专限时训练(二十七)[史地常识型阅读理解(一)]
(限时:25分钟)
(一)
Even plant can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared (红外线)scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide (杀虫剂)spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don’t have pest (害虫)problems.
Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a colorcoded map showing where plants were running “fevers”. Farmers could then spotspray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley’s company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and longterm backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. “This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States,” says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
【2012高考二轮英语复习专题(广东专用)27 史地常识型阅读理解(1)】相关文章:
★ 【三维设计】2017届高考英语(江苏专用)二轮复习阅读理解解题技法示范课件:9
★ 贵州省贵阳市2014高考英语(新人教版)一轮阅读训练(40)附答案
★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习大题冲关秘籍阅读理解七选五:创新押题(含解析)
★ 【三维设计】2017届高考英语(江苏专用)二轮复习阅读理解解题技法示范课件:4
★ 【三维设计】2017届高考英语(江苏专用)二轮复习阅读理解解题技法示范课件:6
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(4)附答案
★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮(精品)训练题(17)附答案
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(14)附答案
最新
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-21
2017-04-21