阅读能力天天练(1)

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Text 1

Seeds of hope

IF catastrophe were to befall humanity—be it plague, nuclear war or an asteroid（小行星）striking the Earth—what provision could be made for the survivors? This week work began on a project to re-establish agriculture should such a calamity occur. On a remote Arctic island, a vault is being dug to house the seeds of up to 3m different crops, as part of plans to protect food supplies across the world.

The Svalbard International Seed Vault, as the facility is called, will cost the Norwegian government, which is paying for it, about $3m. Eventually it will contain samples of every known crop variety that can be grown from seed, from the tropics to the highest latitudes.

Svalbard was chosen because it is cold and remote. The island is expected to remain frozen for the next hundred years, despite changes in the world's climate, and the vault is being carved out of the ice and rock. Seeds deposited in the bank will be preserved by the cold, certainly for hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years. The freezing conditions, not to mention polar bears, should put off any unwelcome visitors. Just in case they do not, the bank will be 70 metres (230 feet) underground, inside concrete walls more than a metre thick and behind a strong security door and a perimeter(周边;周围)fence.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust, a charity involved in the creation of the vault, estimates that there are now some 1,400 gene banks for crops, scattered on every inhabited continent. It is developing plans to conserve every important crop on the planet. Some do not have seeds and so cannot be stored on Svalbard. Bananas, for example, are estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to be the world's fourth most consumed food (after wheat, rice and maiz e n.. 玉米,玉蜀黍)and form the staple diets of some 400m people in the tropics. Bananas can only be conserved as cuttings, and these must be cut back and replanted every few months. Work is under way to develop better ways of preserving such crops.

Many of the gene banks are in countries where the crop is not native, to make it more likely that the species will survive a disaster. (The banana bank is in Belgium.) The Svalbard vault fulfils this criterion for any seed you can think of. Whether anyone will be able to reach it if catastrophe strikes is another question.

Key Words:

provision [prəˈviʒən]

n. 1. 供应, 提供, 供给2. 准备, 防备3. 食物和饮料4. 规定, 条款, 条件

vt. & vi. 1. 为…提供所需物品（尤指食物）

calamity [kəˈlæmiti]

n. 1. 灾祸, 灾难2. 不幸之事

vault [vɔ:lt]

n. 1. 拱顶2. 地下室; 银行的金库3. 墓穴4. 撑物跳高；撑杆跳

tropics [ˈt rɔpiks]

1 / 10n. 1. 热带地区

latitude [ˈlætitju:d]n.

n. 1. 纬度2. 特指的纬度地区3. 自由, 自由范围

unwelcome [ʌnˈwelkəm]

adj. 1. 不受欢迎的, 令人失望的, 令人讨厌的

perimeter [pəˈrɪmɪtə]

n. 1. 周边;周围;边缘2. 周长

diversity [dɪˈvɜ:sɪti:, daɪ-]

n. 1. 多样化;(人在种族、民族、宗教等方面的)多样性2. 分歧

inhabited [inˈhæbitid]

adj. 1. 有人居住的

conserve [kənˈsə:v]

vt. 1. 保护, 保藏, 保存；节约，节省

staple [ˈsteipl]

n. 1. 基本食物；主食2. （某国的）主要产品；支柱产品3. 主要部份；重要内容

adj. 1. 主要的；基本的；重要的

criterion [kraiˈtiəriən]

n. 1. (批评、判断等的)标准, 准则

underground [ˈʌndəɡraund]

adj. 1. 地下的2. 地下组织的, 秘密的

Text 2

The Green Worker

You've already caused a stir at the supermarket checkout by removing all the unnecessary plastic wrapping from your weekly shop. So when it comes down to plastics in the workplace, your attitude should be as trenchant.

Annually, the UK produces around 25m tonnes of commercial waste, a significant proportion of which is plastics, says Envirowise, a government-funded programme that advises businesses on sustainability. To reduce your office's polymer footprint, start with two easy targets: the pen and the cup. For the former, ask the gatekeeper of the stationery cupboard (文具柜) how many disposable plastic ballpoint pens you and your greedy colleagues get through. You'll be surprised. It's not just because everyone takes them home by mistake - most end up in company dustbins.

