Scientists are working to develop crop plants that can reduce the amount of wate

Scientists are working to developcrop plants that can reduce the amount of water used for agriculture. Almostsixty percent of the world’s freshwater withdrawals from rivers, lakes andother water resources go toward irrigating fields.

Scientists are usingbiotechnology as well as traditional breeding methods to develop water-savingcrops to feed a growing world.

Thomas “Tommy” Carter is a plantscientist in North Carolina. He works for the Agricultural Research Service inthe United States Department of Agriculture. He leads Team Drought, a group ofresearchers at five universities. They have been using conventional breedingmethods to develop and test soybeans that can grow well under dry conditions.

Tommy Carter started working ondrought-resistant soybeans in 1981. His research has taken him as far as China, where soybeans have been grown for thousands of years. 

Farmers in the United States, however, have grown soybeans for only about a century. Tommy Carter says thesoybeans they grow are for the most part genetically similar. More differencescould better protect crops against climate changes that can reduce production.Those changes include water shortages which could increase from global warming.

The Agriculture Department has asoybean germplasm(胚质) collection, a collection of genetic material passed from onegeneration to the next. Members of Team Drought studied more than 2,500examples from the collection.

They looked at ones from the homeof soybeans, Asia. They searched for germplasms that could keep plants fromweakening and wilting (凋谢)during hot, dry summers in the United States.

Tommy Carter says they found onlyfive. But these slow-wilting lines, he says, produce four to eight bushels（英斗）more than normalsoybeans under drought conditions. The yield depends on location andenvironment.

Scientists are also working onother plants that either use less water or use it better, or both. For example,companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta have been developing corn withreduced water needs. Monsanto expects to be ready in a few years to market itsfirst corn seeds genetically engineered to resist drought. 

1.According to the passage, scientists tryto find out how to _______.

A. grow crops with less water

B. increase crop production

C. feed a growing world

D. save the world’s waterresource

2.Why did Tommy Carter come to China?

   A. He likes traveling.

   B. China has a long history.

   C. He’s doing research intosoybeans.

   D. He works for theAgricultural Research Service.

3.What’s inferred from the passage?

   A. Climate changes lead toglobal warming.

   B. Water shortages contributeto global warming.

   C. Genetically differentsoybeans need much water to grow.

   D. Genetically differentsoybeans help to fight against damaging climate changes.

4.What do we know about slow-wilting plantstalked about in the passage?

   A. They yield big profits.

   B. They can grow in almost anyclimate.

   C. They seem to bedrought-resistant.

   D. They need much water fortheir growth.

试题答案

【答案】

1.A

2.C

3.D            

4.C