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  3. The world economy has run into a brick w

The world economy has run into a brick w

Loveyou2020-05-20  274
问题 The world economy has run into a brick wall. Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a looming hunger crisis in poor countries and a looming 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 more than tripled since the start of 2004. These food-price increases combined with soaring energy costs will slow if not stop economic growth in many parts of the world and will even undermine political stability, as evidenced by the protest riots that have erupted in places like Haiti, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso. Practical solutions to these growing woes do exist, but we'll have to start thinking ahead and acting globally.　　The crisis has its roots in four interlinked trends. The first is the chronically slow productivity of farmers in the poorest countries, caused by their inability to pay for seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. The second is the misguided policy in the U.S. and Europe of subsidizing diversion of food crops to produce biofuels like corn-based ethanol. The third is climate change: take the recent droughts in Australia and Europe, which cut the global production of grain in 2005 and 2006. The fourth is the growing global demand for food and feed grains brought on by swelling populations and incomes. In short, rising demand has hit a limited supply, with the poor taking the hardest blow.　　So, what should be done? Here are three steps to ease the current Crisis and avert the potential for a globa1 disaster. The first is to scale-up the dramatic success of Malawi, a famine-prone country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and high-yield seeds. 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 $10 billion in all. Such a fund could fight hunger as effectively as the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is controlling those diseases.　　Second, the U.S. and Europe should abandon their policies to subsidizing the conversion of food into biofules. The U.S. government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed subsidy of 51 cents per gal of ethanol divert corn from the food and feed-grain supply. There maybe a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods—tree crops (like palm oil) , grasses and wood products—but there’s no case for doling out subsidies to put the world’s dinner into the gas tank. Third, we urgently need to weatherproof the 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 for emergency irrigation in a dry spell—can make the difference between a bountiful crop and a famine. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise.
选项
答案
解析1. F　根据题干中Anti-hunger campaigns和successful可定位到文章第三段第三句话中的the dramatic success of Malawi和第三段末句中的fight hunger，可知马拉维消除饥饿的运动很成功，因此本题选F项。2. G　本题关键词为biofuels和subsidized，从而可定位到文章第二段第三句：The second is the misguided policy in the U.S. and Europe of subsidizing diversion of food crops to produce biofuels like corn-based ethanol，该句指出美国和欧洲对将粮食作物转化成生物燃料的生产过程进行资助的政策，因此正确答案是G项。3. E　本题关键词为Protest riots，从而定位到首段倒数第二句，该句提到These food-price increases combined with soaring energy costs...will even undermine political stability, as evidenced by the protest riots that have erupted in places like Haiti，Bangladesh and Burkina Faso，可知抗议暴乱的发生地包括海地、孟加拉国和布基纳法索，因此本题的正确答案为E项。4. C　题干中not so successful为重点词，本题相关信息来自末端最后一句，该句提到The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund...but has not yet acted upon the promise，可知承诺建立一个气候适应基金组织(Climate Adaptation Fund)的诺言并未被履行，也就是这方面的努力还未成功，因此本题选C。5. A　题干关键词为Food shortage，从而定位至首段第二句：Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a looming hunger crisis in poor countries...world leaders failed to think ahead，本句中hunger crisis与题干中Food shortage相对应，可知食物短缺在贫穷国家变得更加严重，因此正确答案为A项。
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