Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a botany class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:Okay.Let's move on,to bacteria and viruses that can infect plants.And let's start out with a virus that's rather common in various plants but first became known in connection with tulips.This virus can cause a change in pigmentation that dramatically affects the color of the plant's leaves or flower petals.But since not all cells of the plant tissue are infected,the result tends to be color variation.With color intensified in one part of the flower petal and faded in another,this is called color breaking.And the virus that causes this in tulip is called the tulip-breaking virus.

The tulip-breaking virus is now known to have detrimental effects on plants.They're weaker and sometimes reduced in size.

But for centuries people didn't have a clue about this virus.Not until the early 1900s was it known what caused the color breaking in tulips,what made the tulip plant produce flower petals so radically different in color or in pattern from what you would have expected.

Tulip flowers with stripes or streaks or feather or flame patterns on their petals,there is no doubt in my mind that these symptoms of this breaking virus affected human behavior too indirectly,that they set off the famous tulip craze in the Netherlands.Let me explain.In the 17th century,the Netherlands was among the most important trading centers in all of Europe with lots of rich merchants who wanted to showcase their wealth,for example,by displaying exotic tulips in their private gardens.

Now,tulips are not native to the Netherlands.They originated in the mountains of Central Asia and spread from Persia,present-day Iran,to the Turkish Ottoman Empire and from there eventually reached Europe.

There's an explanation for the origin of the name"tulip"that kind of reflects this.Apparently,it came from a Persian word for"turban",you know,a cloth wound round the head.Um,a style of headgear worn by men in that part of the world.

Well,the Ottomans used a similar name for tulips after they acquired them from Persia.And then,in the late 16th century,a variation on that name found its way from what is now Turkey to the Netherlands along with the plant itself.Okay.

A tulip,of course,is typically grown from an underground bulb.And although as it flowers the old bulb shrivels to almost nothing,the plant produces another large bulb and maybe two,three,four smaller ones to take its place,and while tulips take up to seven years to bloom if you start from seeds.A large bulb can produce a flower the very next year.With the smaller bulbs it takes maybe a couple of years.And since these bulbs remain viable for quite a long time,even out of the ground,they can be stored or transported long distances without much of a problem,which helps explain the spread of tulip cultivation.At first,tulips were rare in the Netherlands and only for the wealthy.But in the early 17th century,as more bulbs were produced there,you'd think the prices would come down.In fact,though,the popularity of some tulips increased tremendously.So demands soon far exceeded supply and their prices skyrocketed.And the tulips most prized for their uniqueness and beauty were apparently the ones inflected by this mysterious virus.At that time,nobody was really able to breed tulips like these.Color breaking happened in just two or three out of a hundred bulbs and seemingly just by chance.

And since you didn't really know when you bought a bulb if the colors would break,well,Dutch speculators invested hand over fist and drove prices sky high.Some bulbs,even while still in the ground,were sold for as much as you would pay for a house at the time.But the huge speculative bubble created by this tulip craze eventually collapsed.And when the prices fell,that wiped out a lot of fortunes almost overnight.Later on,tulip breeders learned to duplicate color breaking in healthy,uninfected plants,so the spectacular-looking tulips so common today are the result not of chance viral infections,but of carefully controlled breeding.

二、Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：聽植物學課上的部分講座。女教授：好的。讓我們繼續(xù)討論可以感染植物的細菌和病毒。讓我們從一種病毒開始，這種病毒在各種植物中都很常見，但首先與郁金香有關(guān)。這種病毒可以引起色素沉著的變化，從而顯著影響植物葉子或花瓣的顏色。但由于并非所有植物組織細胞都被感染，結(jié)果往往是顏色變化?；ò甑囊徊糠诸伾由?，另一部分顏色褪色，這稱為顏色斷裂。在郁金香中引起這種現(xiàn)象的病毒被稱為破壞郁金香病毒。

目前已知破壞郁金香的病毒對植物有有害影響。它們比較弱，有時會變小。

但幾個世紀以來，人們對這種病毒一無所知。直到20世紀初，人們才知道是什么導致了郁金香的變色，是什么使郁金香植物產(chǎn)生的花瓣在顏色或圖案上與你所期望的完全不同。

郁金香的花瓣上有條紋、條紋、羽毛或火焰圖案，在我看來，這種病毒的這些癥狀對人類行為的影響太間接了，這無疑引發(fā)了荷蘭著名的郁金香熱。讓我解釋一下。17世紀，荷蘭是全歐洲最重要的貿(mào)易中心之一，有許多富商想要展示他們的財富，例如，在他們的私人花園里展示異國情調(diào)的郁金香。

