一、Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension
1、Question 1 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、It focuses exclusively on jazz.
B、It sponsors major jazz concerts.
C、It has several branches in London.
D、It displays albums by new music talents.
2、Question 2 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、It originated with cowboys.
B、Its market has now shrunk.
C、Its listeners are mostly young people.
D、It remains as widespread as hip hop music.
3、Question 3 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Its definition is varied and complicated.
B、It is still going through experimentation.
C、It is frequently accompanied by singing.
D、Its style has remained largely unchanged.
4、Question 4 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Learn to play them.
B、Take music lessons.
C、Listen to them yourself.
D、Consult jazz musicians.
5、Question 5 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、She paid her mortgage.
B、She called on the man.
C、She made a business plan.
D、She went to the bank.
6、Question 6 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Her previous debt hadn’t been cleared yet.
B、Her credit history was considered poor.
C、She had apparently asked for too much.
D、She didn’t pay her mortgage in time.
7、Question 7 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Pay a debt long overdue.
B、Buy a piece of property.
C、Start her own business.
D、Check her credit history.
8、Question 8 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Seek advice from an expert about fundraising.
B、Ask for smaller loans from different lenders.
C、Build up her own finances step by step.
D、Revise her business proposal carefully.
9、Question 9 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、It is profitable and environmentally friendly.
B、It is well located and completely automated.
C、It is small and unconventional.
D、It is fertile and productive.
10、Question 10 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Their urge to make farming more enjoyable.
B、Their desire to improve farming equipment.
C、Their hope to revitalize traditional farming.
D、Their wish to set a new farming standard.
11、Question 11 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、It saves a lot of electricity.
B、It needs little maintenance.
C、It cause s hardly any pollution.
D、It loosens soil while weeding.
12、Question 12 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、It has turned certain insects into a new food source.
B、It has started to expand business outside the UK.
C、It has imported some exotic foods from overseas.
D、It has joined hands with Sainsbury’s to sell pet insects.
13、Question 13 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、It was really unforgettable.
B、It was a pleasant surprise.
C、It hurt his throat slightly.
D、It made him feel strange.
14、Question 14 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、They are more tasty than beef, chicken or pork.
B、They are more nutritious than soups and salads.
C、They contain more protein than conventional meats.
D、They will soon gain popularity throughout the world.
15、Question 15 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、It is environmentally friendly.
B、It is a promising industry.
C、It requires new technology.
D、It saves huge amounts of labour.
16、Question 16 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、To categorize different types of learners.
B、To find out what students prefer to learn.
C、To understand the mechanism of the human brain.
D、To see if they are inherent traits affecting learning.
17、Question 17 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、It was defective.
B、It was misguided.
C、It was original in design.
D、It was thought-provoking.
18、Question 18 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Auditory aids are as important as visual aids.
B、Visual aids are helpful to all types of learners.
C、Reading plain texts is more effective than viewing pictures.
D、Scientific concepts are hard to understand without visual aids.
19、Question 19 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Not playing a role in a workplace revolution.
B、Not benefiting from free-market capitalism.
C、Not earning enough money to provide for the family.
D、Not spending enough time on family life and leisure.
20、Question 20 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、People would be working only fifteen hours a week now.
B、The balance of power in the workplace would change.
C、Technological advances would create many new jobs.
D、Most workers could afford to have house of their own.
21、Question 21 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Loss of workers’ personal dignity.
B、Deprivation of workers’ creativity.
C、Deterioration of workers’ mental health.
D、Unequal distribution of working hours.
22、Question 22 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、It is the worst managed airport in German history.
B、It is now the biggest and busiest airport in Europe.
C、It has become something of a joke among Germans.
D、It has become a typical symbol of German efficiency.
23、Question 23 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、The city’s airports are outdated.
B、The city had just been reunified.
C、The city wanted to boost its economy.
D、The city wanted to attract more tourists.
24、Question 24 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、The municipal government kept changing hands.
B、The construction firm breached the contract.
C、Shortage of funding delayed its construction.
D、Problems of different kinds kept popping up.
25、Question 25 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Tourism industry in Berlin suffers.
B、All kinds of equipment gets rusted.
C、Huge maintenance costs accumulate.
D、Complaints by local residents increase.
