Plants and Mankind
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
property ["pr?p?ti] n. (1)特征(2)财产，资产
logical ["l?d?ik?l] adj. 逻辑的，合乎逻辑的
variety [v?"rai?ti] n.(1)品种，变种 (2)变化，多样化
pyramid ["pir?mid] n.金字塔 职称英语考试
welfare ["welfε?] n. 福利，幸福，康乐
accumulate [?"kju:mjuleit] vt.积累，积聚
intimacy ["intim?si] n. 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 … 而每个人都会在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，人类就越来越多地从可控制的几种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。
1. It is logical that a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient.(一段)
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
2. People can not survive without plants. (一段)
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
3. Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon teach botany to their children at school. (一段)
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
4. Our direct contact with plants grows with the process of industrialization. (二段)
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 10,000 years ago. (二段)
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. (二段)
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
答案及题解：
1.A 文章第一段第三句话中的指示词“This”回指上一句话中的陈述，即“关于植物及其特点的详细知识一定由来已久”。
2. A 第二段降到植物对于人类而言是极为重要的，为人类提供了食物、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及其特性，但在他们的词汇中还没有“植物学”这个词，甚至有可能不承认“植物学”是专门的知识。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，我们与职务的直接接触就越少。
5. B 第二段中说人们无意识地获得了大量植物学知识，由此可以退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从某些禾本植物中可以收获粮食，并且播种后下一个收获季节还能产出更多的粮食时，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也过，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粮食。