Unit 10
Part One
Boy A: It actually seems to me that agriculture will continue to change just like before.
Boy B: Yes, it looks like there are at least two major trends. Some farms are becoming larger and more hi-tech based, and at the same time, some farms are becoming smaller and more intensively managed.
Girl A: That is to say the larger farms and the smaller farms must experience bigger changes to be able to stand in a more competitive position?
Girl B: That's certainly true. Since conditions differ so much from one place to another, it would be necessary to examine each type of farm and decide which agricultural practices would be most efficient.
Boy A: Right. Well there are actually two types of agricultural modern farming practices that interest me. The first one is the use of "High Tech" Precision Farming, and the second one is the use of GPS (Global Positioning System). And these really are going to take agriculture into the "Space Age".
Boy B: GPS? I know GPS technology uses signals from satellites to find locations on earth. But could you explain to me how this could be used in farming?
Girl A: Well, I can give you an example. My Dad has 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans on his farm. There are big differences in soil conditions within each area of the farm. GPS can find these differences, monitor them, and allows my Dad to adjust to the exact needs of each small part of the farm.
Girl B: I think I can understand how computers would be so necessary to farmers who use GPS and Precision Farming. They could record and analyze the data from the satellite, and then use the information to adjust seed planting rate, fertilizer type and amount, pesticides and so on.
Boy B: That sounds pretty good, and on a really large farm like your Dad's, the computer information could be used to tell the farmer where each piece of equipment was located or stored. It could also tell the farmer how much pesticide, fertilizer, etc. would be needed. Such information may allow him to manage the farm with greater efficiency.
Girl A: Actually, Dad has been using most of these technologies for nearly five years. They are expensive, but it has made our farming much more efficient and profitable.
Girl B: That's good for farmers like your Dad, but in China these high-tech methods like GPS would be too expensive and not so useful. Our farms are much smaller,
more labor intensive, and less highly mechanized.
Boy B: Well, in that case, it's better for your farms to consider ecosystem management. For example, I just read an article that says in some rice farms of China, farmers raise fish and ducks in the rice paddies to control insect pests and use the natural fertilizer from fish and ducks. Also, some of these farmers sell the fish and ducks for meat. This gives additional income to the small farm.
Boy A: These examples of changes in modern farm practices show that farming will require better educated farmers. It's necessary for them to understand and use more efficient technology aimed specifically at their type of farming.
Girl B: That's right. So we must improve education for all levels of society who work in agriculture, from scientists to farm workers.
Exercise 2
A√ B C D√ E√ F G H
Exercise 3
1.hi-tech based intensively managed
2.experience stand
3.signals locations
4.allows needs
5.equipment stored
6.raise control natural
7.better educated farmers
8.levels scientists farm workers
Part Two
Listening I
The Potato
The white potato is the most important vegetable ever grown. It is a basic food for millions of people. Potatoes are grown in at least 80 countries in the world.
When the Spanish came to South America in the middle of the 1500s, they found the white potato was grown by the people there. They took potatoes back to Spain. By the end of the 16th century, the potato was common in Spain and Italy. It grew well in other countries in Europe as well.
It is believed that the potato was introduced into Britain at some time between 1585 and 1587. Soon afterward, it was taken to Ireland. It grew so well in Ireland that it became the staple food of the country. But in 1845 and 1846, there was a terrible potato disease in Ireland. The disease killed almost all the potato crop. About 1, 500, 000 people in Ireland died of starvation.
The spread of the potato throughout the world is one of the miracles of agriculture. The potato was introduced into Europe only about 400 years ago. Now, it is one of the world's most important food crops.
Exercise 1
1.B .
2.B
3.D
4.A
5.C
6.D
Exercise 2
1.ever grown
2.80
3.staple food
4.almost all
5.spread miracles
Listening II
The Biggest Pumpkin
Have you seen a 1, 000-pound pumpkin? Howard Dill has. He is a world champion pumpkin grower. Most pumpkins weigh from 15 to 30 pounds, but Howard Dill has giant pumpkins that weigh much more. Every year, he meets other pumpkin growers from across North America. They have contests to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin. The winners get prizes, such as money or trips to exciting places.
