A
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to represent all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on Earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if in his words “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above zero degrees Celsius. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high-security doors.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below zero Celsius. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason.Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was permitted use of Spitsbergen. New Scientist says the plan won United Nations approval in October at a meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
1. The project is meant to_____.
A. increase the world’s food production in the future
B. carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C. protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D. build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A. The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B. Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousand years ago.
C. Spitsbergen is chosen because it is away from the threat of unclear war forever.
D. Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
3. We can infer from the text that_____.
A. People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year
B. The storage center will greatly promote the development of world agriculture
C. Norway meant to have built the storage centre more than 20 years ago
D. There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before
4. What is probably the best title of the passage?
A. Noah’s Ark of Plant Seeds in Plan
B. The Best Place to Store Seeds
C. Concerns of World Food Supply
D. A New Way to Feed the World
【答案】1. C 2. D 3. C 4. A
【解析】
这是一篇说明文，主要讲述了挪威的政府想要在北冰洋建造一个不同寻常的能存储两亿种子的存储中心，能够用来抵抗核战争。并且对这个计划进行了详细的介绍，而存在里面的种子则会在所有种子都因为某种原因用尽的情况下被拿出来用。
【1题详解】
细节理解题。根据第一段中提到“The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats.” 该结构的设计是为了保护世界粮食供应不受核战争、气候变化和其他可能的威胁。所以这个项目的目的是保护种子不受灾难的影响而灭绝。故选C项。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。第三段中提到“To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures.”为储存长点时间，种子需要在极低
温度下储藏。所以温度是选择储藏地点最主要的因素。故选D项。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。最后一段提到“Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s.”挪威最早是在八十年代提出这个议案的，迄今已有二十年左右的历史了。由此判断出挪威早在20多年前就打算建造这个存储中心。故选C项。
【4题详解】
主旨大意题。根据第一段“The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds.” 挪威政府公司计划在北冰洋的一个小岛上建造一个不同寻常的储存中心，这个地方将足够容纳大约200万颗种子。结合短文主要讲述了挪威的政府想要在北冰洋建造一个不同寻常的能存储两亿种子的存储中心，能够用来抵抗核战争。并且对这个计划进行了详细的介绍，而存在里面的种子则会在所有种子都因为某种原因用尽的情况下被拿出来用。故最佳标题为“诺亚方舟计划中的植物种子”。故选A项。
