Dickson Despommier, a public health professor at Columbia University in New York City developed an idea with his students nine years ago. They imagined people in cities growing crops inside a tall building. Tomatoes could grow on one floor of the skyscraper , potatoes on the next, small animals and fish on the floor above. This vertical farm, or "farmscraper", could have space for restaurants and other places that serve food, like schools or hospitals. They could serve foods that are truly locally grown. But why would anyone want to build a farm indoors in a city? Dickson Despommier believes it will become necessary. The world needs to find places to produce enough food to feed the growing population. Space, he says, is an all-important issue. The professor also points to the problems of traditional farms. They use a lot of freshwater. Their fertilizer and animal waste can pollute water resources. And their growing seasons can be limited. But inside the vertical farm, crops could grow all year. And there would be no wind to blow away soil. Farmers would not have to worry about too much or too little rain, or about hot summers, freezing winters or insects. And without insects there would be no need for chemicals to kill them. Farm machines that .use fossil fuels, like tractors, would not be needed either. And water could be recycled for drinking. "The vertical farm reuses everything, so there is no waste," says Professor Despommier. Even buildings could be saved. Old buildings could become new farms and provide jobs. The professor has been actively proposing the idea to cities as far away as Dubai and Canada. But so far it exists only in plans and drawings, and a model at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Critics say building a farmscraper would cost too much, especially considering the price of land in many cities. Dickson Despommier estimates the cost at about twenty to thirty million dollars. But he says the building would not have to be very tall. And his graduate students have found many... Those against the idea of farm scrapers argue that A) it uses too much land in cities B) it costs too much to build one C) it causes people to lose their jobs D) it exists only in unrealistic plans
B
Films provide more than just entertainment.For many people,watching English films is a way to develop language skills.While watching a film,you are immersed in the language and can pick up new expressions that you might not find in a textbook.Some difficulties can arise when watching English films--for example,unfamiliar colloquial language or strong regional accents.With this in mind,here are my tips to help you make progress in English learning while enjoying the films. Choose a film genre that you enjoy. If you like action films,watch an action film--for example Indiana Jones.If you prefer comedies,watch a comedy--anything with Hugh Grant in always provides a laugh!It's simple enough,but if you choose something you enjoy watching in your native language,you're more likely to enjoy it in English. Choose something that you are familiar with. It's best to start off with something simple because in this way you have a higher chance of understanding the film.Disney films such asThe Lion King,or the more recently releasedTangled,are classic examples.Other cartoons such as Up and The Lego Movieare also worth a watch. Ask friends for advice Perhaps you have friends who have already seen English film? If so, they may be able to recommend one. If you need to,use the English _ Subtitles are very helpful for beginners.Using subtitles in your own language is the easiest choice,but for more advanced learners why not consider using English subtitles? This way,you can match the written subtitles to the words spoken on screen.It helps you to develop your language further. One way to get the most out of English films is watching films _ . A) with a foreigner B) about familiar topics C) native speakers recommend D) without words on the screen
B
Q: A Chinese space capsule carrying three crew members has returned to Earth following a 13-day mission . Images of the capsule landing in Inner Mongolia at 10:05 local time were shown live on television. The astronauts, including China's first woman in space, carried out a successful manual docking with the Tiangong-1 laboratory module. This is a key step towards China's goal of building a space station by 2020. Premier Wen Jiabao praised it as a "complete success". "This is another outstanding contribution by the Chinese people to humanity's efforts to explore and use space," Mr Wen said in Beijing. "It feels so good to stand on Earth, and it feels even better to be home," astronaut Liu Wang was quoted by national broadcaster CCTV as saying. "Tiangong-1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant. We're very proud of our nation, " female astronaut Liu Yang said. The crew of the Shenzhou-9 craft successfully carried out the country's manual docking operation earlier in the week. The delicate procedure, which involved bringing together two orbiting objects travelling at thousands of miles an hour, was mastered by USSR and US space teams in the 1960s. The crew also carried out automatic docking of the two crafts in the process. The three astronauts returned to the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Thursday and performed a manual separation from the space laboratory. They touched down in Inner Mongolia's Siziwang county on Friday, with the capsule equipped with a parachute to slow its approach. Ms Liu, 33, is a major in China's air force from the central province of Henan. On China's Tencent QQ messaging service, she goes by the name "little Flying knight". She was selected into China's space programme only two years ago, but she did particularly well, the official news agency Xinhua says. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft was launched on 16 June. The final purpose of launching Shenzhou-9 spacecraft is _ . A) to send the first female astronaut in space B) to prepare for the foundation of a space station C) to carry out a manual docking with the Tiangong-1 D) to catch up with the first-class technology worldwide
A: B
*Question*
As students and teachers returned to school on Monday after the publication of performance ratings for 18,000 teachers, many parents said they were giving the reports serious thought. Yet there was an equal measure of skepticism among parents that test scores have any relationship with teachers' competence. Some said they already knew how good a teacher was by walking into the classroom or by monitoring their children's progress. "I'm the kind of person who likes to see for themselves," a father in Queens said. Others worried about how their fellow parents, perhaps ones _ , might respond. Will they demand a new teacher? Move their children to a new school? Elizabeth Sane, the mother of a fourth grader at the Ella Baker School, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school on the Upper East Side, said that her daughter was switched to a different teacher's class over the summer, and that it was "like adding salt to the wound" when she saw the high ratings for her daughter's previous teacher. Her daughter's teacher this year did not receive a rating because he previously taught high school. Ms. Sane said that the rating was not the only factor that influenced how she assessed a teacher's performance, but that the data used for teacher evaluations mattered. But other parents dropping their children off at the Ella Baker School said they did not trust teacher ratings based on test scores any more than they wanted their children's learning measured only by the state exams. "Some people take it as the final word, but it doesn't change who they are as teachers. The ratings aren't accurate, and the whole student testing thing needs to be thrown out," said Lydia Delgado, whose child is in the second grade. Which of the following statements is true? A) The teacher ratings were decided by the test scores of the students. B) Ms. Sane evaluated a teacher's performance only by the rating. C) Lydia Delgado didn't think the students' scores should be kept. D) To give ratings to teachers will come to an end in the near future.
**Answer**
A