【2013年12月英语四级阅读理解冲刺练习题】).doc

【2013年12月英语四级阅读理解冲刺练习题）Even plants can run a fever, especially when theyre under attack by insects or disease. But unlike humans, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away-straight up. A decade ago, adapting the infrared (红外线) scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide(杀虫剂) spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that dont have pest(害虫) problems. 　　Even better, Paleys Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night ,an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running fevers.Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would. 　　The bad news is that Paleys company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long-term backers were hard to find.But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation.Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, says George Oerther of Texas AM. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks.remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago. 　　这是一篇说明文。文章一开头就介绍了原用于军事和卫星的红外线扫描技术，如今被用在农业上。通过远距离测量植物的温度来判断农作物是否遭受虫害和疾病。在第二段中指出，物理学家帕里组建了帕里远红外扫描服务公司，来专门探测农业方面的情况。最后他的公司在三年后被迫关闭，主要是因为缺乏资金。另外，农民们也一时不能接受这种新技术。作者期待将来有一天可以解决财政困难，将这一新技术重新用到农业上去。 　　26. Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are _____