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One of the most famous tourist attractions in the State of California is the giant redwood. This redwood might be described as "the tree with the moving foot" because it is not even a native California, believe it or not!These trees, which are among the largest and oldest of all living things, moved to California from the Arctic. Long, long ago they grew in the Arctic, just as enormous and tall as they are today. But the warmer climate drew them southward and it took some seventy-five million years to complete the move.Carried by birds, winds, and some strong-teethed animals, the seeds of the redwood traveled thousands of miles from what is now the northern-most tip of Alaska to California, their last stand.Only the hardest seeds survived—a few that visited Eu- rope soon died out. But those that made it to California put down roots, grew into luxuriant ’forests, and became camera subjects for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit California’ s giant redwood each year. How long did it take the redwood seeds to complete their long journey（）
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Weak dollar or no, $ 46,000-the price for a single year of undergraduate instruction amid the red brick of Harvard Yard-is (1) But nowadays cost is (2) barrier to entry at many of America’s best universities. Formidable financial-assistance policies have (3) fees or slashed them deeply for needy students. And last month Harvard announced a new plan designed to (4) the sticker-shock for undergraduates from middle and even upper-income families too.Since then, other rich American universities have unveiled (5) initiatives. Yale, Harvard’s bitterest (6) , revealed its plans on January 14th. Students whose families make (7) than $60,000 a year will pay nothing at all. Families earning up to $ 200,000 a year will have to pay an average of 10% of their incomes. The university will (8) its financial- assistance budget by 43%, to over $ 80m.Harvard will have a similar arrangement for families making up to $180,000. That makes the price of going to Harvard or Yale (9) to attending a state-run university for middle-and upper-income students. The universities will also not require any student to take out (10) to pay for their (11) , a policy introduced by Princeton in 2001 and by the University of Pennsylvania just after Harvard’s (12) . No applicant who gains admission, officials say, should feel (13) to go elsewhere because he or she can’t afford the fees.None of that is quite as altruistic as it sounds. Harvard and Yale are, after all, now likely to lure more students away from previously (14) options, particularly state-run universities, (15) their already impressive admissions figures and reputations.The schemes also provide a (16) for structuring university fees in which high prices for rich students help offset modest prices for poorer ones and families are less (17) on federal grants and government-backed loans.Less wealthy private colleges whose fees are high will not be able to (18) Harvard or Yale easily. But America’s state-run universities, which have traditionally kept their fees low and stable, might well try a differentiated (19) scheme as they raise cash to compete academically with their private (20) . Indeed, the University of California system has already started to implement a sliding-fee scale. 15（）
Weak dollar or no, $ 46,000-the price for a single year of undergraduate instruction amid the red brick of Harvard Yard-is (1) But nowadays cost is (2) barrier to entry at many of America’s best universities. Formidable financial-assistance policies have (3) fees or slashed them deeply for needy students. And last month Harvard announced a new plan designed to (4) the sticker-shock for undergraduates from middle and even upper-income families too.Since then, other rich American universities have unveiled (5) initiatives. Yale, Harvard’s bitterest (6) , revealed its plans on January 14th. Students whose families make (7) than $60,000 a year will pay nothing at all. Families earning up to $ 200,000 a year will have to pay an average of 10% of their incomes. The university will (8) its financial- assistance budget by 43%, to over $ 80m.Harvard will have a similar arrangement for families making up to $180,000. That makes the price of going to Harvard or Yale (9) to attending a state-run university for middle-and upper-income students. The universities will also not require any student to take out (10) to pay for their (11) , a policy introduced by Princeton in 2001 and by the University of Pennsylvania just after Harvard’s (12) . No applicant who gains admission, officials say, should feel (13) to go elsewhere because he or she can’t afford the fees.None of that is quite as altruistic as it sounds. Harvard and Yale are, after all, now likely to lure more students away from previously (14) options, particularly state-run universities, (15) their already impressive admissions figures and reputations.The schemes also provide a (16) for structuring university fees in which high prices for rich students help offset modest prices for poorer ones and families are less (17) on federal grants and government-backed loans.Less wealthy private colleges whose fees are high will not be able to (18) Harvard or Yale easily. But America’s state-run universities, which have traditionally kept their fees low and stable, might well try a differentiated (19) scheme as they raise cash to compete academically with their private (20) . Indeed, the University of California system has already started to implement a sliding-fee scale. 18（）
