Part Three
When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. They suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass （the amount of living biological matter）of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators （animals that kill and eat other animals）in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.
Dr Worm acknowledges that the figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today's vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.
Dr Myers and Dr Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the "shifting baseline". The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.
11. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that____
A. large animal were vulnerable to the changing environment.
B. small species survived as large animals disappeared.
C. large sea animals may face the same threat today.
D. Slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones
12. We can infer from Dr Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that____
A. the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%.
B. there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago.
C. the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount.
D. the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old.
13. By saying these figures are conservative （Line 1, paragraph 3）, Dr Worm means that____
A. fishing technology has improved rapidly
B. then catch-sizes are actually smaller then recorded
C. the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss
D. the data collected so far are out of date.
14. Dr Myers and other researchers hold that_____
A. people should look for a baseline that can’t work for a longer time.
B. fisheries should keep the yield below 50% of the biomass
C. the ocean biomass should restored its original level.
D. people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation
15. The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’___
A. management efficiency B. biomass level
C. catch-size limits D. technological application.
Unit 13（2006）Part 3
重點(diǎn)詞匯：
1. prey ① n. 被捕獲的動物，捕食。犧牲者② vi. prey on 掠奪，搶奪，搶劫；捕食,傷害，損害，使人煩惱extinction n. 滅絕，熄滅
2. estimate ① v. 估計(jì)，估價(jià)，評估；
3. conservative a. 保守的，守舊的
4. exploitation n. 開發(fā)，開拓，剝削 相關(guān)詞① exploit vt. 開采， 開發(fā)剝削 ② n.業(yè)績，功績，事跡 搭配 exploit with 利用……來剝削
5. vessel n. 船，容器，血管
6. saturate vt. soak sth. thoroughly 浸濕；使……充滿某物；使飽和
7. bait ① n. 誘餌；（比喻）誘惑物 ② vt. 折磨，欺負(fù)，擾亂；取笑，嘲弄，戲弄（某人）
8. baseline n. 基準(zhǔn)線，基礎(chǔ)，起點(diǎn)，準(zhǔn)則；（據(jù)通貨膨脹率作出調(diào)整的）政府開支基數(shù)；相關(guān)詞 deadline n.（付款的）最后期限，截止時間
9. marine a. 海洋的，海產(chǎn)的，航海的，海運(yùn)的， 海軍的
10. massive a. 大量的，粗大的
11. sustainable a. 能承受的，能維持的，可持續(xù)的；（經(jīng)濟(jì)上）保持在一定水平上的；能保持一定發(fā)展速度的
12. target ① n. 目標(biāo)（或指標(biāo)），靶子，（服務(wù)的）對象，（攻擊的）對象 ② vt. 瞄準(zhǔn)某物（=aim sth.）; 選作調(diào)查對象； 搭配off target 不對頭的，不準(zhǔn)確的； on target （武器）命中目標(biāo)；判斷準(zhǔn)確
13. prehistoric a. 史前的，相關(guān)詞prehistory史前時期
14. biomass n. 生物量
15. halve vt. 把……對半分
16. predator n. 掠奪者，捕食其他動物的動物
重要詞組
