Tulip-breaking Virus托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Tulip-breaking Virus托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Tulip-breaking Virus托福听力原文：

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托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听植物学课上的部分讲座。女教授：好的。让我们继续讨论可以感染植物的细菌和病毒。让我们从一种病毒开始，这种病毒在各种植物中都很常见，但首先与郁金香有关。这种病毒可以引起色素沉着的变化，从而显著影响植物叶子或花瓣的颜色。但由于并非所有植物组织细胞都被感染，结果往往是颜色变化。花瓣的一部分颜色加深，另一部分颜色褪色，这称为颜色断裂。在郁金香中引起这种现象的病毒被称为破坏郁金香病毒。

目前已知破坏郁金香的病毒对植物有有害影响。它们比较弱，有时会变小。

但几个世纪以来，人们对这种病毒一无所知。直到20世纪初，人们才知道是什么导致了郁金香的变色，是什么使郁金香植物产生的花瓣在颜色或图案上与你所期望的完全不同。

郁金香的花瓣上有条纹、条纹、羽毛或火焰图案，在我看来，这种病毒的这些症状对人类行为的影响太间接了，这无疑引发了荷兰著名的郁金香热。让我解释一下。17世纪，荷兰是全欧洲最重要的贸易中心之一，有许多富商想要展示他们的财富，例如，在他们的私人花园里展示异国情调的郁金香。

现在，郁金香不是荷兰本土的。它们起源于中亚山区，从波斯（即今天的伊朗）传播到土耳其奥斯曼帝国，并最终到达欧洲。

对“郁金香”这个名字的由来有一种解释，这种解释反映了这一点。很明显，它来自波斯语中的“头巾”，你知道，头上缠着一块布。嗯，这是世界上那个地区男人戴的一种头饰。

嗯，奥斯曼人在从波斯获得郁金香后，也使用了类似的名称。然后，在16世纪末，这个名字的一个变体出现了，从现在的土耳其到荷兰，再加上植物本身。可以

当然，郁金香通常是从地下鳞茎中生长出来的。虽然当它开花时，老鳞茎几乎什么都没有了，但这种植物会产生另一个大鳞茎，可能会有两个、三个、四个小鳞茎来代替它，而郁金香如果从种子开始开花，则需要长达七年的时间。一个大球茎可以在第二年开花。使用较小的灯泡可能需要几年时间。由于这些鳞茎能够存活相当长的时间，即使是在地面以外，它们也可以长距离储存或运输，没有太大问题，这有助于解释郁金香种植的传播。起初，郁金香在荷兰很少见，而且只对富人开放。但在17世纪初，随着更多的灯泡在那里生产，你会认为价格会下降。但事实上，一些郁金香的受欢迎程度大大提高。因此，需求很快就远远超过了供应，价格飙升。而那些因其独特性和美丽而备受珍视的郁金香，显然就是那些被这种神秘病毒感染的郁金香。当时，没有人真的能培育出这样的郁金香。在一百个灯泡中，只有两到三个发生了变色，而且似乎只是偶然的。

既然你真的不知道你什么时候买的灯泡颜色会不会变坏，那么荷兰投机者就出手投资，把价格推到了天价。有些球茎，即使还在地里，也能卖到当时你买房子的价钱。但这种郁金香热所造成的巨大投机泡沫最终破灭了。当价格下跌时，这几乎在一夜之间抹去了很多财富。后来，郁金香种植者学会了在健康、未受感染的植物中复制变色现象，因此，如今如此常见的壮观郁金香并非偶然的病毒感染所致，而是精心控制繁殖的结果。

三、Tulip-breaking Virus托福听力问题：

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托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：D

A2:正确答案：C

A3:正确答案：C

A4:正确答案：A

A5:正确答案：B

A6:正确答案：CD

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