Part Two Structure and Written ExpressionIn each question decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place marked.
Part Ⅱ English-Chinese TranslationDirections: Read the following passage carefully and then translate each underlined part into Chinese.
Desertification in the arid United Statse is flagrant. Groundwater supplies beneath vast stretches of land are dropping precipitously. Whole river systems have dried up. Others are chocked with sediment washed from denuded land. 21. Hundreds of thousands of acres of previously irrigated cropland have been abandoned to wind or weeds. Several million acres of natural grassland are eroding at unnaturally high rates as a result of cultivation or overgrazing. All told, about 225 million acres of land are undergoing severe desertification.
22. Federal subsidies encourage the exploitation of arid land resources. Low-interest loans for irrigation and other water delivery systems encourage farmers, industry, and municipalities to mine groundwater. Federal disaster relief and commodity programs encourage arid-land farmers to plow up natural grassland to plant crops such as wheat and, especially cotton. Federal grazing fees that are well below the free market price encourage overgrazing of the commons. The market, too, provides powerful incentives to exploit arid land resources beyond their carrying capacity. 23. When commodity prices are high relative to the farmer's or rancher's operating costs, the return on a production-enhancing investment is invaribly greater than the return on a conservation investment. And when commodity prices are relatively low, arid land ranchers and farmers often have to use all their available financial resources to stay solvent.
24. If the United States is, as it appears, well on its way toward overdrawing the arid land resources, then the policy choice is simply to pay now for the appropriate remedies or pay far more later, when productive benefits from arid land resources have been both realized and largely terminated.1.
以往浇灌过的成千上万英亩的庄稼地受到风和杂草的侵袭。由于耕种和过度放牧的缘故,数百万英亩的天然牧场正以惊人的速度遭到侵蚀,总共约有二亿二千五百万英亩的土地正经受着严重的沙漠化。
2.
联邦的补贴鼓励利用干旱的土地资源。为灌溉和供水系统而发放的低息贷款鼓励农场主、企业和市政当局开采地下水。联邦赈灾及商品计划鼓励干旱地区的农场主深耕天然牧场,在上面种植小麦,尤其是种棉花。远远低于自由市场价的联邦放牧费鼓励对公地进行过度放牧。
3.
如果商品价格高于农场主或牧场主的经营成本,那么旨在增加产出的投资的回报永远大于自然资源管理投资的回报。如果商品价格比较低,干旱地区的牧场主和农场主则往往必须耗尽所有的财力,以免负债。
4.
照目前的样子,如果说美国正透支干旱地区的土地资源,那么应作出的决策是现在要为适当的补救措施付出代价,甚至往后还要付出更大的代价,因为从干旱的土地资源中获得的生产性利润不仅已经实现,而且在很大的程度上走向枯竭。