阅读理解Passage Eight
阅读理解Passage Eight
在现实学习生活中，大家都没少背知识点吧？知识点也可以通俗的理解为重要的内容。为了帮助大家更高效的学习，以下是小编精心整理的阅读理解Passage Eight ，欢迎阅读与收藏。
Greece, economically, is in the black. With very little to export other than such farm products as tobacco, cotton and fruit, the country earns enough from invisible earnings to pay for its needed, growing imports. From the sending out of things the Greeks, earn only $285 million; from tourism, shipping and the remittances of Greeks abroad, the country takes in an additional #375 million and this washes out the almost $400 million by which imports exceed exports.
It has a balanced budget. Although more than one drachma out of four goes for defense, the government ended a recent year with a slight surplus -- $66 million. Greece has a decent reserve of almost a third of a billion dollars in gold and foreign exchange. It has a government not dependent on coalescing incompatible parties to obtain parliamentary majorities.
In thus summarizing a few happy highlights, I dont mean to minimize the vast extent of Greeces problems. It is the poorest country by a wide margin in Free Europe, and poverty is widespread. At best an annual income of $60 to $70 is the lot of many a peasant, and substantial unemployment plagues the countryside, cities, and towns of Greece. There are few natural resources on which to build any substantial industrial base. Some years ago I wrote here:
Greek statesmanship will have to create an atmosphere in which home and foreign savings will willingly seek investment opportunities in the back ward economy of Greece. So far, most American and other foreign attempt have bogged down in the Greek governments red tape and shrewdness about small points.
拓展：职称英语阅读理解
Where Have All the Bees Gone? Scientists who study insects have a real mystery on their hands. All across the country, honeybees are leaving their hives and never returning. Researchers call this phenomenon colony-collapse1 disorder. According to surveys of beekeepers across the country, 25 to 40 percent of the honeybees in the United States have vanished from their hives since last fall. So far, no one can explain why. Now, a group of scientists and beekeepers have teamed up to try to figure out whats causing the alarming collapse of so many colonies. By sharing their expertise in honeybee behavior, health, and nutrition, team members hope to find out whats contributing to the decline and to prevent bee disappearances in the future. Another cause of colony-collapse disorder may be certain chemicals that farmers apply to kill unwanted insects on crops, says Jerry Hayes, chief bee inspector for the Florida Department of Agriculture3. Some studies, he says, suggest that a certain type of insecticide affects the honeybees nervous system and memory. It seems like honeybees are going out and getting confused about where to go and what to do, he says.
词汇： hive n. 蜂巢; 蜂箱 digestive adj. 消化的 beekeeper n. 养蜂人 insecticide n. 杀虫剂 注释： United States Department of Agriculture Bee Research Laboratory：美国农业部蜜蜂研究实验室。
练习：
A) Honeybees are flying all across the country.
C) Honeybees are leaving their hives and do not return.
2. Why are researchers seriously concerned with the phenomenon of colony-collapse disorder? A) Worsening environment.
B) Because honeybees feed on flowers.
C) Dwindling number of flowers around.
D) Both B and C.
科技类英语阅读理解
A blue dress divided the Internet----and put the science of visual perception in the spotlight.
I ①The influence on science and the arts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe----poet,playwright, novelist, proto-scientist, philosopher and general all-round egghead----is profound. ②His view about the physiological nature of colors, however, have never really caught on, in part because he proposed that colors are more an invention of the mind than a physical reality. ③One thing, however, rings true: the appearance of objects is not objective, but a conversation between the observer and observed.
II ①Neuroscientists have long recognized that the perception of color and shade depends strongly on context. ②Illusions exist, for example, in which one can be utterly convinced that black is white, depending on the surrounding patterns or the conditions in which an object is lit. ③But it is also true that all other things being equal, the perception of color differs between people.
III ①One editor of this journal, for example, once owned a car that was, in his opinion, quite clearly green. ②It remained green in all conceivable circumstances of context, shade and illumination other than complete darkness. ③Except, however, that everyone else was equally convinced that it was blue----including the vehicle-licensing authority. ④The car was not only blue----it was officially blue.
IV ①Recently, the Internet was deluged with strongly held opinion about color, specifically of a dress. ②The dress was advertised as being blue and black. ③But if illuminated in a certain way, the dress appeared white and gold. ④People were absolutely convinced of its color combination, one way or the other. ⑤The web exploded with chromatic debate after various celebrities bruited their opinions on Twitter. ⑥A straw poll of Nature’s editors (including the owner of the blue car) was roughly split down the middle, and convictions were strong----one way or the other.
