2 . With egg shortages already a familiar sight on supermarket shelves, farmers are warning that vegetables and grains could be next, because environmental plans take out large areas of land that are used for food production.

Stephen Holt, who owns 670 acres in Northamptonshire, said farmers were being incentivized (刺激) by the government subsidy to reduce food production in favour of wildlife. He has signed up to an environmental plan which is being carried out in England under the concept of “public money for public goods”.

“Instead of 1,300 tonnes of product, we will produce 900 tonnes of product from our farm,” Holt said. Under the new plan, his input costs will be reduced and he will be paid a guaranteed (有保证的) sum.

“In my view, the huge danger is that there will be a serious decrease in agricultural output,” he said. “We are not helping but we can't have the whole food system of the UK on our shoulders, because everyone has to act in their individual best interests.”

James Williams, who farms in Oxfordshire, said the environmental plans will reduce the risks in his farm business and that he will not be affected by the weather and international markets. “It does mean that we will be taking perhaps 30 per cent of our wheat land out of production for a season or two, or more,” he said. “What has not been mentioned is that if some disaster fell and our imports were disrupted (扰乱), growing wheat to produce bread could not be turned on like a tap. It will take several years and a significant increase in prices to get production back up to today’s levels.”

The UK produces about 60 per cent of its food consumption, including the majority of grains, meat, dairy and eggs. However, seasonal labour shortages have led many British farm businesses to reduce their production by as much as 20-30 per cent since 2020. Egg production has dropped to its lowest level in nine years.

Liz Webster, a farmer in north Wiltshire, said, “There just doesn't seem to be any thought or concern for food security and food supply. They’ve just left it up to the supermarkets.” The farmers’ concerns include imported food produced in countries with lower welfare (福利) standards, and labelling of food origins. “These imports are packaged here, and if they’re packaged or processed here they can have a British flag, which is absolutely dishonest,” Webster said.

7 . I did not discover I could not read until after I had left college. I found it out only _________ tried to teach others how to read.

As a student, I had read all the books I was now going to teach but, being very young and _________ I decided to read them again just to brush up each week for class. To my growing _________. I discovered that the books which I thought I had “_________” thoroughly were almost brand new to me.

As time went on, I found out not only that I did not know very much about any of these books, but also that I did not know how to read them very well. To _________ my ignorance (无知) and incapacity, I did what any young teacher might do who was_________ of both his students and his job. I used secondary sources, encyclopedias (百科全书), commentaries, all sorts of books about these books. In that way, I thought, I would _________ to know more than the students. They wouldn’t be able to tell that my questions or points did not come from my better reading of the book they too were _________ .

Fortunately for me I was found out, or else I might have been _________ with getting by as a teacher just as I had got by as a student. My good fortune __________ the particular group of students who formed that first class. They knew how to use the secondary __________, encyclopedia, or a commentary, or the editor’s introduction, just as well as I did. One of them, who has __________ fame as a critic, was particularly outstanding. He took endless delight in __________ various aspects about the book, which could be __________ from secondary sources, always to show me and the rest of the class that the book itself __________ remained to be discussed.

After the first year of teaching, I had few illusions (错觉) left about my literacy.

8 . When I was a kid, I took traveling with my parents for granted. Sure, they paid for everything. But they were basically no different from teachers taking us to a field trip.     1    . For example, they took us to Denali National Park instead of Disney World. And we sometimes stayed at hotels without pools. And they never let us buy anything from the SkyMall catalog (目录).

Of course, some 20 years later, I consider traveling with my parents, now both in their 60s, to be the utmost privilege.     2    . Neither am I, and every day that passes brings us closer to our last. Fortunately, since graduating college, I’ve been able to cover some serious ground with each of them.

Together my dad and I have looked for the Loch Ness monster in Scotland, photographed wildlife in Grand Teton National Park, and most recently, survived the famously dangerous Drake Passage. Meanwhile, my mom and I have stayed at a $9/night treehouse hostel in Mexico, eaten at a Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant in Vienna, and most recently, road-tripped through three states.

    3    . After all, even if you’re the apple that fell right under the tree, traveling with the people who raised you isn’t always easy. “    4    ,” says Alexis Sherry, a New Jersey-based travel agent. Still, Sherry is seeing an increasing number of clients requesting vacations for more than one generation. They can be difficult to plan, but so far she says she’s had no “disasters,” and often, her clients come back closer than ever.

“Our parents are our earliest attachment bonds,” says Katie d’ Autremont, a licensed professional adviser based in Bozeman, Montana. “It can be healing and fun to rekindle that bond in our adult years and as our adult selves.” She sees traveling together as the perfect opportunity for getting to know each other for who we are now, with “now” being the key word.     5    .

10 . Mica came into my life in 2012. When I heard that a _________ dog had been dumped by her family at a shelter, I turned to Iske. “Look,” I said, “a dog your age, _________ at the shelter. Can we adopt her?” Iske’s tail thumped (击打). Her approval _________ a lot.

After all, I may have adopted Iske, but actually she’s the one that rescued me—through a heartbreaking _________ and single parenthood, Iske had been my rock. _________, I learned from Iske, is a two-way street. And now it was time to _________

A few e-mails and a transport miracle later, Mica arrived. Unlike Iske, Mica had a tough time adjusting—She refused to be _________, walking away from all affection. She missed her family, _________ as it was. We loved her and hoped her heart would _________ enough to let us in.

After a few weeks of training and bonding, I decided to take her for a short hike. She had __________ her name and came when I called her, so I weighed the risk against the joy hiking might bring her. I made the decision.

As soon as I took off the leash (狗绳) in the forest, she __________, leaping over logs along the trail. At the lookout, she posed upon a rock and __________ the layers of hills dropping away towards New Jersey and beyond. Obviously, hiking gave her joy to be __________ and running free.

After that, we committed ourselves to completing the highest 35 mountains in the Catskill region. It would have been amazing for any dog to hike at this level of __________, but Mica bravely conquered those mountains at age twelve. From a pitiful creature on the end of a __________ to barking upon the summit of Mountains, Mica’s spirit has shown me just what a miracle is.