There’s a revolution happening in the way that food is grown around the world. Vertical farming piles crops on top of one another in a climate controlled, indoor facility, and uses advanced technology to produce food in the most environmentally friendly way the world has ever seen.
At AeroFarms in Newark, New Jersey, crops are piled more than 30 feet high in a 30,000 square foot space. They use aeroponic(气雾栽培) technology, involving misting the roots of the plants, using an astonishing 95% less water than conventional farming methods. David Rosenberg, CEO of AeroFarms told Seeker, “Typically, in indoor growing, the roots sit in water. If we mist nutrition to the root structure, the roots have a better oxygenation(氧合作用).”
AeroFarms uses no pesticides. The plants are grown in a reusable cloth made from recycled plastic, so no soil is needed to grow them. They also use a system of specialized LED lighting instead of natural sunlight, reducing their energy footprint even further. “Many people say ‘Sunless? Wait. Plants need sun.’ Actually the plants don’t need yellow spectrum(光谱). So we reduce our energy footprint by doing things like reducing certain types of spectrum to make it function as sunlight,” Rosenberg said.
Dickson Despommier, an ecologist from Columbia University, was one of the first advocates of vertical farming. In 1999, he proposed that vertical farming could help feed our ever-growing, overpopulated cities, while using less water than current farming methods and reducing the need to transport food long-distances. Despommier likely imagined his idea would be taking shape on a global level, just 18 years later.
There are now vertical farms in Canada, Panama, Britain, and throughout America. AeroFarms is currently building another vertical farm facility in an old steel factory that’s larger than a football field. They expect it will grow up to 2 million pounds of greens every year.
Rosenberg believes that vertical farming is truly the way of the future. “It’s a tough business, but it’s one that’ll stay with a bigger and bigger impact.”
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.The development of farming. |
B.A great agricultural principle. |
C.The imagination of future agriculture. |
D.A brief introduction of vertical farming. |
A.It produces safe crops. |
B.It plants more crops without water. |
C.It saves more energy and labor. |
D.It uses misted nutrition for a better oxygenation. |
A.It is almost dark. |
B.It is similar to sunlight. |
C.It is actually natural light. |
D.It adds some yellow spectrum. |
A.Skeptical. | B.Positive. |
C.Critical. | D.Indifferent. |
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【推荐1】Robby Pepper can answer questions in Italian, English and German. He is Italy’s first robot caretaker. He is employed at a hotel on the popular Lake Garda to help answer simple, usual questions from visitors. During one of Robby’s first days, Mihail Slanina, a guest from Moldova, congratulated the robot on his skills. “He’s like a real person; he’s really good,” she said. “He talked; he shook my hand.”
Japan’s Softbank Robotics created Robby. The Italian company Jampaa programmed the robot. It can provide hotel guests with information they need, like where to find a restaurant and its hours of operation. The use of robots is growing in service industries like tourism. Most of the robots serve mainly as novelties. But they are expected to become more useful as better artificial intelligence, or AI, is developed.
The International Federation of Robotics says about 79,000 professional service robots were sold last year. The Frankfurt, Germany-based organization expects up to 25 percent sales growth each year through 2020. These artificial intelligence machines include defense robots, cleaning robots, and medical robots. In 2016, 7, 200 public relations robots like Robby Pepper were sold—a 135 percent increase from 2015 sales.
Richard Windsor is a technology businessman in London. He says the use of robots is not yet common because artificial intelligence is not complex enough. He says the proof is that the companies responsible for the two best AI systems, Google Assist and Baidu’s DuerOS, do not make robots.
Public acceptance is important to the robot industry. Experts say people in the United States and Japan seem more welcoming to robots than people do in Europe. Shoppers at a store in Scotland got one robot, Softbank’s Fabio Pepper, dismissed. Customers were not willing to talk to the robot. And a security robot at an office complex in Washington, DC made news last year when it rolled itself into a fountain and would not get out.
1. Why does the author mention Robby Pepper in Paragraph 1?A.To advertise Italy’s first robot caretaker. | B.To tell us it can complete many tasks. |
C.To tell us a well-developed robot. | D.To introduce the topic and attract the readers. |
A.Robby can find restaurants. | B.Robby are programmed in Italy. |
C.Robots are becoming more useful. | D.Robots are only useful in service industries. |
A.The use of robots is common. | B.The producer gets great profits. |
C.The robot industry has a promising future. | D.Every country is increasing its robot industry. |
A.Robby was made by Jampaa. |
B.Robots can serve in every industry. |
C.Google Assist and Baidu’s DuerOS make the best robots. |
D.There is still a long way to go for the popularity of robots. |
【推荐2】In a company blog post on Monday, Apple announced that its Apple Music streaming service would give all users access to lossless and spatial audio (空间音频)in June, 2021. Those who have the service will get these features without needing to pay more money.
Lossless audio is probably the, bigger of the two, especially for music fans. Traditionally, turning songs into MP3s or other common audio formats usually reduces sound quality. Not every part of a recording is necessary for basic listenability, so corners are cut to make sure file sizes aren't massive. As the name suggests, lossless audio gives you a version closer to what was heard in the recording studio. Apple's lossless format starts at 16 bit at 44.1 kHz and goes all the way up to24 bit at 192 kHz. You'll be able to choose your preferred quality level in the Apple Music app's settings when this feature rolls out.
Spatial audio is a little more self-explanatory. Artists can make their music sound like it's happening all around the listener, as long as they're using new AirPods or Beats headphones or the most recent versions of iPads, Macs, and iPhones. This is free of Dolby Atmos, a high-tech surround-sound format that you can find everywhere from movie theaters to home audio equipment.
Assuming lossless and spatial audio deliver on those promises, Apple can claim victory over Spotify and Tidal on price alone. The $9.99 monthly fee won't increase, unlike Spotify's upcoming HiFi plan (which doesn't have a confirmed price yet) and Tidal's existing $ 19.99 monthly lossless plan. That's definitely a noteworthy blow in the music streaming war.
1. What can be learned about Apple's lossless audio?A.It costs more money. |
B.It has been in wide use. |
C.It takes no storage space. |
D.It offers high quality music. |
A.Types of headphones. |
B.Features of Spatial audio. |
C.iPhones versions. |
D.Audio equipment. |
A.To increase market competition. |
B.To stress Apple's advantage. |
C.To tell the importance of music. |
D.To introduce Apple's new product. |
A.Apple Releases New iPhones |
B.Music Platforms Fight Fairly |
C.Music Lovers Feed Their Ears |
D.Apple Music Offers New Services |
【推荐3】From self-driving cars to deep sea explorers, more and more of humans’ tasks are being taken over by robots. But technology doesn’t stop there. In mid-August, reported the BBC, scientists from Cambridge University developed a robotic system that meant a robot could “build other robots, each one better than the previous(以前的) generation”.
The BBC noted that “those concerned about machines taking over the world shouldn’t worry”.
However, over 1,000 scientists and numerous artificial intelligence (AI, 人工智能) researchers-including UK astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak of the US-brought the danger of fully autonomous weapons(自主武器), known as “killer robots”, to our attention earlier this summer.
“If any major military(军事的) power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is inevitable(不可避免的),” warned an open letter released at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Unlike drones(无人机), which need a human hand, this kind of robot would have some decision-making abilities and the ability to act by itself. While what the BBC called these “solders that never sleep” could help reduce battlefield deaths, they might also make countries more likely to go into battle, which would lead to more deaths overall, noted the scientists. The risks, they said, could be far greater than those posed by nuclear weapons.
Scientists called for a “ban on offensive(攻击性的) autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control”, reported The Huffington Post.
In fact, in an interview with the BBC in 2014, Hawking warned that the “development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race”.
And according to the BBC, many leading thinkers have been thinking about the AI-powered killing machine of the not-too-distant future. “Killer robots could be here within years, not decades,” as Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, US, put it.
Authorities are gradually waking up to the risk of robot wars. Last May, for the first time, the United Nations brought governments together to begin talks on so-called killer robots in a hope of stopping such weapons while there is still time.
Meanwhile, there are scientists who are less worried. They believe all technologies have potential(潜力) for being used for good and evil ends, and argue that the ban called for by the open letter could close the door to developing AI technology that could save lives. “Technology can clearly do better than human beings in many cases,” Ronald Arkin, dean at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, US, told The Christian Science Monitor. “If we are willing to turn over some of our decision making to these machines, we may actually get better outcomes.”
1. What does Steve Wozniak think the future robot technology might produce?A.Artificial Intelligence. | B.Autonomous weapons. |
C.Soldiers that never sleep. | D.Killing machines. |
A.cause | B.prevent |
C.reach | D.change |
A.Killer robots will visit UC Berkeley, US sooner than expected. |
B.Killer robots will be produced and used sooner than expected. |
C.Killer robots will speed up the development of AI in the near future. |
D.Killer robots will kill these scientists in the near future. |
A.More and more of humans’ tasks are being taken over by robots. |
B.Robots have decision-making abilities and the ability to act by itself. |
C.Scientists called for a ban on the development of robot technology. |
D.All technologies have potential for being used for good and evil ends. |
【推荐1】Climate change disproportionately affects the world’s most vulnerable people, particularly poor rural communities that depend on the land for their livelihoods and coastal populations throughout the tropics. We have already seen a chain of tough suffering that results from extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, and more.