V ①The explanation for the illusion lies in the color of the light in which the dress was photographed. ②The brain of people who read the overall ambience as too blue willovercompensate, seeing the dress as white and gold. ③Others, whose visual systems read that the lighting was not blue enough, saw the dress as blue and black.
VI①Wired magazine hosted a full discussion on the effect, and the consternation in that publication’s office seemed to reflect the brouhaha that briefly reigned in the otherwise serene halls of Nature. ②(The wheels of this international weekly journal of science briefly ground to a halt as so:” I can’t read any more manuscripts until I find out WHY? ”)
VII ①On being told of the illusion, some people—but not all—could just about force themselves to see the dress as black and blue rather than white and gold. ②The picture is a clear demonstration that color perception varies between individuals, and according to the conditions of illumination. ③Such perception is distinct from the genetic conditions that predispose people to the various syndromes known as color blindness.
VIII ①Had the ghost of Goethe been watching ‘dressgate’, he might have allowed himself a rueful smile, given the brickbats thrown in his direction by his scientific critics even in his own time, who, he said, “forgot that science arose from poetry, and did not see that when times change the tow can meet again on a higher level as friends.”
【翻译】
色调与喊声
一件蓝色的裙子将互联网分为两个阵营，视觉感知成为了人们关注的焦点。
作为一个诗人、剧作家、小说家、哥德对科学和艺术的影响是很深刻的。他关于颜色的生理属性的观点却从来没有引起注意，一部分是因为他提出，颜色是思维干预的结果，而不是客观的现实。其中一件事情听起来像是真的：物体的外表并不是客观的，而是观察者和被观察物对话的结果。
神经科学家很久以前就意识到，对颜色和浓淡的感知取决于背景。幻觉会存在，例如，当一个人完全确信黑就是白时，依据的是物体身处其中的环境模式或者条件。但是，事实是，当其他条件都相同时，对颜色的感知仍会因人而异。
例如，这本期刊的一位编辑曾经拥有一部他认为是绿色的车。它在所有可以设想的场合里都是绿的，不管是在阴影中、光亮下或者完全黑暗里。除了一种情况：其他的每个人都确信这是蓝色的车——包括车辆执照当局。这辆车不仅仅是蓝色的---它被官方承认是蓝色的。
最近，互联网到处都是坚定的关于颜色的意见，具体来说是关于一件裙子的。这件裙子被宣扬为蓝黑色的，但如果以某种方式用灯照亮，裙子似乎是白色和金色的。人们都非常确信它的颜色搭配，不管是哪一派。网上辩论激烈，特别是在各色名人在上传播他们的观点之后。一项关于《自然》编辑的民意调查（包括那位蓝车车主）显示支持倾向为一半一半，不管是哪一派的，他们都对自己那方深信不疑。
对这一错觉的解释关键在于裙子被拍摄时灯光的颜色上。人们的大脑在读取综合的氛围格调时，如果觉得太蓝会矫枉过正，将裙子看做白色和金色。其他人，他们的视觉系统读取灯光不够蓝，看到的裙子就会是蓝色和黑色的。