二、Part III Reading Comprehension
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
26、(1)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
27、(2)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
28、(3)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
29、(4)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
30、(5)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
31、(6)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
32、(7)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
33、(8)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
34、(9)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands, research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain (26)_____, people regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are (27)_____. In one experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute (28)_____ to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can (29)_____ loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been (30)_____ in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the participants’ phones (31)_____ substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them. One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer. Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and (32)_____”.
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks. On humans, wide faces are (33)_____ with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars, clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrow-faced ones, and preferred them—especially in (34)_____ situations. An analysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles (护栅) that were upturned like smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this (35)_____ as increasing a car’s friendliness.
35、(10)
A、feature
B、excluded
C、associated
D、lonely
E、desires
F、conceded
G、spectacularly
H、circumstances
I、arrogant
J、competitive
K、apparently
L、separate
M、warrant
N、consciousness
O、alleviate
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
36、36. Farmers going grass-fed are not affected by the ever-changing milk prices of the global market.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
37、37. Over the years, Tim Joseph’s partners have helped many dairy farmers to switch to grass-fed.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
38、38. One advocate believes that many other benefits should be taken into consideration when we assess the cost-effectiveness of grass-fed farming.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
39、39. Many dairy farmers were persuaded to switch to grass-fed when they saw its advantage in terms of profits.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
40、40. Tim Joseph’s grass-fed program is only one example of how American farming practice is changing.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
41、41. Tim Joseph was fascinated by the notion that sunlight brings energy and wealth to mankind.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
42、42. One problem with grass-fed products is that they are usually more expensive than conventional ones.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
43、43. Grass-fed products have proved to be healthier and more nutritious.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
44、44. When Tim Joseph started his business, he found grass-fed products fell short of demand.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Why More Farmers Are Switching to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy
【A】Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun really intrigued him. He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
【B】Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated: Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir (发酵乳制品)，on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir market, according to natural and organic market research company SPINS. Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice.
【C】His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they began to help other farmers in the area convert from conventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since 2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
【D】All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices, grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer.
【E】Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial (微生物的) activity in the soil, helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
【F】In the grass-fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus. Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable. Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter-fat and other solids.
【G】While Maple Hill’s conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture. Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries from interested farmers.
【H】Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
【I】Though advocates portray grass-fed products as a win-win situation for all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%.
【J】And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef and dairy production, it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland. Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies, environment degradation, and decreased human health and animal welfare, grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
【K】Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed meat. Soon after launching EPIC’s most successful product—the Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar—Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed. The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
【L】But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to afford to break into the business is, “‘You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you’ll have 1,000 bison on it.’ We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
45、45. A snack bar producer discovered that the supply of purely grass-fed bison meat was scarce.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
Schools are not just a microcosm (缩影) of society; they mediate it too. The best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handle the world outside—at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances, and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright (直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime—treks in Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados—appear to have become almost routine at some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do. Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says 9 out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent. Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good case for international travel, and some parents say they can manage the cost of a school trip abroad more easily than a family holiday. Even in the face of immense and mounting financial pressures, some schools have shown remarkable determination and ingenuity in ensuring that all their pupils are able to take up opportunities that may be truly life-changing. They should be applauded. Methods such as whole-school fundraising, with the proceeds (收益) pooled, can help to extend opportunities and fuel community spirit.
But £3,000 trips cannot be justified when the average income for families with children is just over £30,000. Such initiatives close doors for many pupils. Some parents pull their children out of school because of expensive field trips. Even parents who can see that a trip is little more than a party or celebration may well feel guilt that their child is left behind.
The Department for Education’s guidance says schools can charge only for board and lodging if the trip is part of the syllabus, and that students receiving government aid are exempt from these costs. However, many schools seem to ignore the advice; and it does not cover the kind of glamorous, exotic trips, which are becoming increasingly common. Schools cannot be expected to bring together communities single-handed. But the least we should expect is that they do not foster divisions and exclude those who are already disadvantaged.
46、46. What does the author say best schools should do?
A、Prepare students to both challenge and change the divided unequal society.
B、Protect students from social pressures and enable them to face the world.
C、Motivate students to develop their physical as well as intellectual abilities.
D、Encourage students to be ambitious and help them to achieve their goals.
Schools are not just a microcosm (缩影) of society; they mediate it too. The best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handle the world outside—at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances, and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright (直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime—treks in Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados—appear to have become almost routine at some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do. Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says 9 out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent. Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good case for international travel, and some parents say they can manage the cost of a school trip abroad more easily than a family holiday. Even in the face of immense and mounting financial pressures, some schools have shown remarkable determination and ingenuity in ensuring that all their pupils are able to take up opportunities that may be truly life-changing. They should be applauded. Methods such as whole-school fundraising, with the proceeds (收益) pooled, can help to extend opportunities and fuel community spirit.