That established, the first thing is to stop all new orders. Then seek out suppliers of pens made from recycled plastic or pens that can be sent back to the manufacturers to be recycled once the ink has run out, or both. Go further and opt for refillables - just make sure the ink cartridges(墨盒)are recyclable too. Go even further and stop ordering in pens altogether for the next few months. Cutting off the supply will lead to pen monogamy( 一夫一妻制) in the office.

On to the next plastic target. Good news: the cups at the watercooler are recyclable. Bad news: few of us stick to one cup all day, let alone all week. Think it might be difficult to re-educate people into reusing their cup? Ban the plastic version, and people will start using their own glasses.

2 / 10What about polystyrene foam cups? Though made from same polymer as the water cups, they are more difficult to recycle. One of the reasons is that the blowing agents used to expand the polystyrene vary from one manufacturer to another and are not compatible when being reprocessed(再生,再加工),says the recycling firm Save A Cup.

The only option is outlawing such cups. How hard is it to bring your own mug into work anyway? Use it every time the tea trolley comes. Take it with you to the canteen or to whatever coffee joint you frequent on your way to work.

You'll be glad to hear that your boss will welcome these moves. This is because an EU directive came into force last Tuesday requiring that all UK businesses treat their non-hazardous waste before it can be landfilled（垃圾填埋）. That means paying a contractor to sort out the rubbish - or doing it yourself.

Key Words:

stir [stə:]

vt. & vi. 1. 搅拌2. (使)移动; (使)激动3. 拨弄是非

n. 1. 搅动; 搅和; 搅拌2. 激动; 纷乱;

wrap [ræp]

vt. 1. 包, 裹; 卷2. 用…包裹（或包扎、覆盖等）3. 用…缠绕（或围紧）

n. 1. （女人的）披肩，围巾2. 包裹（或包装）材料

disposable [dɪˈspəʊzəbəl]

adj. 1. 一次使用后即丢掉的, 一次性的2. (纳税后的钱)可自由支配的

greedy [ˈɡri:di]

adj.. 贪吃的, 贪心的, 贪婪的, 渴望的

recyclable[ˌri:ˈsaikləbl]

adj.. 可循环再用的

compatible [kəmˈpætəbl]

adj. 1. 可以并存的, 相容的, 协调的2. （因志趣等相投而）关系好的，和睦相处的

outlaw[ˈautlɔ:]

n.. 歹徒, 亡命之徒

vt.. 宣布…为不合法

trolley [ˈtrɔli]

n. 1. (两轮或四轮的)手推车2. (运或送食品、饮料的）装有脚轮的小台车3. 电车

directive [dɪˈrektɪv, daɪ-]

n. 正式的指示,官方的指示;指令

adj. . 指示性的，指导性的

Text 3

Guns and Gangs

The video starts with the road sign: Croxteth, City of Liverpool. A youth races a motorbike down a street, another encourages a snarling dog to harass a victim and a faceless young man points a shotgun to the camera, followed by more guns, street scenes and the rap boasting of gang culture. The video has been posted on

3 / 10the website since October, viewed perhaps by thousands attracted by the violence of gang culture. In February the Chief Constable of Merseyside gave a stark warning: families that did nothing to stop their children’s involvement in gun crime could find themselves identifying their child in the morgue. Yesterday Rhys Jones, an 11-year-old murdered, as he played football, by a hooded youth in a ride-by shooting, was the focus of nationwide horror at this latest victim of gangs with guns. The Chief Constable’s warning could not have been more cruelly justified.

Despite the publicity and alarm at the spate of murders of inner city teenagers in recent months, Britain is not, as some politicians have said, in a ―state of anarchy（政治混乱）‖. Gun crime is far, far below the levels of Los Angeles or Washington.

Last year firearms（武器）were used in 61 homicides in England and Wales, 12 offences more than the 49 recorded in 2005-06. Robberies involving guns were down 4 per cent on 2005, and hand-gun offences fell 11 per cent. But these figures conceal several ugly and dangerous trends. More than half all the gun crime occurred in only three places: Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and the London Metropolitan Police area. Guns are being used mainly by criminals l inked to drug culture, but increasingly also they are acquired by gangs and are used for self-defence, to settle scores or enforce―respect‖. This seepage（漏, 渗）is all the more alarming as the age of both users and victims is going down. In 2003 teenage victims of shooting formed 16 per cent of all victims; last year they were 31 per cent.

Since the 1996 Dunblane massacre, Britain has had some of the toughest gun-control laws in the world. The importation and private possession of any gun is illegal. Those found with a gun face a minimum of five years in jail, and the loophole（漏洞）that allowed those aged 18-20 to avoid the five-term term has been closed. Yet access to guns, according to the police, has rarely been easier. Weapons are smuggled in, either from the Balkans or via Ireland, and are readily available.

To fight the gun and gang culture, the police have focused on areas where it is most pernicious（很有害的;恶性的）. Only a small section of the inner cities is involved; but the effect is disproportionately felt in black communities. In London, 75 per cent of all firearm homicides（杀人犯）and shootings and 79 per cent of all suspects come from the African and Cari bbean community. Operation Trident, the Met’s high-profile effort to involve this community in the fight against crime, has shown some success. But progress is negated（使无效）by other trends: the growing involvement of teenagers in drug use and distribution, the cult of ―respect‖, the proliferation of gangs and peer pressure.

There is no need for new legislation, though penalties for the possession of guns by teenagers must be increased. The police need to extend the Trident operation, but on their own can do only so much. Far more support must come from the communities afflicted. In cracking down hard on gun culture, the police must insist on involving parents, community leaders and social workers. The prospect of more teenage killings is horrific. It can be countered only by eternal vigilance（警觉;警惕）.

Key Words:

conceal [kənˈsi:l]

vt.. 隐藏; 隐瞒, 遮住

criminal [ˈkriminəl]

n. 1. 罪犯, 犯人

adj. 1. 刑事的, 犯罪的2. 关于犯罪的

enforce [inˈfɔ:s]

4 / 10vt. 1. 实施, 执行2. 强迫, 迫使3. 强制执行，强行实施（法律或规定）

illegal [iˈli:ɡəl]

adj.. 不合法的, 违法的

n.. 非法移民；非法劳工

minimum [ˈminiməm]

n. 1. 最低限度, 最小量2. 极小量

adj.. 最低的, 最小的

jail [dʒeil]

n.. 监狱

vt.. 监禁, 拘留

smuggle [ˈsmʌɡl]

vt. 1. 偷运, 私运, 走私2. 不按规章地偷带(人或物)

pernicious [pəˈnɪʃəs]

adj.. 很有害的;恶性的

disproportionate [ ˌdɪsprəˈpɔ:ʃənɪt, -ˈpəʊr-]

adj.. 不相称的, 不成比例的, 不均匀的

suspect [səˈspekt]

vt. 1. 猜疑(是), 怀疑(是), 觉得(是)2. 怀疑; 不信任3. 怀疑…有罪

n.. 嫌疑犯; 嫌疑分子; 可疑对象

distribution[ˈdistriˈbju:ʃən]

n. 1. 分发, 分配2. 散布, 分布3. 分配；分布4. （商品）运销，经销，分销

proliferation [prəuˌlifəˈreiʃən]

n.. 增殖,分芽繁殖

legislation[ˈledʒisˈleiʃən]

n. 1. 法律; 法规2. 立法, 法律的制定[通过]

penalty [ˈpenəlti]

n. 1. 惩罚, 处罚2. 不利后果, 损失3. 害处；不利4. 刑罚

eternal[i:ˈtə:nl]

adj. 1. 永恒的, 永久的2. 似乎不停的

Text 4

Car Boom Puts Europe on Road to a Smoggy Future

Rebecca and Emmet O’Connell swear that they are not car people and that they worry about global warming. Indeed, they looked miserable one recent evening as they drove home to suburban Lucan from central Dublin, a crawling 8.5-mile journey that took an hour.

