Charlotte Hollins faces a battle. The 23-year-old British farmer and her 21-year-old brother Ben are fighting to save farm that their father worked on since he was 14. Although confident they will succeed, she is aware of farming's many challenges. "You don't often get a day off. Supermarkets put a lot of pressure on farmers to keep prices low. With fewer people working on farms it can be isolating," she said. "There is a high rate of suicide and farming will never make you rich!" Like others around the world, Charlotte's generation tend to leave the farm for cities. Oliver Robinson, 25, grew up in Yorkshire. But he never considered staying on his father and grandfather's land. "I'm sure Dad hoped I'd stay," he said. "I guess it's a nice, straightforward life, but it doesn't appeal to me. For young, ambitious people, farm life is hard." For Robinson, farming doesn't offer much "in terms of money or lifestyle". Hollins agrees that economic factors stop people from enjoying the rewards of farming. He describes it as a career that provides "for a vital human need", allowing people to work "outdoors with nature." Farming is a big political issue in the UK. The "Buy British" campaigns urge consumers not to purchase cheaper imported foods. The 2001 foot and mouth crisis closed thousands of farms, stopped meat exports, and raised public consciousness about the troubles on UK farms. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's 2005 campaign to get children eating healthily also highlighted the issue. This national concern gives hope to farmers competing with powerful supermarkets. While most people buy food from the big supermarkets, hundreds of independent Farmers' Markets are becoming popular. "I started going to Farmers' Markets in direct defiance of the big supermarkets. I seriously objected to the super-sizing of everything-what exactly do they put on our apples to make them so big and red? It's terrible," said Londoner Michaela Samson, 31. Why did Oliver Robinson refuse to stay on the farm? A) He hoped for a simpler life B) He was fed up with a hard farm life. C) Farm life was too demanding though he liked it. D) He hoped for something challenging and rewarding.
D
Are you a volcano lover? Here is a list of some of the world's most beautiful volcanoes that our travel agency can offer you to visit. Don't miss them! Mount Mayon, the Philippines Located about 450 km southeast of Manila on the island of Luzon, Mount Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines; a September 2014 eruption forced thousands to flee the area. Those who hike the volcano are rewarded with views of the towns in the Albay province and the Pacific Ocean. But even those who prefer the view from a distance have a historical good point at the Cagsawa Ruins, once an 18th Century Franciscan church that was destroyed by an 1814 eruption. Kilauea and Marina Kea, Hawaii Hawaii's volcanoes are known for their active eruptions and extraordinary scenes. Mauna Kea is around one million years old, while Kilauea is the youngest volcano in Hawaii and has been erupting continuously since 1983. The lava falls straight into the sea, creating fantastic forms of black rocks and smoke clouds. Mount Kelimutu, Indonesia Kelimutu's three mysterious crater lakes attract both scientists and tourists to the island of Flores in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province. One is emerald green , another dark red, and the third pitch black. Scientists say the lakes take on such colors because the volcanic gases met the lakes' minerals centuries ago. The colors of Kelimutu's three mysterious crater lakes are due to _ . A) water pollution B) different environments C) chemical reaction D) different temperatures
C
Q: Watching bison up close is fascinating, like watching a grass fire about to leap out of control. With their huge, wedge-shaped heads and silver-dollar-size brown eyes, the 2,000-pound animals are symbols of another place and time. More than 100 bison now roam the 30,000-acre American Prairie Reserve in eastern Montana -- the first time they've inhabited that region in a century. Direct descendants of the tens of millions of bison that once populated the Western plains, they represent an epic effort: to restore a piece of America's prairie to the national grandeur that Lewis and Clark extolled two centuries ago. During that famous expedition across the Western states to the Pacific, the two explorers encountered so many bison that they had to wait hours for one herd to pass. In order to protect what's here and reintroduce long-gone wildlife (something the World Wildlife Fund is helping with), the American Prairie Foundation began purchasing land from local ranchers in 2004. It now owns 30,000 acres and has grazing privileges on another 57,000. Its goal over the next 25 years is to assemble three million acres, the largest area of land devoted to wildlife management in the continental United States. Already, herds of elk, deer, and pronghorn antelope roam the grasslands, where visitors can camp, hike, and bike. Cottonwoods and willows are thriving along streams, creating habitats for bobcats, beavers, and other animals. Not everyone shares APF's vision. Some residents of Phillips County (pop. 3,904) worry that the area could become a prairie Disneyland, overcrowded with tourists. But the biggest obstacle is the ranchers themselves, whose cattle compete with prairie dogs and bison for grass and space. "People like me have no intention of selling their ranches," says Dale Veseth, who heads the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance of 35 families in Phillips County and whose family has been ranching here since 1886. "They've been a labor of love through the generations." Instead, he wants APF to pay or ranchers to raise... Which would be the best title for this passage? A) The exciting scenery in eastern Montana B) Great changes in raising bison in America C) The return of the American prairie D) The challenge in protecting the grassland
A: C
Q: Loved and hated, but never boring. That is what people say of American writer Norman Mailer, who died late last year at the age of 84. He was the author of some of the greatest books of the 20th century. But Mailer will be remembered as much for his personality as for his writing. He was rude and bad-tempered. He violently attacked other authors and even wounded one of his six wives. However, this never stopped Mailer from being successful. People always wanted to read his books. His provocative writing style and willingness to deal with difficult subjects made his books bestsellers. "He was willing to take risks with just about everything," says the author Gore Vidal. "He had a radical imagination, a way of approaching subjects that was never boring." In a career that lasted six decades, Mailer wrote about a wide variety of subjects from history and politics to sport and celebrities. But he was most famous for writing novels and he twice won the Pulitzer Prize. His best book was The Naked and the Dead, a story about the tensions between American soldiers fighting Japan in World War II. Drawn on his own experiences as a soldier, it is a study of men at war examining their cruelty and bravery. Mailer's brilliance as an author was his ability to capture human behavior. He did so through interesting characters, realistic dialogue and rich descriptions. The author William F. Buckley said, "He created the most beautiful metaphors in the English." Mailer leaves behind more than 40 books as his literary legacy . However, he never achieved his life's goal. He wanted to write what he called the "big one", the greatest novel ever written about America. Well, at least it wasn't for a lack of trying. According to the passage,_. A) Norman Mailer was loved by all people B) Norman Mailer wounded other authors C) Norman Mailer wasn't successful D) Norman Mailer wrote many great books
A: D