单选题 When you buy a gallon of organic milk, you expect to get tasty milk from happy cows who haven"t been subjected to antibiotics, hormones or pesticides. But you might also unknowingly be getting genetically modified cattle feed.
Albert Straus, owner of the Straus Family Creamery in the small northern California town of Marshall, decided to test the feed that he gives his 1,600 cows last year and was alarmed to find that nearly 6% of the organic corn feed he received from suppliers was "contaminated" by genetically modified (GM) organisms. Organic food is, by definition, supposed to be free of genetically modified material, and organic crops are required to be isolated from other crops. But as GM crops become more prevalent, there is little that an organic farmer can do to prevent a speck of GM pollen or a stray GM seed from being blown by the wind onto his land or farm equipment and, eventually, into his products. In 2006, GM crops accounted for 61% of all the corn planted in the U.S. and 89% of all the soybeans. "I feared that there weren"t enough safeguards," Straus says.
So Straus and five other natural food producers, including industry leader Whole Foods, announced last week that they would seek a new certification for their products, "non-GMO verified", in the hopes that it will become a voluntary industry standard for GM-free goods. A non-profit group called the Non-GMO Project runs the program, and the testing is conducted by an outside lab called Genetic ID. In a few weeks, Straus expects to become the first food manufacturer in the country to carry the label in addition to his "organic" one. With Whole Foods in the ring, the rest of the industry will soon be under competitive pressure to follow.
Earning the non-GMO label, at least initially, requires nearly as much effort as getting certified organic. To root out the genetically modified corn, Straus spent several months and about $10,000 testing, re-testing and tracing back his products: from his own dairy"s milk, to other dairies that supply some of his milk, to the brokers who sell them feed, to their mills that grind the corn, to farmers who grow it. To put the GM-free label on his ice cream, Straus will have to trace the chickens that provided the egg yolks, the grain used in the alcohol that carries his vanilla extract and the soy lecithin used as an emulsifier for his chocolate chips.
So why bother? The organic and natural foods industry sees a huge opportunity in telling consumers even more about what"s in their food. Few consumers would think about the pesticides and hormones in conventional foods without the organic alternative to remind them. Similarly, genetically modified crops have become so prevalent in the U.S. that chances are you"ve been buying and eating them for years. You just wouldn"t know it from the label: the U.S. Department of Agriculture, unlike agencies in Europe and Japan, do not require GM foods to be labeled. While scientists have not identified any specific health risks from eating GM foods, anti-GM activists say there is not enough research yet into their long-term risks or impact on biodiversity. By telling consumers loud and clear which products are GM-free, organic-food producers will give them one more reason to choose organic. Says Jeffrey Smith, a longtime activist against genetically modified food: "The people served by the organic industry are very sensitive to GMO." And, the industry hopes, willing to pay to avoid it.

单选题 Faced with the prevalence of GM crops, organic farmers ______

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。题干中的关键信息prevalence of GM crops对应第二段第三句的GM crops become more prevalent。根据该句话可知，随着转基因食品的日益流行，农民们对它给有机食品造成的“污染”却无能为力。选项B“不能阻止他们的庄稼受到转基因因素的污染”，正好概括了第三句后半部分的内容，所以B是答案。A“已为他们的非转基因产品找到新的认证”与原文第三段第一句不符；C“通过出售其非转基因食品而获得巨额利润”在文中未提及；D“做了很多事情来保护他们的非转基因食品”，与原文的内容相反。

单选题 What"s the real meaning of the phrase "in the ring" (Line 6, Para. 3)?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 语义理解题。该短语中的ring是一个常见词，其基本的意思有：戒指，环，电话铃声，竞技场等。其所在段主要说明一些有机食品企业积极参与寻求非转基因食品认证的情况，又根据其所在句的句义“随着全营养食品公司……，其他制造商也会很快受到竞争压力而加入进来”，尤其是其中的关键信息under competitive pressure to follow，可以推断出此处的ring与竞争有关，是“参与竞争”的意思，这与选项D“与其他公司竞争非转基因食品的认证”的意思一致，所以D是答案。A“获得象征非转基因食品标签的戒指”，把ring理解为“戒指”，与原文意义不符；B“与其他公司进行拳击比赛”，把ring理解为“拳击场”，也与原文意思不符；C“号召其他公司申请非转基因食品认证”，则曲解了原文的意思。

单选题 The author quotes the example of Straus in Para. 4 to show ______

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。本题要求回答第四段中所举例子的目的。分析第四段结构可知，该段的第一句话是中心句，其后的内容都是围绕该句话展开说明的，也就是说，此处所举例子的目的就是为了说明第一句话的内容，即：“追求非转基因食品认证如同寻求有机食品认证一样要付出许多艰辛努力”，这与选项B“获得经认证的非转基因食品认证所要付出的艰辛努力”相吻合，所以B是答案。A“申请非转基因食品认证的过程”和C“Straus为了追求非转基因食品认证而付出的努力”是例子本身的内容，不是举例的目的，所以排除这两项；D“Straus为了追求有机食品认证而付出的努力”，与原文内容不吻合，所以也排除。

单选题 Which of the following is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。首先定位到最后一段。A“有机食品生产商追求非转基因食品标签令顾客困惑不已”是对最后一段第一句的曲解，这一句是说“既然追求非转基因食品认证要付出艰辛的努力，为什么还要这样不辞辛苦地去做呢?”；B“有机食物可能会提醒顾客关注传统食物的成分”，这与文章最后一段的第三句话相吻合，即“如果没有有机替代食物提醒他们，很少有消费者会想到传统食物中会有杀虫剂和激素”，所以B是答案；C“众所周知，转基因食品对生物多样性有负面影响”，与原文最后一段第六句话的内容相矛盾，即：“反对转基因食品的激进分子认为，对转基因食品的长期风险或它对生物多样性的影响还缺乏足够的研究”；D“美国农业部鼓励推广转基因作物”不能从文中得出，文中只是说“美国农业部并不要求转基因食物必须贴上标签”，所以D也不正确。