Unit5WorkingTheLand

ReadingandThinkingApioneerforallpeopleApioneerforallpeopleWhatkindoffooddothepeoleeatintheworld?Doeseverycountryhaveenoughfoodtoeat?APioneerForAllPeopleReadthepassageandfillintheblank.ThepassagetalksaboutYuanLongping—apioneerwhodevelops.

Skimminghybridrice

YuanLongping,knownasthe“fatherofhybridrice”,isoneofChina’smostfamousscientists.

Yet,heconsidershimselfafarmerbecausehecontinuallyworksthelandinhisresearch.Indeed,hisslimbutstrongbodyisjustlikethatofmillionsofChinesefarmers,towhomhehasdevotedhislife.YuanLongpingwasbornin1930inBeijing.Hisparentswantedhimtopursueacareerinscienceormedicine.However,whatconcernedhimmostwasthatfarmersoftenhadpoorharvestsandsometimesevenhadaseriousshortageoffoodtoeat.Totacklethiscrisis,hechosetostudyagricultureandreceivedaneducationatSouthwestAgriculturalCollegeinChongqing.Para.1-2ScanningInformationCardNameYuanLongpingNationalityChinaAgeofDeath91PlaceofbirthBeijingEducationSouthWestAgriculturalCollegeinChongQingOccupationsfarmer&scientistTitleFatherofHybridRiceWhatarethemainideasofparagraph1andparagraph2andwherearethey?

YuanLongping,knownasthe“fatherofhybridrice”,isoneofChina’smostfamousscientists.

Yet,heconsidershimselfafarmerbecausehecontinuallyworksthelandinhisresearch.Indeed,hisslimbutstrongbodyisjustlikethatofmillionsofChinesefarmers,towhomhehasdevotedhislife.YuanLongpingwasbornin1930inBeijing.Hisparentswantedhimtopursueacareerinscienceormedicine.However,whatconcernedhimmostwasthatfarmersoftenhadpoorharvestsandsometimesevenhadaseriousshortageoffoodtoeat.Totacklethiscrisis,hechosetostudyagricultureandreceivedaneducationatSouthwestAgriculturalCollegeinChongqing.Para.1-2Para.3

Aftergraduatingin1953,heworkedasaresearcher.YuanLongpingrealisedthatlargerfieldswerenotthesolution.Instead,farmersneededtoboostyieldsinthefieldstheyhad.Howthis,couldbedonewasachallengingquestionatthetime.Yuanwasconvincedthattheanswercouldbefoundinthecreationofhybridrice.Ahybridisacrossbetweentwoormorevarietiesofaspecies.Onecharacteristicofhybridsisthattheyusuallyattainahigheryieldthanconventionalcrops.However,whetheritwaspossibletodevelopahybridofself-pollinatingplantssuchasricewasamatterofgreatdebate.Thecommonassumptionthenwasthatitcouldnotbedone.Throughintenseeffort,Yuanovercameenormoustechnicaldifficultiestodevelopthefirsthybridricethatcouldbeusedforfarmingin1974.Thishybridenabledfarmerstoexpandtheiroutputgreatly.HowYuanLongpingdevelopedhybridrice?worked

realizedconvincedovercamedevelopedasaresearcherboostyieldsthecreationofhybridricetechnicaldifficultieshybridriceWhatisthemainideaofparagraph3andwhereisit?Para.3

Aftergraduatingin1953,heworkedasaresearcher.YuanLongpingrealisedthatlargerfieldswerenotthesolution.Instead,farmersneededtoboostyieldsinthefieldstheyhad.Howthis,couldbedonewasachallengingquestionatthetime.Yuanwasconvincedthattheanswercouldbefoundinthecreationofhybridrice.Ahybridisacrossbetweentwoormorevarietiesofaspecies.Onecharacteristicofhybridsisthattheyusuallyattainahigheryieldthanconventionalcrops.However,whetheritwaspossibletodevelopahybridofself-pollinatingplantssuchasricewasamatterofgreatdebate.Thecommonassumptionthenwasthatitcouldnotbedone.Throughintenseeffort,Yuanovercameenormoustechnicaldifficultiestodevelopthefirsthybridricethatcouldbeusedforfarmingin1974.Thishybridenabledfarmerstoexpandtheiroutputgreatly.Para.4

