# Growing more for less - 科目：雅思阅读真题（Part 2） - 考频：超高频 - 最近考试：2025.11.30辽宁大学 - 题目数：12 - 来源页：https://www.yaquan.site/paper/d840127a-bd28-4b9a-9366-293d6f2fd4a3（在线机考练习与音频请访问该页面） - 数据更新：2026-10-29 ## 题目原文 Satellite technology is helping farmers boost crop yields A For farmers, working out the optimal amount of seed, fertiliser, pesticide and water to scatter on a field can be a matter of luck, despite several harvests. Regular laboratory analyses of soil and plant samples from various sections of a field can help — but such expertise is costly, and often unavailable. However, a new and cheaper method of doing this analysis is now on offer. Precise prescriptions for growing crops can be obtained quickly, and less expensively, by calculating the amount of electromagnetic radiation reflected from agricultural land. The data is collected by orbiting satellites. B Examining the wavelength of radiation that is reflected can reveal, with surprising precision, the properties of the soil, the quality of crop being grown, and the levels in those crops of chlorophyll, various minerals, moisture and other indicators of their quality. If recent and forecast weather data is added, detailed maps can be produced indicating exactly how, where and when crops should be grown. The service usually costs less than US $15 per hectare for a handful of readings a year, and can increase yields by as much as 10%. C Such precision farming using satellite-based intelligence is a relatively new technique. Even so, it is catching on quickly. Five years ago, for example, a French cereal-growers' co-operative called Sevepi purchased a satellite and makes it available to its members in the form of maps of their fields, divided into three or four colour-coded zones per hectare. For each zone, the exact and best fertiliser formula is recommended. On top of this, if the amount of rain in the field has already grown quite high early in the season, and heavy showers are expected, an appropriate dose of growth regulator is recommended for each zone (as fragile stems break more easily in downpours). Then, farm vehicles equipped with global-positioning system locators automatically mix and apply the prescribed dose to each area. D France is the pioneer in this sort of surveillance. More farmland is analysed by satellite there than in any other country, according to Infoterra (a subsidiary of EADS Astrium), the firm that is France’s largest provider of such information, supplying data to companies such as Sevepi. Moreover, Henri Douche, head of Infoterra's agriculture sales in Toulouse, reckons the amount of monitored farmland will increase as weather patterns change and farmers can no longer rely on the past as a guide to the future. When confounded by the yield variations that these new weather patterns will bring, even farmers who are afraid of new technology will sign up, he says. E Inexpensive data on the productivity of land is advantageous to governments too. Areas where fertilisers and pesticides are being applied excessively can be pinpointed, enabling a reduction in environmental and land-use damage. Says Guy Lafond, an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a government agency, says the satellite data it purchases is proving useful for the study of fields with declining productivity in the province of Saskatchewan. Over-application of nitrate fertilisers (which are also a source of greenhouse gases) appears partly responsible. And according to RapidEye, a German satellite operator, some companies are also studying satellite data with a view to selling insurance policies to governments of famine-prone countries that might be threatened by crop failure. F In March, RapidEye began selling data that helps forecast harvests. "Too often, farmers limit productivity by managing fields wrongly," says Fredrick Jung-Rothenhäuser, head of product development at the firm's headquarters in Brandenburg an der Havel. "Our satellites are the first commercial satellites to include the Red-Edge band of the light spectrum, which is sensitive to changes in chlorophyll content. More research will be necessary to realise the full benefits of the Red-Edge band. However, this band can assist in monitoring vegetation health, improving species separation and also help in measuring protein and nitrogen content in biomass." The company's data, which comes from both Europe and the Americas, breaks field productivity down into patches just five metres square. G The advantages that satellite technology provides in terms of precision farming do not have to be restricted to rich countries. In Africa, where many areas have become badly depleted of nutrients, better fertiliser management would help reverse this situation. As a consequence, the charitable trust World Agroforestry Centre, in the city of Nairobi, in Kenya, has begun to build up a collection of radiation patterns derived from around 100,000 samples of African soils. The aim of this work is to help by understanding the potential of these soils to be more agriculturally productive. Once passed on to the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, based in Colombia, South America, it is intended that the information be used to build a database called the 'Digital Soil Map'. When complete, this will provide farmers with free forecasts, developed with regularly updated satellite imagery, across farmland in the poorest countries in Africa. This is information which will almost certainly assist in improving crop yields. For a hunger-ravaged continent, that is good news indeed. ## 题目与答案 ### 14. An example of how farmers in one country are now using satellite data to determine fertiliser use. An example of how farmers in one country are now using satellite data to determine fertiliser use. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：C 原文定位：Five years ago, for example, a French cereal-growers' co-operative called Sevepi purchased a satellite and makes it available to its members in the form of maps of their fields, divided into three or four colour-coded zones per hectare. For each zone, the exact and best fertiliser formula is recommended ### 15. 15 A reference to climate change and its effects. 15 A reference to climate change and its effects. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：D 原文定位：Moreover, Henri Douche, head of Infoterra's agriculture sales in Toulouse, reckons the amount of monitored farmland will increase as weather patterns change and farmers can no longer rely on the past as a guide to the future. When confounded by the yield variations that these new weather patterns will bring, even farmers who are afraid of new technology will sign up, he says ### 16. 16 A reference to the effect on the soil of using too much fertiliser. 16 A reference to the effect on the soil of using too much fertiliser. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：E 原文定位：the satellite data it purchases is proving useful for the study of fields with declining productivity in the province of Saskatchewan. Over-application of nitrate fertilisers (which are also a source of greenhouse gases) appears partly responsible ### 17. 17 An example of information that will be shared between different countries. 17 An example of information that will be shared between different countries. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：G 原文定位：Once passed on to the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, based in Colombia, South America, it is intended that the information be used to build a database called the 'Digital Soil Map'. When complete, this will provide farmers with free forecasts, developed with regularly updated satellite imagery, across farmland in the poorest countries in Africa ### 18. 18 Mention of the country which is the leader in agricultural technology. 18 Mention of the country which is the leader in agricultural technology. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：D 原文定位：France is the pioneer in this sort of surveillance. More farmland is analysed by satellite there than in any other country, according to Infoterra (a subsidiary of EADS Astrium), the firm that is France’s largest provider of such information ### 19. 19 A description of an innovation in satellite imaging which requires further study. 19 A description of an innovation in satellite imaging which requires further study. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：F 原文定位：Our satellites are the first commercial satellites to include the Red-Edge band of the light spectrum, which is sensitive to changes in chlorophyll content. More research will be necessary to realise the full benefits of the Red-Edge band ### 20. 20 Evidence of the cost-effectiveness of using satellite technology in agriculture. 20 Evidence of the cost-effectiveness of using satellite technology in agriculture. - A - B - C - D - E - F **答案**：B 原文定位：The service usually costs less than US $15 per hectare for a handful of readings a year, and can increase yields by as much as 10% ### 21-22. 21-22 Which TWO companies obtain information directly from satellites? 21-22 Which TWO companies obtain information directly from satellites? - A Sevepi - B Infoterra - C Agriculture and AgriFood Canada - D RapidEye - E World Agroforestry Centre **答案**：B Infoterra,D RapidEye 原文定位：Infoterra (a subsidiary of EADS Astrium), the firm that is France’s largest provider of such information, supplying data to companies such as Sevepi ### 23. 23 Initially, orbiting satellites are used to measure _____ coming from farmland. 23 Initially, orbiting satellites are used to measure _____ coming from farmland. **答案**：electromagnetic radiation 原文定位：Precise prescriptions for growing crops can be obtained quickly, and less expensively, by calculating the amount of electromagnetic radiation reflected from agricultural land. The data is collected by orbiting satellites ### 24. 24 Fredrick Jung-Rothenhäuser says that additional irregular weather will raise the _____ of satellite technology. 24 Fredrick Jung-Rothenhäuser says that additional irregular weather will raise the _____ of satellite technology. **答案**：importance 原文定位：reckons the amount of monitored farmland will increase as weather patterns change and farmers can no longer rely on the past as a guide to the future. When confounded by the yield variations that these new weather patterns will bring, even farmers who are afraid of new technology will sign up ### 25. 25 As a result of satellite technology, it may become possible to insure against the threat of _____ in some countries. 25 As a result of satellite technology, it may become possible to insure against the threat of _____ in some countries. **答案**：crop failure 原文定位：And according to RapidEye, a German satellite operator, some companies are also studying satellite data with a view to selling insurance policies to governments of famine-prone countries that might be threatened by crop failure ### 26. 26 In Africa, much of the soil suffers from the loss of _____ . 26 In Africa, much of the soil suffers from the loss of _____ . **答案**：nutrients 原文定位：In Africa, where many areas have become badly depleted of nutrients, better fertiliser management would help reverse this situation --- 以上内容由鸭圈雅思真题库（www.yaquan.site）提供，收录近期雅思考试真题回忆，支持在线机考模式免费练习。