Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Mass-produced tomatoes have become redder, more tender and slightly more flavorful than the crunchy orange cello-wrapped specimens of a couple of decades ago, but the lives of the workers who grow and pick them havent improved much since Edward R. Murrows revealing and deservedly famous Harvest of Shame report of 1960, which contained the infamous quote, We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.
Assignment: Should the cost of any product be measured and priced economically as it is now or it should also incorporate the extra embedded cost of humanity?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Attached below is the original exerpt from an online essay adopted for this essay.
Mass-produced tomatoes have become redder, more tender and slightly more flavorful than the crunchy orange cello-wrapped specimens of a couple of decades ago, but the lives of the workers who grow and pick them havent improved much since Edward R. Murrows revealing and deservedly famous Harvest of Shame report of 1960, which contained the infamous quote, We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.
But bit by bit things have improved some, a story thats told in detail and with insight and compassion by Barry Estabrook in his new book, Tomatoland. We can actually help them improve further.
A third of our tomatoes are grown in Florida, and much of that production is concentrated around Immokalee , a town that sits near the edge of the great river of grass, or the Everglades, the draining of which began in the late 19th century, thus setting the stage for industrial agriculture. Immokalee is a poor , immigrant working town, to the outsider at least a depressing community with few signs of hope.
The tomato fields of Immokalee are vast and surreal. An unplanted field looks like a lousy beach: the soil, which is white sand, contains little in the way of nutrients and wont hold any water. To grow tomatoes there requires mind-boggling amounts of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides . The tomatoes are, in effect, grown hydroponically, and the sand seems useful mostly as a medium for holding stakes in place.
Most of the big purchasers, like Wal-Mart and McDonalds, want firm, slicing tomatoes, because their destination is a burger or a sandwich, so the tomatoes are picked at what is called mature green, which isnt mature at all but bordering on it. Tomatoes with any color other than green are too ripe to ship, and left to rot; Ive posted a couple of pictures I took of those on my blog. The green tomatoes are gassed de-greened is the chosen euphemism to ripen them; the plants themselves are often killed with an herbicide to hasten their demise and get ready for the next crop.
The process, not to put too fine a point on it, is awful, but the demand is there Florida ships about a billion pounds of tomatoes a year and the main question has not been quality but fairness to the workers.
Unlike corn and soy, tomatoes harvest cannot be automated; it takes workers to pick that fruit. And not only have workers been enslaved, they have been routinely beaten, subject to sexual harassment, exposed to toxic chemicals and forced to wait for hours to find out whether they have work on a given day. Oh, and theyre underpaid.
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit2 The Olympic Games (人教版必修2)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M2 Unit 2《Wish you were here》(译林版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit1 Great scientists (人教版必修5)Word版含答案
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit4 Making the news (人教版必修5)Word版含答案
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit1 Women of achievement (人教版必修4)Word版含答案
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit3 A taste of English humour (人教版必修4)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M8 Unit 3《The world of colours and light》(译林版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit2 The United Kingdom (人教版必修5)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M1 Unit 3《Looking good,feeling good》(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M4 Unit 1《Advertising》(译林版)
2017高考英语阅读理解一轮(暑假)训练(4)及答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M6 Unit 4《Helping people around the world》(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M3 Unit 2《Language》(译林版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit3 Life in the future (人教版必修5)Word版含答案
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit3 The Million Pound Bank Note (人教版必修3)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M8 Unit 4《Films and film events》(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M5 Unit 3《Science and nature》(译林版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit5 First aid (人教版必修5)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M4 Unit 2《Sports events》(译林版)
2017高考英语阅读理解一轮(暑假)训练(7)及答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M10 Unit 3~Unit 4(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M6 Unit 1《Laughter is good for you》(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M3 Unit 3《Back to the past》(译林版)
2017年高考英语一轮复习 单元总复习 新人教版选修7
2017届高三英语一轮复习:Unit 3 Celebration 单元测试(北师大版必修1)
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit4 Astronomy:the science of the stars (人教版必修3)Word版含答案
2017届高考英语一轮复习检测:Unit1 Festivals around the world (人教版必修3)Word版含答案
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:M6 Unit 2《What is happiness to you?》(译林版)
2017高考英语一轮复习同步检测:综合卷 一(译林版)
2017届高三英语一轮复习:Unit 5Rhythm 单元测试(北师大版必修2)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |