Modern Agriculture,Reading,The Lecturer,Look at the pictures, lets learn the new words and expressions about reading,TASK 1 revision and lead- in,chemical fertilizer,electric pump,greenhouse,seedbed,tractor,cotton,rice,green pepper,soybean,tobacco,corn,insect,kill insects,watermelon,seedless watermelon,GM watermelon,Questions: 1. Are there any students coming from the countryside in our class? 2. Have you ever worked in the fields? 3. With whom did you work in the fields? 4. Can you do a lot of farm work? 5. Have you ever heard of anything about farming in the past,TASK 2 Pre-reading,Look at the pictures and compare traditional and modern farming,In the first picture,Some pieces of farm fields,In the second picture,A farmer is ploughing the field with cattle,In the third picture,Farmers are using a machine to work in the fields,What are the differences between traditional and modern farming,cheap to own and to keep,expensive to buy and to use,It results in pollution,It does not pollute the air,animals,machines,In the past, farmers grow crops in the traditional way. Using cattle to plough the field. farmers work most of the day all year round, but they could not produce enough food for the whole population. At present, they use modern techniques in their fields to improve agricultural production such as chemical fertilizers, greenhouses and so on. Great changes have taken place in agriculture,TASK 3 Reading,1.When was more advanced technical information was brought in from abroad? 2.What is important for future agriculture? What should future agriculture depend on? 3.What does “which” refer to in the last two lines,1.In the 1980s,2.Both food production and taking care of the environment,Depend on high technology and traditional methods,3.”Golden rice”GM rice,Read the text again and find out the topic sentence in each paragraph,Para.1: For thousands of years traditional agriculture in China did not change very much,Para.3: Not only food production is important but also taking care of the environment,Para.2: Over time, many farming techniques have been modernized,Para.6: The tomato is one of nearly 4,500 different plants that are genetically modified,Para.5: Another technique tries to create plants that produce more and bigger crops,Para.4: Using the latest technologies, Chinese scientists grow vegetables in greenhouses,Read the text again and then choose the best answers,1 In China only seven percent of the land is used for farming. This is _. A because farmers dont need more land to produce food for the whole population B because China needs more & more land to build cities C because there are not enough farmers to work on the land D because the other land cant be used for agriculture,2 Fertilization is a technique that is used to _. A make poor soil better B make wet land drier C make dry land wetter D grow vegetables with their roots in water instead of earth,Reason: (para. 1) Only 7% of the land can be used for farming,Reason: (para. 2) Farms have used fertilization to make their land produce more,3 Modern agriculture means finding ways to _. A increase irrigation & stop using fertilizers B stop irrigation & using fertilizers C increase production & be friendly to the environment D produce the same amount while taking better care of nature 4 In the sentence “ they are protected from the wind, rain & insects”, “they” means _. A greenhouses B roots C vegetables D tomatoes,Reason:(para. 3) New techniques should increase production but also be friendly to the environment,Reason:(para. 4) Many vegetables are not grown in gardens but in greenhouses where they are protected from the wind, rain and insects,5 In GM “M” stands for “modified”, which means “changed”. What changes is _. A the way in which poor soil is made better B the way in which Chinese farmers work on their land C the way in which crops develop from seed D the way in which farmers take care of the environment,Reason: (para. 5) In other words, the way tomatoes grow from a natural seed is changed,No advanced technical information was brought in from abroad before 1980. Scientists have always tried to increase farming production without harming the environment since the early 1990s. Traditional methods of farming have no advantages so they wont be used in future agriculture. The average arable land for each Chinese is much less than that of the world,TASK 4 True or false,F,T,F,T,5. Growing vegetables in green houses has so many advantages that it can reduce losses caused by bad weather and that it can partly settle the problem of the shortage of arable land. 6. GM is a new technique that can make a plant quite different from what it used to be, bigger and healthier and with no diseases, but it takes longer time to grow. 7. The GM technique can only be used on plants, but not on animals at the present time,T,F,F,TASK 5 Summary of the text: Although China is a very big country with less farm land, to make as mu