励志文章：英语科普类文章

一、考点描述
　科普类文章是高考英语的常考题材，每年高考都有所波及，如2005年的江苏卷在五篇阅读文章中就有两篇是对于科普文章的阅读。因此，同学们在平时的学习中一定要对此高度器重。
　二、材料特点
　这类文章的总体特点是：科技词汇多，句子结构庞杂，实践性强，逻辑谨严。具
　体说来它有以下多少个特点：
　1. 文章中词汇的意思比拟单一、稳固、扼要，不带情感颜色，存在单一性和正确性的特点。这类文章通常不会呈现文学英语中采取的排比、比方、夸大等修辞伎俩，一词多义的现象也未几见。
　2. 句子结构较复杂，语法剖析较艰苦。为了描写一个客观事物，周密地表白自己的思想，作者常常会使用集多种语法景象于一体的长句。
　3. 常应用被动语态，尤其是一些习用被动句式。
　三、命题特点
　科普类阅读的重要命题情势有事实细节题、词义猜想题、推理判断题以及宗旨概括题等，其中推理判断题居多。
　四、应答策略
　1. 要想做好科普英语阅读理解题，同学们就要留神平时多读科普知识类文章，学习科普常识，积聚常见的科普词汇，从基本上进步科普英语的阅读才能。
　　2. 要熟习科普类文章的构造特色。科普类文章普通由标题(Headline)，导语(Introduction)，背景( Background)，主体(Main body)跟结尾(End)五部分形成。标题是文章中央思维高度而又精辟的概括，但根据历年的高考情形来看，这类阅读懂得资料个别不给题目，而要同窗们抉择标题。导语正常位于整篇文章的首段。背景交待一个事实的起因,励志歌曲。主体则对导语概括的事实进行具体叙述，这一局部命题往往最多，因而，浏览时，同学们要把这部门作为重点。结尾往往也是核心思惟的概括，并与导语相响应，命题者常在此要设计一道推理判定题。
　3. 在进行推理判断时，同学们必定要以阅读材料所供给的迷信事实为根据，同时所得出的论断还应合乎基础的科普常识。
　五、真题赏析
　2005年江苏卷D篇
　Animals can move from place to place，but plants cannot.When an animal is under attack，it can run away or fight back. Plants certainly cannot run away，and they lack teeth and claws. But plants can defend themselves by using both physical and chemical means.
　Some plants have their own ways to keep animals away. For example，the leaves of the holly plant have sharp spines(刺) that discourage grass—eating animals. Holly leaves on lower branches have more spines than leaves on upper branches. This is because the lower leaves are easier for most animals to reach.
　Some plants，such as the oak tree，have thick and hard leaves that are difficult for animals to eat. Some grasses may contain a sandy material；eating such grasses wears down the animal’s teeth.
　Many plants also have chemical defenses. Some plants produce chemicals that taste bitter or cause an unpleasant reaction. Some plants may fight against an attack by increasing the production of these chemicals. When a caterpillar (毛虫) bites a tobacco leaf，the leaf produces a chemical messenger. This messenger sends to the roots the information to produce more nicotine. The higher levels of nicotine discourage the caterpillar.
　Many plants depend on both physical and chemical defenses. A certain plant in China，for instance，has prickly (多刺的) leaves，and each prickle contains poisonous venom (毒液).A single experience with this kind of plant will teach an animal to stay away from it in the future.
　68. The holly plant has more spines on the lower leaves because most animals_____________.
　A. are not tall enough B. like the lower leaves only
　C. are not clever enough D. can get the lower leaves easily
　69. To defend themselves，oak trees use___________.
　A. chemical means B. physical means
　C. bitter chemicals D. sandy materials
　70. How does tobacco protect itself against an attack from a caterpillar?
　A. Its leaves fight against the attack by physical means.
　B. Its roots send a messenger to discourage the caterpillar.
　C. Its roots increase the production of nicotine when it is attacked.
　D. Its leaves produce poisonous sand to drive the caterpillar away.
　71. What would be the best title for this passage?
　A. Plants and Animals B. How Plants Defend Themselves
　C. Attacks and Defenses D. How Animals Eat Plant Leaves
　【答案与解析】本文主要先容一些植物是如何通过物理和化学的方法保护自己不受外界侵害的。
　68. D。事实细节题。依据第2段最后一句...the lower leaves are easier for most animals to reach可知谜底。
　69. B。推理断定题。根据第3段中的...oak tree，have thick and hard leaves that are difficult for animals to eat 可推知，树叶又厚又硬属于动物自我维护的物理手腕。
　70. C。推理判断题。根据第四段可知，tobacco 掩护本人不受毛虫损害的措施是发生更多的 nicotine。
　71. B。主旨概括题。由于整篇文章都在讲植物是怎么保护他们自己的，故选 B。
　六、模仿练习
A Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy，warm，damp and thick. But if you had been around 15，000 years ago，during the last ice age，would it have been the same? For more than 30 years，scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted (反映) to the cold，dry climates of the ice ages，but until now，no one has reached a satisfying answer.
　Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO2 from the atmosphere and helping to slow global warming. Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tons of CO2 each year: equal to the total amount of CO2 giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier，will it still survive and continue to draw down CO2? Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforests will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.
　Unfortunately，getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult. To study past climate，scientists need to look at fossilized pollen，kept in lake muds. Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep down into lake sediments(积淀物) which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery. There are very few roads and paths，or places to land helicopters and aero planes. Rivers tend to the easiest way to enter the forest，but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled(未取样). So far，