Most food staples are inexpensive, plant-based foods, usually full of calories for energy. There are more than 50,000edible plants in the world, but just 15 of them provide 90 percent of the world’s food energy intake. Rice, corn, and wheatmake up two-thirds of this. Food staples traditionally depend on what plants are native to a region.Rice is a food staple for more than 3.5 billion people around the world, particularly in Asia, Latin America, andparts of Africa. Rice has been cultivated in Asia for thousands of years. Scientists believe people first domesticated ricein India or Southeast Asia. Rice arrived in Japan in about 3,000 years ago. The Portuguese most likely introduced it intoSouth America in the 16th century. Today, the world’s largest rice producers are China, India, and Indonesia. Outside ofAsia, Brazil is the largest rice producer.Corn is native to Central America, where it was domesticated by the Aztecs and Mayans. The United States is theworld’s largest corn grower, producing more than 40 percent of the world’s corn. Corn is often used to produce corn oil,sweeteners such as corn syrup, and cornstarch, which is used as a sweetener and thickening agent in home cooking. Also,alcohol from fermented corn is the source of bourbon whiskey.Wheat was first domesticated in the Middle East. Wheat grows well in temperate climates, even those with a short growingseason. Today, China, India, the United States, Russia, and France are among the largest wheat producers in the world. Themajority of breads are made with wheat flour. Wheat flour is also used in pasta, pastries, crackers, breakfast cereals, and noodles.In addition to cereal grains, roots, and tubers are common food staples, particularly in tropical regions. Yams are animportant food in the rainforests of West Africa. Potatoes are native to the cold climate of the Andes Mountains. Theywere introduced to Europe by explorers of the 16th century and are now a food staple in Europe and parts of the Americas.
Which of the following is most likely to be the source of this passage?
Guide dogs are service or assistance dogs trained specifically to help people with a visual impairment navigatearound. Apart from helping people navigate, they are a companion and provide a sense of freedom to the visuallyimpaired. We all might have seen a guide dog with a person, but do we know how they help the visually impaired personor handler? Do we know the intensity of training and what it takes to be a guide dog? Here are a couple of things youprobably didn’t know about guide dogs.First, not every dog is cut out to be a guide dog. They are carefully chosen for breeding with the sole purpose totrain them to be a guide dog. Most of the guide dogs originate from a carefully planned breeding program. Enormousfocus is given to the physical health and characteristics like intelligence, good temperament, stability and willingness towork. It is a known fact that when puppies are screened, only about 70% make the cut.In addition, the training period for a guide dog from the time of its birth is anywhere between 15-18 months. Theygo through two different stages in their training. The first stage is when the puppies spend about a year in a specificvolunteer’s household. They learn to abide by some guidelines and are exposed to different people, sounds, situations,places like railway stations, shops, traffic areas as a part of their training. They’re exposed to a fun and unique training.On the second stage, the dogs receive a formal training at a training center by professionals. This training lasts for about5-6 months. The dogs are assessed at regular intervals and continuously monitored for progress.
According to the passage, which of the following qualities is not going to be taken account of for choosing a guide dog?
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正確答案:(D) 解析:文章指出,篩選導盲犬時會著重身體健康與特質,如智力、良好性情、穩定性及工作意願。選項中僅「願意玩耍」未在文中被列為挑選條件,故(D)為正確答案。本題為英文閱讀理解,不涉及法規。 各選項:
(A) 文中明確提到 good temperament 是挑選條件之一。
(B) 文中明確提到 intelligence 是挑選條件之一。
(C) 文中明確提到 physical health 是挑選重點。
(D) 文中提到 willingness to work,而非 willingness to play,故不屬於挑選條件。 出處:英文閱讀理解—導盲犬篩選條件 難度:易