题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
宁夏银川一中2018-2019学年高一上学期英语期中考试试卷
83-year-old Antonio Vicente has spent the last four decades of his life fighting against the current. As Brazilian landowners cut down rainforests to make room for profitable (盈利的) plantations and cattle grazing grounds, he struggled to bring the thick jungles of his childhood back to life.
In 1973 Antonio took up the challenge of restoring the forest on a 31-hectare piece of land that had been destroyed for cattle grazing. Ironically enough, he bought the land in Brazil's Sao Paulo region, using credits(贷款)that the military government was giving out to promote deforestation(砍伐森林) and agricultural technology. But Antonio didn't use the money to promote the national agriculture but wanted to revive the forest.
"You are stupid. Planting trees is a waste of land. You won't have income. If it's full of trees, you won't have room for cows or crops," Antonio's neighbors told him. But he knew the damage caused by deforestation was far greater than financial profit. Antonio had grown up on a rural farm, and watched his father and the other villagers cut down forests at the owners' orders, either for charcoal production or to clear land for grazing cattle. He had watched the ancient water sources dry up and people struggling to survive.
With only some donkeys and a few hired workers Antonio brought back the forest to his land. What started out as a weekend hobby soon became a permanent way of life. Antonio often recalls spending days and nights in his young jungle, surrounded by rats and foxes, and eating banana for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
As the forest grew, the water returned, and Antonio says that there are now over 20 water sources on his land that were no longer there when he bought it. Then the animals started making a home there. Today, the forest is alive with sounds of birds and insects living there, and more species are settling in every year.
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