現(xiàn)在，郁金香不是荷蘭本土的。它們起源于中亞山區(qū)，從波斯（即今天的伊朗）傳播到土耳其奧斯曼帝國，并最終到達歐洲。

對“郁金香”這個名字的由來有一種解釋，這種解釋反映了這一點。很明顯，它來自波斯語中的“頭巾”，你知道，頭上纏著一塊布。嗯，這是世界上那個地區(qū)男人戴的一種頭飾。

嗯，奧斯曼人在從波斯獲得郁金香后，也使用了類似的名稱。然后，在16世紀末，這個名字的一個變體出現(xiàn)了，從現(xiàn)在的土耳其到荷蘭，再加上植物本身?？梢?/p>

當然，郁金香通常是從地下鱗莖中生長出來的。雖然當它開花時，老鱗莖幾乎什么都沒有了，但這種植物會產(chǎn)生另一個大鱗莖，可能會有兩個、三個、四個小鱗莖來代替它，而郁金香如果從種子開始開花，則需要長達七年的時間。一個大球莖可以在第二年開花。使用較小的燈泡可能需要幾年時間。由于這些鱗莖能夠存活相當長的時間，即使是在地面以外，它們也可以長距離儲存或運輸，沒有太大問題，這有助于解釋郁金香種植的傳播。起初，郁金香在荷蘭很少見，而且只對富人開放。但在17世紀初，隨著更多的燈泡在那里生產(chǎn)，你會認為價格會下降。但事實上，一些郁金香的受歡迎程度大大提高。因此，需求很快就遠遠超過了供應(yīng)，價格飆升。而那些因其獨特性和美麗而備受珍視的郁金香，顯然就是那些被這種神秘病毒感染的郁金香。當時，沒有人真的能培育出這樣的郁金香。在一百個燈泡中，只有兩到三個發(fā)生了變色，而且似乎只是偶然的。

既然你真的不知道你什么時候買的燈泡顏色會不會變壞，那么荷蘭投機者就出手投資，把價格推到了天價。有些球莖，即使還在地里，也能賣到當時你買房子的價錢。但這種郁金香熱所造成的巨大投機泡沫最終破滅了。當價格下跌時，這幾乎在一夜之間抹去了很多財富。后來，郁金香種植者學會了在健康、未受感染的植物中復制變色現(xiàn)象，因此，如今如此常見的壯觀郁金香并非偶然的病毒感染所致，而是精心控制繁殖的結(jié)果。

三、Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What does the professor mainly discuss?

A.Techniques for breeding unusual varieties of tulips in the Netherlands.

B.New types of plants introduced to Europe through trade.

C.The spread of plant diseases throughout seventeenth-century Europe.

D.The impact of a plant virus in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.

Q2:2.What opinion does the professor express about color breaking in tulips?

A.It probably occurred more often in the seventeenth century than it does today.

B.It was not as rare in the seventeenth century as botanists believed.

C.It influenced the behavior of many people in the Netherlands.

D.It will probably never be duplicated through controlled breeding.

Q3:3.According to the professor,what is one reason that the Dutch started cultivating tulips?

A.There was an increase in trade between the Netherlands and Persia.

B.There were plans to open a new botanical garden in the Netherlands.

C.Wealthy individuals wanted to show that they could afford expensive merchandise.

D.Dutch botanists became skilled in crossbreeding plants.

Q4:4.Why does the professor mention a turban worn by some men?

A.To offer an explanation for how the tulip got his name.

B.To emphasize the unique color patterns of some tulips.

C.To explain why the tulip was considered an exotic flower in Europe.

D.To describe differences between Dutch tulips and Persian tulips.

Q5:5.According to the professor,what characteristic of tulips aided the spread of tulip cultivation?

A.Tulips grown from seeds produce bulb within a year.

B.Tulip bulbs can be removed from the ground and stored.

C.Tulips adapt easily to different kinds of soil.

D.Tulips are relatively resistant to plant viruses.

Q6:6.According to the professor,what factors contributed to a dramatic rise in the prices of some tulips in the early seventeenth century?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.Botanists discovered how to breed tulips that were resistant to certain plant diseases.

B.The demand for tulips increased in Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

C.Dutch speculators enthusiastically bought tulip bulbs as investments.

D.The most desirable tulips could not be produced by breeding at that time.

四、Tulip-breaking Virus托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：D

A2:正確答案：C

A3:正確答案：C

A4:正確答案：A

A5:正確答案：B

A6:正確答案：CD

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