Plants and Mankind
Botany（植物學）,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.
練習：
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
參考答案：
1.A.文章第一段第三句話中的指示代詞“this”是指上一句話的陳述，即“對植物及其特點的詳細了解一定非常久遠?！?BR> 2.A.第二段講到植物對于人類而言是極為重要的，為人類提供類食物、衣服、工具、藥物等生活必需品。
3.B.第一段結尾部分提到現(xiàn)今仍生活在亞馬孫叢林中的部落能識別成百上千種植物，知道每一種植物的屬性。他們沒有植物學這個概念，甚至可能沒有意識到它是知識界的一個分支。因此在學校中不可能設該課。
4.B.第二段第一句話說工業(yè)化的程度越高，我們與植物直接接觸就越少。
5.B.第二段中說人們無意識地獲得類大量植物學知識，由此可以推出這些知識不是從教科書中獲得的。
6.A.第二段提到當生活在大約一萬年前中東地區(qū)的人們發(fā)現(xiàn)某些草可以用來種植，而且到了來年再把種子種在地里可以得到更好的收成時，農業(yè)就出現(xiàn)了。
7.B.第二段末尾講從大約一萬年前開始從事農耕時起，人們逐漸地停止采食野果，這是因為萌芽時期的農耕技術還十分落后，人們還不能從中獲得足夠的食物。
Botany（植物學）,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.
練習：
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
參考答案：
1.A.文章第一段第三句話中的指示代詞“this”是指上一句話的陳述，即“對植物及其特點的詳細了解一定非常久遠?！?BR> 2.A.第二段講到植物對于人類而言是極為重要的，為人類提供類食物、衣服、工具、藥物等生活必需品。
3.B.第一段結尾部分提到現(xiàn)今仍生活在亞馬孫叢林中的部落能識別成百上千種植物，知道每一種植物的屬性。他們沒有植物學這個概念，甚至可能沒有意識到它是知識界的一個分支。因此在學校中不可能設該課。
4.B.第二段第一句話說工業(yè)化的程度越高，我們與植物直接接觸就越少。
5.B.第二段中說人們無意識地獲得類大量植物學知識，由此可以推出這些知識不是從教科書中獲得的。
6.A.第二段提到當生活在大約一萬年前中東地區(qū)的人們發(fā)現(xiàn)某些草可以用來種植，而且到了來年再把種子種在地里可以得到更好的收成時，農業(yè)就出現(xiàn)了。
7.B.第二段末尾講從大約一萬年前開始從事農耕時起，人們逐漸地停止采食野果，這是因為萌芽時期的農耕技術還十分落后，人們還不能從中獲得足夠的食物。