2014届高考英语考前突破阅读理解能力：《气候变化加速了害虫的扩散》.docVIP

气候变化加速了害虫的扩散 Climate change is helping pests and diseases that attack crops to spread around the world, a study suggests. 研究发现，气候变化助长了农作物害虫和疾病的全球蔓延。 ? Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford have found crop pests are moving at an average of 3km (two miles) a year.? ? The team said they were heading towards the north and south poles, and were establishing in areas that were once too cold for them to live in. ? The research is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.? ?Currently, it is estimated that between 10% and 16% of the worlds crops are lost to disease outbreaks. The researchers warn that rising global temperatures could make the problem worse.? ? Dr Dan Bebber, the lead author of the study from the University of Exeter, said: Global food security is one of the major challenges we are going to face over the next few decades.? ? We really dont want to be losing any more of our crops than is absolutely necessary to pests and pathogens. ?Trade transport ? To investigate the problem, the researchers looked at the records of 612 crop pests and pathogens from around the world that had been collected over the past 50 years.? These included fungi, such as wheat rust, which is devastating harvests in Africa, the Middle East and Asia; insects like the mountain pine beetle that is destroying trees in the US; as well as bacteria, viruses and microscopic nematode（线虫） worms. ? Each organisms distribution was different - some butterflies and insects were shifting quickly, at about 20km a year; other bacterium species had hardly moved. On average, however, the pests had been spreading by 3km each year since 1960. ? We detect a shift in their distribution away form the equator and towards the poles, explained Dr Bebber, ? The researchers believe that the global trade in crops is mainly responsible for the movement of pests and pathogens from country to country.? ? However, the organisms can only take hold in new areas if the conditions are suitable, and th