But £3,000 trips cannot be justified when the average income for families with children is just over £30,000. Such initiatives close doors for many pupils. Some parents pull their children out of school because of expensive field trips. Even parents who can see that a trip is little more than a party or celebration may well feel guilt that their child is left behind.
The Department for Education’s guidance says schools can charge only for board and lodging if the trip is part of the syllabus, and that students receiving government aid are exempt from these costs. However, many schools seem to ignore the advice; and it does not cover the kind of glamorous, exotic trips, which are becoming increasingly common. Schools cannot be expected to bring together communities single-handed. But the least we should expect is that they do not foster divisions and exclude those who are already disadvantaged.
47、47. What does the author think about school field trips?
A、They enable students from different backgrounds to mix with each other.
B、They widen the gap between privileged and disadvantaged students.
C、They give the disadvantaged students a chance to see the world.
D、They only benefit students with rich relatives and neighbours.
Schools are not just a microcosm (缩影) of society; they mediate it too. The best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handle the world outside—at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances, and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright (直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime—treks in Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados—appear to have become almost routine at some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do. Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says 9 out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent. Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good case for international travel, and some parents say they can manage the cost of a school trip abroad more easily than a family holiday. Even in the face of immense and mounting financial pressures, some schools have shown remarkable determination and ingenuity in ensuring that all their pupils are able to take up opportunities that may be truly life-changing. They should be applauded. Methods such as whole-school fundraising, with the proceeds (收益) pooled, can help to extend opportunities and fuel community spirit.
But £3,000 trips cannot be justified when the average income for families with children is just over £30,000. Such initiatives close doors for many pupils. Some parents pull their children out of school because of expensive field trips. Even parents who can see that a trip is little more than a party or celebration may well feel guilt that their child is left behind.
The Department for Education’s guidance says schools can charge only for board and lodging if the trip is part of the syllabus, and that students receiving government aid are exempt from these costs. However, many schools seem to ignore the advice; and it does not cover the kind of glamorous, exotic trips, which are becoming increasingly common. Schools cannot be expected to bring together communities single-handed. But the least we should expect is that they do not foster divisions and exclude those who are already disadvantaged.
48、48. What does the author suggest can help build community spirit?
A、Events aiming to improve community services.
B、Activities that help to fuel students’ ingenuity.
C、Events that require mutual understanding.
D、Activities involving all students on campus.
Schools are not just a microcosm (缩影) of society; they mediate it too. The best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handle the world outside—at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances, and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright (直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime—treks in Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados—appear to have become almost routine at some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do. Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says 9 out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent. Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good case for international travel, and some parents say they can manage the cost of a school trip abroad more easily than a family holiday. Even in the face of immense and mounting financial pressures, some schools have shown remarkable determination and ingenuity in ensuring that all their pupils are able to take up opportunities that may be truly life-changing. They should be applauded. Methods such as whole-school fundraising, with the proceeds (收益) pooled, can help to extend opportunities and fuel community spirit.
But £3,000 trips cannot be justified when the average income for families with children is just over £30,000. Such initiatives close doors for many pupils. Some parents pull their children out of school because of expensive field trips. Even parents who can see that a trip is little more than a party or celebration may well feel guilt that their child is left behind.
The Department for Education’s guidance says schools can charge only for board and lodging if the trip is part of the syllabus, and that students receiving government aid are exempt from these costs. However, many schools seem to ignore the advice; and it does not cover the kind of glamorous, exotic trips, which are becoming increasingly common. Schools cannot be expected to bring together communities single-handed. But the least we should expect is that they do not foster divisions and exclude those who are already disadvantaged.
49、49. What do we learn about low-income parents regarding school field trips?
A、They want their children to participate even though they don’t see much benefit.
B、They don’t want their kids to participate but find it hard to keep them from going.
C、They don’t want their kids to miss any chance to broaden their horizons despite the cost.
D、They want their children to experience adventures but they don’t want them to run risks.