People started to grow big pumpkins more than 100 years ago. About 20 years ago, Howard Dill decided to have a contest. He brought his biggest pumpkin to the contest. It weighed 438 pounds. Now, every year, people bring bigger pumpkins. Two years ago, another pumpkin grower set a world record. His pumpkin weighed 1, 601 pounds!
One of the pumpkin contests is at a festival called Pumpkinfest. At Pumpkinfest, people bring giant pumpkins and other giant vegetables. There is a contest for the biggest watermelon and the biggest squash. There is even a contest for the world's biggest flowers. Many of the giant fruits and vegetables weigh more than 500 pounds. Some of the flowers are more than 14 feet high!
Exercise 1
1.T
2.F
3.F
4.F
5.T
Exercise 2
1.1530
2.trips to exciting places
3.20
4.438
5.1,601 6,giant
vegetables
Part Three
Practice One
Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the unaided human eye to see. They provide a basic food for many larger animals.
Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year, the sea's plankton produces more than twice as much.
Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources become even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.
No one yet has seriously suggested that "plankton-burgers" will soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.
Exercise 1
1.T
2.F
3.T
4.F
5.F
Exercise 2
1.A
2.C
3.C
4.B
Practice Two
Anyone who has ever had a garden, an orchard, or a farm knows the importance of honeybees. They fly from flower to flower gathering nectar to make honey. More importantly, they pollinate crops. As a beekeeper for more than 30 years, I am a big admirer of these little workers. Here in North Carolina, if we didn't have honeybees, we would lose at least 47 million dollars a year in field and garden crops. Strawberries, watermelons, corn, squash, beans—all these plus more than 100 other important crops from fruits to nuts couldn't exist without pollination by the honeybee. Indeed, something like 50 percent of wildlife food also depends on honeybees.
Shortly before spring my neighbors rent beehives and move them to their apple orchards. I'm lucky that the bees in my hives consider my apple orchards home. It's amazing when you think about it. Each worker bee will visit hundreds of flowers in a single day. Imagine if we humans had to do that much running around.
Over the years I've noticed that different hives have different personalities. Some are easygoing. With no protective clothing on, you can open them any time and watch them work. Other hives are just the opposite. You must be prepared and
well-protected when you visit them or you will be stung.
Exercise 2
1.F
2.T
3.F
4.T 5,F 6,T 7.T 8.F
Practice Three
It is likely that farming a century from now will be more intensive—that is, the space used to grow food, particularly fruits and vegetables, will be reduced. This change in farming techniques will come about for many reasons. One reason is that the shortage
of water will be more severe. A second is that genetic engineers will develop plants that require less water, produce more fruits, and are disease-resistant. Thirdly, a more healthful diet will increase our consumption of foods that require relatively little space for growth such as vegetables, fish and poultry. At the same time, foods that require large growing areas—such as beef and pork—will be less popular.
A pound of beans has as much protein as two pounds of steak, but the steak's flavor makes it a more popular food. In the future, people will probably develop plants that contain the beneficial proteins and flavor of meat without the harmful fats that are believed to be related to heart disease. When they do, eating foods that are good for us will not seem so hard.
Exercise 1
1.B
2.D 3,C 4.B 5.A
Exercise 2
1.reduced
2.techniques
3.Genetic engineers
4.popular 4.as much as
Practice Four
One hundred fifty years ago, big herds of buffalo roamed the midwestern and western grasslands in the U.S. In a rather short time they were killed off by thousands of people moving into their territory. Soon they were replaced by herds of cattle. Buffalo were seldom seen except in national parks and other protected areas.
Now this is beginning to change once more. As modern ranchers have learned how delicious and also nutritious buffalo meat is, some of them are raising buffalo instead of cattle. In the western states, such as Colorado, where people can buy buffalo meat directly from the ranchers, it is gaining in popularity. One ranch family in eastern Colorado keeps a herd of 100 buffalo. They sell all of their meat directly to consumers by attending farmers markets during the summer and freezing it to sell to people who come to their home to buy it. Because the buffalo do well on the ranch's grassland, expenses are low. The grass is eaten fresh during the growing season, and some is cut, dried and made into hay for the winter. The family feels their profits are higher than if they had cattle.
If buffalo meat continues to gain in popularity, once more people may see big herds of these gigantic animals throughout the western states.
Exercise 1
1.F
2.F
3.T
4.F
5.F
Exercise 2
1.killed off
2.replaced
3.national parks
4.taste
5.lower
6.higher
7.than
8.instead
of
Part Four
Section I
Before 1492, no one living in Europe ate corn cakes or corn bread. They didn't know corn existed.
Up to this time, corn grew only in the Americas. Scientists believe corn was originally cultivated by Indians in the highlands of Mexico thousands of years ago. The Indians discovered that corn was good to eat and very nutritious.
As Indian groups migrated north they brought corn with them. American Indians were growing corn in many parts of North America long before the first arrival of European explorers and traders.
Christopher Columbus and the explorers that followed him took corn back to Europe and introduced it to the world. Native American Indians taught European colonists to grow many varieties of corn. As time went on, the new settlers to America began to depend on corn as one of the most important farm crops.
Corn is good for feeding pigs, cattle and other livestock, and many other products are made from corn, too.
Today, thousands of uses for corn products have been discovered, and more uses are being found each day. Did you know that corn is used to help produce baby foods, condensed milk, some fruit juices and even peanut butter? On your lunchroom tray, how many foods might you identify that contain corn products?
1.C
2.D
3.A
4.C
5.B
Section II
Intensive systems of pig farming, where lots of pigs are kept close together, have been criticized because they are unnatural for the animals. One of the things pigs like to do is to root around the ground for bits of food to eat. In fields and woods, they will spend hours doing this. Once confined, though, they get fed just once a day. The food is finished in a few minutes and for the rest of the day they are bored so they do things like chewing doors or each other.
Now researchers are getting pigs to play with a food ball. This looks like a very large football but is much heavier. It is filled with pig food which drops out, a little at a time, as it is rolled over. The curious pig moves the ball around. Each time it does this, a little bit of food drops out. The pig has to push the ball for several hours before it gets enough to eat. This is much better for the animal than eating all its food down in a few minutes, and the exercise involved helps keep it healthier. The food ball is now being tried with dogs and might also be used in zoos.
Part A
1.T
2.F
3.F
4.F
5.T
Part B
1.unnatural
2.the ground
3.once
4.curious
5.healthier
Section III
(A father and son, Tom and Mike, are telling another group of farmers about the changes they are making on their farm.)
Tom: When Mike graduated from North Carolina State University with his master's degree in agricultural business management, I thought he would take a job with a big agricultural business.
Mike: I surprised Dad, though, as I really wanted to come back to work with him on our farm. Dad has always made a good living for us, but I thought we could make it even better if we bought more land and added some different types of crops.
Tom: I agreed that we couldn't really compete with the Midwestern states in yields of corn and soybeans, so I listened to Mike's ideas. Now in addition we grow tobacco, wheat, hay, oats, cattle, pigs, horses, strawberries, tomatoes, blackberries and peaches.
Mike: With such variety, we can be quite sure that even in bad weather years we will have income. Mom and my wife Bonnie also help a lot. They are in charge of the strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes and peaches. They are talking about adding more types of fruit next year.
Tom: Another good idea Mike had was for us to build some greenhouses on our farm. Since tobacco is the major crop in North Carolina, we raise tobacco plants from seeds and sell them to our neighbors as well as plant some of them ourselves.
Mike: So far Dad and I make a good team. He has the years of experience, and I have some of the new ideas.
Tom: Right.
Part A
1.D
2.A
3.B
4.C
5.B
Part B
1.made a good living
2.In addition to
3.bad weather
4.team
5.experience。
