- A
- B
- C
Listen to a lecture in a agriculture class, take detailed notes while listening.
affordable – reasonably priced, not too costly
ecosystem – the community of living things in an environment
fertilize – to odd a substance to soil that helps make plants grow
harvest – the activity of collecting a crop
preserve – to maintain and protect
Fill in the following diagram.
Theory:
Support:
1.
A. 2.
B. 3.
Now answer the questions using your notes.
Slash-and-Burn Farming
Summarize the text using your notes and diagram.
- 1: Farmers cut down and burn areas of a forest to create fields, later they move further and the forest can grow back.
- A.2: Affordable way for low-income families to get food.
- B.3: Preserves the eco-systems of the forest.
Listen again:
W: Slash-and-burn farming is an agricultural practice that, uh, continues to be used today in many areas of the world. Farmers use it to clear forests. Trees and plants are cut down and burned to clear the field and fertilize the soil. Then farmers plant their crops. After the . harvest is over, the farmers abandon the fields. The forest grows back. New fields are then cleared in another area of the forest. In this way, slash-and-burn farming offers two advantages to farmers. First, it's an ... an affordable way for low-income families to get food. A large family working together can clear enough land through slash-and-burn farming to grow all the food it needs for a year. Modern farming requires expensive machines and fertilizers. However, slash-and-burn farming costs very little for low-income families.
Second, people can help preserve their ecosystems by using slash-and-burn farming. Since farmers only use the field for one harvest and then move on to another field, they ensure that no one area is farmed too much. Therefore, they are able to preserve their rich ecosystems. Slash-and-burn farmers can then benefit from these resources.
