英语阅读理解：“庄稼圆圈”

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In the summer of 1978 an English man named Steven was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered something strange. Some of his wheat was lying on the ground. The flattened wheat formed(形成)a circle about six meters across . Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat.

　　Three years later a farmer who lived nearby discovered almost the same circles in one of his fields. These circles were larger—nearly 15 meters across . That same year , another English farmer discovered three circles of flattened wheat on his land—one large circle between two small circles. During the following years, farmers in England found circles in their fields more and more often.

　　The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn. The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September. What causes the crop circles?

　　At first, people thought that some kids were making them as a joke, or that farmers were making them to attract tourists.(In fact, in 1991, two men said they made the circles themselves, but many scientists don’t believe them.) People tried to copy them: They tried to make circles exactly like the ones the farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of wheat without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the wheat without breaking it.

　　Several times people reported seeing stranger objects near the fields where crop circles later appeared. Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space(外层空间)or the marks left by their spaceships.

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　    When Steven discovered the crop circles on his land in 1978, he said, “It was just like something that had landed in the field from the air and gone back up again. I don’t know what to make of these things.”

　　Crop circles have appeared in England, Japan, the United States and Russia. Experts from all over the world have studied them, and they say what Steven said: They don’t know what to make of these things.

　　1. Which picture is probably the one formed in the field behind the scientists?


 

　　2. “Flattened wheat” means ___________.
　　A. broken wheat                       B. lying wheat
　　C. harvested wheat                D. growing wheat

        3. The passage is mainly about something ___________ .
　　A. that is done by living things from outer space
　　B. that cannot be solved but found all around the world
　　C. that cannot be made clear or understood
　　D. that is discovered and copied by the farmers
　　(选自2003年北京西城区试题)

　　Scientists who have studied the crop circles try to find out what causes them. In the summer of 1990 some scientists spent three weeks in the part of England where many circles have appeared. They had all the latest high-tech equipment(最新高科技设备). The equipment—worth 1.8 million dollars—got nothing. But one night, as the scientists were watching a field, crop circles formed in the field behind them, which were quite different from the others. The scientists had neither seen nor heard anything.


www.350xue.com 　　【解题思路点拨】这篇阅读材料属于难度较大的拉档题，介绍了“庄稼圆圈”这个尚未揭开的世界之谜。1978年，一位名叫Steven的英国农民在麦田里发现倒伏的小麦形成的一个直径6米的大圆圈，而且在它的周围还环绕着四个小圆。后来，其它农民陆续发现类似情况，只不过圆的大小和分布不同而已。据目击者称，“庄稼圆圈”通常在6月至9月份出现，且在早上被发现。更让人感到惊讶的是，倒伏的小麦并未折断，还在继续生长。有人猜测这是外星人所为，或许是他们的飞船留下的痕迹。后来，在日本、美国和俄罗斯等国家也发现了“庄稼圆圈”。科学家们使用最新的设备进行了跟踪调查和研究，结果一无所获。

　　1. A。解答此题，必须依次弄清田地里留下的圆圈的形状。1978年发现的是中间有一个直径约为6米的大圆，周围分布着4个小些的圆。即如图B中的样子。三年后另一农民发现的几个直径约为15米的大圆，他们几乎差不多大，即如图D所示的那样。就在同一年，又有一个农民发现三个圆，一个大些，另两个小，大圆在小圆的中间，如图C所示。而科学家身后的圆圈与别的都不同，由此可以找到答案A。

　　2. B。只有真正理解短文所述的内容之后，才能判断出短语“Flattened wheat”的确切意思。实际上，文中第三自然段中“The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it.”一句已对此短语的意思有所暗示。由这几句话，可知小麦既不是折断了的，也不是在生长的，更不是已收获的小麦。

　　3. C。短文中提到很多人相信这是外星人所为 (Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space or the marks left by their spaceships.)，但是他们并没有证据。因此A项不对。虽然很多地方都发现过“庄稼圆圈”，但并不是在全世界都有，短文中列举了三个国家。故B项不对。短文中提到有的农民声称是他们干的，但也予以了否定。由此，C项是最佳答案。通盘考虑全篇的意思，人们不懂得为什么麦田里会出现这种现象，科学家们也没有弄清原因。短文的最后一段说的也是这个意思。
 

英语阅读理解：“庄稼圆圈”