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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

admin2011-01-04  90
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, biotech can help solve the problem by
选项 A、producing foods that contain more nutrients needed by human beings
B、creating more varieties of foods
C、producing beta-carotene and vitamin A more efficiently
D、producing anti-virus crops
答案A
解析 本题的答案在文章的最后一段中，其中讲到生物技术的作用在于加强农作物营养含量和提高农业生产率。因此B、C、D三项都不符合题意，正确答案为A。
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