Lesson 5 Crops Read and translate the text: a crop

Fiber Crops
Fiber crops, such as cotton and hemp, are harvested for textile and paper products. Textiles, or cloth, are made from the dried and processed fibers of certain plants. Most fibers used to make textiles are taken from the stem or roots of plants such as flax. Flax is used to make linen.
Other parts of a plant can be harvested for fiber. Cotton, the most popular fiber crop in the world, is harvested from the light, fluffy “boll” of fiber that surrounds the plant’s seeds. Textiles made from bamboo are manufactured from the pulp of bamboo plants. Pulp from other fiber crops can be used in a variety of products. Fiber pulp may be used instead of wood pulp to manufacture paper products. The hemp plant is an interesting and controversial example of a fiber crop. The fibers of the hemp plant are strong and durable, perfect for products such as paper, textiles, ropes, nets, and sailcloth for ships. Hemp advocates see the plant as a versatile and ecological source of fiber.
But some varieties of the hemp plant are used to make marijuana, a psychoactive drug. 
Oil Crops
Oil crops, such as canola and corn, are harvested for consumption or industrial uses. Technologies developed in the past century have enabled crops to be processed and broken down into their primary components, including oil. 
Soybeans, for example, represented 61 percent of world oilseed production and 79 percent of all edible oil consumed in the United States in 2000.
Oil crops are harvested for use in cooking, such as olive oil and corn oil. Oil crops are also harvested for industrial use, such as oil paints, soaps, and lubrication for machinery.
Fuel made from oil crops is called biofuel. The demand for biofuels has grown in recent years. Rising gas prices, concerns about global warming, and a desire for energy self-sufficiency have led governments and businesses to invest in biofuel research. There are two main types of biofuel that use oil crops: bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol is an alcohol made from fermented materials that come from sugar and starch crops. These crops include sugar cane, corn, and wheat. Bioethanol can be used as a fuel for vehicles, but it is usually used as a gasoline additive to improve vehicle emissions. Bioethanol is used widely in the United States and Brazil, where an abundance of corn and sugar cane crops facilitate its production.
Biodiesel is made by combining vegetable oils with alcohol. Nuts, such as coconuts, macadamias, and pecans, are excellent sources of oil used to manufacture biodiesel. Biodiesel can be used in diesel engines, such as those used by buses. Brazil, the United States, and the European Union (particularly Germany) manufacture and use biodiesel on a large scale. Biofuels provide almost three percent of the world’s transport fuel. Many scientists and economists predict that number will rise as oil production decreases in the next century.