2006年英语一阅读理解Text3

第一段

When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals: they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.

单词&词组搭配

1. prehistoric [ˌpriːhɪˈstɔːrɪk] adj.史前的
   

2. game（常用词）n.游戏，运动会；[僻义]n.诡计，活动，猎物；adj.有冒险精神的

3. easy game（容易捕获的猎物）

本段翻译

当时前人到达世界新的地方时，大型动物遭遇了奇怪的命运:它们突然灭绝了，而小型的物种存活了下来。大型的、移动速度缓慢的队伍就成了易于捕获的猎物，很快被捕杀以至灭绝。现在，类似的情景可能就发生在海洋之中。

第二段

That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published inNature, the biomass of large predators(animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.

单词&词组

1. estimate [estɪmeɪt](出现13次) v.评估
   

2. biomass [ˈbaɪoʊmæs]生物量（某一时刻单位面积内实存生活的有机物质（干重）（包括生物体内所存食物的重量）总量）

3. predator [ˈpredətər] n.食肉动物

4. exploitation [ˌeksplɔɪˈteɪʃn]（出现3次）开发，开采

5. halve [hæv]v.减半
   

本段翻译

多年来，我们就已经知道，海洋正在被过度捕捞。研究者如Ransom Myers 和 Boris Worm所呈现在我们面前的发现只是说明形势正在发生改变。他们研究了全世界半个世纪的捕鱼资料，它们的方法并非尝试对大海中某个特定区域的鱼类单位面积内的生物量（活体生物数量）作出估计，而是为了揭示生物数量随着时间的变化情况。他们研究了全世界半个世纪的捕鱼资料，它们的方法并非尝试对大海中某个特定区域的鱼类单位面积内的生物量（活体生物数量）作出估计，而是为了揭示生物数量随着时间的变化情况。

第三段

Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites andsonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.

单词&词组

1. conservative [kənˈsɜːrvətɪv]（出现6次）adj.保守的；n.因循守旧者

2. vessel [ˈvesl]（出现2次）n.容器，船，血管

3. prey [preɪ]（出现2次）n.被掠食者，牺牲者；v.捕食，掠夺

4. sonar n.声呐

5. proportion [prəˈpɔːrʃn]（出现10次）n.部分，份额，比例

6. catch（出现15次）v.抓住，赶上，传染上，所捕获的某事物（的量）；[僻义] v.理解，听到

7. saturate [ˈsætʃəreɪt]（出现3次）v.使湿透，使充满

8. trap [træp]（出现4次）n.陷阱，圈套，困境；v.设圈套，陷入

9. stock （出现9次）n.库存，股票，供应物；v.储存

10. hook [hʊk]（出现2次）n.钩子；v.钩住
    

本段翻译

Worm博士承认，这些数字过于保守，原因之一是因为捕鱼技术的提高。近几天的渔船可以通过卫星和声纳找到鱼群，而这些技术在50年前是没有的。这就意味着大海中更多的鱼类被捕获，所以，现在和过去之间的捕获量之间的真正差别要比记录变化所反映的要更糟。在早期，长线多钩捕鱼应该是渔钩上几乎都挂满了鱼，所以，因为没有多余的挂着诱饵的钩子的诱捕，个别的鱼可能没有被钓到，这就使得过去的鱼类资源被低估。再者，在多钩长线钓鱼的早期，许多鱼在上钩后都成为鲨鱼的食物。现在这已经不再成为问题，因为没有多少鲨鱼出没。

第四段

Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline”. The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.

单词&词组

1. baseline [ˈbeɪslaɪn] n.基础，起点，基准线

2. marine [məˈriːn] n.海军陆战队士兵
   

3. yield [jiːld]（出现4次） n.产量；v.生长，屈服（+to）

4. crop [krɑːp] n.收获，收成；v.剪短

5. take... into account（将。。。考虑在内）
   

本段翻译

Myers 和 Worm博士坚持认为，它们的研究给出了正确的基线，未来的管理决策者必须给予重视。他们相信这些资料支持目前在海洋生物学家中流行的一种观点，就是“多变的基线”的观点，这种观点认为因为人们只限于对过去相对较短的时期的研究，所以他们没有能够觉察到大海中所发生的巨大变化。这点之所以很重要是因为理论指出，一个渔场所能够获得的最高持续产量仅当目标物种的生物量是原来水平的50%时才能实现，而大部分的渔场都处于这个水平之下，这对于正常的营业是很不利的。

五道题

31.The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that .

[A] large animals were vulnerable to the changing environment

[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared

[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today

[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones

32. We can infer from Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm's paper that.

[A] the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%

[B] there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago

[C] the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount

[D] the number of large predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old

33. By saying "these figures are conservative"(Line 1, paragraph 3), Dr. Worm means that.

[A] fishing technology has improved rapidly

[B] then catch-sizes are actually smaller than recorded

[C] the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss

[D] the data collected so far are out of date34. Dr. Myers and other researchers hold that.

[A] people should look for a baseline that can work for a longer time

[B] fisheries should keep their yields below 50% of the biomass

[C] the ocean biomass should be restored to its original level

[D] people should adjust the fishing baseline to the changing situation

35. The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries'.

[A] management efficiency

[B] biomass level

[C] catch-size limits

[D] technological application

单词&搭配

1. vulnerable [ˈvʌlnərəbl]（出现4次）脆弱的，易受伤害的

文章简述

这篇文章取材于经济学人文章，很明显是一篇现象案例分型的文章，与06年T2是同样类型的文章，按照“提出问题——分析问题——姐姐问题”。文章的开头部分与05年第一篇的开头类似，都是先言他物，利用大型史前动物面临的情形引出这篇文章要将的类似的目前海洋生物面临灭绝的问题，第一段最后一句很明显的类比关系。

所以大家做题的关键就是找到类比双方的共通之处，题目可以从两者都可以出题，搞明白这点，整体文章的方向比较简单，关键点还是词汇和长难句。

参考答案

CACDB