閱讀測驗是很多考生畏懼的英文題型之一，其實閱讀測驗的解題並不難，因為外國人寫文章都愛用破題法，只要看第一段即可知道文章大概在講什麼內容。例如在此篇文章的第一段中，有提到“Israeli scientists” (以色列科學家們)、“germinate” (使發芽)、“a date seed” (棗子種子)，所以文章一定跟以色列的科學家們使古老的種子發芽有關。
Israeli scientists have germinated a date seed nearly 2,000 years
old.
The seed was taken from an excavation at Masada, the cliff
fortress where, in A.D. 73, 960 Jewish zealots died by their own hand
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rather than surrendered to the Romans. The point is to find out what
was so exceptional about the date palm of Judea, praised in the
Bible for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long
ago destroyed by the crusaders.
Dr. Sallon, who runs a project on medicinal plants of the Middle
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East, said the date palm in ancient times symbolized the tree of life.
But Sallon’s co-worker, Dr. Solowey, who is growing the seed in
quarantine, said plants grown from ancient seeds “usually keel over
and die soon.”
Three date seeds from the Masada dig were found in a
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storeroom and are presumably from dates eaten by the defenders,
Dr. Sallon said.
Dr. Solowey planted the date seeds at the end of January. “It
wasn’t a project with a high priority,” she said. “I had no idea if the
food in the seed was still good. But about six weeks later, one of
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these came up.”
Radiocarbon dating showed the seed to be 1990 years old, plus
or minus 50 years. So it dates from 35 B.C. to A.D. 65, shortly before
the Roman siege.
Dates need to grow 30 years to reach maturity and can live as
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long as 200 years. It is the female date that is considered holy and
that bears fruit. “If it’s a male, it will just be a curiosity,” Dr. Solowey
said.
( ) 1. The date seed was probably left by _____.
(A) the Jewish zealots who died in A.D. 73
(B) the Romans who killed the Jewish in A.D. 73
(C) the Jewish who surrendered to the Romans in A.D. 73
(D) the crusaders who conquered the people at Masada in A.D. 73
( ) 2. According to the passage, the major purpose of planting the date seed is _____.
(A) to find out how long the date tree can live
(B) to reconstruct the history of the Middle East
(C) to discover the peculiarity of the date palm in Judea
(D) to extract its medicinal elements to cure rare diseases
( ) 3. Which of the following is a synonym of “excavation” in the 2nd paragraph?
(A) Dig (B) Cliff (C) Desert (D) Fortress
( ) 4. Which of the following statements is correct?
(A) Growing the seeds is the most important part of Dr. Solowey’s project.
(B) The date palm had been considered extinct before the seeds were found.
(C) Dr. Solowey is very curious about what they can do with a male date palm.
(D) The date seeds were planted with other medicinal plants of the Middle East.
英銘老師：閱讀測驗是很多考生畏懼的英文題型之一，其實閱題測驗的的解題並不難，因為外國人寫文章都愛用破題法，只要看第一段即可知道文章大概在講什麼內容。例如在此篇文章的第一段中，有提到“Israeli scientists” (以色列科學家們)、“germinate” (使發芽)、“a date seed” (棗子種子)，所以文章一定跟以色列的科學家們使古老的種子發芽有關。
第1題：棗子種子可能是被什麼所遺留的？根據文章的第3行至第5行，得知種子是在Masada挖掘出來的，那裡是一個懸崖堡壘。在公元73年，960位猶太狂熱分子自殺，而不是對羅馬人投降。因此答案是(A)。
更多解析內容 請參考國考專門店 英銘國考英文周刊-No.70-閱讀測驗篇
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