高考英语外刊阅读模拟强化训练 阅读理解专题八
A
The environment cretary, Thérè Coffey, is unlikely to refer to the last week as her salad days. The beleaguered minister hit the front pages after responding to a question about whether we should be eating less imported food by saying that this would mean “cherishing turnips”. She was roundly mocked.
But empty supermarket shelves have sparked a frenzy as tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and other fresh vegetables have been rationed. This has led many to question if our food system is sustainable: should we be eating fewer imported tomatoes and instead chomping down on our homely turnips?
Britain is about 60% lf-sufficient in food and for much of the year produces more than enough fruit and veg to go around. But this is always a tricky time of year: the late winter months are known as the “hungry gap”, and yield little more than root vegetables and brassicas.
This means lots of fresh food is imported, but bad weather in Morocco and Spain has affected yields, resulting in empty shelves here in the UK.
The farming campaign group Sustain says that this situation has been a long time coming, and that it is an issue that goes beyond the hungry gap and into structural issues in the ctor. Vicki Hird, the group’s head of sustainable farming, explains: “The weather in Spain and Morocco爱国作文 is part of the problem, and it’s potentially linked to wider changes in climatic conditions. The high cost of gas right now is a critical issue for glasshou producers. “But there are also complications linked to our relationship with European trade partners and a new trade deal three years ago with Morocco which t up differential trade arrangements. Bizarrely it means there’s now more friction, meaning it’s easier for Morocco to trade with Europe than us. ”
Until a renewable energy 妈妈日记system is available, growing fruit and veg indoors during the winter is expensive. However, we can enjoy salad sustainably in the UK in winter, if we just make some different choices. “I’m not an advocate of a 100% UK-produced diet – I d
on’t think that is realistic – but I think we 晒后脱皮could eat a hell of a lot more grown here as there are many other delicious winter vegetables besides turnips!” Guy Singh-Watson , who runs Riverford我眼中的中国作文 vegetable box company says.
【The Guardian (February 25, 2023) 】
1. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “beleaguered”?
A关于青春的问题. was surrounded by supporters
B. was in a very comfortable situation
C. was under constant attack
D. was in an isolated condition
2. Why does the food system in the UK is questioned?
A武术散打. Britain is completely dependent on imported food
B. Fresh vegetables can’t be found in the supermarket
C. More and more customers are “cherishing turnips”
D荷包鲫鱼. A fixed amount of fresh vegetables is officially allowed to each customer
3. Which one of the following statements is correct?
A. Structural issues are easier to tackle than the hungry gap
B. Climatic changes directly result in the empty shelves in the UK
C. Glasshou producers are faced with an unprofitable trade deal
D. Morocco is more likely to trade with Europe than the UK
4. What is the passage going to discuss in the next paragraph?
A. How to trade more vegetables in other countries
B. How to embrace more homegrown food in the winter
C. How to grow greenhou vegetables in the UK
D. How to import fresh vegetables in the winter
B
The steady destruction of wildlife could suddenly tip over into total ecosystem collap, scientists studying the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history have found.
Many scientists think the huge current loss of biodiversity are the start of a new mass extinction. But the new rearch shows total ecosystem collap is “inevitable”, if the loss are not reverd, the scientists said.
The Permian-Triassic extinction event, known as the “Great Dying ” occurred 252m years ago. It was driven by global heating resulting from huge volcanic eruptions and wiped out 95% of life on Earth.
风马牛不However, species are being lost today even faster than in any of the previous five mass e
xtinctions that have struck the planet. Wildlife is being destroyed via the razing of natural habitats for farming and we are in the first pha of another, more vere mass extinction.
The rearch, published in the journal Current Biology, examined fossils from South China, which was a shallow a during the Permian Triassic mass extinction. The team recreated the ancient marine environment using simulated food webs to reprent the ecosystem before, during, and after the extinction event. The Great Dying was caud by volcanic eruptions that drove up carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, resulting in climate conditions similar to tho being caud today by fossil fuel burning: global heating, ocean acidification and loss of oxygen in the as.
