plates of larger size.
60. What does the last paragraph talk about? A. Tips to attract more customers. B. Problems restaurants are faced with.
C. Ways to improve restaurants’ reputation. D. Common misunderstandings about restaurants.
C
If you want to disturb the car industry, you’d better have a few billion dollars: Mom-and-pop carmakers are unlikely to beat the biggest car companies. But in agriculture, small farmers can get the best of the major players. By connecting directly with customers, and by responding quickly to changes in the markets as well as in the ecosystems (生态系统), small farmers can keep one step ahead of the big guys. As the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC, 美国青 年农会) and a family farmer myself, I have a front-row seat to the innovations among small farmers that are transforming the industry.
For example, take the Quick Cut Greens Harvester, a tool developed just a couple of years ago by a young farmer, Jonathan Dysinger, in Tennessee, with a small loan from a local Slow Money group. It enables small-scale farmers to harvest 175 pounds of green vegetables per hour — a huge improvement over harvesting just a few dozen pounds by hand — suddenly making it possible for the little guys to compete with large farms of California. Before the tool
came out, small farmers couldn’t touch the price per pound offered by California farms. But now, with the combination of a better price point and a generally fresher product, they can stay in business.
The sustainable success of small farmers, though, won’t happen without fundamental changes to the industry. One crucial factor is secure access to land. Competition from investors, developers, and established large farmers makes owning one’s own land unattainable for many new farmers. From 2004 to 2013, agricultural land values doubled, and they continue to rise in many regions.
Another challenge for more than a million of the most qualified farm workers and managers is a non-existent path to citizenship — the greatest barrier to building a farm of their own. With farmers over the age of 65 outnumbering (多于) farmers younger than 35 by six to one, and with two-thirds of the nation’s farmland in need of a new farmer, we must clear the path for talented people willing to grow the nation’s food.
There are solutions that could light a path toward a more sustainable and fair farm economy, but farmers can’t clumsily put them together before us. We at the NYFC need broad support as we urge Congress to increase farmland conservation, as we push for immigration reform, and as we seek policies that will ensure the success of a diverse and ambitious next generation of farmers from all
backgrounds. With a new farm bill to be debated in Congress, consumers must take a stand with young farmers.
61. The author mentions car industry at the beginning of the passage to introduce ______ .
A. the progress made in car industry B. a special feature of agriculture
C. a trend of development in agriculture D. the importance of investing in car industry
62. What does the author want to illustrate with the example in paragraph 2?
A. Loans to small local farmers are necessary. B. Technology is vital for agricultural development.
C. Competition between small and big farms is fierce.
D. Small farmers may gain some advantages over big ones.
63. What is the difficulty for those new farmers?
A. To gain more financial aid. B. To hire good farm managers.
C. To have farms of their own. D. To win old farmers’ support.
64. What should farmers do for a more sustainable and fair farm economy?
A. Seek support beyond NYFC. B. Expand farmland conservation.
C. Become members of NYFC. D. Invest more to improve technology.
D
Children as young as ten are becoming dependent on social media for their sense of self-worth, a major study warned.
It found many youngsters (少年) now measure their status by how much public approval they get online, often through “likes”. Some change their behaviour in real life to improve their image on the web.
The report into youngsters aged from 8 to 12 was carried out by Children’s Commissioner (专员) Anne Longfield. She said social media firms were exposing children to major emotional risks, with some youngsters starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the tremendous pressure they faced online.
Some social apps were popular among the children even though they supposedly require users to be at least 13. The youngsters admitted planning trips around potential photo-opportunities and then messaging friends — and friends of friends — to demand “likes” for their online posts.
The report found that youngsters felt their friendships could be at risk if they did not respond to social media posts quickly, and around the clock.
Children aged 8 to 10 were “starting to feel happy” when others liked their posts. However, those in the 10 to 12 age group were “concerned with how many people like their posts”, suggesting a “need” for social recognition that gets stronger the
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