考研阅读新题型 翻译.doc

恩波考研- 阅读新题型Passage 1Archaeological study covers an extremely long span of time and a great variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the origins of humanity. These include fossil remains believed to be of human ancestors who lived 3.5 million to 4.5 million years ago. The earliest archaeological sites include those in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya; and elsewhere in East Africa. These sites contain evidence of the first appearance of bipedal (upright-walking) , apelike early humans. (1)_.The first physically modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared in tropical Africa between 200 ,000 and 150,000 years agodates determined by molecular biologists and archaeologists working together. Dozens of archaeological sites throughout Asia and Europe show how people migrated from Africa and settled these two continents during the last Ice Age (100,000 to 15,000 years ago). (2)_.Archaeologists have documented that the development of agriculture took place about 10,000 years ago. Early domesticationthe planting and harvesting of plants and the breeding and herding of animalsis evident in such places as the ancient settlement in Jordan and in Mexico. Archaeology plays a major role in the study of early civilizations, such as those of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who built the city of Ur, and the ancient Egyptians, who are famous for the pyramids near the city of Giza and the royal sepulchres (tombs) of the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. (3)_Archaeological research spans the entire development of phenomena that are unique to humans. For in stance, archaeology tells the story of when people learned to bury their dead and developed beliefs in an afterlife. Sites containing signs of the first simple but purposeful burials in graves date to as early as 40,08 years ago in Europe and Southwest Asia. By the time people lived in civilizations, burials and funeral ceremonies had become extremely important and elaborate rituals. (4)_Archaeology also examines more recent historical periods. Some archaeologists work with historian to study American colonial life, for example. They have learned such diverse information as how the earliest colonial settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, traded glass beads for food with native Algonquian peoples; how the lives of slaves on plantations reflected their roots in Africa; and how the first major cities in the United States developed. (5)_A For example, the Moche lords of Sip&n in coastal Peru were buried in about ad 400 in fine cotton dress and with exquisite ornaments of bead, gold, and silver. Few burials rival their lavish sepulchers. Being able to trace the development of such rituals over thousands of years has added to our understanding of the development of human intellect and spirit. B By 40,000 years ago people could be found hunting and gathering food across most of the regions of Africa. Populations in different regions employed various technological developments in adapting to their different environments and climates. C Archaeological studies have also provided much information about the people who first arrived in the Americas over 12,000 years ago. D The first fossil records of vascular plantsthat is, land plants with tissue that carries foodappears in the Silurian period. They were simple plants that had not developed separate stems and leaves. E One site in Tanzania even reveals footprints of humans from 3. 6 million years ago. Some sites also contain evidence of the earliest use of simple tools. Archaeologists have also recorded how primitive forms of humans spread out of Africa into Asia about 1.8 million years ago, then into Europe about 900,000 years ago. F One research project involves the study of garbage in present-day cities across the United States. This garbage is the modern equivalent of the remains found in the archaeological record. In the future, archaeologists will continue to move into new realms of study. G Other sites that represent great human achievement are as varied as the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi (a group of early Native Americans of North America) at Mesa Verde, Colorado; the Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains of Peru; and the mysterious, massive stone portrait heads of remote Easter Island in the Pacific.Passage 2At a local supermarket, two women push half-filled grocery carts. The ladies are good friends, but they couldnt be more different. 1) _The two ladies stop for a moment in the frozen foods section. Im so tired, sighs the professional woman. I dont know what to do about supper. Her friend suggests, What about a microwave dinner? The weary professional sighs, No, I dont feel like cooking tonight.If you think American cooking means opening a package and tossing the contents into the microwave, think again. On the one hand, its true that Americans thrive on cold cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and instant dinners. From busy homemakers to professional people, many Americans enjoy the convenience of prepackaged meals that can be ready to serve in 10 minutes or less. On the other hand, many Americans recognize the value of cooking skills. 2 ) _But with cooking, as with any other skill, good results don t happen by accident.Probably every cook has his or her own cooking style. But there are some basic techniques and principles that most people follow. 