Question

Forget chip fat,sugar cane or rapeseed oil―the latest source of biofuel could be watermelons.

Scientists have discovered that the fruit is a great source of sugar that can be readily distilled (蒸餾) into alcohol to power cars and farm machinery.

And because sellers reject 360,000 tons of "substandard" fruit annually in America alone, they could be used as an economical way to make fuel.

The waste from US growers could produce nearly two million gallons( nine million litres) of biofuel per year.

In the study,researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture set out to determine

the biofuel potential of juice from rejected watermelons―those not sold due to cosmetic imperfec?tions ,and currently ploughed back into the field.

About a fifth of each annual watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes (瑕瘋) or because they are misshapen.

Dr. Wayne Fish,who led the team,found that 50 percent of the fruit was fermentable (可發酵的) into alcohol which could provide valuable fuel.

"We've shown that the juice of these melons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing an unexploited raw material for alcohol biofuel production," he said.

The study, published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels,discovered that watermelons could produce around 20 gallons of ftiel per acre from fruit that otherwise would go to waste.

Production of biofuels has been targeted by Western governments as a way to support renewable energy targets.

The European Union has a target for 2010 that 5.75 percent of transport fuels should come from biological sources, but the target is unlikely to be met.

The British government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires five percent of the fuel sold at the pump by 2010 to be biofueled.

(   ) 1. The passage mainly tells us that        .

     A.  Western countries aim at producing biofuels

    B.  watermelons could be used to make fuel

    C.  the advantage of fuel made from watermelons

    D.  watermelon juice will be the largest source of renewable energy

(   ) 2. Which of the following is NOT the reason why so many watermelons are deserted in America each year?

A. They are substandard. B. They are imperfect.

C. They are misshapen. D. They are oversupplied.

(   ) 3. The underlined word "cosmetic" in Paragraph 5 probably means "      ".

A. inside    B. flavor C. surface    D. freshness

Answer 1

1. B主旨大意題。從第一段的"the latest source of biofuel could be watermelons"及下文內容可知,本文旨在告訴我們西瓜可以用作燃料。

2. D細節理解題。從第五段中的"imperfections,and currently ploughed back into the field."以及第六段中的"because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen."可知，只有D項;殳有提及。

3. C詞義猜測題。從第六段中的"surface blemishes" 可推知答案。