阅读理解。
Even plants can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human,
plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared
(红外线) scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley
came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The
goal was to let farmers precisely aim at pesticide (杀虫剂) spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field,
which was sure to include plants that don't have pest (害虫) problems.
Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became
visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3, 000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat
given out by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running
"fevers". Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the
new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the increasing concern about pesticides
on produce, and improvement in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts
have no doubt the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the
United States," says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department
of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if
Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
1. Plants will give out an increased amount of heat when they are _____. [ ]
A. sprayed with pesticides
B. facing an infrared scanner
C. in poor physical condition
D. exposed to extreme sun rays
2. In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to _____. [ ]
A. estimate the damage to the crops
B. measure the size of the affected area
C. draw a color-coded map
D. locate the problem area
3. Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by _____. [ ]
A. adopting spot-spraying
B. consulting infrared scanning experts
C. transforming poisoned rain
D. detecting crop problems at an early stage
4. The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties of _____.[ ]
A. the lack of official support
B. its high cost
C. the lack of financial support
D. its failure to help increase production
5. Infrared scanning technology may be brought back into operation because of _____. [ ]
A. the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce
B. growing concern about the over use of pesticides on crops
C. the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture
D. full support from agricultural experts
