Which requirement made it nearly impossible to formally chan…
Questions
Which requirement mаde it neаrly impоssible tо fоrmаlly change the Articles of Confederation?
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question.Scientists Sаy GE Foods are Safe, Public Doubts Remains[A] Genetically-engineered crops are as safe to eat as non-GE crops, they have no negative environmental impacts, and they have reduced the use of pesticides. That's according to a report released by the National Academy of Sciences today. The report admits that beyond safety, other issues need to be addressed, including earning the public's trust. It recommends a more transparent conversation about GE crops going forward. The report, two years in the making, is a 388-page look at every aspect of genetically engineered crops. [B] For those of you who want the report in a nutshell, here's a summary: • GE crops are safe to eat. There are always questions about safety, of course, but there's no evidence of harm. • The GE crops in our food system don't produce a larger harvest. However, because they have been introduced, farmers are better able to protect their harvests from insects and weeds. • Small-scale farmers may have trouble seeing economic gains because of the price of seed and lack of access to credit. • Appropriate regulation is needed, and that regulation should be based on the characteristics of the crop, rather than the technique used to develop it, whether GE or non-GE.[C] For those of you who interested in chapter and verse of the report, here are details of the committee's findings: Human Health[D] The committee doesn't find evidence that eating the GE foods increase food allergies. It also doesn't find any increases in cancer. The report's discussion of human health also includes some hope that both GE and non-GE crops with increased concentrations of some nutrients could result in "favorable effects on the health of millions of people."Harvests [E] There's no evidence that GE crops have increased harvests, which had been steadily increasing before GE crops were introduced, and have continued to increase afterward. GE crops can, however, help protect harvests from pests. Pesticide Use [F] Crops with a built-in organic pesticide, called Bt, have not just caused the reduction of the use of pesticides, they have, in some cases reduced the pest population so dramatically that pesticide spraying has gone down on non-GE fields. The report notes, however, that insects can develop a resistance to Bt. Environmental Impact [G] There's no evidence of negative effects of Bt crops on bees. Although crop diversity has been declining since 1987, the report didn't find a cause and effect relationship with GE crops. Social and Economic Effects [H] The report makes the point that, when we're talking about introducing a new kind of crop into our food system, we have to look beyond matters of human and environmental health, and take social and economic issues into consideration: • Overall GE crops have worked out well, economically, for the farmers who have chosen them, but there is a lot of variation in results. • Benefits of GE crops aren't always available to small-scale farmers, because of the high price of seed and lack of money, among other issues.• It's important to prevent the accidental presence of GE crops in non-GE fields, for both social and economic reasons. "Farmers want the freedom to decide what crops to grow," and non-GE crops command a higher price. The committee notes that this is often happening: "many areas are successfully growing organic, non-GE, and GE crops."• One important economic issue are trade problems. As different countries approve different GE crops at different times, trading becomes complicated. • The report also tackles the very issue of trust. It's difficult to add up "the cost of a loss of public trust in a product."Regulation [I] The report says that regulation of GE crops should achieve "the maximum societal benefits ... at given levels of acceptable risk." The committee knows that it's difficult to achieve, because both risks and benefits vary among crops. Other issues include: • Although the labeling issue is complex and there are strong arguments and considerable public support for labeling, the committee "does not believe that ... labeling of foods with GE content is justified to protect public health."• "Policy regarding GE crops has scientific, legal, and social dimensions, and not all issues can be answered by science alone." The values and priorities of everyone involved have to be considered. • "The lack of public access to the health and safety data" creates doubt in some people because "the public cannot judge for itself the quality, objectivity, and comprehensiveness of the materials submitted." The committee urges as much sharing as possible. Looking Forward [J] The report sees an important role for genetic engineering, and "the committee expects that its potential use in crop improvement in the coming decades will be substantial." Increased nutrition and a decrease in greenhouse gases are just some of the ways GE crops can improve human and environmental health and farmer well-being, it says. Match this cause with its effect according to information in the passage: the price of seed and lack of access to credit.
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question.An Interview with Michаel YamashitaQ: Is it true that before becoming a photographer, you were an English teacher?[A] Yeah, I spent four years in Japan in the early '70s, and two of those years I was teaching. There was a huge demand in Japan for English. The Japanese studied English at school, but didn't speak much English, so as a native speaker I could help out. It was a great job. [B] I was in Japan at the time to get in touch with my roots, trying to see how Japanese I might be. Growing up in the States with a Japanese name and face, I really never felt 100 percent American because I didn't look like the American majority. We were the only Asian family in the town where I lived. So, after studying history in the States, I decided to go to Japan and have the experience of living there.Q: Did you know any Japanese before you went there?[C] No. I learned the hard way, which was ... working in a company where nobody spoke English. In the beginning, it was tough. The only things I knew were the names of food, since I grew up with Japanese food. Q: And it was in Japan that you bought your first camera. Is that right?[D] I did. Like every amateur, I bought a camera to essentially record what I was seeing and doing, to send pictures back to family and friends. I spent some time learning about it, and I just got really obsessed by the whole process.[E] The more I got into photography, the more I loved it. Every few months I left Japan to renew my visa, and so I went to a different country each time, taking pictures just to show friends and family. As my pictures got better, people told me I should show them to other photographers. Eventually, I met an agent and decided I wanted to be a professional.Q: As a professional photographer, what would you say makes a good photograph?[F] In the case of National Geographic magazine, I like to call them "page stoppers." They are pictures with such great visual impact that the viewer has to stop turning the pages. You're arrested by the framing, the light, the color, or the subject, and you stare at it. Then you're likely to read the captions2 and be drawn into reading the whole story. For me, that is an ideal picture.Q: For photographing a project like Basho's Trail, how much planning is involved?[G] I prepare as much as I can. I read about six different translations of Basho's book, Narrow Road to the Deep North. I thought about what happened on each section of the route: where he talks about the banana leaf, and where on the Mogami River he wrote a poem about swift1 water.[H] So, certain things I was looking for, but others were not so place-specific. Basho mentions the moon many times, so I knew I had to do a moon picture, which sounds easy. But the moon is only full once a month, and the sky may be cloudy. Or, if the moon is rising too early, or too late, I wouldn't be able to see it. But I try my best to be in the right place to get the right subject at the right time.Q: Were there other important moments you remember while doing that article?[I] Well, there's that frog photo. It was in summer the first week I was there. I was shooting some banana leaves under the roof of a Japanese temple. It was pouring rain, and it was beautiful. As I was walking back to the car, I looked down into this little pond and saw a frog sitting on a leaf. So, my job was to get a good picture of it.[J] I started out shooting from the land, but the shot wasn't quite right. Then I got into the water. I was up to my waist in this smelly temple pond, early in the morning, concentrating on a frog and thinking "Thank God the caretakers3 of the temple haven't arrived yet!" I managed to anticipate the moment just before it was ready to jump, and that's when I took the photo. You'll see that the frog is just about to turn to its right, and in the next picture, it was flying.Q: Finally, what do you think it takes to become a great photographer?[K] Well, there is not that much economic motivation, considering the difficulty of selling pictures and getting in the door. What it takes is basically passion; you have to be really obsessed by your craft. Especially today, with the competition being what it is, to be a success you really have to eat and drink photography. It's passion that drives you forward.1 If something is swift, it is quick and rapid.2 A caption is an explanation written next to a photo.3 A caretaker is a person who takes care of some property. How did Yamashita prepare himself to take pictures for the article Basho's Trail?
DIRECTIONS: Chооse the best аnswer fоr eаch question. An Interview with Michаel Yamashita Q: As a professional photographer, what would you say makes a good photograph?[F] In the case of National Geographic magazine, I like to call them "page stoppers." They are pictures with such great visual impact that the viewer has to stop turning the pages. You're arrested by the framing, the light, the color, or the subject, and you stare at it. Then you're likely to read the captions2 and be drawn into reading the whole story. For me, that is an ideal picture.In the third sentence of paragraph F, arrested means ____.