Today,itisestimatedthatabout60percentofdomesticriceconsumptioninChinaiscomprisedofcropsgeneratedfromYuan’shybridstrains,andhisstrainshaveallowedChina’sfarmerstoproducearound200milliontonsofriceperyear.Yuan’sinnovationhashelpedfeednotjustChina,butmanyothercountriesthatdependonriceaswell,suchasIndiaandVietnam.Becauseofhisinvaluablecontributions,YuanLongpinghasreceivednumerousawardsbothinChinaandabroad.Whydoestheauthorlistnumbers?ToemphasizeYuan’senormouscontributions.Whatisthemainideaofparagraph4andwhereisit?

Para.5

GiventhatYuan’shybridshavemadehimquitewealthy,onemightthinkhewouldretiretoalifeofleisure.However,thisisfarfromthecase.Deepdown,Yuanisstillverymuchafarmeratheart.Asamanofthesoil,hecareslittleforcelebrityormoney.Instead,hemakeslargedonationstosupportagriculturalresearch.Whatisthemainideaofparagraph5andwhereisit?

Para.6

WhatimpressespeoplemostaboutYuanLongpingishisongoingabilitytofulfillhisdreams.Longago,heenvisionedriceplantsastallassorghum,witheachearofriceasbigasabroom,andeachgrainofriceashugeasapeanut.Hesucceededinproducingakindofricethatcouldfeedmorepeopleathomeandabroad.Hislatestvisionfor“seawaterrice”hasalsobecomeareality,andpotentiallyopenedupnearlyonemillionsquarekilometresofsaltylandinChinaforriceproduction.Despitehisadvancedyears,YuanLongpingisstillyoungatheartandfullofvision,andeveryoneiswaitingtoseewhathewilldreamupnext.WhatisYuan’slatestvision?Seawaterrice.Whatisthemainideaofparagraph6andwhereisit?Matchthemainidea

witheachparagraph.AYuanconductedresearchanddevelopedhybridrice.BYuanisoldbutstillworkinghardtofulfilhisdreams.CYuanconsidershimselfafarmer.DYuandecidedtostudyagriculture.EYuan'sinnovationhashelpedtofeedmorepeople.FYuancareslittleforfameorwealth.2.Dividethepassageintoseveralmeaningfulpartsandconcludethemainideaofeachpart.ApioneerforallpeoplePart1(Para1)Part2(Para2-5)Part3(Para6)Whoishe?Whatdidhedo?Whatishisdream?Doyouknowwhythemainideaissoimportant?Wherecanyoufindthemainidea?Discussion

Whichisthebesttitleforthetext?Whichofthefollowingcanbethesuitabletitleforthetext?Whatisthebesttitleforthetext?Whatdoesthefirstparagraphtalkabout?Whatdoestheautortrytoexpressinparagraph......?Whatisthemaintopicdiscussedinparagraph......?Whatisthemainideaofthistext?Whatisthetextmainlyabout?Whatdoesthetextmainlyforcuson?Wheretofindthemainideasentence1.Inthefirstsentenceoftheparagraph.Learningtips:forexample,anexampleof,first,second,next,last,finally,tobeginwith,also,besides,one,theother,some,others2.Inthelastsentenceoftheparagraph.Learningtips:

so,therefore,thus,consequently,inconclusion,inshort,inaword,tosumup3.Inthemiddleoftheparagraph.4.Noobvioussentence.Youcanfinditfromthesamewords.OnMarch7,1907,theEnglishstatisticianFrancisGaltonpublishedapaperwhichillustratedwhathascometobeknownasthe“wisdomofcrowds”effect.Theexperimentofestimationheconductedshowedthatinsomecases,theaverageofalargenumberofindependentestimatescouldbequiteaccurate.Thiseffectcapitalizeson(利用)thefactthatwhenpeoplemakeerrors,thoseerrorsaren’talwaysthesame.Somepeoplewilltendtooverestimate,andsometounderestimate.Whenenoughoftheseerrorsareaveragedtogether,theycanceleachotherout,resultinginamoreaccurateestimate.Ifpeoplearesimilarandtendtomakethesameerrors,thentheirerrorswon’tcanceleachotherout.Inmoretechnicalterms,thewisdomofcrowdsrequiresthatpeople’sestimatesbeindependent.Ifforwhateverreasons,people’serrorsbecomecorrelatedordependent,theaccuracyoftheestimatewillgodown.1.Whatisparagraph2ofthetextmainlyabout?

A.Themethodsofestimation.

B.Theunderlyinglogicoftheeffect.

C.Thecausesofpeople’serrors.

D.ThedesignofGalton’sexperiment.【答案】B【解析】本文是主旨大意題，根據第二段第一句話Thiseffectcapitalizeson(利用)thefact得出主旨大意關鍵詞effect。Ifyouwanttotellthehistoryofthewholeworld,ahistorythatdoesnotprivilegeonepartofhumanity,youcannotdoitthroughtextsalone,becauseonlysomeoftheworldhaseverhadtexts,whilemostoftheworld,formostofthetime,hasnot.Writingisoneofhumanity’slaterachievements,anduntilfairlyrecentlyevenmanyliterate(有文字的)societiesrecordedtheirconcernsnotonlyinwritingbutinthings.2.Whatisthefirstparagraphmainlyabout?

A.Howpasteventsshouldbepresented.

B.Whathumanityisconcernedabout.

C.Whetherfactsspeaklouderthanwords.

D.Whywrittenlanguageisreliable.【答案】A【解析】本段開始給讀者提供一個情境，到段落最后一句話才開始引出文章主題Writingisoneofhumanity’slaterachievements,anduntilfairlyrecentlyevenmanyliterate(有文字的)societiesrecordedtheirconcernsnotonlyinwritingbutinthings.Lacrosse(曲棍球)isapopularsportinCanada.TheIndiansinCanadainventedit.Theyusedittotrainforwar.TheyinventedthisgamebeforeColumbusarrivedintheNewWorld.Peopleplaylacrosseoutdoors.Thelacrossefieldissevenmeterslong.Ateachendofthefieldthereisagoal.Thegoalisanet.Therearetenplayersoneachteam.Eachplayerhasastickcalled“cross”.Theplayerhitaballintothenetasmanytimesaspossible.Lacrosseisaveryfastgamebecausetheplayerscancatchandpasstheballatahighspeedwiththeirsticks.Playersoftengetgreatfunitplayinglacrosse.TherearemanylacrosseclubsandlacrosseteamsalloverCanada.EverynightCanadianscanwatchthelacrossegamesonTVorlistentothelacrossegamesovertheradio.AtonetimelacrossewasthenationalsummersportinCanada.TodayitisstillpopularwithCanadians.3.Thepassageismainlyabout________.

A.HowtoPlayLacrosse

B.LacrosseinCanada

C.TheHistoryofLacrosse

D.Lacrosse—APopularGameinCanada【答案】D【解析】作者先后兩次提到“長曲棍球在加拿大很受歡迎”，顯然選項D最符合短文的主題。WhenIwassevenmyfathergavemeaTimex,myfirstwatch.Ilovedit,woreitforyears,andhaven’thadanotheronesinceitstoppedtickingadecadeago.Why?BecauseIdon’tneedone.IhaveamobilephoneandI’malwaysnearsomeonewithaniPodorsomethinglikethat.Allthesedevices(裝置)tellthetime----whichiswhy,ifyoulookaround,you’llseelotsofemptywrists;salesofwatchestoyoungadultshavebeengoingdownsince2007.