A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being

游客2024-01-30  16

问题     A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture. The alarming【C1】______ , which is forecast to continue as demand for food and productive land increases, will add to the risks of conflicts unless【C2】______ actions are implemented, warns the institution behind the report.
    "As the ready supply of healthy and productive land dries up and the population grows, competition is【C3】______ for land within countries and globally," said executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at the launch of the Global Land Outlook. "To【C4】______ the losses, the outlook suggests it is in all our interests to step back and rethink how we are managing the pressures and the competition. "
    The Global Land Outlook is【C5】______ as the most comprehensive study of its type, mapping the interlinked impacts of urbanization, climate change, erosion and forest loss. But the biggest factor is the【C6】______ of industrial farming. Heavy tilling, multiple harvests and【C7】______ use of agrochemicals have increased yields at the【C8】______ of long-term sustainability. In the past 20 years, agricultural production has increased threefold and the amount of irrigated land has doubled, notes a paper in the outlook by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European commission. Over time, however, this【C9】______ fertility and can lead to abandonment
of land and【C10】______ desertification.
A) absorb I) limited
B) abundant J) minimize
C) billed K) occasionally
D) decline L) optimizes
E) diminishes M) rate
F) expansion N) remedial
G) expense O) ultimately H) intensifying [br] 【C9】

选项

答案 E

解析 分析句子结构可知,空格所在句缺少谓语,因此应填入动词,且根据主语this及本文时态为现在时可知,该谓语动词应该使用第三人称单数形式。上文提到,机械化农业的扩张导致土地失去可持续发展的能力,再结合下文中的土地被撂荒可知,此处说的是随着时间的推移,土地生产力下降了,故E)diminishes“降低,削弱”为本题答案。
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