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  3. Genetic Engineering is a radical and rapidly developing technology that touches our lives through its application in medicine, f

Genetic Engineering is a radical and rapidly developing technology that touches our lives through its application in medicine, f

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问题     Genetic Engineering is a radical and rapidly developing technology that touches our lives through its application in medicine, forensics, industry and agriculture. Through this science humans are fast in becoming the architects of life but there are those who warn against the unknown dangers of playing God while others see its benefits in our fight against disease and the production of abundant food supplies.
    In the past 50 years, plant and animal production has increased dramatically. Today, the human population is the largest it has ever been and fortunately we produce more food per capita than ever before. Despite the fact that we have enough food for every single human being to have an adequate diet, about 1 billion people still suffer from malnutrition and hunger. A lot of the increase in food production is attributed to efficient farming methods and environmental factors such as irrigation, pest and weed control but the largest contributing factor is modern plant and animal breeding.
    So what are GM foods and what are the concerns for the consumer? The main difference between GM foods and traditional breeding methods is the direct modification or manipulation of certain genes. Traditional methods involve mixing thousands of genes whereas genetic modification allows just one individual gene, or a small number of genes, to be inserted into a plant, or animal.
    The benefits of GM foods are enormous. Genetic modification can be used to give crops immunity to plant viruses or to improve the nutritional value of a plant. In animals intended for food, genetic modification could potentially increase how fast and how big they grow. Starvation on any part of the planet could be a thing of the past as we could control the yield, varieties and size of foods and produce strains that are resistant to pests, are extreme in temperature and are tolerant to herbicides.
    Opponents of GM foods however consider their production to be the world’s biggest uncontrolled biological experiment, a disaster waiting to happen. The biggest concerns are the effects that an uncontrolled genetically modified species could potentially have on human and animal health, agriculture, and on the environment as a whole. Genetically modified species have the potential to become biological pollutants that are far worse than chemical pollutants as they would be virtually impossible to control since they are alive, migrate and could mutate producing even more dangerous offspring. This could lead to irreversible damage to the ecology of the planet.
What is the most significant element for the increase in food production?
选项 A、Modern plant and animal breeding.
B、Efficient farming methods.
C、Environmental factors.
D、New irrigation system.
答案A
解析 细节题。根据关键词“increase in food production”定位于第二段最后一句，“A lot of the increase in food production is attributed to…but the largest contributingfactor is modern plant and animal breeding．”粮食增产归功于高效的耕作方式和一些环境因素，但最重要的是现代动植物品种的繁殖，所以，正确答案是A。选项B、C为干扰项，都是原因，但不是主要的因素。
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