题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
新疆生产建设兵团第一师高级中学2018-2019学年高一上学期英语期末考试试卷
You may not have heard of it before, but solid rain (固体雨)has been helping Mexican farmers fight droughts(干旱) for over ten years. The magic solid rain looks like sugar and it can take in water up to 500 times as its own size and keep it in the ground for up to a year.
The story of solid rain began in 1970, when American scientists developed a product used to take in water and help keep babies' bottoms dry. However, a Mexican chemical engineer saw this magic product as an opportunity to fight the drought. He developed a different kind of the product, which could be mixed with soil and slowly feed water to crops over a long period of time. His company, Solid Rain, has been quietly selling the product to Mexican farmers for over 10 years.
Solid rain seems to be working wonders in Mexico. However, it has not come into use around the world. Well, that's mainly because a lot of people still don't know about it. The Mexican company has invested (投资) almost nothing into marketing, relying instead on word of mouth between Mexican farmers. However, recently, they have gotten requests from other dry countries like India and Australia.
Solid rain has received the Ecology and Environment Award, but it has also received some negative views. Dr. Linda Scott says that the product is hardly new and that there is no scientific evidence that it can hold water for a year or last in the ground for ten years. Besides, solid rain can cause more harm than good in certain conditions.
However, real-life use seems to show that solid rain is actually of great use to their farms. Frank Torres, a former green bean farmer used to rely on it even though drought wasn't such a big issue. He said that the production had increased by 50%.
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