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  3. If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bring up the topic of genetically modified foods. For many people, the c

If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bring up the topic of genetically modified foods. For many people, the c

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问题     If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bring up the topic of genetically modified foods. For many people, the concept of genetically altered, high-tech crop production raises all kinds of environmental, healthy, safety and ethical questions. Particularly in countries with long a grain traditions—and vocal green lobbies—the idea seems against nature.
    In fact, genetically modified foods are already very much apart of out lives. A third of corn and more than half the soybeans and cotton grown in the U. S. last year were the product of biotechnology, according to the Department of Agriculture. More than 65 million a-cres of genetically modified crops will be planted in the U. S. this year. The genetic genie(妖怪) is out of the bottle.
    Yet there are clearly some very real issues that need to be resolved. Like any new prod-uct entering the food chain, genetically modified foods must be subjected to rigorous testing. In wealthy countries, the debate about biotech is tempered by the fact that we have a rich array of foods to choose from and a supply that far exceeds our needs. In developing countries desperate to feed fast-growing and underfed populations, the issue is simpler and much more urgent: Do the benefits of biotech outweigh the risks?
    The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing. Last year the world’s population reached 6 billion. The U. N. estimates that nearly 800 million people around the world are undernourished. The effects are devastating. About 400 million women of child-bearing age are iron deficient, which means their babies are exposed to various birth defects. As many as 100 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of blindness.
    How can biotech help? Biotechnologists have developed genetically modified rice that is fortified with beta-carotene—which the body converts into vitamin A—and additional iron, and they are working on other kinds of nutritionally improved crops. Biotech can also improve farming productivity in places where food shortages are caused by crop damage attributable to pests, drought, poor soil and crop viruses, bacteria or fungi.
According to the passage, genetically modified foods
选项 A、are superior to naturally grown foods
B、might prove to be risky to human health
C、are going to replace naturally grown foods.
D、can solve the food problems in developing countries
答案B
解析 本文第一段第二句话讲到“转基因、高技术含量的农作物生产向人们提出了各种各样的有关于环境、健康、安全及伦理(违反自然规律)问题”，第三段最后一句话又讲到“生物技术带来的益处是否超过其所带来的风险?"由此可以看出转基因食品可能会有害人们的健康，所以本题的正确答案为B。文章中根本没有就genetically modified foods和naturally grown foods做比较，所以A选项错误。genetically modified foods将取代naturally grown foods也是无中生有，所以C选项不正确。“转基因食品能帮助解决发展中国家人们的粮食短缺及营养不良问题”这是文中没有说到的，所以D选项也错了。
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