Even plants can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike humans, plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away - straight up. A decade ago, adapting the infrared (红外线) scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide (杀虫剂) spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that dont have pest (害虫) problems.

Even better, Paleys Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted ona plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spot-spray,using50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.

The bad news is that Paleys company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States," says George Qerther of Texas A& M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired form the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.

作业: (解释单词)

straight up
adapt
come up with
precisely
spray
attack 
Mounted on
transform
spot-spray
renew
product
produce
refinement

练习:

1. Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are _________.

A) sprayed with pesticides

B) in poor physical condition

C) facing an infrared scanner

D) exposed to excessive sun rays

2. In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to _________.

A) locate the problem area

B) draw a color-coded map

C) measure the size of the affected area

D) estimate the damage to the crops

3. Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by _________.

A) transforming poisoned rain

B) consulting infrared scanning experts

C) resorting to spot-spraying

D) detecting crop problems at an early date

4. The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficultiesdue to ______.

A) the lack of official support

B) its high cost

C) its failure to help increase production

D) the lack of financial support

5. Infrared scanning technology may be brought back into operationbecause of ________.

A) growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops

B) the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce

C) the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture

D) full support from agriculture experts

答案：

straight up 高空
adapt 使用，适用
come up with 提出（方案、计划）
precisely 准确的、精确的
spray 喷射
attack 攻击,进攻
Mounted on 安装在……之上
transform 转变 = trans 变化 + form 形式
spot-spray 点喷
renew 恢复
工业产品：product；农业产品：produce
refinement 提炼、精炼

C D A C B