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课时作业25　First aid Ⅰ.阅读理解 Saving the planet one plateful at a time does not mean cutting back on meat, according to new research: the trick may be to switch our diet to insects. The raising of livestock such as cows, pigs and sheep occupies two-thirds of the worlds farmland and produces 20% of all the greenhouse gases driving global warming. As a result, the United Nations wants to reduce the amount of meat we eat and the search is on for alternatives. Professor Arnold van Huis says eating insects has advantages. “There is a meat crisis，” he said. “The world population will grow from six billion now to nine billion by 2050 and we know people are consuming more meat. Twenty years ago the average was 20kg, it is now 50kg, and will be 80kg in 20 years. If we continue like this we will need another Earth.” “Most of the world already eats insects，” he points out. “It is only in the western world that we dont. Psychologically we have a problem with it. I dont know why, as we eat shrimps, which are very comparable.” The advantages of this diet include insects high levels of protein, vitamin and mineral content. Being cold-blooded, insects change plant matter into protein extremely efficiently. In addition, the health risks are lower. He acknowledges that in_the_west_eating_insects_is_a_hard_sell，“It is very important how you prepare them, you have to do it very nicely, to overcome the yuk factor.” Durst helped set up an insect farming project FAO project in Laos. This involves transferring the skills of the 15,000 household locust farmers in Thailand across the border. “There were some supporters of a bigger dairy industry in Laos to improve a calcium deficiency, ”says Durst.“But this is crazy when most Asians are lactose (乳糖) intolerant.” Locusts and crickets are calcium-rich and 90% of people in Laos have eaten insects at some point. Durst says the project will be to increase the eating of insects where this is already accepted but has been in decline due to western cultu