单选题 The promise of finding long-term technological solutions to the problem of world food shortages seems difficult to fulfill Many innovations that were once heavily supported and publicized have since fallen by the wayside. The proposals themselves were technically feasible, but they proved to be economically unenviable and to yield food products culturally unacceptable to their consumers.
One characteristic common to unsuccessful food innovations has been that, even with extensive government support, they often have not been technologically adapted or culturally acceptable to the people for whom they had been developed. A successful new technology, therefore, must fit the entire sociocultural system in which it is to find a place Security of crop yield, practicality of storage, and costs are much more significant than what had previously been realized by the advocates of new technologies.
The adoption of new food technologies depends on more than these technical and cultural considerations; economic factors and governmental policies also strongly influence the ultimate success of any innovation. Economists in the Anglo-American tradition have taken the lead in investigating the economics of technological innovation. Although they exaggerate in claiming that profitability is the key factor guiding technical change -- they completely disregard the substantial effects of culture—they are correct in stressing the importance of profits. Most technological innovations in agriculture can be fully used only by large landowners and are only adopted if these profit-oriented business people believe that the innovation will increase their incomes, Thus innovations that carry high rewards for big agribusiness groups will be adopted even if they harm segments of the population and reduce the availability of food in a country. Further, should s new technology promise to alter substantially the profits and losses associated with any production system, those with economic power will strive to maintain and improve their own positions. Therefore, although technical advances in food production and processing will perhaps be needed to ensure food availability, meeting food needs will depend much more on equalizing economic power among the various segments of the populations within the developing countries themselves.

单选题 The phrase "fall by the wayside" in the second sentence, Paragraph t means"______".
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】句意推测题。这一句整体的意思是：许多曾经得到大量支持和宣传的新方法后来都______。由上下文文意和句中的once及since之间的关系可以看出，空格处的意思应当与前一句中的fulfill(完成)意思相反，因此答案为[B]。事实上，fall by the wayside是一个习惯用语，指“半途而废，中途失败”。
单选题 The passage mentions all of the following as factors important to the success of a new food technology EXCEPT the ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。本题为细节比对题。文章第二段提到了影响粮食生产新技术能否成功的一些重要因素。其中第一句中提到了[C]项，最后一句中提到了[A]、[B]两项，只有[D]项在该段及全文中都未提及。
单选题 The text indicates that ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】分析推理题。文章指出曾经有过许多新技术，因此[A]是不对的；[B]与第三段第二、三两句的意思(尤其是后一句中的correct一词)不符；[C]与第三段第四句的意思不符(这一句中用的是if引出的条件句，说明if后的内容即[C]并非事实)。只有[D]可由第一段最后一句和第二段第一、二句的意思推知。
单选题 We learn from the third paragraph that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。[A]对应于第三段第三句并且与这一句的意思一致，是正确答案。[B]与这一句中的 correct(正确的)不符[C]与该段第五句中的even if 所表达的假设不符；[D]与该段第四句的意思不符。
单选题 The author appears to tell us ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】主旨题。文章第一段指出过去一些粮食生产新技术半途而废的原因；虽然技术上可行，但不经济或者在文化上让消费者难以接受。第二段对比说明了粮食生产安全性、粮食贮藏的实用性、粮食成本等因素对新技术成功的重要性。第三段则重点讨论了经济因素和政府的粮食政策的重要性。因此不难看出，文章要说明的就是对一种新技术成功很重要的这些因素，因此主旨是[C]。