For remedies, advocates and politicians have tended to look toward cuts in fossil-fuel use or technologies to capture carbon before it enters the atmosphere – both of which are crucial. But this focus has overshadowed the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon capture technology in the world. Recent research confirms that forests are absolutely essential in reducing climate change, thanks to their ability to absorb and isolate carbon. In fact, natural climate solutions such as conservation and restoration of forests, along with improvements in land management, can help us achieve 37 percent of our climate target of limiting warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, even though they currently receive only 2.5 percent of public climate financing.
Forests’ power to store carbon dioxide is staggering: one tree can store an average of about 48 pounds in one year. Intact (完整的) forests could take in the CO2 emissions of some entire countries.
For this reason, policymakers and business leaders must create and enforce policies to prevent deforestation, foster reforestation of degraded land, and promote the sustainable management of standing forests in the fight against climate change. Protecting the world’s forests ensures they can keep performing essential functions such as producing oxygen, filtering water and supporting biodiversity. Not only does the world’s entire population depend on forests to provide clean air, clean water, oxygen and medicines, but l.6 billion people also rely on them directly for their livelihoods.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of forest continues to be converted into agricultural land to produce a handful of resource-intensive commodities — despite zero-deforestation commitments from companies and governments. So now is the time to increase forest protection and restoration. This action will also address a number of other pressing global issues. For example, in less developed and rural areas — especially in the tropics — community-based forest-management programs can forge pathways out of poverty. In the Petén region of Guatemala, for instance, community-managed forests boasted a near-zero deforestation rate from 2000 through 2013, as compared with 12 percent in nearby protected areas and buffer (缓冲) zones. These communities have built low-impact, sustainable forest-based businesses that have stimulated the economy of the region enough to fund the creation of local schools and health services. Their success is especially noticeable in a location where, outside these community-managed zones, deforestation rates have increased 20-fold.
1. Which of the following statements about natural climate solutions is TRUE according to the passage?A.They are the only effective strategies available to address the climate change. |
B.They are not effective compared with the reduction in fossil-fuel use or technologies. |
C.They can and should play a more important role in cutting carbon emissions. |
D.They manage to limit warming to two degrees Celsius above preindustrial level. |
A.immediate | B.incredible | C.unsteady | D.modest |
A.The policies to prevent deforestation have taken effect. |
B.Developed countries are hit the hardest by climate change. |
C.Economic growth contributes a lot to reducing deforestation. |
D.Some governments fail to keep their promises to preserve forests. |
A.Keeping forests undamaged can go a long way toward saving the planet. |
B.A high-tech climate fix is required to dramatically lessen global warming. |
C.Governments should work together with businesses to stop deforestation. |
D.Sustainable management of forests is crucial in powering economic development. |
【推荐2】Emissions Trading Systems—carbon pricing policy instruments for carbon emissions reduction—have become very popular in recent years. Under a typical ETS, a central authority allocates emissions permits to enterprises and requires them to submit permits equal to their emissions for compliance at the end of a “compliance cycle”. Enterprises that are short of permits can purchase them from the permit market, creating a carbon price signal that is crucial to reducing emissions cost-effectively.
Unlike a typical ETS in the developed countries that imposes a hard emissions cap, the main feature of China’s national ETS is its permit allocation rules that guarantee carbon policy stringency without introducing strong adverse shocks to economic growth. China’s national ETS is so far a rate-based system—the permit allocation in each sector is based on the companies’ actual output levels and a corresponding “benchmark” (emissions-output ratio) that matches an appropriate emissions intensity reduction target in that sector. For example, if a plant’s emissions intensity exceeds its predetermined benchmark, it will face an allowance deficit and need to buy permits for compliance. Conversely, a plant with relatively low emissions intensity can sell surplus permits.
China’s national ETS has been in operation for a year now. It has made progress on multiple fronts.
First, the institutional framework has been formed. The National Measures for the Administration of Carbon Emission Trading (Trial), released in December 2020, has provided a regulatory basis. It has been supplemented by additional technical documents for permit registration, trading, settlement, permit allocation, and emissions reporting for the power generation sector. All these directives have gradually formed a “1+N emissions trading policy system”.
