外研版选修版高考英语大一轮复习核心素养测评三十五ModuleCloning .docVIP

精品 Word 可修改 欢迎下载 精品 Word 可修改 欢迎下载 精品 Word 可修改 欢迎下载 核心素养测评三十五 Module 5 Cloning Ⅰ. 阅读理解 A In the 1950s, Central American commercial banana growers were facing the death of their most economical product, the Gros Michel banana. Now it’s happening again to its successor—the Cavendish. With its easily transported, thick-skinned and sweet-tasting fruit, the Gros Michel banana plant dominated the plantations of Central America. United Fruit, the main grower and exporter in South America at the time, mass-produced its bananas in the most efficient way possible: it cloned shoots from the stems of plants instead of growing plants from seeds, and cultivated them in densely packed fields. Unfortunately, these conditions are also perfect for the spread of the fungus(真菌), which attacks the plant’s roots and prevents it from transporting water to the stem and leaves. The TR-1 strain of the fungus was resistant to crop sprays and travelled around on boots or the tyres of trucks, slowly infecting plantations across the region. In an attempt to escape the fungus, farmers abandoned infected fields, flooded them and then replanted crops somewhere else, often cutting down rainforest to do so. Their efforts failed. So they searched for a variety of bananas that the fungus didn’t affect. They found the Cavendish, which wasn’t as well suited to shipping as the Gros Michel, but its bananas tasted good enough to keep consumers happy. Most importantly, TR-1 didn’t seem to affect it. In a few years, United Fruit had saved itself from bankruptcy by filling its plantations with thousands of the new plants. However, the Cavendish banana itself is far from safe. In 2015, the exports of Cavendish bananas had dropped by 46 per cent thanks to a combination of another strain of the fungus, TR-4, and bad weather. Racing against the inevitable, scientists are working on solving the problem by genetically modifying the Cavendish with genes from TR-4-