1、考研英语阅读理解 B 节(新题型)分类精讲科学技术类-(一)及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Reading Co(总题数：5，分数：100.00)When we compare men with animals, we must remember that a man is also an animal. But in making this comparison, it is sometimes more convenient to refer to the rest of the animal kingdom as “animals“.(1) .M
2、any animals are intelligent in the sense that they can explore their surroundings or acquire new skills by learning from their parents. Animal organisms have organs whose physical power exceeds the power of men. The bodies of men have no wings and cannot fly. Men cannot imitate fish and spend long p
3、eriods under water unless they carry breathing apparatus with them.(2) . But it is very uncommon for animals to go mad or destroy their own kind. Animals, left to themselves, do not disturb the balance of nature. They do not turn grassland into desert or make water undrinkable by filling whole lakes
4、 and rivers with waste materials. Compared with most other organismsif we see him as a part of natureman is wasteful and destructive. Though he is more intelligent than animals, he often uses his intelligence for strange purposes.(3) . This power is possessed by the rich businessman in Chicago and t
5、he poor, primitive Bushman of the Kalahari Desert in Africa. It may indeed show itself more obviously in the Bushman, whose environment does not provide him with security and whose entire food supply is acquired by facing new situations. It is a power which can be wasted or misused or be weakened th
6、rough neglect. But it is a power which belongs to every human being.(4) .Language gives depth to human communities in time. It enables one generation to hand on its experience to another, by means of stories, which are the origin of human history. It is only human beings who recognize a past and fut
7、ure, and who feel that they stand at a certain point in the development of their community.(5) .This brings us to another aspect of human intelligence. Man is more adaptable than animals, but in the ages of civilization he has used this power in a special way. A few communities, like the African Bus
8、hman, still manage to survive in a primitive way. But other men wish to make their future more secure and try to find a way of doing this, which is typical of civilized communities.A. We call this capacity intelligence. Its chief instrument or weapon is human language, a system of symbols (spoken or
9、 written) which enables men to communicate information and purpose, and see one situation in terms of another. The ability to use symbols is not possessed by animals, and it is a major aspect of human intelligence.B. Like animals, men are adapted to a certain environment. They require food and water
10、; they can digest only certain kinds of food. They require warmth; they can survive only within certain limits of temperature.C. Mans sense of future leads him to provide for the future. He accumulates food, clothes, useful objects, raw materials, buildings, information and in modern times he accumu
11、lates moneythe means of exchange and therefore an important means of power over other men.D. Different from an animal, man is able to convert a natural environment into a human, social environmentan environment which represents the accumulated labor of many generations.E. We cannot say that men are
12、superior to animals. But they differ from animals in several important ways. And all these differences are really aspects of one and the same difference. This central difference is mans unusual mental flexibility, his ability to meet a new situation in a new way and his capacity to learn from his ex
13、perience and the experience of others.F. It is very doubtful whether men are “superior“ to animals. It is true that their responses are more complex.G. Man is concerned about his living environment. The discoveries of science and the inventions of technology have produced an environment which is alm
14、ost equivalent to a second, outer shell of body and is adapted not only to local conditions but also to a very wide range of variations in climate, altitude and other features of the geographical surroundings.（分数：20.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_Rain forest structure is distinct from most ot
15、her forest types because of its many layers of vegetation, referred to as strata. The lowest stratum is the understory, composed of palms, herbaceous plants (such as wild ginger), and tree seedlings and saplings. (1) . Many have deep red coloring on the underside of their leaves to capture some of t
16、he scarce light that does manage to reach the forest understory. This red coloring enables understory plants to absorb light of different wavelengths than do the plants with rich, green-foliaged canopy, the umbrella-shaped upper structure of trees. Above the forest floor but below the canopy are one