1. on average 平均地
2. since then 從那時起
3. take into account （+賓語） 認(rèn)真考慮（某事）
4. do business 做生意
5. look back into the past 回顧歷史
答案詳解
11.【正確答案】［C］ large sea animals may face the same threat today.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】答案是“Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.”的改寫，［A］是就事論事，［B］和［D］都是無中生有。
12.【正確答案】［A］ the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題解析】這道題關(guān)鍵是要理解原文第二段的最后一句, ...the biomass of large predators （animals that kill and eat other animals） in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some longfished areas, it has halved again since then.前一個句子講大型食肉動物減少了80%,即剩下20%,現(xiàn)在在某些longfished地區(qū),又減少了一半10%,所以總共減少了90%。
13.【正確答案】［C］ the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】通過對整篇文章的閱讀，我們知道它的主題是海洋魚類需要保護(hù)。文章第二段提到的數(shù)字只是一種保守?cái)?shù)字，因?yàn)闆]有考慮到如今捕魚科技進(jìn)步造成的魚類數(shù)量減少，暗含的意思是魚類資源遭受的損失要更加嚴(yán)重。
14.【正確答案】［D］ people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題解析】最后一段提到給出一個correct baseline 才行，就是要調(diào)整原來的baseline。文中的“shifting baseline”也提示了答案。
15.【正確答案】［B］ biomass level.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道作者態(tài)度判斷題。
【試題解析】本文中心是海洋生物量biomass的變化。文中明確指出他們所關(guān)心的是changes of fish species over time。
全文翻譯：
當(dāng)時前人到達(dá)世界新的地方時，大型動物遭遇了奇怪的命運(yùn):它們突然滅絕了，而小型的物種存活了下來。大型的、移動速度緩慢的隊(duì)伍就成了易于捕獲的獵物，很快被捕殺以至滅絕?，F(xiàn)在，類似的情景可能就發(fā)生在海洋之中。
多年來，我們就已經(jīng)知道，海洋正在被過度捕撈。研究者如Ransom Myers 和 Boris Worm所呈現(xiàn)在我們面前的發(fā)現(xiàn)只是說明形勢正在發(fā)生改變。他們研究了全世界半個世紀(jì)的捕魚資料，它們的方法并非嘗試對大海中某個特定區(qū)域的魚類單位面積內(nèi)的生物量（活體生物數(shù)量）作出估計(jì)，而是為了揭示生物數(shù)量隨著時間的變化情況。根據(jù)他們在《自然》雜志上最新發(fā)表的論文，一個新漁場的大型食肉動物（捕食其他隊(duì)伍的動物）的生物量在開始經(jīng)營十五年內(nèi)平均減少80%；在一些長期捕魚的地區(qū)，迄今已經(jīng)減少了一倍半。
Worm博士承認(rèn)，這些數(shù)字過于保守，原因之一是因?yàn)椴遏~技術(shù)的提高。近幾天的漁船可以通過衛(wèi)星和聲納找到魚群，而這些技術(shù)在50年前是沒有的。這就意味著大海中更多的魚類被捕獲，所以，現(xiàn)在和過去之間的捕獲量之間的真正差別要比記錄變化所反映的要更糟。在早期，長線多鉤捕魚應(yīng)該是漁鉤上幾乎都掛滿了魚，所以，因?yàn)闆]有多余的掛著誘餌的鉤子的誘捕，個別的魚可能沒有被釣到，這就使得過去的魚類資源被低估。再者，在多鉤長線釣魚的早期，許多魚在上鉤后都成為鯊魚的食物?，F(xiàn)在這已經(jīng)不再成為問題，因?yàn)闆]有多少鯊魚出沒。
Myers 和 Worm博士堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，它們的研究給出了正確的基線，未來的管理決策者必須給予重視。他們相信這些資料支持目前在海洋生物學(xué)家中流行的一種觀點(diǎn)，就是“多變的基線”的觀點(diǎn)，這種觀點(diǎn)認(rèn)為因?yàn)槿藗冎幌抻趯^去相對較短的時期的研究，所以他們沒有能夠覺察到大海中所發(fā)生的巨大變化。這點(diǎn)之所以很重要是因?yàn)槔碚撝赋?，一個漁場所能夠獲得的持續(xù)產(chǎn)量僅當(dāng)目標(biāo)物種的生物量是原來水平的50%時才能實(shí)現(xiàn)，而大部分的漁場都處于這個水平之下，這對于正常的營業(yè)是很不利的。大綱詞和超綱詞
When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. They suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass （the amount of living biological matter）of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators （animals that kill and eat other animals）in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.
Dr Worm acknowledges that the figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today's vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.
Dr Myers and Dr Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the "shifting baseline". The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.
11. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that____
A. large animal were vulnerable to the changing environment.
B. small species survived as large animals disappeared.
C. large sea animals may face the same threat today.
D. Slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones
12. We can infer from Dr Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that____
A. the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%.
B. there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago.
C. the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount.
D. the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old.
13. By saying these figures are conservative （Line 1, paragraph 3）, Dr Worm means that____
A. fishing technology has improved rapidly
B. then catch-sizes are actually smaller then recorded
C. the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss
D. the data collected so far are out of date.
14. Dr Myers and other researchers hold that_____
A. people should look for a baseline that can’t work for a longer time.
B. fisheries should keep the yield below 50% of the biomass
C. the ocean biomass should restored its original level.
D. people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation
15. The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’___
A. management efficiency B. biomass level
C. catch-size limits D. technological application.
Unit 13（2006）Part 3
重點(diǎn)詞匯：
1. prey ① n. 被捕獲的動物，捕食。犧牲者② vi. prey on 掠奪，搶奪，搶劫；捕食,傷害，損害，使人煩惱extinction n. 滅絕，熄滅
2. estimate ① v. 估計(jì)，估價(jià)，評估；
3. conservative a. 保守的，守舊的
4. exploitation n. 開發(fā)，開拓，剝削 相關(guān)詞① exploit vt. 開采， 開發(fā)剝削 ② n.業(yè)績，功績，事跡 搭配 exploit with 利用……來剝削
5. vessel n. 船，容器，血管
6. saturate vt. soak sth. thoroughly 浸濕；使……充滿某物；使飽和
7. bait ① n. 誘餌；（比喻）誘惑物 ② vt. 折磨，欺負(fù)，擾亂；取笑，嘲弄，戲弄（某人）
8. baseline n. 基準(zhǔn)線，基礎(chǔ)，起點(diǎn)，準(zhǔn)則；（據(jù)通貨膨脹率作出調(diào)整的）政府開支基數(shù)；相關(guān)詞 deadline n.（付款的）最后期限，截止時間
9. marine a. 海洋的，海產(chǎn)的，航海的，海運(yùn)的， 海軍的
10. massive a. 大量的，粗大的
11. sustainable a. 能承受的，能維持的，可持續(xù)的；（經(jīng)濟(jì)上）保持在一定水平上的；能保持一定發(fā)展速度的
12. target ① n. 目標(biāo)（或指標(biāo)），靶子，（服務(wù)的）對象，（攻擊的）對象 ② vt. 瞄準(zhǔn)某物（=aim sth.）; 選作調(diào)查對象； 搭配off target 不對頭的，不準(zhǔn)確的； on target （武器）命中目標(biāo)；判斷準(zhǔn)確
13. prehistoric a. 史前的，相關(guān)詞prehistory史前時期
14. biomass n. 生物量
15. halve vt. 把……對半分
16. predator n. 掠奪者，捕食其他動物的動物
重要詞組
1. on average 平均地
2. since then 從那時起
3. take into account （+賓語） 認(rèn)真考慮（某事）
4. do business 做生意
5. look back into the past 回顧歷史
答案詳解
11.【正確答案】［C］ large sea animals may face the same threat today.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】答案是“Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.”的改寫，［A］是就事論事，［B］和［D］都是無中生有。
12.【正確答案】［A］ the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題解析】這道題關(guān)鍵是要理解原文第二段的最后一句, ...the biomass of large predators （animals that kill and eat other animals） in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some longfished areas, it has halved again since then.前一個句子講大型食肉動物減少了80%,即剩下20%,現(xiàn)在在某些longfished地區(qū),又減少了一半10%,所以總共減少了90%。
13.【正確答案】［C］ the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】通過對整篇文章的閱讀，我們知道它的主題是海洋魚類需要保護(hù)。文章第二段提到的數(shù)字只是一種保守?cái)?shù)字，因?yàn)闆]有考慮到如今捕魚科技進(jìn)步造成的魚類數(shù)量減少，暗含的意思是魚類資源遭受的損失要更加嚴(yán)重。
14.【正確答案】［D］ people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題解析】最后一段提到給出一個correct baseline 才行，就是要調(diào)整原來的baseline。文中的“shifting baseline”也提示了答案。
15.【正確答案】［B］ biomass level.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道作者態(tài)度判斷題。
【試題解析】本文中心是海洋生物量biomass的變化。文中明確指出他們所關(guān)心的是changes of fish species over time。
全文翻譯：
當(dāng)時前人到達(dá)世界新的地方時，大型動物遭遇了奇怪的命運(yùn):它們突然滅絕了，而小型的物種存活了下來。大型的、移動速度緩慢的隊(duì)伍就成了易于捕獲的獵物，很快被捕殺以至滅絕?，F(xiàn)在，類似的情景可能就發(fā)生在海洋之中。
多年來，我們就已經(jīng)知道，海洋正在被過度捕撈。研究者如Ransom Myers 和 Boris Worm所呈現(xiàn)在我們面前的發(fā)現(xiàn)只是說明形勢正在發(fā)生改變。他們研究了全世界半個世紀(jì)的捕魚資料，它們的方法并非嘗試對大海中某個特定區(qū)域的魚類單位面積內(nèi)的生物量（活體生物數(shù)量）作出估計(jì)，而是為了揭示生物數(shù)量隨著時間的變化情況。根據(jù)他們在《自然》雜志上最新發(fā)表的論文，一個新漁場的大型食肉動物（捕食其他隊(duì)伍的動物）的生物量在開始經(jīng)營十五年內(nèi)平均減少80%；在一些長期捕魚的地區(qū)，迄今已經(jīng)減少了一倍半。
Worm博士承認(rèn)，這些數(shù)字過于保守，原因之一是因?yàn)椴遏~技術(shù)的提高。近幾天的漁船可以通過衛(wèi)星和聲納找到魚群，而這些技術(shù)在50年前是沒有的。這就意味著大海中更多的魚類被捕獲，所以，現(xiàn)在和過去之間的捕獲量之間的真正差別要比記錄變化所反映的要更糟。在早期，長線多鉤捕魚應(yīng)該是漁鉤上幾乎都掛滿了魚，所以，因?yàn)闆]有多余的掛著誘餌的鉤子的誘捕，個別的魚可能沒有被釣到，這就使得過去的魚類資源被低估。再者，在多鉤長線釣魚的早期，許多魚在上鉤后都成為鯊魚的食物?，F(xiàn)在這已經(jīng)不再成為問題，因?yàn)闆]有多少鯊魚出沒。
Myers 和 Worm博士堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，它們的研究給出了正確的基線，未來的管理決策者必須給予重視。他們相信這些資料支持目前在海洋生物學(xué)家中流行的一種觀點(diǎn)，就是“多變的基線”的觀點(diǎn)，這種觀點(diǎn)認(rèn)為因?yàn)槿藗冎幌抻趯^去相對較短的時期的研究，所以他們沒有能夠覺察到大海中所發(fā)生的巨大變化。這點(diǎn)之所以很重要是因?yàn)槔碚撝赋?，一個漁場所能夠獲得的持續(xù)產(chǎn)量僅當(dāng)目標(biāo)物種的生物量是原來水平的50%時才能實(shí)現(xiàn)，而大部分的漁場都處于這個水平之下，這對于正常的營業(yè)是很不利的。大綱詞和超綱詞