学位英语

Plants and Mankind

Botany(植物学), the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge. We don’t know what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of preindustrialial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient. They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people, not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, dyes, Medicines, shelter, and many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each. To them botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of “knowledge” at all.

Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants. And the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer yields the next season, the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture: cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.

词汇：

botany 植物学 yield 产量，收益

detailed 详细的，详尽的 marvel 令人惊奇的事(人)，奇迹

property 特征;财产，资产 logical 逻辑的，合乎逻辑的

pyramid 金字塔 variety 品种，变种;变化，多样化

accumulate 积累，积聚 welfare 福利，幸福，康乐

intimacy 亲近，亲密

注释：

1.Stone Age：石器时代

2.…a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient：……对植物及其特点的详细了解一定非常久远

3.dye：染料

4.the Amazon：亚马孙河

5.Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge，…然而每个人都会无意识中获得大量的植物知识，……come on ：偶然遇见;偶然发现。又如：I came on this idea by pure chance。我有这个想法纯属偶然。

6.orchid：兰花

7.Neolithic：新石器时代

8.From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.：从那时起，人类越来越多地从可控制的集中植物的种植中获取生计，而不是从野生的众多种类中东采一点，西摘一点。在数万年的经验中积累起来的知识以及与大自然中各种植物的紧密联系也就开始消失。take their living from：靠……过活

练习：

1.It is logical that a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

2.People cannot survive without plants.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

3.Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon teach botany to their children at school.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

4.Our direct contact with plants grows with the process of industrialization.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

5.Today people usually acquire a large amount of botanical knowledge from textbooks.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

6.People living in the Middle East first learned to grow plants for food about 10,000years ago.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

7.Once mankind began farming, they no longer had to get food from many varieties that grew wild.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

参考答案:

1. A. 文章第一段第三句话中的指示代词“this”是指上一句话的陈述，即“对植物及其特点的详细了解一定非常久远。”

2. A. 第二段讲到植物对于人类而言是极为重要的，为人类提供类食物、衣服、工具、药物等生活必需品。

3. B. 第一段结尾部分提到现今仍生活在亚马孙丛林中的部落能识别成百上千种植物，知道每一种植物的属性。他们没有植物学这个概念，甚至可能没有意识到它是知识界的一个分支。因此在学校中不可能设该课。

4. B.第二段第一句话说工业化的程度越高，我们与植物直接接触就越少。

5. B. 第二段中说人们无意识地获得类大量植物学知识，由此可以推出这些知识不是从教科书中获得的。

6. A. 第二段提到当生活在大约一万年前中东地区的人们发现某些草可以用来种植，而且到了来年再把种子种在地里可以得到更好的收成时，农业就出现了。

7. B. 第二段末尾讲从大约一万年前开始从事农耕时起，人们逐渐地停止采食野果，这是因为萌芽时期的农耕技术还十分落后，人们还不能从中获得足够的食物。

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