英语阅读二6-10.doc

————————————————————Text 6 KEEPING FOOD ON THE TABLE It’s early August and the countryside appears peaceful. Planting庄稼 has long been finished and the fields are alive with strong, healthy crops. Soybeans and wheat are flourishing under the hot summer sun, and the corn, which was 搆nee-high by the fourth of July”, is now well over six feet tall. Herds of dairy and beef cattle are grazing peacefully in rolling pastures which surround big, red barns and neat, white farmhouses. Everything as far as the eye can see radiates a sense of prosperity. Welcome to the Midwest梠ne of the most fertile agricultural regions of the world.a八月上旬，乡间田野呈现出一派宁静的景象。春耕播种早已结束，地里的庄稼在茁壮成长，大地充满了微生机。大豆小麦在夏日的骄阳下长势喜人。在７月４日国庆时，玉米还高不没膝，而现在已有六英尺多高了。成群的奶牛和菜牛在绵延起伏的草场上安静地啃食青草，在牧场的中间座落着几栋红色大牲口棚和几幢整洁的白色住房。放眼望去，到处都展现着繁荣的景象。欢迎到中西部来――这里是全世界最富饶的农业地区之一。 The tranquility of the above scene is misleading. Farmers in the Midwest put in some of the longest workdays of any profession in the United States. In addition to caring for their crops and livestock, they have to keep up with new farming techniques, such as those for combating soil erosion and increasing livestock production. It is essential that farmers adopt these advances in technology if they want to continue to meet the growing demands of a hungry world.上面所描述的宁静景象会使人产生错觉。其实中西部的农民在美国所有的职业中投入的工作量最大。除了照料庄稼和牲畜外，他们还得跟上最新的农业技术，比如防止土壤侵蚀的技术、增加牲畜产量的技术。如果农民想继续满足这个充满饥饿的世界日益增长的食品需求，那他们采用这些先进技术就是至为关键的。 Agriculture is the number one industry in the United States and agricultural products are the country’s leading export. American farmers manage to feed not only the total population of the United States, but also millions of other people throughout the rest of the world. Corn and soybean exports alone account for approximately 75 percent of the amount sold in world markets.农业是美国的第一产业，农产品是美国的主要出口产品。美国农民不但要努力为本国所有人提供食品，而且还要为世界其他地区百万人提供食品。仅玉米和大豆两项出口产品就大约占世界市场销售总量的75％。 This productivity, however, has its price. Intensive cultivation exposes the earth to the damaging fo