单选题

"Salty" Rice Plant Boosts Harvests

British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more.
Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University"s School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty.
The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice.
It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts (妨碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves (红树林) that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated (蒸发) by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind.
Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.
To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants" growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.
Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.

单选题 Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用题干关键词Flowers和Yeo可以定位到第二段“ Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo , from Sussex University"s School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching...”，即“Flowers和Yeo。来自Sussex大学生物科学学院，花了很多年来研究…”，由此可知他们是大学的研究人员，所以正确答案为D。

单选题 Flowers and Yeo have started a programme ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。利用题干关键词start a program可以定位到第三段“The pair have recently begun a three-year programme , funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions"’，即“这两位研究者近来开始了一个为期三年的项目来确定哪类基因能使某些植物在盐碱之地生存，该项目得到生物技术和生物科学研究委员会的资助”，所以正确答案为B。

单选题 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 判断题。判断题一般利用题干关键词不能快速定位到相关的原句子，所以可以利用题干关键词确定大概范围，然后利用选项关键词分别定位进行判断。利用题干关键词causes of the problem可以定位第四段“The problem is caused by several factors”，即“这个问题是由几个原因引起的”，紧接着后面讲了三个原因，而海平面的上升没有提及，所以可知答案为C。

单选题 The word "affect" in Paragraph 6 could be best replaced by ______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 词汇题。利用题干定位，harness所在句子意为“这两位研究者决定培养大米品种，该品种几乎不吸收盐分，并且可以将其确实吸收的盐分存储在不______其生长的细胞内”。分别代入四个选项后发现，A项比较符合原文的语境。B项之所以不对，是因为effect是名词，与原文的词性不符。