剑桥雅思15Test4阅读passage1原文及翻译

每年年中左右，国内“雅思图”都要翘首期盼一件重要大事的来临:雅思真题的发布。无论是备考初期、后期,甚至已经考过雅思的学生，也无论是学生还是老师,都会密切关注新题的发布。今年6月初,《剑15》如约而至、作为国内雅思培训的领军机构，新航道也时间为考生们带来了这太《剑桥雅思真题全解15:学术类》(以下简称《剑15全解》)。

本次我们盛情邀请了新航道全国冬分校最的学科带头人来组织编写这本《剑15全解》。其中，对于以客观选择题为主的听力与阅读部分，仍然请各校团队进行解题思路方面的指导;对于以主观题为主的写作与口语部分，我们则邀请了官方认证考官撰写地道的高分范文，作为官方范文之外的补充。下文中详细整理了剑桥雅思15Test4阅读passage1原文及翻译，一起来看一下吧！

剑桥15电子版本，请扫描二维码，暗号“优化+剑桥15全解”，会有老师联系并发送资料。

1剑桥雅思15Test4阅读Passage1原文

The return of the huarango

The arid valleys of southern Peru are welcoming

the return of a native plant

The south coast of Peru is a narrow, 2,000-kilometre-long strip of desert squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. It hardly ever rains there, and the only year-round source of water is located tens of metres below the surface. This is why the huarango tree is so suited to life there: it has the longest roots of any tree in the world. They stretch down 50-80 metres and, as well as sucking up water for the tree, they bring it into the higher subsoil, creating a water source for other plant life.

Dr David Beresford-Jones, archaeobotanist at Cambridge University, has been studying the role of the huarango tree in landscape change in the Lower lea Valley in southern Peru. He believes the huarango was key to the ancient people's diet and, because it could reach deep water sources, it allowed local people to withstand years of drought when their other crops failed. But over the centuries huarango trees were gradually replaced with crops. Cutting down native woodland leads to erosion, as there is nothing to keep the soil in place. So when the huarangos go, the land turns into a desert. Nothing grows at all in the Lower lea Valley now.

For centuries the huarango tree was vital to the people of the neighbouring Middle lea Valley too. They grew vegetables under it and ate products made from its seed pods. Its leaves and bark were used for herbal remedies, while its branches were used for charcoal for cooking and heating, and its trunk was used to build houses. But now it is disappearing rapidly. The majority of the huarango forests in the valley have already been cleared for fuel and agriculture - initially, these were smallholdings, but now they're huge farms producing crops for the international market.

'Of the forests that were here 1,000 years ago, 99 per cent have already gone,' says botanist Oliver Whaley from Kew Gardens in London, who, together with ethnobotanist Dr William Milliken, is running a pioneering project to protect and restore the rapidly disappearing habitat. In order to succeed, Whaley needs to get the local people on board, and that has meant overcoming local prejudices. 'Increasingly aspirational communities think that if you plant food trees in your home or street, it shows you are poor, and still need to grow your own food,' he says. In order to stop the Middle lea Valley going the same way as the Lower lea Valley, Whaley is encouraging locals to love the huarangos again. 'It's a process of cultural resuscitation,' he says. He has already set up a huarango festival to reinstate a sense of pride in their eco-heritage, and has helped local schoolchildren plant thousands of trees.

'In order to get people interested in habitat restoration, you need to plant a tree that is useful to them,' says Whaley. So, he has been working with local families to attempt to create a sustainable income from the huarangos by turning their products into foodstuffs. 'Boil up the beans and you get this thick brown syrup like molasses. You can also use it in drinks, soups or stews. ' The pods can be ground into flour to make cakes, and the seeds roasted into a sweet, chocolatey 'coffee'. 'It's packed full of vitamins and minerals, ' Whaley says.

And some farmers are already planting huarangos. Alberto Benevides, owner of lea Valley's only certified organic farm, which Whaley helped set up, has been planting the tree for 13 years. He produces syrup and flour, and sells these products at an organic farmers' market in Lima. His farm is relatively small and doesn't yet provide him with enough to live on, but he hopes this will change. 'The organic market is growing rapidly in Peru, ' Benevides says. 'I am investing in the future.

But even if Whaley can convince the local people to fall in love with the huarango again, there is still the threat of the larger farms. Some of these cut across the forests and break up the corridors that allow the essential movement of mammals, birds and pollen up and down the narrow forest strip. In the hope of counteracting this, he's persuading farmers to let him plant forest corridors on their land. He believes the extra woodland will also benefit the farms by reducing their water usage through a lowering of evaporation and providing a refuge for bio-control insects.

