-
2016
年
6
月英语四
级考试长篇阅读答案
(
卷二
)
Section B
Directions:
In
this
section,
you
are
going
to
read
a
passage
with ten statements attached to it.
Each statement contains
information
given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the
paragraph
from
which
the
information
is
derived.
You
may
choose
a paragraph more than
once. Each paragraph is marked with a
letter. Answer the questions by marking
the corresponding
letter on Answer
Sheet 2.
Could
Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?
[A] For many
years I have studied global agricultural,
population, environmental and economic
trends and their
interactions. The
combined effects of those trends and the
political tensions they generate point
to the breakdown of
governments and
societies. Yet I, too, have resisted the idea
that food shortages could bring down
not only individual
governments but
also our global civilization.
[B]
I
can
no
longer
ignore
that
risk.
Our
continuing
failure
to deal with the
environmental declines that are undermining
the world food economy forces me to
conclude that such a
collapse is
possible.
[C]
As demand for food rises faster than supplies are
growing,
the
resulting
food-price
inflation
puts
severe
stress
on
the governments of many countries. Unable to buy
grain or
grow
their
own,
hungry
people
take
to
the
streets.
Indeed,
even
before the steep climb in grain prices
in 2008, the number of
failing states
was expanding. If the food situation continues
to
worsen,
entire
nations
will
break
down
at
an
ever
increasing
rate. In the 20th
century the main threat to international
security was superpower conflict; today
it is failing states.
[D] States fail when national
governments can no longer
provide
personal security, food security and basic social
services such as education and health
care. When governments
lose
their
control
on
power,
law
and
order
begin
to
disintegrate.
After a point,
countries can become so dangerous that food
relief
workers
are
no
longer
safe
and
their
programs
are
halted.
Failing states are
of international concern because they are
a source of terrorists, drugs, weapons
and refugees(
难民
),
threatening political stability
everywhere.
[E]
The surge in world grain prices in 2007 and
2008
—
and
the
threat
they
pose
to
food
security
——
has
a
different,
more
troubling quality than the increases of
the past. During the
second of the 20th
century, grain prices rose dramatically
several times. In 1972, for instance,
the Soviets. I
recognizing their poor
harvest early, quietly cornered the
world wheat market. As a result, wheat
prices elsewhere more
than
doubled,
pulling
rice
and
com
prices
up
with
them.
But
this
and other price shocks were event-
driven
——
drought in the
Soviet Union, crop-shrinking heat in
the U.S. Corn Belt. And
the
rises
were
short-
lived:
prices
typically
returned
to
normal
with the next
harvest.
[F]In
contrast, recent surge in world grain prices is
trend-driven,
making
it
unlikely
to
reverse
without
a
reversal
in the trends
themselves. On the demand side, those trends
include the ongoing addition of more
than 70 million people a
year, a
growing number of people wanting to move up the
food
chain
to
consume
highly
grain-intensive
meat
products,
and
the
massive
diversion(
转向
)of U.S. grain
to the production of
bio-fuel.
[G]As incomes
rise among low-income consumers, the
potential for further grain consumption
is huge. But that
potential pales
beside
the never-ending
demand
for crop-based
fuels.
A fourth of this year's U.S. grain harvest will go
to
fuel cars.
[H]What about supply? The three
environmental trends
——
the
shortage
of
fresh
water,
the
loss
of
topsoil
and
the
rising
temperatures
——
are
making
it
increasingly
hard
to
expand
the
world's
grain
supply
fast
enough
to
keep
up
with
demand.
Of
all
those
trends,
however,
the
spread
of
water
shortages
poses
the
most
immediate
threat.
The
biggest
challenge
here
is
irrigation,
which consumes
70% the world's fresh water. Millions of
irrigation wells in many countries are
now pumping water out
of underground
sources faster than rainfall can refill them.
The result
is
falling water
tables(
地下水位
)in
countries
with
half the world's people, including the
three big grain
producers
——
China,
India and the U.S.
[I]As water tables have fallen and
irrigation wells have
gone
dry,
China's
wheat
crop,
the
world's
largest,
has
declined
by
8% since it peaked at 123 million tons in 1997.
But water
shortages are even more
worrying in India. Millions of