather than private profit.
"Multilateral" funding meant these labs received income from rich donors with no strings attached. Researchers at the labs were able to spend the money the way they thought best—including the unglamorous task of making sure that crops’ disease resistance kept pace with the diseases. However, for more than two decades, donors have been cutting this funding in favour of only financing projects allied to their own interests. As wheat stem rust re-emerged in 1999, the main CGIAR wheat lab was entering a major funding crisis, and ended up sacking a quarter of its scientists. It has taken until now to beg enough money to fight the disease.
There are now signs that donors may be moving back to more open-ended funding, which is to be encouraged. They should also increase their derisory funding for this vital research: stem rust is poised to teach us the dangers of complacency.
The world population is predicted to rise by another 3 billion by 2050, yet increases in food production have stagnated, technological fixes are spent, and global warming—and the return of diseases like stem rust—look likely to take back many of the gains we have made. Food security affects political security, and one of the first regions to suffer from stem rust will be the volatile Middle East, including Iraq. Agricultural research for the public good is the only way to provide that security. It is certainly cheaper than building armies.
Which of the following is the best title for the article?
选项
A、Rusting Crops
B、Rusting Defences
C、Decreasing Funding
D、Diminishing Research
答案
B
解析
主旨题。题目问的是“下面哪项是文章最恰当的标题?”A为谷物锈病,C为资金减少,D为调查缩小,而本文主要讲述了对农作物疾病的防治,B符合要求,最适合为标题,故选B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://www.kaotiyun.com/show/fyXd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Thesecondparagraphseemstosuggestthat______Themainideaofthepassageisthat______
Paragraph2seemstosuggestthat______.Welearnfromthetextthat______.
Whatdoesthewomansuggestthemando?
Chinahasmadegreatachievementsoverthepasttwodecadesinitslegalconstruction,saidarecentarticleinChinaDaily.
AnswerQuestionsbyreferringtothearticleaboutmobilephonesinthefollowingmagazinearticle.A=NokiaB=Ericss
Fewwordsaremorecommonlyusedinourmodernworldthanthewordmodernitself.Themodernityofmanufacturedarticles,ofins
______caresmostaboutpoliticsandsocialproblems?______wasespeciallyworshipedbyteenagers?
Insomesocietiesitisthecustomforparentstoarrangethemarriagesoftheirchildren.Oftenthebrideandgroomwillnotbe
Insomesocietiesitisthecustomforparentstoarrangethemarriagesoftheirchildren.Oftenthebrideandgroomwillnotbe
随机试题
Withfreshmenstartingcollegeacrossthecountry,nowisthetimetobethinkingaboutmoney.Hereare4amazingtips.Keep
继发性免疫缺陷病的常见原因是:
溶栓疗法必须在AMI发生后多长时间内使用有效()
如果f(x)=e—x,则等于:
下列关于企业所得税税前扣除标准的表述中,正确的有()。
深秋季节,道路两旁堆满金黄色树叶,很多市民觉得分外美丽,可是环卫工人很尽职地及时扫走了落叶。有群众说其破坏了美景,但环卫部门认为存在安全隐患,必须要及时清理。对此,你怎么看?
全面禁酒到底是不是摆设、能不能消除质疑的杂音,不在于有没有相关规定,而在于能不能有力执行。再好的制度,没有落实都是一个“空”,其生命力在于执行,其威严在于践行。如果一味地唱高调,只会沦为“__________”,人们常常戏谑的“酒精考验的干部”,终也难“久
根据下面材料回答下列小题。根据表2,下列职工年平均工资和增长速度最高的行业是()。
请选出正确答案。例如:她很活泼,说话很有趣,总能给我们带来快乐,我们都很喜欢和她在一起。★她是个什么样的人?A幽默√B马虎C骄傲D害羞王姐真幸福,丈夫事业成功,儿子又聪明懂事,我要是能有她的一半就满足了!
A、Thinkofmoreinspiringideas.B、Accomplishtheprojectbyhimself.C、Followthroughtheproject.D、Reducethecosts.C本题考查细节。
最新回复
(
0
)