69. When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to 　　　　_　　　　 _.

A. farms in the States　　　　　　　　　　

B. native Americans　

C. the NBA training center　　　　　　　　

D. the USA

68. What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?

A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.

B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.

C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.

D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.

67. The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of 　　　_______ ___.

A. NBA intends to make China its “marketing center”

B. NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China

C. there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings

D. the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China

66. According to the report, 　　　　　　　　.

A. Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA

B. the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great

C. Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA

D. European countries will host the 2004 NBA games

65．Infrared scanning technology may be brought back into operation because of_____________.

　A. the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce

　B. growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops

　C. the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture

　D. full support from agricultural experts　　　　　　 　　　　

N

In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.

　　 When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters(花名册) will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.

　　 The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.

　　 “Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy(战略，策略) in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.

“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout(寻找，觅得) internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming - number one draft pick in 2002 - and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic - number two overall in this year’s draft - are icons(偶像)in-waiting. It is the ultimate(最后的，根本的) revolution - the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball.

64．The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties

_______________.

A. the lack of official support　　　

B. its high cost

C. the lack of financial support　　　

D. its failure to help increase production

63．Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by______________.

A. resorting to spot-spraying　　　　

B. consulting infrared scanning experts

C. transforming poisoned rain　　　

D. detecting crop problems at an early stage

62．In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to____________.

A. estimate the damage to the crops　

B. measure the size of the affected area

C. draw a color-coded map　　　　　

D. locate the problem area

61．Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are______________.

A. sprayed with pesticides　　　　　

B. facing an infrared scanner

C. in poor physical condition　　　　

D. exposed to excessive sun rays

60．The author’s attitude towards the communication revolution is________.

A．positive 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　B．critical

C．indifferent　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　D．tolerant

M

　Even plant can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting 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 don’t have pest (害虫)problems.

　Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a 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, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.

　The bad news is that Paley’s 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 Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson , who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only ff Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.