It is hard to get a grip on food. The UN’s World Health Organisation worries about diminishing supplies and increased prices in poor countries; recent riots and near-riots in Haiti, Bangladesh and Egypt were sparked by the growing cost of wheat and rice. But, as Paul Roberts observes in "The End of Food", the developed world has lived through "a near miraculous period during which the things we ate seemed to grow only more plentiful, more secure, more nutritious, and simply better. " 46． In the second half of the 20th century, world output of corn, wheat and cereal crops more than tripled. Yet there is not enough to feed the rich, the aspirational and the poor in the world. A golden age has been transformed quite suddenly into a global crisis.Mr Roberts insists that modern agribusiness is unsustainable and becoming more so. "Precisely at the moment in history when we need to shift our system of food production into overdrive, our agricultural engine is breaking down," he says. The industry has taken cheap oil for granted. Oil fuels transportation and farm machinery, and natural gas is the basis of synthetic nitrogen production ( prices have tripled since 2002). Agriculture accounts for three- quarters of freshwater use, and water is becoming an increasingly scarce and expensive resource. Climate change makes some old assumptions about farming redundant. 47．A combination of these factors, he says, will ultimately force a complete rethinking of the way we make food.For years government subsidies held down grain prices, making food cheaper. 48．Water was also plentiful-it takes 1,000 tonnes of water to produce a tonne of grain-and an ingenious process known as Haber-Bosch makes synthetic nitrogen fertiliser easily available to grain farmers. Ruthless price-cutting at supermarkets means consumers have grown accustomed to eating too much. (In the late 19th century, Europeans already thought Americans ate three or four times more than was necessary. ) The most damaging consequence is that by 2000 31% of American adults were obese, with another 16% defined as overweight. American airlines spend $ 275 million a year more on fuel simply to lift the heavier passengers. Mr Roberts claims that every year obesity causes 400,000 premature deaths in America. Food has become as deadly as tobacco.A fruitful start would be to halve the size of portions in all American restaurants, but most consumers are reluctant rethinkers. 49．Eating organic product could be a partial solution, although one study suggests that the cost of avoiding intensive farm chemicals would mean a 31% increase in food prices. Government scientists believe that genetically modified crops might be the only way out of the crisis, but a majority of consumers are reluctant to listen.Is there a model for the future 50．Fashionably, Mr. Roberts believes that a local system based on easily obtainable seasonal foods that do not need to be transported huge distances would form part of a solution. The economics and greenery of this are far from proven. Mr Roberts can find only one country that has made "serious efforts" in this direction: Cuba, hardly a comforting example. The coming food crisis, warns the author, is as intractable as global warming, and no less urgent. 47
Weak dollar or no, $ 46,000-the price for a single year of undergraduate instruction amid the red brick of Harvard Yard-is (1) But nowadays cost is (2) barrier to entry at many of America’s best universities. Formidable financial-assistance policies have (3) fees or slashed them deeply for needy students. And last month Harvard announced a new plan designed to (4) the sticker-shock for undergraduates from middle and even upper-income families too.Since then, other rich American universities have unveiled (5) initiatives. Yale, Harvard’s bitterest (6) , revealed its plans on January 14th. Students whose families make (7) than $60,000 a year will pay nothing at all. Families earning up to $ 200,000 a year will have to pay an average of 10% of their incomes. The university will (8) its financial- assistance budget by 43%, to over $ 80m.Harvard will have a similar arrangement for families making up to $180,000. That makes the price of going to Harvard or Yale (9) to attending a state-run university for middle-and upper-income students. The universities will also not require any student to take out (10) to pay for their (11) , a policy introduced by Princeton in 2001 and by the University of Pennsylvania just after Harvard’s (12) . No applicant who gains admission, officials say, should feel (13) to go elsewhere because he or she can’t afford the fees.None of that is quite as altruistic as it sounds. Harvard and Yale are, after all, now likely to lure more students away from previously (14) options, particularly state-run universities, (15) their already impressive admissions figures and reputations.The schemes also provide a (16) for structuring university fees in which high prices for rich students help offset modest prices for poorer ones and families are less (17) on federal grants and government-backed loans.Less wealthy private colleges whose fees are high will not be able to (18) Harvard or Yale easily. But America’s state-run universities, which have traditionally kept their fees low and stable, might well try a differentiated (19) scheme as they raise cash to compete academically with their private (20) . Indeed, the University of California system has already started to implement a sliding-fee scale. 3（）
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