Botany, the study of plants, occupies a special position in the history of human

Botany, the study of plants, occupies aspecial position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of yearsit was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than thevaguest (含糊的) ofinsight. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knewabout plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies thatstill exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must extremelyancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for allliving things, even for other plants. They have always been enormouslyimportant to the welfare of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing,weapons, tools, eyes, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes.Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognized accurately hundredsof plants and know many properties of each. To them, botany, as such, has noname and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of knowledge atall.

Unfortunately, the more industrialized webecome the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the lessdistinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on anamazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize arose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in theMiddle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could beharvested and their seeds planted for richer productions the next season, thefirst great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grainswere discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture; cultivated crops.From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlledproduction of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a littlethere from many varieties that grew wild and the built up knowledge of tens ofthousands of years of experience and close relationship with plants in the wildwould begin fade away.

1. Which of the following statements aboutearly humans is expressed in the passage?

A. They probably had extensive knowledge ofplants.    

B. They thought there was no need tocultivate crops.     

C. They did not enjoy the study ofbotany.      

D. They placed great importance on theownership of property.

2. What does the comment “This is logical.”In the first paragraph mean?

A. There is no clear way to determine theextent of our ancestor’s knowledge ofplants.           

B. It is not surprising that early humanshad a detailed knowledge of plants.

C. It is reasonable to assume that ourancestors behaved very much like people in pre-industrialsocieties.       

D. Human knowledge of plants is wellorganized and very detailed.

3. According to the passage, why hasgeneral knowledge of botany begun to fade?

A. People no longer value plants as auseful resource.       

B. Botany is not recognized as a specialbranch of science.

C. Research is unable to keep up with theincreasing numbers of plants.

D. Direct contact with a variety of plantshas decreased.

4. In the second paragraph, what is theauthor’s purpose in mentioning “ a rose, an apple, or an orchid”?

A. To make the passage more poetic.

B. To give an example of plant that areattractive.

C. To give botanical examples that allreaders will recognize.

D. To explain the variety of botanicallife.

5. According to the passage, what was thefirst great step toward the practice of agriculture?

A. The invention of agricultural tools andmachinery.       

B. The development of a system of names forplants.

C. The discovery of grasses that could beharvested and replanted.         

D. The changing diets of early humans.  

试题答案

【答案】

 A

 B

 D

 C

 C

【解析】略