Question

The world economy has run into a brick wall. Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a potential hunger crisis in poor countries and an energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to think ahead. The result is a global food crisis. Wheat, corn and rice prices have more than doubled in the past two years. And oil prices have increased more than three times since the start of 2004. These food-price iricrcases. combined with increasing energy costs, will slow if not stop economic growth in many parts of the world and will even affect political stability. Practical solutions to these problems do exist, but we'll have to start thinking ahead and acting globally.

Here are three steps to ease the current food crisis and avoid the potential for a global crisis. The first is to promote the dramatic success of Malawi, a country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and seeds with high productivity. Malawi’s harvest doubled after just one year. An international fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere $10 per person annually in the rich world, or S10 billion altogether.

Second, the U.S. and Europe should abandon their policies of paying partly for the change of food into biofuels. The U.S. government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed payment of 51 cents per gallon of ethanol (乙醇) changed from corn. There may be a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods — tree crops, grasses and wood products — but there's no case for the government to pay to put the world's dinner into the gas tank.

Third, we urgently need to weather-proof die world's crops as soon and as effectively as possible. For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a farm pond — which collects rainwater to be used in dry weather — can make the difference between a good harvest and a bad one. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation hind to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise.

An international fund based on the Malawi model would______.

A. cost each of the developed countries $10 billion per year

B. aim to double the harvest in southern African countries In a year

C. decrease the food prices as well as the energy prices

D. give poor farmers access to fertilizer and highly productive seeds

With the second step, the author expresses the idea that ______.

A. it is not wise to change food crops into gas

B. it is misleading to put tree crops into the gas tank

C. we should get alternative forms of fuel in any way

D. biofuels should be developed on a large scale

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. A rain-collecting pond is a simple safeguard against dry weal

B. A Climate Adaptation Fund has been established to help poor

C. The world has made a serious promise to build farm ponds.

D. It makes a great difference whether we develop wood products or not.

 In the passage, the author calls on us to______.

A. slow down but not to stop economic.

B. develop tree crops, grasses'and wood products

C. achieve economic growth and political stability

D. act now so as to relieve the global food shortage

Answer 1

【小題1】D

【小題2】 A

【小題3】 A

【小題4】 D

解析:

主要內容：世界的經濟如今已經遇到困難。盡管近年來有很多警告，我們需要警惕在貧窮國家里可能會有饑荒、以及世界范圍內的能源危機，然而世界各國的領導人還是沒有能夠提早考慮這些問題。結果就是現(xiàn)在全球范圍的食品危機。

【小題1】細節(jié)理解題。此題可以從第二段的第二句話“to help its farmers get fertilizer and seeds with high productivity”里得到答案。

【小題2】段落大意題。文章的第三段里說了第二個步驟，那么作者要表達的意思就是A項，“將糧食轉化成汽油是不明智的”，第三段的第一句話中的“abandon”、“paying partly for the change of food into biofuels”也提示了答案。

【小題3】細節(jié)推理題。根據(jù)文章意思知A項是正確的，“修建一個蓄雨水的水池是一個很簡單的對付干季的措施”。而B項“一個氣候適應基金已經建立起來，來幫助貧窮地區(qū)”是不對的，C項“整個世界對建立農場的池塘已經作出了鄭重的承諾”沒有提到，D項說“我們是否發(fā)展食品生產是沒有什么多大區(qū)別的”很顯然是錯誤的。

【小題4】深層理解題。通過閱讀文章，我們可以獲悉作者的用意是來號召“我們立刻行動起來，來緩解全球的食物短缺”，所以D項為正確答案。