SECTION III: READING (6.0 points)

Part 1. Questions 56 – 65 (2 points - 0.2/ each)

Read the passage below and choose the best answer to each question.

Choose the best answer to fill in each blank.

From the seeds themselves to the machinery, fertilizers and pesticides - The Green Revolution regimen depend heavily on technology. One (56) ________, however, depends much (57) ________ on technology - organic farming. Many organic farmers use machinery, but (58) ________ chemical fertilizers or pesticides. (59) ________ chemical soil enrichers, they use animal manure and plant parts not used as food -,natural,organic fertilizers that are clearly a renewable (60) ________. Organic farmers also use alternatives (61) ________ pesticides; for example they may rely on natural predators of certain insect pests. (62) ________ the need arises, they can buy the eggs and larvae of these natural predators and introduce them into their crop fields. They use (63) ________ techniques to control pests as well, like planting certain crops together because one crop repels the other's pests. Organic farmers do not need a lot of land;(64) ________ organic farming is perfectly (65) ________ to small farms and is relatively inexpensive. Finally, many organic farmers' average yields compare favorably with other farmers' yields.

The author uses the phrase "safe to say" in order to demonstrate that the idea is ________. A. somewhat innocent B. quite certain C. very clever D. commonly reported