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I met a farmer named Kenji the other day, but he isn’t a typical farmer. Kenji works at an office building in downtown Tokyo. Like most city people, he rides the subway to work and then takes an elevator to his job. However, unlike those with whom he shares an elevator, Kenji doesn’t spend his day straining his eyes in front of a computer screen. Instead, he goes up to the roof and spends his day on his knees, affectionately caring for a field of sweet potatoes fifty storeys above ground. When the sunlight fades into twilight, he changes his clothes and rides the elevator back down to the bright lights and clamor of the big city.
This is definitely not the farming job that my grandfather had. Kenji’s job has some of the same tasks, but his location and purpose suggest a passion for bringing farming into modern life. In my grandfather’s day, the kids left the farm to get good jobs in the city, and very few ever returned. However, nowadays growing food has become more fashionable. There is a certain desire not to go back to the farm but to bring a bit of the farm to the city. In fact, most of my friends in the city grow tomato plants on window sills or balconies. Now, when people say “farmer”, I think of young, cool, urban Kenji, a guy with a little dirt under his fingernails as well as a down town address. In addition to being fashionable, these roof top farms benefit residents and the environment. The sweet potatoes across Kenji’s roof garden provide food, and their broad leaves also provide shade, which keeps the roof cooler. People in the building do not use air-conditioning as often, so less energy is needed, which in turn means the air control systems produce less heat and less pollution. It’s a win-win situation.
The plants also take carbon monoxide form traffic and industry and turn it in to good, clean oxygen. This simple yet elegant process for cleaning the air maybe a small step, but it is a step in the right direction. If roof top farms become more popular, cities could soon be covered with oxygen-producing green zones high above the noise and bustle of everyday urban life.
In addition to providing environmental benefits, roof top farms contribute to the economy. Plants need to be fed and watered, and they need someone to pull weeds, so employees like Kenji are paid to help building owners set up and maintain farms on their tools as well as offer advice on what to plant. (Sweet potatoes are good because the love the hot sun and don’t mind the wind. )
City farming also makes political sense. Japan imports 60percent of its food, and there have been recent concerns about food safety. The possibility of producing food locally might mean greater control over food production and will certainly cut down on the cost of transporting it. Tokyo’s environmentally friendly governor shares the vision of a more self-sustaining urban agriculture. He is encouraging building owners in the capital to get rid of things they don’t need on roofs, in basements, and on unused floors and to introduce urban farms in these places.
Reading about what’s going on in Tokyo makes me re-evaluate life in the city. What is drudgery anyway? Is it pushing a wheel barrow through mud in the hot sun? Or is it sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer?As a typical urbanite with a typical desk job, I get tired of sitting all day. It would be a nice break to go up on the roof and get my hands in the dirt. If my company ever decides to create a roof top garden, I will be more than happy to volunteer a few hours of planting or weeding. I might even try a career change and get a full-time job on the roof. I like knowing that food grows nearby and that farms can exist within walking distance. For years, cities have been gobbling up farmland. Now the farms are returning, and that can be only a good thing.
27.The author refers to the farming job of his grandfather______.
A. To reveal the advantage of growing food on people’s own
B. To explain the importance of developing urban agriculture
C.to distinguish modern agriculture from traditional agriculture
D.to highlight the change of Japanese farming style in modern times
28.What is the author’s attitude towards city farming?
A.Positive B.Negative C. Doubtful D.Neutral
29. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Roof top farming can benefit the economy.
B.City farming is a simple but elegant industry.
C.Traditional farming reduces the safety risk of food.
D.Urban agriculture can take place more than on roofs.
30.The topic of this passage is that______.
A.plants can grow in small places B.people are moving to big cities
C.farm can be locatedin side cities D.city farming affects farmers’ life
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