Schools are not just a microcosm (缩影) of society; they mediate it too. The best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handle the world outside—at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances, and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright (直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime—treks in Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados—appear to have become almost routine at some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do. Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says 9 out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent. Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good case for international travel, and some parents say they can manage the cost of a school trip abroad more easily than a family holiday. Even in the face of immense and mounting financial pressures, some schools have shown remarkable determination and ingenuity in ensuring that all their pupils are able to take up opportunities that may be truly life-changing. They should be applauded. Methods such as whole-school fundraising, with the proceeds (收益) pooled, can help to extend opportunities and fuel community spirit.
But £3,000 trips cannot be justified when the average income for families with children is just over £30,000. Such initiatives close doors for many pupils. Some parents pull their children out of school because of expensive field trips. Even parents who can see that a trip is little more than a party or celebration may well feel guilt that their child is left behind.
The Department for Education’s guidance says schools can charge only for board and lodging if the trip is part of the syllabus, and that students receiving government aid are exempt from these costs. However, many schools seem to ignore the advice; and it does not cover the kind of glamorous, exotic trips, which are becoming increasingly common. Schools cannot be expected to bring together communities single-handed. But the least we should expect is that they do not foster divisions and exclude those who are already disadvantaged.
50、50. What is the author’s expectation of schools?
A、Bringing a community together with ingenuity.
B、Resolving the existing discrepancies in society.
C、Avoiding creating new gaps among students.
D、Giving poor students preferential treatment.
Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine (未受污染的) waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study. The study’s report states that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness, 70 percent of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds.
Co-author Céline Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France, warned “If there’re no actions aimed at halting or controlling global warming, and the pace of the current human-induced changes such as climate change and overfishing stays the same, the species may soon disappear.” The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill (磷虾) population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins. But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate ecosystems.
Le Bohec said,“Unless current greenhouse gas emissions drop, 70 percent of king penguins—1.1 million breeding pairs—will be forced to relocate their breeding grounds, or face extinction by 2100.” King penguins are the second-largest type of penguin and only breed on specific isolated islands in the Southern Ocean where there is no ice cover and easy access to the sea. As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south. This means that king penguins, which feed on fish and krill in this body of water, have to travel further to their feeding grounds, leaving their hungry chicks for longer. And as this distance between their breeding grounds and their food grows, entire colonies could be wiped out.
Le Bohec said,“The plight of the king penguin should serve as a warning about the future of the entire marine environment in the Antarctic. Penguins, like other seabirds and marine mammals, occupy higher levels in the food chain and they are what we call bio-indicators of their ecosystems.” Penguins are sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems. As such, they are key species for understanding and predicting impacts of global change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine ecosystems. The report found that although some king penguins may be able to relocate to new breeding grounds closer to their retreating food source, suitable new habitats would be scarce. Only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean are suitable for sustaining large breeding colonies.
51、51. What will happen by 2100, according to the new study?
A、King penguins in the Antarctic will be on the verge of dying out.
B、Sea water will rise to a much higher level around the Antarctic.
C、The melting ice cover will destroy the great Antarctic wilderness.
D、The pristine waters around the Antarctic will disappear forever.
Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine (未受污染的) waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study. The study’s report states that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness, 70 percent of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds.
Co-author Céline Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France, warned “If there’re no actions aimed at halting or controlling global warming, and the pace of the current human-induced changes such as climate change and overfishing stays the same, the species may soon disappear.” The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill (磷虾) population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins. But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate ecosystems.
Le Bohec said,“Unless current greenhouse gas emissions drop, 70 percent of king penguins—1.1 million breeding pairs—will be forced to relocate their breeding grounds, or face extinction by 2100.” King penguins are the second-largest type of penguin and only breed on specific isolated islands in the Southern Ocean where there is no ice cover and easy access to the sea. As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south. This means that king penguins, which feed on fish and krill in this body of water, have to travel further to their feeding grounds, leaving their hungry chicks for longer. And as this distance between their breeding grounds and their food grows, entire colonies could be wiped out.
Le Bohec said,“The plight of the king penguin should serve as a warning about the future of the entire marine environment in the Antarctic. Penguins, like other seabirds and marine mammals, occupy higher levels in the food chain and they are what we call bio-indicators of their ecosystems.” Penguins are sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems. As such, they are key species for understanding and predicting impacts of global change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine ecosystems. The report found that although some king penguins may be able to relocate to new breeding grounds closer to their retreating food source, suitable new habitats would be scarce. Only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean are suitable for sustaining large breeding colonies.
52、52. What do we learn from the findings of a separate study?
A、Shrinking krill population and rising temperatures could force Antarctic whales to migrate.