17、 or more midstory strata, made up of woody plants, such as large shrubs and midsized trees.The overstory is the canopy, in which the tree crowns form a continuous layer that captures the major part of the rainwater and sunlight hitting the forest. The height of the canopy varies from region to regio
18、n and forest to forest, ranging from 20 to 50 m (65 to 165 ft). (2) . Researchers use hot air balloons, cables, catwalks, towers, sophisticated tree-climbing gear, and even robots to study the millions of plants and animals that make their home high up in the forest canopy. Canopy researchers also u
19、se huge cranes that are dropped into the heart of the forest by helicopters. Suspended from the cranes long, movable arm is a large cabin that functions as a mobile treetop laboratory. Moving from tree to tree, forest researchers collect specimens, conduct experiments, and observe life in the canopy
20、 frontier.The highest stratum of the rain forest is made up of the emergent trees, those individuals that stick up above the forest canopy. Emergents, which do not form a continuous layer, are usually the giants of the forest, reaching heights of 35 to 70 m (115 to 230 It) or more, and trunk sizes o
21、f over 2 m (6.6 It) in diameter. (3) . However, these trees tend to be so large that they collectively account for the vast majority of the woody mass, or biomass, of the forest.The nicely ordered strata of the rain forest, including the continuous layer of the canopy, are regularly disturbed by nat
22、urally occurring events, such as falling trees. Trees in a rain forest canopy are often interconnected by vines, and a falling tree may pull as well as push other trees down with it, producing a domino effect of falling trees. The resulting opening in the forest canopy enables light to pour onto the
23、 forest floor. (4) .Other natural disturbances create even larger openings in the forest canopies. For example, along the hurricane belt in the Caribbean and the typhoon belt along the western Pacific, some forests are substantially altered when high winds and storms blow down hundreds of trees ever
24、y few decades. (5) . Scientists have found that these natural disturbances and the subsequent forest regeneration are a vital process that leads to healthy and diverse forests.A. New plants and animals then move into the area and begin to grow.B. Just 2 percent of the sunlight goes through the many
25、layers of leaves and branches above, so understory plant species have developed special traits to cope with low light levels.C. On a smaller scale, large mammals, such as elephants, regularly destroy rain forest vegetation in the Congo River Basin in Africa.D. An understory of shorter trees and a la
26、cework of woody vines, or lianas, produce a forest of such complex internal architecture that many animals, including some sizable ones, rarely or never descend to the ground.E. Less than one percent of the trees in the forest reside in the canopy and emergent layers.F. Because more light penetrates
27、 the canopy, however, the vegetation of the understory and forest floor is better developed than in the tropics.G. The rich, green canopy is teeming with life, and forest researchers have developed ingenious methods for accessing this mysterious ecosystem.（分数：20.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:
28、_A. The culprit is climate change, caused by societys burning of fossil fuels. When it comes to global warming, farmers who are more attuned to weather patterns than most peoplemay be the proverbial canaries in the coalmine. The weather, of course, has never been exactly dependablefarmers have alway
29、s been at the mercy of the vagaries of sun and rain. General weather patterns have at least been broadly predictable, allowing farmers to know when to sow their seeds, when to transplant, when to harvest. As weather patterns become less reliable, growers will be tested to develop new rhythms and sys
30、tems for growing crops.B. Most keyboard jockeys would die for the view from Orin Martins office window: apple trees in blossom, lines of citrus, dozens of varieties of flowers and neat rows of peppers and potatoes. Martin is a farmer in Santa Cruz, Cali, where for the last 30 years he has been an in
31、structor at the University of Californias agro-ecology program, one of the nations oldest organic agriculture curriculums.C. What all agriculture experts agree on is that farmers need to start preparing today for climate change. Growers ought to be thinking about what warmer temperatures, fluctuatio
32、ns in precipitation, and an increase in extreme weather events will mean for their farms, and how they can respond. “This is change; its not necessarily disaster,“ says Grubinger. “The disaster will come if people arent prepared.“D. In recent years, however, something has been wrong in his idyllic s
33、etting. The weather is changing in strange ways. From New England to the Midwest to California, farmers and scientists are noticing that once-dependable weather patterns are shifting.E. Among farmers and researchers, there is disagreement about which types of growers climate change will impact mostl
34、arge agribusiness growing operations, or smaller, family-run farms. Some agriculture industry observers say that the bigger farmers will have an advantage in coping with weather changes, as they will have more resources to switch to new crops. Others say that since family farms usually grow a wider
35、range of crops, their biological diversity will make it easier to cope with whatever changes occur.F. Too much rain at the wrong time can make it difficult to plant or harvest crops. Above-average rainfall also contributes to fungi and insects that can dramatically reduce crop yields. Too much warmt
36、h is equally problematic. Some plants require a certain number of frost days each year in order to thrive the following spring. As temperatures warm, farmers may find themselves having to either shift to different crops or actually move their operations to new locales. Unreliable weather will make i
37、t harder for farmers to be as productive as we have come to expect.Order:（分数：20.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_Life, at least for a seed, is better out in the world. (1) . Seeds know how to get around. (2) . But they all have the same goal: to take root and give rise to the next generation. S
38、cientists can understand what type of dispersal strategy a plant employs by looking at its environment. For example, dispersal by sea currents is important for plants that grow on seashores, and wind is important in open grasslands. And for each type of dispersal, there is a type of design. (3) . “A
39、mong species with seeds dispersed internally by animals, the size of the seed or fruit, its color, and the presence of protective husks will reflect the swallowing, visual, and processing abilities of the seed disperser,“ Birkinshaw said. For example, seeds spread by small birds will be small in siz
40、e, covered with plant flesh (to give the birds a reward for eating it), huskless (since most birds are ill equipped to remove such an outer shell), and brightly colored (since birds have good color vision).Some seeds have no specific dispersal strategy, like the coco-de-mer, a palm tree that only gr
41、ows in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean. These palms have the largest seeds of any plant and lack any seed dispersal method other than gravity, Birkinshaw said. In other cases, as with the rare Madagascan palms Satranala decussilvae and Voanioala gerardii, the seeds collect in pil
42、es beneath their parent trees. (4) .According to John Dransfield, an expert on Madagascan palms with the United Kingdoms Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, both of these palms have very large seeds that animals alive today are incapable of moving. “You start dreaming up stories that it could have been distr
43、ibuted by a now extinct animal“, he said.Possible extinct dispersers of the palms are large lemurs that once roamed Madagascar or flightless elephant birds, which were the largest birds known to have lived in Madagascar.There are only a few of these Madagascan palms left standing. (5) . Donald Drake
44、 is a botanist with the University of Hawaii in Honolulu who studies how plant and animal interaction affects reproduction of native plants and food for native animals in the Pacific Ocean islands. He said loss of animals to disperse seeds certainly impacts a plants viability, but “hard, conclusive
45、data are difficult to come by.“He and colleague Kim McConkey are currently engaged in research that suggests animals may stop performing ecological functions such as seed dispersal long before they go extinct. “We found this to be the case with flying foxes“, Drake said. Flying foxes are among the f
46、ew remaining large animals that disperse seeds on islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. “Many flying foxes are either rare or extinct“, Drake said, “If they cease to be effective dispersers long before reaching that stage, there is a possibility that the results we found are of wide applicabilit
47、y.“A. Wind-dispersed seeds are generally lightweight and have adaptations such as wings and parachutes so they can catch a ride on the breeze. Water-dispersed seeds, such as coconuts, are buoyant. Seeds dispersed by animals usually offer a nutritional reward so that they are eaten, or they are stick
48、y or barbed so they can latch on to passing bodies.B. If researchers can confirm that indeed the animal disperser of the palms, seeds are extinct, then the only way to prevent the trees themselves from becoming extinct may be to reintroduce seedlings into the forest with a controlled program of repl
49、anting, Dransfield said.C. In order to maintain effective seed-dispersing populations, the researchers say it is important to take conservation actions before seed-dispersing animal species drop below this threshold.D. Some fly with the wind, others go with the flow. Many hitch a ride with unsuspecting animals.E. Some anim
