Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing [A],[B],[C] or [D]. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

On a recent sunny day 13,000 chickens roam over Larry Brown's 40 windswept acres in Shiner, Texas. Some rest in the shade of a parked car. Others drink water with the cows. This all seems random, but it's by design, part of what the $6.1 billion U.S.egg industry bets will be its next big thing: climate-friendly eggs.

These eggs, which are making their debut now on shelves for as much as $8 a doz-en, are still labeled organic and animal-friendly, but they're also from birds that live on farms using regenerative agriculture-special techniques to cultivate rich soils that can trap greenhouse gases. Such eggs could be marketed as helping to fight climate change.

"I'm excited about our progress,"says Brown, who harvests eggs for Denver-based NestFresh Eggs and is adding more cover crops that draw worms and crickets for the chickens to eat. The birds' waste then fertilizes fields. Such improvements “allow our hens to forage for higher-quality natural feed that will be good for the land, the hens,and the eggs that we supply to our customers."

The egg industry's push is the first major test of whether animal products from re-generative farms can become the next premium offering. In barely more than a decade,organic eggs went from being dismissed as a niche product in natural foods stores to be-ing sold at Walmart. More recently there were similar doubts about probiotics and plant-based meats, but both have exploded into major supermarket categories. If the sustain-able-egg rollout is successful, it could open the floodgates for regenerative beef, brocco-li, and beyond.

“Regenerative products could be a hard sell, because the concept is tough to define quickly," says Julie Stanton, associate professor of agricultural economics at Pennsylva-nia State University Brandy wine. Such farming also brings minimal, if any, improve-ment to the food products (though some producers say their eggs have more protein).

The industry is betting that the same consumers paying more for premium attributes such as free-range, non-GMO, and pasture-raised eggs will embrace sustainability. Sur-veys show that younger generations are more concerned about climate change, and some of the success of plant-based meat can be chalked up to shoppers wanting to signal their desire to protect the environment. Young adults "really care about the planet," says John Brunnquell, president of Egg Innovations. "They are absolutely altering the food chain beyond what I think even they understand what they're doing.”

1.The climate-friendly eggs are produced          

[A]at a considerably low cost

[B] at the demand of regular shoppers

[C]as a replacement for organic eggs

[D]on specially designed farms

2.Larry Brown is excited about his progress in           

[A]reducing the damage of worms

[B]accelerating the disposal of waste

[C] creating a sustainable system

[D] attracting customers to his products 

3.The example of organic eggs is used in the Paragraph 4 to suggest           

[A]the doubts to over natural foods

[B] the setbacks in the eggs industry

[C] the potential of regenerative products

[D]the promotional success of supermarkets

4.It can be learned from the last paragraph that young people           

[A] are reluctant to change their diet

[B] are likely to buy climate-friendly eggs

[C] are curious about new food

[D] are amazed at agricultural advances

5.John Brunnquell would disagree with Julie Stanton over regenerative products

[A]market prospects

[B] standard definition

[C] nutritional value

[D]moral implication