B、Human activities have accelerated climate change in the Antarctic region in recent years.
C、Industrial fishing and climate change could be fatal to certain Antarctic species.
D、Krill fishing in the Antarctic has worsened the pollution of the pristine waters.
Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine (未受污染的) waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study. The study’s report states that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness, 70 percent of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds.
Co-author Céline Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France, warned “If there’re no actions aimed at halting or controlling global warming, and the pace of the current human-induced changes such as climate change and overfishing stays the same, the species may soon disappear.” The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill (磷虾) population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins. But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate ecosystems.
Le Bohec said,“Unless current greenhouse gas emissions drop, 70 percent of king penguins—1.1 million breeding pairs—will be forced to relocate their breeding grounds, or face extinction by 2100.” King penguins are the second-largest type of penguin and only breed on specific isolated islands in the Southern Ocean where there is no ice cover and easy access to the sea. As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south. This means that king penguins, which feed on fish and krill in this body of water, have to travel further to their feeding grounds, leaving their hungry chicks for longer. And as this distance between their breeding grounds and their food grows, entire colonies could be wiped out.
Le Bohec said,“The plight of the king penguin should serve as a warning about the future of the entire marine environment in the Antarctic. Penguins, like other seabirds and marine mammals, occupy higher levels in the food chain and they are what we call bio-indicators of their ecosystems.” Penguins are sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems. As such, they are key species for understanding and predicting impacts of global change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine ecosystems. The report found that although some king penguins may be able to relocate to new breeding grounds closer to their retreating food source, suitable new habitats would be scarce. Only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean are suitable for sustaining large breeding colonies.
53、53. What does the passage say about king penguins?
A、They will turn out to be the second-largest species of birds to become extinct.
B、Many of them will have to migrate to isolated islands in the Southern Ocean.
C、They feed primarily on only a few kinds of krill in the Antarctic Polar Front.
D、The majority of them may have to find new breeding grounds in the future.
Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine (未受污染的) waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study. The study’s report states that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness, 70 percent of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds.
Co-author Céline Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France, warned “If there’re no actions aimed at halting or controlling global warming, and the pace of the current human-induced changes such as climate change and overfishing stays the same, the species may soon disappear.” The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill (磷虾) population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins. But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate ecosystems.
Le Bohec said,“Unless current greenhouse gas emissions drop, 70 percent of king penguins—1.1 million breeding pairs—will be forced to relocate their breeding grounds, or face extinction by 2100.” King penguins are the second-largest type of penguin and only breed on specific isolated islands in the Southern Ocean where there is no ice cover and easy access to the sea. As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south. This means that king penguins, which feed on fish and krill in this body of water, have to travel further to their feeding grounds, leaving their hungry chicks for longer. And as this distance between their breeding grounds and their food grows, entire colonies could be wiped out.
Le Bohec said,“The plight of the king penguin should serve as a warning about the future of the entire marine environment in the Antarctic. Penguins, like other seabirds and marine mammals, occupy higher levels in the food chain and they are what we call bio-indicators of their ecosystems.” Penguins are sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems. As such, they are key species for understanding and predicting impacts of global change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine ecosystems. The report found that although some king penguins may be able to relocate to new breeding grounds closer to their retreating food source, suitable new habitats would be scarce. Only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean are suitable for sustaining large breeding colonies.
54、54. What happens when sea levels rise in the Antarctic?
A、Many baby king penguins can’t have food in time.
B、Many king penguins could no longer live on krill.
C、Whales will invade king penguins’ breeding grounds.
D、Whales will have to travel long distances to find food.
Rising temperatures and overfishing in the pristine (未受污染的) waters around the Antarctic could see king penguin populations pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century, according to a new study. The study’s report states that as global warming transforms the environment in the world’s last great wilderness, 70 percent of king penguins could either disappear or be forced to find new breeding grounds.
Co-author Céline Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France, warned “If there’re no actions aimed at halting or controlling global warming, and the pace of the current human-induced changes such as climate change and overfishing stays the same, the species may soon disappear.” The findings come amid growing concern over the future of the Antarctic. Earlier this month a separate study found that a combination of climate change and industrial fishing is threatening the krill (磷虾) population in Antarctic waters, with a potentially disastrous impact on whales, seals and penguins. But today’s report is the starkest warning yet of the potentially devastating impact of climate change and human exploitation on the Antarctic’s delicate ecosystems.
