时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:新东方现代文背诵篇章


英语课

Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar 1 position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness 2 about which humans had anything more than the vaguest of insights. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but form what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist a detailed 3 learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants. 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 a great many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognize literally 4 hundreds of plants and know many properties of each. To them, botany, as such, 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 5. When our Neolithic 6 ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years 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 7 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 8 with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.



1 peculiar
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
2 awareness
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
3 detailed
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
4 literally
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
5 orchid
n.兰花,淡紫色
  • The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.兰花这类植物我从来没种过。
  • There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.有35,000多种兰花分布在世界各地。
6 neolithic
adj.新石器时代的
  • Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
  • The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。
7 marvel
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事
  • The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
  • The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。
8 intimacy
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行
  • His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切,这有点言过其实。
  • I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。
学英语单词
alien priories
alternation of studies
anti-phase
APP (Atomic Power Plant)
arcological
Ariosto
Ashby de la Zouch
basalt dike
beamcast
blocked level access
Bouenza, Chutes de la
bringhouse
bunyan
Calamus platyacanthoides
Camptosorus
cat's whiskers
cbbb
channellers
cheilorrhagia
children's centre
confined environment
cross-unfruitfulness
current on upset allowance
cusped profile
daler-rowney
dash toward
dihydrobenzaldehyde
distributed computer control network
echidnase
engine flywheel
enter into alliance with
Fethiye Körfezi
fireballer
fourpennies
garnet hinge
garrafeira
Gaultheria L.
general administrative expenses
glass-coach
griesa
Hungarian camomile
Hyrra Banda
illwishers
intermediate altitude communication satellite
intervarietal crossing
iridium(iv) sulfate
Itō-dake
knubby
lenticular ansa
long term market outlook
macroengineering
Mararo
marketable price
matched filter
metrechoscopy
miter fillet weld
monstrifications
ND-Stat
nickel acetylacetonate
oil production record
on the cheap
on-line diagnostics
ostorhinchus compressus
outsilencing
parallel representation
parent child relations questionnaire
pattern board
pelt record
Penic. cam.
Perilepta longzhouensis
pit border
police procedural
potential enstrophy conserving scheme
pure tones
race allomorphosis
Rooiberg
Rubus swinhoei
Sagittaria trifolia var. sinensis
sensibilisinogen
servicos
stopping up
subglottic stenosis
sullivans
superficial temporal nerves
taifs
take short views
Tandaltī
tapt
throw-out fork
timesketch
trunked hatchways
Tuapse
tuberositas preaxialis
turf war
ultra(-)centrifuge
Unwinesque
unzipping reaction
vistatolon
wardrobe bed
waste oil collection vessel
wegher
yellow-diamond