But in this booming city, where the number of cars has doubled in the last 15 years, there is little choice, they said. ―Believe me —if there was an alternative we would use it,‖ said Ms. O’Connell, 40, a textile designer. ―We care about the environment. It’s just hard to follow through here.‖

No trains run to the new suburbs where hundreds of thousands of Dubliners now live, and the few buses going there overflow with people. So nearly everyone drives — to work, to shop, to take their children to school — in

5 / 10what seems like a constant smoggy, traffic jam. Since 1990, emissions from transportation in Ireland have risen about 140 percent, the most in Europe. But Ireland is not alone.

Vehicular emissions are rising in nearly every European country, and across the globe. Because of increasing car and truck use, greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing even where pollution from industry is waning.

The 23 percent growth in vehicular emissio ns in Europe since 1990 has ―offset‖ the effect of cleaner factories, according to a recent report by the European Environment Agency. The growth has occurred despite the invention of far more environmentally friendly fuels and cars.

―What we gain by hybri d cars and ethanol（乙醇）buses, we more than lose because of sheer numbers of vehicles,‖ said Ronan Uhel, a senior scientist with the European Environment Agency, which is based in Copenhagen. Vehicles, mostly cars, create more than one-fifth of the greenhouse-gas emissions in Europe, where the problem has been extensively st udied.

The few places that have aggressively sought to fight the trend have taken sometimes draconian（非常严厉的）measures. Denmark, for example, treats cars the way it treats yachts（快艇）— as luxury items — imposing purchase taxes that are sometimes 200 percent of the cost of the vehicle. A simple Czech-made Skoda car that costs $18,400 in Italy or Sweden costs more than $34,000 in Denmark.

The number of bicycles on Danish streets has increased in recent years, and few people under the age of 30 own cars. Many families have turned to elaborate three-wheeled contraptions（奇妙的装置）. (Beijing, meanwhile, has restricted the use of traditional three-wheeled bikes.)

There are high-end options, too. At $2,800, a three-wheeled Nihola bike costs as much as a used car, but many people insist it is far more practical. Sleek, lightweight, with a streamlined enclosed bubble in front, it is good for transporting groceries and children.

High taxes on cars or gasoline of the type levied in Copenhagen are effective in curbing traffic, experts say, but they scare voters, making even environme ntalist politicians unlikely to propose them. When Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, revealed his ―green‖ budget proposal, it included an increase in gas taxes of less than two and a half cents per quart.

Other cities have tried variations that require fewer absolute sacrifices from motorists. Rome allows only cars with low emissions ratings into its historic center. In London and Stockholm, drivers must pay a congestion charge to enter the city center. Such programs do reduce traffic and pollution at a city’s core, but evidence suggests that car use simply moves to the suburbs.

Key Words:

swear [swɛə]

vi.. 诅咒; 咒骂

vt. & vi. 1. (使某人)就…宣誓2. 郑重承诺；发誓要；表示决心要

overflow[ˌəuvəˈfləu]

vt. & vi. 1. 溢出; 淹没2. 充满

n. 1. 溢出2. 溢出物3. 容纳不下的人[物

vehicular[viˈhikjulə]

adj. 1. 车的,用车辆运载的,作为媒介的

waning [ˈweiniŋ]

adj.. (月亮)渐亏的,逐渐减弱或变小的

6 / 10

sheer [ʃiə]

adj. 1. 完全的; 十足的2. 陡峭的; 垂直的3. 极薄的, 轻的, 透明的4. （用来强调事物的大小、程度或数量）extensively[ɪkˈstensɪvlɪ]

adv.. 广大地;广泛地

aggressively [əˈgresɪvlɪ]

adv. 1. 侵略地;攻击地2. 有闯劲地3. 激烈地

elaborate[iˈlæbəreit]

vi.. 详尽说明

vt. 1. 详细制定2. 详尽阐述；详细描述

meanwhile[ˈmi:nˌhwail

adv. 1. 同时; 其间2. （比较两方面）对比之下

lightweight [ˈlaɪtˌweɪt]

adj. 1. 轻量的,薄型的2. <贬>不严肃的;给人印象不深的

enclosed [inˈkləuzd]

adj. 1. 被附上的2. （用墙等）围住的，封闭的3. 与外界隔绝的

levy [ˈlev y]

vt.. 征收(税收等)

n.. 征收; 征税

scare [skɛə]

vt.. 恐吓; 使惊恐

vi.. 受惊吓, 感到害怕

Text 5

Peeking into Cubicles to Find a Wealth of Tech Workers

New York is a major player in many realms, but when it comes to high technology, it is often dismissed as minor league. An article in Popular Science magazine in 2005, for example, rated New York 39th among

high-tech cities, behind Milwaukee (31st). Minneapolis/St. Paul topped the list.

But a new report says that New York actually has more high-tech workers than meccas（众人渴望去的地方）like Silicon Valley and Seattle, and that it is just a matter knowing where to look for them.

The report, ―Buried Treasure: New York’s Hidden Technology Sector,‖ does something that research institutes and magazines that rate cities rarely do: Along with counting heads at innovation leaders with outposts

in Manhattan, like Google, Microsoft and I.B.M., it counts the high-tech workers it says are ―embedded‖ in other sectors, like research and development departments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Tiffany & Company.

Do the math that way, and the New York Metropolitan Statistical Area, which covers southern New York and northern New Jersey, has nearly 620,000 technology workers, two and a half times as many as Silicon Valley and nearly twice as many as Boston.

―This is not a city where you drive down the street and see buildings with technology firms’ names on them,‖ said Sara Garretson, president of the Industrial and Technology Assistance Corporation, a nonprofit economic development organization that commissioned the study, which was conducted by Mt. Auburn Associates and Bayer Consulting. ―We may have Google with 400 jobs, but they’re in a building with no signage.‖

7 / 10But if Google’s workers are low-profile, the Web designers and systems analysts tucked（塞进）into cubicles at financial services companies like American Express, Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan Chase are nearly invisible. Still, M s. Garretson said that ―a thread that runs through all those jobs is that they have specific skill sets and play specific roles in our companies, and they should be considered part of our technology sector.‖For the study, which is to be released tomorrow, researchers surveyed executives at more than 180 New York companies that rely heavily on technology. The 47-page report recommends steps to foster growth, like creating an Office of Science and Technology Enterprises within the mayor’s office and starting a ―branding‖ effort to attract talent and financing to start-ups.

But such image campaigns are ―gimmick y（巧妙手法的）,‖ said Russell Hancock, chief executive of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a nonprofit regional planning group based in San Jose, Calif.

Key Words:

peek [pik]

vi. 1. 很快地看;偷看;窥视2. 微露出；探出

n.. 偷看;窥视

embed [imˈbed]

vt.. 把…牢牢地嵌入（或插入、埋入）

invisible[inˈvizəbl]

adj. 1. 看不见的; 暗藏的2. 无形的（指银行、旅游等服务）

start-up [ˈstɑ:tˌʌp]

n.. 启动

assistance [əˈsistəns]

n. 帮助, 援助,支持

campaign [kæmˈpein]

n. 1. 运动2. 战役

vi.. 参加[发起]运动, 参加竞选

Text 6

Buliding a Better World

Nine people out of ten think that more women should be involved in designing and building towns and cities. So what’s stopping them, asks Daniel Allen

What sort of world would women build? Ask a dinosaur（守旧落伍的人）who believes that hard hats and spanners （扳手, 扳钳）are exclusively male toys, and the answer will involve shoe shops and oversized parking spaces. But ask those who live in the 21st century and they may well say: ―A better one.‖

The latter answer was what Atkins, the design and engineering consultancy, got when it asked the public. Nearly 90 per cent of people surveyed wanted more women involved in designing and building towns and cities.