Le Bohec said,“Unless current greenhouse gas emissions drop, 70 percent of king penguins—1.1 million breeding pairs—will be forced to relocate their breeding grounds, or face extinction by 2100.” King penguins are the second-largest type of penguin and only breed on specific isolated islands in the Southern Ocean where there is no ice cover and easy access to the sea. As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south. This means that king penguins, which feed on fish and krill in this body of water, have to travel further to their feeding grounds, leaving their hungry chicks for longer. And as this distance between their breeding grounds and their food grows, entire colonies could be wiped out.
Le Bohec said,“The plight of the king penguin should serve as a warning about the future of the entire marine environment in the Antarctic. Penguins, like other seabirds and marine mammals, occupy higher levels in the food chain and they are what we call bio-indicators of their ecosystems.” Penguins are sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems. As such, they are key species for understanding and predicting impacts of global change on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine ecosystems. The report found that although some king penguins may be able to relocate to new breeding grounds closer to their retreating food source, suitable new habitats would be scarce. Only a handful of islands in the Southern Ocean are suitable for sustaining large breeding colonies.
55、55. What do we learn about the Southern Ocean?
A、The king penguins there are reluctant to leave for new breeding grounds.
B、Its conservation is key to the sustainable propagation of Antarctic species.
C、It is most likely to become the ultimate retreat for species like the king penguin.
D、Only a few of its islands can serve as huge breeding grounds for king penguins.
三、Part IV Translation
56、 梅花（plum blossom）位居中国十大名花之首，源于中国南方，已有三千多年的栽培和种植历史。隆冬时节，五颜六色的梅花不畏严寒，迎着风雪傲然绽放。在中国传统文化中，梅花象征着坚强、纯洁、高雅，激励人们不畏艰难、砥砺前行。自古以来，许多诗人和画家从梅花中获取灵感，创作了无数不朽的作品。普通大众也都喜爱梅花，春节期间常用于家庭装饰。南京市已将梅花定为市花，每年举办梅花节，成千上万的人冒着严寒到梅花山踏雪赏梅。
参考答案：
参考译文
The plum blossom, which originated in south China and has been cultivated and planted for more than 3,000 years, ranks first among the top ten best-known flowers in China. In the middle of winter, the cold-tolerant plum blossoms of various colors bloom boldly against snowstorms. In the traditional Chinese culture, the plum blossom is a symbol of toughness, purity and elegance, which inspires people to struggle ahead without fearing hardship. Since ancient times, many poets and painters have drawn inspiration from the plum blossom and created countless immortal works. Plum blossoms are also loved by ordinary people, who often use the flowers to decorate their home during the Spring Festival. The city of Nanjing has identified plum blossom as the Flower of the City. The plum blossom festival is held every year in the city, when thousands of people travel to the Plum Blossom Hill to appreciate plum blossoms while treading on snow.
四、Part I Writing
57、Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of having a sense of community responsibility. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
参考答案：
参考范文
It is widely acknowledged that responsibility plays an essential role in our life. Considering that we all belong to various kinds of communities, a high sense of community responsibility is a virtue that we all need to have.
The reasons why we should cultivate a high sense of community responsibility are as follows. First and foremost, a high sense of community responsibility makes everyone a better person who always cares more about other people, which can help create a harmonious atmosphere of mutual support in the community. Instead, if we live in a community where people have no sense of community responsibility, we could feel isolated or helpless when asking for a favor. Last but not least, it is said that one person cannot accomplish much alone, so we can’t live without having a sense of community.
To sum up, it is vital to encourage people around us to develop a habit of having a sense of community responsibility. The community will be a better one for us to live in if every one of us can have a high sense of community responsibility.
参考译文
人们普遍认为，责任在我们的生活中起着至关重要的作用。考虑到我们都属于各种不同的社区。高度的社区责任感是我们所有人都需要具备的美好品质。
培养高度社区责任感的原因如下。首先，也是最重要的，高度的社区责任感能帮助我们成为更好的人，总是能更多地关心他人，这有助于在社区里营造一种互帮互助的和谐氛围。相反，如果在我们所生活的社区，人们都没有责任感，我们在寻求帮助时可能会感到被孤立或无助。最后，人们常说一个人的能力是有限的，所以我们在生活中必须具备社区意识。
总而言之，鼓励我们周围的人养成具备社区责任感的习惯是至关重要的。如果我们每个人都能有高度的社区责任感，社区就会变得更好。
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