Whether you are preparing for the TOEFL, getting ready to move to the US, or just trying to improve you English, CCU can help. Having good English reading skills is a valuable asset for all students and professionals. To help you get started, we provide three English articles with helpful notes on vocabulary, grammar, and content; for FREE! The topics are very diverse, so there is something interesting for everybody. If you want access to more English language material, you can subscribe to the full CCU website, where you can find the entire Berkshire Encyclopedia in China.
- Biotechnology Industry 生物科技工业
Abstract: Modern biotechnology combines life sciences knowledge with innovative technological techniques to benefit society. Key biotechnology disciplines are fermentation, applied use of enzymes and plant-cell culturing, plant breeding and crop protection, genetic engineering, and drug development. Its benefits include the reuse of some manufacturing waste products and replacement of petroleum-based chemicals. But it also creates wastes, particularly wastewater, and controversy surrounds its safety.
现代生物科技结合了生命科学知识以及创新的科技技术来造福社会。重要的生物科技课程是发酵过程运用与酶和植物细胞的培养，作物育种，遗传工程以及医学制药等。 它的益处包括重新使用一些制造业的废物和替换石油为原料的化学物品。但本身也产生废物，尤其是废水和其他围绕废水起因的争议。
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- Potatoes 土豆
Abstract: First domesticated about 8,000 years ago in the Andes, potatoes rank fourth among twenty-first century food crops—after rice, wheat, and maize. The potato has sustained whole populations in times of war, provided the “fuel” to energize the workforce behind the Industrial Revolution, and played a small yet significant part in the transformation of Chinese society and economy since the 1980s.
八千年以前开始在安第斯山脉种植，土豆在二十一世纪排在大米，小麦，和玉米之后，作为世界粮食的第四大农作物。土豆在战争维持了世界人口，在工业革命期间为劳动力提供了食品“能源”，在八十年代中国社会和经济的变革中扮演了一个渺小却又不可缺少的绝色。
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- Climate Change 气候的变化
Abstract: Fluctuations in global temperatures throughout history have been accompanied by changes in sea levels and altered weather patterns, both of which have been linked to mass migrations, famines leading to disease, the collapse of some civilizations, and the growth of others. These cycles of warm and cold are affected by energy exchanges between oceans and the atmosphere, fossil-fuel emissions, and solar energy.
历史上全球气温的高低随海平面的涨幅以及天气的格局两个因素的变化而浮动。 这两个因素和大规模迁徙，饥荒及饥荒导致的疾病，一些文化的灭绝以及其他文化的兴盛都有联系。气候变暖和变冷的循环受海洋和大气层及化石和太阳的能源替换的影响。
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