互联网杂志主持了一场关于这个效果的讨论，在出版社办公室的惊恐似乎反映了《自然》走廊里的喧哗，在其他时候这个办公室都是一片宁静的。（这个国际性科学周刊顿时停工，有人喊道：“在我弄清楚为什么之前我再也读不进任何稿件了。”）
被告知这个幻觉以后，部分的人——并不是全体，会强迫自己去把裙子看做蓝色黑色而不是白色和金色。这个图片清晰地展示颜色感知会因人而异，并且因照明条件而异。这种感知与另一种基因条件截然不同，那被认为是色盲——容易诱发人们各种综合症。
如果歌德的灵魂也在关注“裙子事件”，他也许会露出沮丧的笑容，在他的年代，他因为科学见解使得自己面对公众的辱骂。他说过：“忘记科学由诗歌激发而产生，看不到这一切，当时间变化，他们能在更高的层次成为朋友。”
【词汇短语】
1. *ambience n. 气氛，布景；周围环境
2. *brickbat 碎砖；砖片；批评的话；不逊之言
3. *be deluged with v. 涌来，充满
4. *brouhaha n. （法）吵闹；骚动
5. *bruit vt. 散播
6. *chromatic a. 彩色的；色品的；易染色的
7. *consternation n. 惊愕；惊惶失措；恐怖
8. *egghead n.受过高等教育的人
9. illuminate n. 照亮，照明；用灯光装饰
10. illusion n.幻想，错误的观念；错觉，幻觉，假象
11. *neuroscientist n. 神经系统科学家
12. *overcompensate v. 过度补偿
13. physiological a.生理学的, 生理学上的
14. *playwright n. 剧作家
15. *predispose v. 使…偏向于
16. *proto-scientist n.科学的雏形
17. reign v.统治,支配,盛行
18. ring true v.听起来是真的
19. *rueful a. 可怜的；悲伤的；悔恨的
（注：标*的为超纲词）
【点评】
本文以前段时间引起热议的“裙子是蓝黑还是白金”事件引出话题，讨论背后的色彩感知机制。文章援引的例子贯通古今，论证充分。
段I先借歌德的科学观点：关于颜色的生理学特性，为后文讨论颜色的生成机制引出话题。句①先指出歌德的多重身份：剧作家、哲学家、科学家。句②引出歌德对颜色的生成机制的看法，歌德认为，颜色的产生并不完全由现实决定，更多是思维的结果，但是这一看法并未引起当时人们的注意。“have never really caught on”形容当时这一观点的冷遇，与前文提到的歌德的多重身份形成对比。句③进而聚焦于观点本身的阐述：物体的外表模样并不是客观的，而是观察者和被观察物交流的结果。句③既是对歌德观点的提炼，又为下文对主题的讨论埋下伏笔，起承上启下的作用。
段II通过援引精神科学家对色彩感知机制的研究结果证明己方观点。都是作为研究成果，段I与段II一古一今，相得益彰。句①总起全段，指出精神科学家早已意识到对色彩的感知依赖环境。句②进一步阐述这种环境在色彩辨认过程中的的作用之大，可以让人把白色辨认为黑色。“depend on”指“取决于”，强调环境在这一过程中扮演的角色非常重要。句③指出让色彩感知产生差异的另一种情况：即使一切外部条件都是一致的，感知过程与结果也会因人而异。这个句子为段III 要阐释说明的内容埋下伏笔。
段III 援引作者身边的实例，证明段II句③的内容：一位编辑拥有一辆无论在什么情况下，在他眼里都是绿色的车，然而，在其他人眼里，这辆车始终是蓝色的，包括车管所的工作人员也这么认为。“shade””illumination”和“complete darkness”分别指光线分布有异的三种情况：阴影下、光亮下、黑暗中，进一步强调外部条件的变化对个人视觉感知的影响效果甚微，反而是个人自身的感知决定了看到物体的颜色。呼应段II句③的观点。
段IV引出全文中心事件：裙子是蓝黑的还是白金的？句①用词组“be deluged with”形容评论如潮，反映此事件在互联网上影响之广泛。句②、③就事件进行陈述：一件被宣扬是蓝底黑边的裙子，在光线变化时会呈现出白色和金色。④、⑤、⑥句聚焦于人们对这件事的反映：大家都确信自己看到的才是裙子真正的颜色。互联网上关于裙子颜色的讨论如火如荼，而名人在网上对此事件的评论让事情传播得更为迅速。句⑥又回到《自然》编辑部本身：编辑们对此对半分派，但大家都对自己的结果深信不疑。
段V着力于解释事情背后的机制。句①总起全段，指出解释的关键在于裙子被拍摄时的光线状况。句②进一步解释：如果人脑在读取光线的时候认为太蓝，会自动矫正调整颜色。调整的结果就是把蓝黑色看成了白金色。句③则对同一场合的另外一种情况进行解释。
段VI集中讨论裙子事件在杂志社内部引起的反响。段VII强调这种对色觉的感知是可以通过人脑进行干预直接影响结果的。句①首先说，部分了解这个机制的人可以自如使自己将裙子看成想要的颜色。句②进一步说明，在同等光线条件下人脑运行的差异。与段II句③的观点呼应。句③则指出，这不是人们认知意义上的色盲。
段VIII重新回到歌德的例子，援引他的话对科学与艺术关系进行说明。与首段暗合，首尾呼应，使得全文的论述形成环状结构。
