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 world is planting a vigorous new crop: "agro-pessimism", or fear that mankind will not be able to feed itself except by wrec
The world is planting a vigorous new crop: "agro-pessimism", or fear that mankind will not be able to feed itself except by wrec
admin
2015-06-14
49
问题
The world is planting a vigorous new crop: "agro-pessimism", or fear that mankind will not be able to feed itself except by wrecking the environment. The current harvest of this variety of whine will be a bumper one. Natural disasters—fire in Russia and flood in Pakistan, which are the world’s fifth- and eighth-largest wheat producers respectively—have added a Biblical colouring to an unfolding fear of famine. By 2050 world grain output will have to rise by half and meat production must double to meet demand. And that cannot easily happen because growth in grain yields is flattening out, there is little extra farmland and renewable water is running short.
The world has been here before. In 1967 Paul Ehrlich, a Malthusian, wrote that "the battle to feed all of humanity is over... In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death. " Five years later, in "The Limits to Growth", the Club of Rome(a group of business people and academics)argued that the world was running out of raw materials and that societies would probably collapse in the 21st century.
A year after "The Limits to Growth" appeared, however, and at a time when soaring oil prices seemed to confirm the Club of Rome’s worst fears, a country which was then a large net food importer decided to change the way it farmed. Driven partly by fear that it would not be able to import enough food, it decided to expand domestic production through scientific research, not subsidies. Instead of trying to protect farmers from international competition as much of the world still does it opened up to trade and let inefficient farms go to the wall. This was all the more remarkable because most of the country was then regarded as unfit for agricultural production.
The country was Brazil. In the four decades since, it has become the first tropical agricultural giant and the first to challenge the dominance of the "big five" food exporters(America, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the European Union).
Even more striking than the fact of its success has been the manner of it. Brazil has followed more or less the opposite of the agro-pessimists’ prescription. For them, sustainability is the greatest virtue and is best achieved by encouraging small farms and organic practices. They frown on monocultures and chemical fertilisers. They like agricultural research but loathe genetically modified(GM)plants. They think it is more important for food to be sold on local than on international markets. Brazil’s farms are sustainable, too, thanks to abundant land and water.
But they are many times the size even of American ones. Farmers buy inputs and sell crops on a scale that makes sense only if there are world markets for them. And they depend critically on new technology. As the briefing explains, Brazil’s progress has been underpinned by the state agricultural-research company and pushed forward by GM crops. Brazil represents a clear alternative to the growing belief that, in farming, small and organic are beautiful.
That alternative commands respect for three reasons.
First, it is magnificently productive. It is not too much to talk about a miracle, and one that has been achieved without the huge state subsidies that prop up farmers in Europe and America.
Second, the Brazilian way of farming is more likely to do good in the poorest countries of Africa and Asia. Brazil’s climate is tropical, like theirs. Its success was built partly on improving grasses from Africa and cattle from India. Of course there are myriad reasons why its way of farming will not translate easily, notably that its success was achieved at a time when the climate was relatively stable whereas now uncertainty looms. Still, the basic ingredients of Brazil’s success- agricultural research, capital-intensive large farms, openness to trade and to new farming techniques should work elsewhere.
Third, Brazil shows a different way of striking a balance between farming and the environment. The country is accused of promoting agriculture by razing the Amazon forest. And it is true that there has been too much destructive farming there. But most of the revolution of the past 40 years has taken place in the cerrado, hundreds of miles away. Norman Borlaug, who is often called the father of the Green Revolution, said the best way to save the world’s imperilled ecosystems would be to grow so much food elsewhere that nobody would need to touch the natural wonders. Brazil shows that can be done.
It also shows that change will not come about by itself. Four decades ago, the country faced a farm crisis and responded with decisive boldness. The world is facing a slow-motion food crisis now. It should learn from Brazil.
"Agro-pessimism" refers to
选项
A、a new crop with more harvest.
B、a sort of psychological disorder.
C、contradiction between humans and nature.
D、fear that humans will starve to death.
答案
C
解析
推断题。由题干定位至第一段。第一句中“or fear that mankind will not be able to feed itself exceptby wrecking the environment”给出了解释,即对人类必须以破坏环境为代价来养活自己的这个事实的恐惧,因此可以说是人类和自然的矛盾,[C]正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/gwOO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Revisionisrethinking,buttwomisconceptionsarebynomeansuncommonamongwriters,especiallyamongdevelopingwriters.Firs
WhichofthefollowingisNOTapoliticalpartyofCanada?
Itcanbetemptingtohidefromthepeople,placesandtaskswhichmakelifestressful.Byremovingyoufromthesituation,it’s
Itcanbetemptingtohidefromthepeople,placesandtaskswhichmakelifestressful.Byremovingyoufromthesituation,it’s
WhichofthefollowingnewspapersbelongstotheUnitedStates?
Tounderstandthemarketingconcept,it’sonlynecessarytounderstandthedifferencebetweenmarketingandselling.Nottooma
Whatwillbetheimpactofaglobalcomputernetworkonculturalforms?Theconstructionofexclusiveinformationsocietieshas
ReviewingthedecadethatfollowedWorldWarn,Cartwrightspeaksofthe"excitementandoptimism"ofAmericansocialpsycholo
Evenahalf-heartedonlookercannothelpbutrealizethatinthisfast-pacedworld,mostaspectsofpopularcultureareconstan
夜是静寂的,柔和的。从对面我听呸见一点声音。香港似乎闭了它的大口。介是当我注意到那一座光芒万丈的星的山的时候,我又仿佛听见那许多灯光的私语了。因为船的移动。灯光也似乎移动起来。而且电车汽车上的灯也在飞跑。我看见它们时明时暗,就像人在眨眼。或者像它们在追逐,
随机试题
用百分表测量时,测量杆与工件表面应()。
______togiveheranexpensivegiftforherbirthday,Ican’tgobackonmyword.
Amotherwhoissufferingfromcancercanpassonthediseasetoherunbornchildinextremelyrarecases,【C1】______anewcaser
血清中钙离子浓度,在哪种情况下降低
某均质土石坝稳定渗流期的流网如图所示,问b点的孔隙水压力为以下哪个选项?()
监理工程师由于( ),注册机关将不予续期注册。
甲公司的财务经理在复核2015年度财务报表时,对以下交易或事项会计处理的正确性难以做出判断:(1)为减少交易性金融资产市场价格波动对公司利润的影响,2015年1月1日,甲公司将所持有乙公司股票从交易性金融资产重分类为可供出售金融资产,并将其作为会
有一个单位组织爱心捐赠,但是规定不接受旧的棉衣和棉被,除非能够提供购买凭证,对此你怎么看?
C++语言中函数返回值的类型决定于
Securityandcommodityexchangesaretradingpostswherepeoplemeetwhowishtobuyandsell.Theexchangesthemselvesdonotr
最新回复
(
0
)