英语六级（三）：段落匹配答案及解析_大学英语阅读

英语六级（三）：段落匹配答案及解析

　　Better Use of Our Finite Resources

　　Wasting food means losing not only life-supporting nutrition but also precious resources, including land, water and energy. As a global society, therefore, tackling food waste will help contribute towards addressing a number of key resource issues.

　　Land Usage: Over the last five decades, improved farming techniques and technologies have helped to significantly increase crop yields along with a 12% expansion of farmed land use. However, a further increase in farming area without impacting unfavourably on what remains of the worlds natural ecosystems appears unlikely. The challenge is that an increase in animal-based production will require more land and resources, as livestock farming demands extensive land use.

　　Water Usage: Over the past century, human use of fresh water has increased at more than double the rate of population growth. Currently about 3.8 trillion m3of water is used by humans per year. About 70% of this is consumed by the global agriculture sector, and the level of use will continue to rise over the coming decades.

　　Better irrigation can dramatically improve crop yield and about 40% of the worlds food supply is currently derived from irrigated land. However, water used in irrigation is often sourced unsustainably.In processing foods after the agricultural stage, there are large additional uses of water that need to be tackled in a world of growing demand. This is particularly crucial inthe case of meat production, where beef uses about 50 times more water than vegetables. In the future, more effective washing techniques, management procedures, and recycling and purification of water will be needed to reduce wastage.