Modern Agriculture ● Reading

Discuss the following questions with you partner. 1 、 Look at the pictures and compare traditional and modern farming. 2 、 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each way ? 3 、 What other changes have happened on farms in the last 100 years?

In the first picture: A chicken / A hen. In the second picture: A farmer feeding chickens. In the third picture: A modern chicken farm. What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern ways of raising chickens. Old wayModern way A farmer can only keep a few chickens. A factory can keep thou- sands of chickens. It cost only a little money. It cost a lot to start a factory. don’t have many problemsif ill, many die or are killed The eggs and meat are tasty. They don’t taste so delicious. The chickens are free. not free, can sit in small cages

In the first picture: A pile of animal shit (manure) In the second picture: A bag of chemical fertilizer. What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern ways of feeding the crops. Natural FertilizerChemical Fertilizer It is free or cost very little. It is easy to be put into the fields. It usually has a bad smell. It takes little place to store. It is difficult to carry and move. It is expensive to buy. It needs lots of work to be made. It usually has no smell. It needs a lot of place to store. It is easy to transport.

Careful reading Read the text carefully and choose the best answers: Careful reading Read the text carefully and choose the best answers: 1.In China only seven percent of the land is used for farming. This is ________. A because farmers don't need more land to produce food for the whole population B because China needs more and more land to build cities C because there are not enough farmers to work on the land D because the other land cannot be used for agriculture 2. Fertilisation 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 D A

3. Modern agriculture means finding ways to _____. A. increase irrigation and stop using fertilisers B. stop irrigation and using fertilisers C. increase production and 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 and insects", "they" means _________. A. greenhouses B. roots C. vegetables D. tomatoes 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 C C C

Task 2 Reading—Scanning **Divide the text into 4 parts and find the main idea of each part: The 1st part — the first paragraph The 2st part — the second paragraph The 3st part — the third paragraph The 4st part — the fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs.

Divide the text into four parts. Part I Part II Part III Part IV (Para 1) A brief introduction to agriculture and arable land in China (Para 2) How to use advanced techniques to improve agricultural production (Para 3) Scientists started to develop new techniques to increase agricultural production without harming the environment (Para 4 — 6) Using the latest technologies to settle the problem with the shortage of arable land

1.How much does arable land take up in China? 2.How many ways are mentioned to make the land produce more? 3.What does new techniques mean? 4.When did scientist start to develop new techniques? 5.How many unusual ways are mentioned to deal with the shortage of arable land? Questions:

1) Read Para 4 and answer the following question: What are the advantages of growing vegetables in greenhouse? (A. It can save the arable land. B. It can protect the vegetables from the wind, rain and insects. C. The temperature can be controlled.) 2) Read Para 5 and Para 6 to answer the following questions: A. What are the advantages of GM tomatoes, watermelons and rice? (a. The GM tomatoes are bigger and healthier; They can grow without danger from diseases; They also need much less time to get ripe. b. The GM watermelons will be seedless. c. The GM rice will have more vitamins and can grow in poor soil.)

Post-Reading Modern agriculture has developed through periods according to the text. What was mainly developed in each period ? Period 1 : More advanced technical information was brought in from abroad in the 1980s. Period 3 : Using the latest technologies to grow vegetables, such as greenhouses, GM. Period 2 : Scientists started to develop new techniques to increase agricultural production without harming the environment from---

Consolidation Listen to the tape and fill in the blanks with proper words according to the passage. With the development of m________ agriculture, farmers are realizing more and more the importance of protecting nature. Since the early 1990s, scientists have been trying to develop new t________ to increase agricultural p_________ and protect the e_____________ at the same time. Some c________ can help to produce better crops but are very h_________to our environment. Some have a very good e__________on removing weeds but they damage crops at the same time. So new techniques should not only help increase production but also be f__________ to the environment. We should depend on high technology and t_____________ methods as well to develop our agriculture because food production and taking care of the environment are of the same i____________. odern echniquesroduction nvironment hemicals armful ffect riendly raditional mportance

Pair work ---Would you like …? --- I like …/ I like to… eggplants potatoes tomato carrots cabbage

Sample: kind How would you change it? Why do you want to change it in this way? fruit watermelon Grow them like blocks instead of balls Easier to store and takes less space vegetable onion Make sure they don’t hurt your eyes anymore Easier to peel and cut animal sheep To have red wool Looks funny and then we don’t need to dye wool to make clothes Homework: