Fields across Europe are contaminated with dangerous levels of the antibiotics given to farm animals. The drugs, which are in manure sprayed onto fields as fertilizers, could be getting into our food and water, helping to create a new generation of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”.2

　　The warning comes from a researcher in Switzerland who looked at levels of the drugs in farm slurry. ____1____

　　Some 20,000 tons of antibiotics are used in the European Union and the US each year. More than half are given to farm-animals to prevent disease and promote growth. ____2____

　　Most researchers assumed that humans become infected with the resistant strains by eating contaminated meat3. But far more of the drugs end up in manure than in meat products, says Stephen Mueller of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology m Dubendorf. ____3____

　　With millions of tons of animals manure spread onto fields of crops such as wheat and barley each year, this pathway seems an equally likely route for spreading resistance,4 he said. The drugs contaminate the crops, which are then eaten. ____4____

　　Mueller is particularly concerned about a group of antibiotics called sulphonamides. ____5____ His analysis found that Swiss farm manure contains a high percentage of sulphonamides; each hectare of field could be contaminated with up to 1 kilogram of the drugs. This concentration is high enough to trigger the development of resistance among bacteria.5 But vets are not treating the issue seriously.

　　There is growing concern at the extent to which drugs, including antibiotics, are polluting the environment. Many drugs given to humans are also excreted unchanged and are not broken down by conventional sewage treatment.

　　練習(xí)：

　　A　They do not easily degrade or dissolve in water.

　　B　And manure contains especially high levels of bugs that are resistar.t to antibiotics, he says.

　　C　Animal antibiotics is still an area to which insufficient attention has been paid.

　　D　But recent research has found a direct link between the increased use of these farmyard drugs and the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bugs that infect people.

　　E　His findings are particularly shocking because Switzerland is one of the few countries to have banned antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed.

　　F　They could also be leaching into tap water pumped from rocks beneath fertilized fields.

　　答案與題解：

　　1.E　本句中包含he這個(gè)代詞，故上文中必定有它的先行詞，his findings又表明此人應(yīng)該是從事科研工作的，句中又提到Switzerland，考慮這種種因素，填入E是正確的。

　　2.D　前兩句講的是抗生素在歐洲和美國的大量使用，D項(xiàng)講的是由此導(dǎo)致的不良后果，接上去是最合理不過的。But明確地表明了這一轉(zhuǎn)折。

　　3.B　選項(xiàng)B中有兩處提示，一是本句結(jié)尾處的he says，說明上文中必提到一個(gè)被引用的人;二是句首的And，這個(gè)詞表明，這句的內(nèi)容可能是前一句的延續(xù)。前一句引的S. Mueller說的話，講到在肥料中滯留的藥物比肉類產(chǎn)品中的多得多。這句話則繼續(xù)引用Mueller的話，進(jìn)一步說肥料中對(duì)抗生素有抗藥性的病菌含量特別髙。

　　4.F　選項(xiàng)F中的also一詞說明前面應(yīng)講到過類似的內(nèi)容。這句講的是這些藥物可能從施過肥料的農(nóng)田下面的巖石瀝濾到自來水里去;前面一句講的是受到這些藥物污染的谷物被人食用，這兩句講的都是這些藥物如何對(duì)人類造成威脅。

　　5.A　選項(xiàng)A中的主語They提示我們應(yīng)該尋找一個(gè)復(fù)數(shù)的先行詞，根據(jù)句子的意思：……既不衰減又不溶于水，這個(gè)they指的不是人而是物，我們在上一句里找到sulphonamides這個(gè)復(fù)數(shù)形式的名詞，從意思上看也合適。