雅思10t1p1阅读原文
By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earths population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative} estimates to current demographic trends, tho human population will increase by about throo billion people by then. An estimated 1()9 hoctarcs of now land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will bo nooded Lo grow enough food to food thorn, if traditional farming methods continue as they ar(3 practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough food for the world's population to live on?
  The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the 'Vertical Farm*.
  The concept is of multi-storey
  buildings in which food crops arc grown in environmentally controllod conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically roduco tho amount of transportation required lo brijig food to consumors. Vortical i'arms would nood to bo offic'itml, cli(;ap lo cnnslruct and safe to operate. If successfully implomonUid, propononts claim, vtirlical farms offer tlio promise of urban ronovval, sustainabln production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have boen sacrificed for horizontal farming.
  It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food
  bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.
vertical怎么读  The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures duo to droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown organically, oliminating the nood for herbicides, posticidos and fertilisors. r['he system would greatly reduce tho incidence of many infectious diseases that arc acquired at tho agricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting nonedible parts of plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping.
  A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial lig
ht. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing
  the efficiency of the system. Singlestorey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light： even so, many still need artificial lighting.
  A multi-storey facility with no natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future.
  One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a singlo-storey greonhouso with light reaching it from abovo： it is not certain, however, that it can b(5 made to work without that overhead natural light.
  Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producin
g enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops.
 
  剑桥雅思真题11Test1阅读P1-Crop-growing skyscrapers题目：
  Questions 1-7
  Complete the sentences below.
  Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
  Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet
  Indoor farming
  1 Some food plants, , are already grown indoors.
  2 Vertical farms would be meaning that there would be less need to take them long distances to customers.