单选题 A third of the planet's land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year,according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture.The alarming 26_____ ,which is forecast to continue as demand for food and productive land increases,will add to the risks of conflicts unless 27_____ actions are implemented,warns the institution behind the report.

"As the ready supply of healthy and productive land dries up and the population grows,competition is 28_____ for land within countries and globally," said executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at the .launch of the Global Land Outlook."To 29_____ the losses,the Outlook suggests it is in all our interests to step back and rethink how we are managing the pressures and the competition."

The Global Land Outlook is 30_____ as the most comprehensive study of its type,mapping the interlinked impacts of urbanization,climate change,erosion and forest loss.But the biggest factor is the 31_____ of industrial farming.Heavy tilling,multiple harvests and 32_____ use of agrochemicals have increased yields at the 33_____ of long-term sustainability.In the past 20 years,agricultural production has increased threefold and the amount of irrigated land has doubled,notes a paper in the Outlook by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European commission.Over time,however,this 34_____ fertility and can lead to abandonment of land and 35_____ desertification.

空白处26.应填无
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】空格前是形容词alarming,且分析句子结构可知,本句缺少主语,此外由修饰该主语的定语从句中的is可知,此处应该填入一个单数名词或不可数名词作主语。上文提到了土地的严重退化和肥沃土壤的严重流失,故此处说的应该是土地数量的减少令人担忧,故D)decline“降低,减少”为本题答案。