If women were more involved, respondents said, buildings would be more user-friendly and practical places to live and work.

The problem is that few women want careers in this area. Atkins found that only 8 per cent of women would consider a career in engineering and related industries and 33 per cent said that the sector was still dominated by men.

8 / 10Teresa Schofield, a vice-president of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), agrees that, in some areas of engineering, women are notable by their absence. ―They can be isolated – people are still surprised to meet female e ngineers.‖

Women make up just 3 per cent of the UK’s quarter of a million engineers. But the proportion is growing: it almost doubled in the ten years to 2005, according to the Engineering and Technology Board. So, for those women who do decide to enter this traditionally male profession, what’s the attraction?

Pam Wain, a former president of the WES, says that women ―share an enthusiasm for getting things right‖. ―We enjoy problem-solving with all the twists that real-life problems bring. Many of us work on environmentally important projects and all of us feel we are contributing to building a better world.‖

Ruxandra Enache is one of a small but growing band of women engineers working in transport. The Romanian engineer had worked on a two-lane highway ―with simple interchange s‖ in Bucharest and was inspired to come to Britain after seeing internet pictures of the M6 motorway. She followed her dream and worked as group engineer for the Atkins group on a scheme to increase capacity on the M6, but her enthusiasm for Spaghetti Junction has waned.

Jen Weitzel arrived in the UK via a degree in civil and environmental engineering in Canada, her home country. Two years ago, after a masters at London Business School and a post on Heathrow’s Terminal 5, she went into the fast-paced retail industry and is now the head of development in the South East for Tesco Property Services.

Because Tesco has 1,800 UK stores, Weitzel’s role in leading a team of site development managers clearly has an impact on the environment.

―Being a major developer we have an opportunity to make a significant impact, and I do feel we are leading in the area of environmental sustainability,‖ she says.

She is reluctant to attribute her unique approach to engineering to her gender. Rather, she believes, the perspective formed from an individual’s experiences is what counts.

Key Words:

attribute [əˈtribju:t]

vt. 1. 认为…是; 归因于…2.认为某作品出自某人之手3. 认为某事[物]属于某人[物]

consultancy [kənˈsʌltnsi:，kənˈsʌltənsi]

n. 1. 顾问(工作)2. 咨询公司3. 专家咨询

sustainability [səˈsteinəbliti]

n. 持续性;能维持性;永续性

capacity [kəˈpæsiti]

n. 1. 容量, 容积2. 才能, 能力3. 身份, 职位4. 容纳能力

interchange [ˈɪntəˈtʃeɪndʒ]

vt. 1. (指两人等)交换事物, 互换2. 使两人或两物相互易位

9 / 10vt. & vi. 1. (使某事物)交替变化

n. 1. （思想、信息等的）交换，互换2. （进出高速公路的）互通式立交，立体交叉道，立体交流道enthusiasm [inˈθju:ziæzəm]

n. 1. 热情, 热心, 热忱2. 巨大兴趣, 热衷的事物, 激发热情的事物

profession [prəˈfeʃən]

n. 1. 职业, 自由职业2. 同业, 同行3. （需要专门技能，尤指需要较高教育水平的某一）行业，职业twist [twist]

vt. & vi. 1. 扭, 搓, 缠绕

vt. 1. 转动; 拧2. 歪曲; 曲解3. 使弯曲，使扭曲（成一定形状）

n. 1. 拧, 旋转, 扭转2. 弯曲, 曲折处，急转弯处

design [diˈzain]

vt. & vi. 1. 设计, 绘制

vt. 1. 计划, 筹划2. 设计；制图

n. 1. 图样, 设计图

dominate [ˈdɔmineit]

vt. & vi. 1. 控制, 支配, 统治,左右,影响2. 在…中占首要地位

respondent [rɪˈspɔndənt]

n. 1. <律>(尤指离婚案的)被告2. 回答问题的人；（尤指）调查对象

practical [ˈpræktikəl]

adj. 1. 实际的, 实践的2. 实用的3. 注重实际的,明智的；实事求是的

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