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中级口译阅读教程第7单元Reading A
中级口译中级口译阅读中级阅读教程
UNIT SEVEN THE NATURAL WORLD
READING A
Introduction
Forests are large areas of tree-covered land. Tropical rain forests are found near the equator. In their hot and steamy climate many kinds of tree and plant grow very quickly. In some places the trees grow so closely together that the sunlight cannot reach the dark, bare forest floor.
Coniferous forests are nearly always found in cold northern lands. These forests are mostly made up of one kind of tree, such as spruce, fir or pine. Few other plants grow there. In temperate lands like Europe and the cooler parts of Australia and Africa, there are deciduous forests with trees like oak and beech.
Sir George Maxwell, the author of In Malay Forests, describes in his stories the lives of both men and animals in the forests of Malaya more than fifty years ago. Much has now changed, of course. There is no longer any danger of finding crocodiles in the Lake Gardens of Taiping, for instance, and many of the villages mentioned have now become towns. Yet much jungle remains, and will remain for some time to come.
This description of a Malay forest is as true today as when it was written, and is also true of other countries besides Malaya.
The Forest
But come down from the mountain peak, and walk alone along a forest path. Though it is midday, it is very dark. The sun cannel pierce the thick branches of the giant trees, and so heavy are the shadows that the very green seems black. The air is fresh and cool, and there is an almost perfect stillness. Underfoot, except where the path is trodden bare, is a carpet of dead leaves and of sweet damp moss. The track upon which you stand is a foot or perhaps a foot and a half wide, and at the height of your body the width of the open way is perhaps three feet. Daily use keeps back the forest creepers, but the path is only just wide enough for a man to pass. You could not ride even the smallest pony along it.
2 To right and left of the path the forest is a thick mass of trees with bushes and saplings between them. Rattans and creepers of every kind crawl along the ground and among the trees. So thick and strong is the mass of creepers that when a wood-cutter has hacked through a tree-trunk it is often kept upright, bound to the surrounding trees. After an hour's walk along a forest path you might think that the forest contained no life of any kind, but if you sit on a fallen tree-trunk and look around you may see a little more. High in a tree, and almost out of sight, you may see a flower, and lower down Your eye may fall upon a spray of tiny orchid blossoms. There are few
butterflies in the forest, but now and then, if you are by one of the openings among the trees, which are to the winged creatures what paths are to us, you may see a moth or butterfly pass by flapping its heavy silken wings. You seldom hear a bird, but if you are quiet and wait long enough some tiny sun-bird may come your way, or perhaps some strange bird with light blue eyes and an enormous tail, or a jungle hen may creep out from under a bush and scratch for ants' eggs in an
open space where a tree has fallen. The only other thing that you will see, except an occasional lizard, will be ants. If you know where to look for them you will see the tracks of four-footed animals, but you will not see the animals themselves.
3 Of course there is more life than this in the forest, but it cannot be seen. You are in the centre of a small circle whose radius varies from fifteen to thirty yards. Inside this circle you can see more or less dearly outside it everything is hidden. Even so huge an animal as an elephant is sometimes invisible at fifteen yards, and almost invisible at thirty yards. Wherever you go you carry with you that little circle. Outside lies the unknown. So little do you see that the feeling comes over you that you are in the midst of mysterious things, specially hidden from you. You imagine that you have no right to be there; and then you have a horrible feeling that from behind the tree-trunks watching eyes are looking upon you. It is bad enough at any time if you are alone and all is quiet; it is worse as the sun sinks and the light fades; it is worst if by any ill chance you happen to know that you have lost not only your way, but your sense of direction.
4 At all times you may see things happen which are hard to explain. Though not a breath of air can be felt to move, a palm-leaf may begin to sway gently backward and forward While the rest of the tree remains still. You examine the palm to see if there is perhaps a rat or some other animal at its base, but can discover nothing. Sometimes one single leaf among the numbers on a branch may begin to shake violently and no reason can be seen. Then it will suddenly stop.
Comprehension
A The following words are taken from the passage. Use each one in a sentence so as to make clear the meaning of the word:
pierce shadow hack blossom scratch
invisible mysterious horrible sway radius
B Explain in your own words what is meant by the following:
1) a carpet of dead leaves
2) sense of direction
3) by any ill chance
4) the light fades
5) by flapping its heavy silken wings
C Noun clauses are clauses that are used in sentences in the same way as nouns are used.
A noun clause may be the subject of a sentence:
That he was right was obvious.
Why he did it is a mystery.
A noun clause may also be the object of a sentence:
I have heard what has happened.
He knows that it is wrong.
Be careful with tenses. Look at these examples carefully:
He says that he has finished.
He said that he had finished.
She wants to know when the train will arrive.
D Questions.
1) Why is the forest dark even at midday?
2) Why do the forest creepers not grow over the path?
3) When a woodcutter hacks through a tree-trunk it often does not fall down. Why?
4) Why is it that while walking through the forest you might think that there was no life of any kind?
5) What must you do if you want to see signs of life in the forest?
6) What do you think causes a leaf to shake even though there is no wind?
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