单选题 Passage One
Experiments under way in several labs aim to create beneficial types of genetically modified (GM) foods, including starchier potatoes and caffeine-free coffee beans. Genetic engineers are even trying to transfer genes from a cold-winter fish to make a frost-resistant tomato.
A low-sugar GM strawberry now in the works might one day allow people with health problems such as diabetes to enjoy the little delicious red fruits again. GM beans and grains supercharged with protein might help people at risk of developing kwashiorkor. Kwashiorkor, a disease caused by severe lack of protein, is common in parts of the world where there are severe food shortages.
Commenting on GM foods, Jonathon Jones, a British researcher, said: "The future benefits will be enormous, and the best is yet to come."
To some people, GM foods are no different from unmodified foods. "A tomato is a tomato," said Brian Sansoni, an American food manufacturer.
Critics of GM foods challenge Sansoni's opinion. They worry about the harm that GM crops might do to people, other animals, and plants.
In a recent lab study conducted at Comell University, scientists tested pollen made by Bt corn, which makes up one-fourth of the U.S. com crop. The scientist sprinkled the pollen onto milkweed, a plant that makes a milky juice and is the only known food source of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. Within four days of munching on the milkweed leaves, ahnost half of a test group of caterpillars had died. "Monarchs are considered to be a flagship species for conservation," said Comell researcher Linda Raynor. "This is a warning bell."
Some insects that are not killed by GM foods might find themselves made stronger. How so? The insecticides used to protect most of today's crops are sprayed on the crops when needed and decay quickly in the environment. But GM plants produce a continuous level of insecticide. Insect species feeding on those crops may develop resistance to the plants and could do so in a hurry, say the critics. Insects may also develop a resistance to the insecticide Bt.
At the forum on GM food held last year in Canada, GM crops that have been made resistant to the herbicide might crossbreed with wild plants, creating "super weeds" that could take over whole fields.
So where do you stand? Should GM food be banned in the United States, as they are in parts of Europe? Or do their benefits outweigh any of the risks they might carry?

单选题 Paragraphs one, two and three try to give the idea that ______
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推断题。一、二、三段都在陈述转基因食品的好处,故选A。
单选题 Why is the case of the pollen-sprayed milkweed cited in Paragraph six?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推断题。通过第六段的例子可知,转基因作物的花粉居然毒死了黑脉金斑蝶的幼虫(一种生命力超强的动物),科学家认为这是一个警钟。由此可见,转基因食品也有可怕的一面。
单选题 What happens to those insects when not killed by the spray of insecticide?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题。第七段后三句话说,转基因作物自己产生的一些杀虫成分使吃这些作物的害虫反而增加了抵抗力,适应了转基因作物的环境。只有B项最为符合文意。
单选题 Which of the following statements concerning banning GM foods is TRUE according to the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。最后一段第二句话问道:“美国应该像欧洲国家一样禁止转基因食品吗?”可见美国尚未禁止,由此选D。
单选题 What is the writer's attitude to GM foods?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】观点态度题。综观全文,前半部分说转基因食品的好处,后半部分说了转基因食品的害处,文章最后又提出究竟该倾向于哪方的问题,态度模棱两可,由此选A。