2017年职称英语《综合类》阅读判断预测试题(2)[1]

　　Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge. We don't know what our Stone Age1 ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of preindustrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient2. 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, dyes3, medicines, shelter, and many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon4 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 knowledge5, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid6. When our Neolithic7 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 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 away8 .

　　词汇:

　　botany ['b?t?ni] n.植物学

　　yield [ji:ld] n. 产量，收益

　　detailed ['di:teild] adj.详细的，详尽的

　　marvel ['mɑ:v?l] n. 令人惊奇的事(人)，奇迹职称英语考试