3) _ For that reason, Americans would find it next to impossible to live without an oven. American cooks give special attention to the balance of foods, too. In planning a big meal they try to include a meat, a few vegetables, some bread or pasta and often a dessert. They also like to make sure the meal is colorful. Having several different colors of food on the plate usually makes for a healthy meal.4) _Recipes list all the ingredients for a dish (generally in the order used) , the amount of each to use, and a description of how to put them together. Finding recipes in America is as easy as pie. Most good cooks have a shelf full of cookbooks ranging from locally published recipe collections to national bestsellers like the Betty Crocker Cookbook. Magazines devoted to home management, such as Good Housekeeping and Family Circle, are chock-full of scrumptious selections.For experienced cooks, true artists that they are, recipes are merely reference points. They often make adjustments as they go along, depending on the quantity of people they need to serve, the ingredients they have available and their personal taste. 5) _Of course, Americans don t have a comer on the market when it comes to good cooking. But as America is an immigrant country, it is not surprising to see that most good cooks in America are fluent in several cooking dialects Mexican, Italian, Chinese and good old American style, just to name a few. But whatever the dialect, cooking is a language everyone understands.AWherever you go in the world, people love to eat. As a result, every culture and nationality has its own share of mouth-watering delicacies. And America, as a land of immigrants, has imported practically all varieties of cooking.BFor example, baking is a primary method of preparing food in America. The dinner menu often has casseroles, roast meats and other baked goods.C0ne is a stay-at-home housewife who loves to create culinary masterpieces from scratch. The other is a training supervisor at a prestigious advertising agency. Household chores, particularly those in the kitchen, are not her idea of fun.D For those who need guidance in their cooking, or for those who have just run out of ideas, recipes are lifesavers.E Parents-especially mothers-see the importance of training their children-especially daughters-in the culinary arts. Most Americans will admit that theres nothing better than a good home-cooked meal.FSome cooks use recipes very little, preferring instead to depend on their intuition as they add a pinch of this and a dash of that to create just the right flavors.G Friends often augment their recipe collection by passing around their favorites written on cardsPassage 3AThe industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most peoples work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now be coming to an end, and some to the changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a daunting thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history shows, has not meant economic freed.BBut we need to go further. We must ask some fundamental questions about the future of work. Should we not rather encourage many other ways for self-respecting people to work? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves, rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive the household and the neighborhood, as well as the factory and the office, as centers of production and work?CEmployment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by depriving them of the use of the land, and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work form peoples homes. Later, as transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people commuted longer distances to their places of employment until, eventually, many peoples work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.DIt was not only women whose work status suffered. As employment became the dominant form of work, young people and old people were excluded-a problem now, as more teenagers become frustrated at school and more retired people want to live active lives.FAll this may now have to change. The time has certainly come to switch some effort and resources away from the utopian goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.EMeanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. In pre-industrial times, men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community. Now it became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife. Tax and benefit regulations still assume this norm today, and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between the sexes.GOpinions polls are now beginning to show a reluctant consensus that, whoever is to blame and whatever happens form now on, high unemployment is probably here to stay. This means we shall have to find ways of sharing the available employment more widely.Order： G 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. FPassage 4AWithin a decade, mobile phones became available to the public. The streets of modern cities began to feature sharp-suited characters shouting into giant plastic bricks. The role of the mobile phone began to become more definitive in the modern lifestyle. In Britain the mobile phone quickly became synonymous with the “yuppie”, the new breed of young urban professionals who carried the expensive handsets as status symbols. Around this time many of us swore that we would never, ever own a mobile phone.BHowever, 1940s technology was still quite primitive, and the “telephones ” were enormous boxes, which had to be transported by car.CBut in the mid-90s, something happened. Cheaper and cheaper calling rates meant that, almost overnight, it seemed that everyone had a mobile phone. And the giant plastic bricks of the 80s had evolved into smooth little objects that fitted nicely into pockets and bags. In every pub and restaurant you could hear the bleep and buzz of mobiles ringing and