One proposal for preserving

rain forests is to

promote the adoption of

Line new agricultural technolo-

(5) gies, such as improved

plant varieties and use of

chemical herbicides, which

would increase productivity

and slow deforestation by

(10) reducing demand for new

cropland. Studies have

shown that farmers in

developing countries who

have achieved certain levels

(15) of education, wealth, and

security of land tenure are

more likely to adopt such

technologies. But these

studies have focused on

(20) villages with limited land

that are tied to a market

economy rather than on

the relatively isolated, selfsufficient

communities with

(25) ample land characteristic of

rain-forest regions. A recent

study of the Tawahka people

of the Honduran rain forest

found that farmers with some

(30) formal education were more

likely to adopt improved plant

varieties but less likely to

use chemical herbicides

and that those who spoke

(35) Spanish (the language of

the market economy) were

more likely to adopt both

technologies. Nonland

wealth was also associated

(40) with more adoption of both

technologies, but availability

of uncultivated land reduced

the incentive to employ the

productivity-enhancing tech-

(45) nologies. Researchers

also measured land-tenure

security: in Tawahka

society, kinship ties are a

more important indicator of

(50) this than are legal property

rights, so researchers

measured it by a household’s

duration of residence

in its village. They found

(55) that longer residence correlated

with more adoption

of improved plant varieties

but less adoption of

chemical herbicides.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q1: (10-10)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. evaluate the likelihood that a particular proposal, if implemented, would

ultimately succeed in achieving its intended result

B. question the assumption that certain technological innovations are the most

effective means of realizing a particular environmental objective

C. discuss the progress of efforts to encourage a particular traditional society to

adopt certain modern agricultural methods

D. present the results of new research suggesting that previous findings concerning

one set of conditions may not be generalizable to another set of conditions

E. weigh the relative importance of three factors in determining whether a particular

strategy will be successful

D is right.

please check in the article, the author have mentioned many times

"studies have shown ..." in line 11, 29, ... but I did not find any

asssumption, evaluation, nor did i see any progressess and

importance mentioned in the given information. so I choose D.

by the way, what is opinion to the q13, the answer is D. i could not

understand very well.

Even this article is not too long, but the questions and choices are

very confused. I made all the wrong choices in my first-time

exercise.

确实非常的tricky,我第一遍看选E，第二遍选B，郁闷S了，后来，才狠狠地看了文章好几遍。才发现D答案，样子虽然少见，但确是答案。。。

我想说的是，这题的难点在于，（1）多个条件相互交叉，呈矩阵形，非常容易混；（2）这题的12、13两问的题目给出的定位行号肯定有问题。两题都一样，而且27行并不是一个开头的句子。

我把第 13 题贴出来，供大家讨论。

  GWD-10-Q13:
The findings of the study mentioned in line 27, if valid for rain-forest regions in general, suggest that which of the following is an obstacle most likely to be faced by those wishing to promote rain-forest preservation by implementing the proposal mentioned in line 1?

A. Lack of legal property rights tends to discourage local farmers from investing the time and resources required to successfully implement new agricultural technologies.
B. The ability to evaluate the wider economic ramifications of adopting new aricultural technologies depends on a relatively high level of formal education.
C. Isolation from the market economy tends to restrict local farmers’ access to new agricultural technologies that could help them to increase their productivity.
D. Ready availability of uncultivated land tends to decrease local farmers’ incentive to adopt new agricultural technologies that would reduce their need to clear new land for cultivation.
E. Traditions of self-sufficiency and reliance on kinship ties tend to diminish local farmers’ receptivity to new agricultural technologies introduced by people from outside the local community.

在我下载的电子文档中，此题的参考答案是 C，可是我在 TESTMAGIC（http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-reading-comprehension/31831-1-passage-day-1-a.html）上查到此题的参考答案是 D。

我倾向于选择D。因为在关于 the Tawahka people of the Honduran rain forest 的研究中，没怎么提到 Isolation from the market economy 的情况。而答案D被下面这句话所支持。 

(line 41)..., but availability of uncultivated land reduced the incentive to employ the productivity-enhancing technologies.