2008年考研英语阅读理解冲刺重点预测25篇（第九篇）

The idea that shopping is the new politics is certainly seductive. You probably go shopping several times a month, providing yourself with lots of opportunities to express your opinions. If you are worried about the environment, you might buy organic food; if you want to help poor farmers,you can do your bit by buying Fairtrade products; or you can express a dislike of evil multinational companies and rampant globalisation by buying only local produce.
Sadly, it's not that easy. There are good reasons to doubt the claims made about three of the most popular varieties of “ethical” food: organic food, Fairtrade food and local food. People who want to make the world a better place cannot do so by shifting their shopping habits: transforming the planet requires duller disciplines, like politics.

Organic food, which is grown without man-made
pesticides and fertilisers, is generally assumed to be more environmentally friendly than conventional intensive farming. However, farming is
inherently bad for the environment: since humans took it up around 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation on a massive scale. But following the “green revolution” of the 1960s greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain yields with very little increase in the area of land under cultivation. Organic methods,which rely on crop rotation, manure and compost in place of fertiliser, are far less intensive. So producing the
world's current agricultural output organically would require several times as much land as is currently cultivated. There wouldn't be much room left for the rainforest.
Fairtrade food is designed to raise poor farmers' incomes. It is
sold at a higher price than ordinary food, with a
subsidy passed back to the farmer. But prices of
agricultural commodities are low because of overproduction. By
propping up the price, the Fairtrade system encourages farmers to
produce more of these commodities rather than diversifying into
other crops and so depresses prices—thus achieving, for most
farmers, exactly the opposite of what the initiative is intended to
do. And since only a small fraction of the
mark-up on Fairtrade foods actually goes to the farmer—most goes
to the retailer—the system gives rich consumers an
inflated impression of their largesse
and makes alleviating poverty seem too easy.
Surely the case for local food, produced as close as possible to
the consumer in order to minimise “food miles” and, by extension,
carbon emissions, is clear? Surprisingly, it is not.
A study of Britain's food system found that nearly half of
food-vehicle miles (ie, miles travelled by vehicles carrying food)
were driven by cars going to and from the shops. Most people live
closer to a supermarket than a farmer's market, so more local food
could mean more food-vehicle miles. Moving food around in big,
carefully packed lorries, as supermarkets do, may in
fact be the most efficient way to transport the stuff.
What's more, once the energy used in production as well as
transport is taken into account, local food may turn out to be even
less green. Producing lamb in New Zealand and shipping it to
Britain uses less energy than producing British lamb, because
farming in New Zealand is less energy-intensive. And since the
local-food movement looks suspiciously like old-fashioned
protectionism masquerading as concern for the
environment, helping poor countries is presumably not the
point.
注（1）：本文选自Economist，12/07/2006
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1~3题模仿2000年真题Text
1第1~3题；第4~5题分别模仿1999年真题Text 1第4题和Text 4第4题。

1．In the author’s eyes, the view of seeing shopping as a
political event is _______.
  [A] very helpful
     not
practical
    [C]
simply nonsense
    [D] quite
harmful

2． According to the author, what may be the chief reason the
disadvantage of organic food?
  [A] It cannot yield enough food
     It is
involved with some kind of political event.
    [C] It is
directly responsible for the global deforestation.
    [D] It is
not necessarily environment-friendly.

3．Which of the following is TRUE according to the author?
  [A] Most benefit from fair-trade fool goes to
farmers.
    
Fairtrade food encourages farmers to grow as many different
produces as possible.
[C] Fairtrade food fails to fulfill its original design.
    [D]
Fairtrade food can effectively involve consumers to help reduce
poverty.

4．The author’s attitude towards the issue of local food seems
to be _______.

  [A] approving
    
objective
    [C]
indifferent
    [D]
ironic

5． It could be inferred from the text that _______.
    [A] local
food might increase, instead of decrease, carbon emissions.
    
fairtrade food can encourage people to be more generous.
    [C] local
food helps to save energy used in transportation.
    [D] local
food aims against the practice of trade protectionism.


篇章剖析
本文是一篇议论文，主要讨论了所谓的三种“道德食品”——有机食品、公平贸易食品和本地食品——实际上并没有起到积极的作用，反而是消极的作用。第一段简单说明了对于这三种食品的普遍想法；第二段分析了有机食品对于农业发展的负面作用；第三段分析了“公平贸易食品”的不公平性；第四、五段通过分析和实际例子说明了所谓的本地食品只是贸易保护主义的幌子。