registering messages, occasionally breaking out into primitive versions of the latest pop songs. Cities suddenly had a new, postmodern birdsong.DMoreover, peoples timekeeping changed. Younger readers will be amazed to know that, not long ago, people made spoken arrangements to meet at a certain time. Once a time and place had been agreed, people met as agreed. Somewhere around the new millennium, this practice started to die out. Meeting times became approximate, subject to change at any moment under the new order of communication: the Short Message Service or text message.EThe first real mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper; the scientist who invented the modern mobile handset. As soon as his invention was complete, he tested it by calling a rival scientist to announce his success.FLike email before it, the text message has altered the way we write in English, bringing more abbreviations and a more lax approach to language construction. The 160-character limit on the text message has led to a new, abbreviated version of English for fast and instantaneous communication. Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important that using a minimum of time to express the maximum amount of meaning. Many new abbreviations and symbols have become a part of standard SMS and email dialogue.GThe modern mobile phone is a more complex version of the two-way radio. Traditional two-way radio was a very limited means of communication. As soon as the users moved out of range of each others broadcast area, the signal was lost. In the 1940s, researchers began experimenting with the idea of using a number of radio masts located around the countryside to pick up signals from two-way from one mast, the next mast would pick up the signal. HMobile phones, once the preserve of the high-powered businessperson and the “yuppie”, are now a vital part of daily life for an enormous number of people. From schoolchildren to pensioners, every section of society has found that its easier to stay in touch when youve got a mobile. Over the last few years, mobiles have become more and more advance, with built-in cameras, global positioning devices and internet access. And in the next couple of years, we can expect to see the arrival of the “third generation” of mobile phones; powerful micro-computers with broadband internet access, which will allow us to watch TV, download internet files at high speed and send instant video clips to friends. Order： G 41. 42. 43. C 44. 45 HPassage 5ABut lately some experts have concluded that simply spreading the word about birth control, and providing the means, is not enough, because many poor people actively want to have more children, even after they know how not to. A Harvard-educated sociologist named Mohammed Mamdani put it this way in a recent study:B“Its good to have a big family,” Mr. Ram explained, as he stood in the shade of a leafy tree, in a hard dry courtyard crowded with children, chickens and a dozing cow. “They dont cost much and when they get old enough to work they bring in money. And when I am old, they will take care of me.”CMillions of Indians share Mr. Rams view. And that, in the opinion of a number of family-planning workers, is a major obstacle to the effort to curb the rapid growth of his countrys population.DA decade or so ago, many people here, including some of the Americans who had flooded in to help, assumed that once a villager understood birth control he would practice it, so as to keep his family small and thus improve his economic status. E“People are not poor because they have large families. Quite the contrary, they have large families because they are poor. To practice contraception would have meant to willfully court economic disaster.”FSome of the reasons relate to social customs that the government is trying to abolish. The dowry system, for example, often compels a couple with two or three daughters to keep trying for sons to offset the economic liability they will face when their daughters marry.GMunshi Ram, an illiterate laborer who lives in a crude mud hut in the village of Babarpur, India, 60 miles north of New Delhi, has no land and very little money. But he has eight children, and he regards them as his greatest wealth.Order： G 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. FPassage 6AResearchers now know that acid rain causes slower growth, injury, or death of forests. Acid rain has been implicated in decreased forest and soil quality in many areas of the eastern United States, particularly in high elevation forests of mountain areas. Of course, acid rain is not the only cause of such conditions.BA spring shower in the forest washes leaves and falls through the trees to the forest floor below. Some flows over the ground and runs into a stream, river, or lake, and some of the water soaks into the soil. That soil may reduce some or all of the acidity of the acid rainwater. This ability is called buffering capacity, and without it, soils become more acidic. COther things that add stress, such as air pollutants, insects, disease, drought, or very cold weather also harm trees and plants. In most cases, in fact, the impacts of acid rain on trees occur due to the combined effects of acid rain and these other environmental stressors. After many years of collecting information on the chemistry and biology of forests, researchers are beginning to understand how acid rain works on the forest soil, trees and other plants.DAcid rain does not usually kill trees directly. Instead, it is more likely to weaken trees by damaging their leaves, limiting the nutrients available to them, or exposing them to toxic substances slowly released from the soil. Midwestern states have s