Second, infrastructure for the system has been established. The National Carbon Emissions Permits Registry in Wuhan (responsible for recording permit holdings, modifications, payments, and retirements) and the National Carbon Emissions Exchange in Shanghai (serving as a permit exchange) have been operating smoothly.
Lastly, for the monitoring, reporting, and verification of emissions, enterprises have been encouraged to take “on-site” measurements of their coal consumption, significantly improving the integrity of China’s carbon emissions data.
Although there have been important milestones for China’s national ETS in its first year, several challenges were also encountered. There is still no official roadmap for future sectoral coverage. Trading was very much concentrated just ahead of the compliance date, which reveals a less active market which limits price discovery. Risk control regarding data quality still needs to be improved, given that some data manipulation cases were detected.
A medium-and long-term development roadmap is very much needed for China’s ETS. Higher-level legislative support to strengthen market supervision and penalties for non-compliance are also necessary. With regard to the permit allocation, China’s national ETS needs to continuously tighten the benchmarks under a rate-based design and carefully plan a transition to a mass-based system to introduce a clear cap for covered emissions. Moreover, auctioning needs to be introduced to reduce free permit allocation and facilitate price discovery. In the next few years, China’s national ETS is expected to expand from the power sector to multiple industries and eventually to cover more than 8,000 companies, whose emissions account for 70 percent of China’s energy-related emissions. We are confident that a full-fledged national ETS can help China achieve its “dual-carbon” goals and lead the development of a global carbon pricing regime in the near future.
1. Which of the following statements best describes ETS?A.A market providing stage for emissions permits trade. |
B.An approach encouraging alleviation of carbon emissions. |
C.An implement marking the innovation of China’s ecological administration. |
D.A system confining industries’ carbon emissions. |
A.The ETS was first raised by China all around the world. |
B.Industries cannot release carbon exceeding the allocated permits under the ETS. |
C.In China the ETS is only adopted within the power sector for now. |
D.The permit allocation for each company depends on its producing capability under the ETS. |
A.It possesses more flexibility as opposed to western ones. |
B.It shows great resilience before economic shocks. |
C.It complies with the market principles. |
D.It may bring more incomes to the companies. |
A.The ETS: Insight And Outlook |
B.The ETS: Reduce Carbon Emissions |
C.The ETS: A Milestone Of Ecological Administration |
D.The ETS: Permits Can Be Bought |
【推荐3】Scientific reports show the destructive effects of climate change, but many scientists say it is important to remain positive. If the world continues to change, don’t give up, and we can still prevent some of the worst effects of climate change.
Recently, however, many scientists are dealing with the feeling of doom about climate change or “doomism.” Jacquelyn Gill is a climate scientist at the University of Maine. She says that around 2018 she noticed an increase in these “doomers,” or people who think that saving the earth is hopeless. They refuse to change their behavior or consider how they can work to prevent climate change.
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published its third report. This report explained the damage caused by the burning of traditional fuels, like oil and coal. New investments in traditional fuels and removal of forests for farming are preventing the world from helping stop climate change.
Anderson is the Environment Program Director for the United Nations. She says officials are trying to get people to take action because there is a climate crisis. Their goal is not to scare people into doing nothing.
“We are not doomed, but rapid action is absolutely essential. With every month or year that we delay action, climate change becomes more complex, expensive and difficult to overcome,” Andersen said.
The UN IPCC report stated that without fast and extreme measures to cut carbon pollution, the world is not likely to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The global temperature has already increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius. After 1.5 degrees, climate change will quickly worsen causing environment to be in danger. It will cause an increase in weather disasters.
James Skea is a leader from the UN IPCC Report. “We don’t fall over the cliff at 1.5 degrees. Even if we were to go beyond 1.5, it doesn’t mean we throw up our hands in despair,” Skea said.
Michael Mann is a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. He says that scientists used to think Earth would continue to warm decades after we balance emissions. Balancing emissions to net zero means not creating more carbon in the atmosphere than oceans and forests can remove. New research suggests that it will only take a few years to decrease carbon levels in the air after we balance emissions.
1. What is the writer’s attitude towards climate change?A.Optimistic. | B.Pessimistic. | C.Cautious. | D.Objective. |
A.The change of people’s behaviors. |
B.The damage caused by human activities. |
C.The sharp increase in number of doomers. |
D.The measures to help stop climate change. |
A.The significance of UNIPCC third report. |
B.The difficulties of decreasing carbon levels. |
C.Scientists’ optimistic attitude towards climate change. |
D.The need to take immediate actions against climate change. |