'If we can record biodiversity and see how it all works, then we're in a good position to move on from there. Desert habitats can reduce down to very little, ' Whaley explains. 'It's not like a rainforest that needs to have this huge expanse. Life has always been confined to corridors and islands here. If you just have a few trees left, the population can grow up quickly because it's used to exploiting water when it arrives? He sees his project as a model that has the potential to be rolled out across other arid areas around the world. 'If we can do it here, in the most fragile system on Earth, then that's a real message of hope for lots of places, including Africa, where there is drought and they just can't afford to wait for rain.'

2剑桥雅思15Test4阅读Passage1原文翻译

美洲牧豆树的回归

秘鲁南部的干旱河谷欢迎本土植物的回归秘鲁南部海岸是一片狭长的沙漠地带，它夹在安第斯山脉和太平洋之间，绵延2000公里。它也是地球上最脆弱的生态系统之一。那里几乎不下雨，的全年水源位于地表之下几十米。这正是美洲牧豆树适合在此生长的原因：它是世界上树根最长的树。树根向下延伸可达50-80米，除了为树木本身吸收水分之外，它也将水分带到了较浅的下层土，为其他植物提供了水源。

剑桥大学的植物考古学家David Beresford-Jones博士一直在研究美洲牧豆树在秘鲁部伊卡河谷下游地区地貌变化中的作用。他认为，美洲牧豆树曾对古代人的饮食至关重因为它可以汲取深层的地下水，当其他农作物歉收时，它能够帮助当地人抵御连年的干

但几个世纪以来，美洲牧豆树逐渐地被农作物所取代。本地植被的采伐造成了土壤侵蚀，因为没有任何东西可以保持水土。所以当美洲牧豆树消失时，土地就变成了沙漠。如今，伊卡河谷下游地区寸草不生。

数百年来，美洲牧豆树对附近伊卡河谷中游地区的人们来说同样很重要。他们在美洲牧豆树下种植蔬菜，食用树的英果做成的食物。美洲牧豆树的叶子和树皮可作草药，而它的树枝被当作柴火来烧饭和取暖，树干则被用于建造房屋。然而，目前它正在迅速消失。

河谷中绝大多数的美洲牧豆树林都遭到了砍伐，用于取柴和农业生产-起初，这些林地只是作为小块农田，但现在它们成了为国际市场生产作物的大型农场。

“在此存在了上千年的森林，如今99%已不复存在。”英国皇家植物园(伦敦)的植物学家 Oliver Whaley说道。他和民族植物学家 William Milliken博士正在进行一项开拓性的研究，以保护和恢复这个正在迅速消失的(美洲牧豆树的)栖息地。为了能顺利研究，

Whaley需要得到当地人的支持，这意味着必须克服当地人的成见。他说：“越来越想提高生活水平的居民认为，如果你在家里或街道上种植粮食作物，就表明你很穷，仍然需要自种食物。”为了不让伊卡河谷中游地区重蹈下游地区的覆辙，Whaley鼓励当地人重新接纳美洲牧豆树。他说：“这是一个文化复苏的过程。”他创办了一个美洲牧豆树节，以恢复当地人对生态遗产的自豪感，并帮助当地学童种植了数千棵树。

Whaley说：“为了使人们关注栖息地的恢复，种的树要对他们有用。”因此，他一直在与当地住户合作，试图把美洲牧豆树的出产转变为食品，以带来源源不断的收入。“把豆子煮开，你就会得到像糖浆一样浓稠的棕色糖水。你也可以在饮料、汤或炖菜中使用它。”荚果磨成面粉可用于制作蛋糕，种子通过烘焙可制作甜甜的巧克力味的“咖啡”。Whaley称：“它富含维生素和矿物质。”

与此同时，一些农民也已经开始种植美洲牧豆树。Alberto Benevides拥有伊卡河谷一家获得有机认证的农场，这是在Whaley的帮助下建立的，Benevides种植美洲牧豆树已经有13年了。他生产糖浆和面粉，并在利马的一个有机农贸市场销售这些产品。他的农

场相对较小，还不足以维持生活，但他希望未来这种情况会有所改变。Benevides说：“秘鲁的有机食品市场正在快速发展，我这是在投资未来。”

然而，即使Whaley能够说服当地人再次接纳美洲牧豆树，大型农场的威胁却依然存在。其中一些农场径直阻断了森林，破坏了哺乳动物、鸟类以及花粉在狭窄的林带上来回移动的通道。为了扭转这种情况，他试图说服农民能让他在他们的土地上打造森林走廊。

他认为，这片额外的林地也将会使农场受益，因为它能减少水分蒸发进而减少用水量，并为用于生物防治的昆虫提供避难所。

“如果我们能对(森林走廊中的)生物多样性进行记录，弄清楚它是如何起作用的，这样我们就能很好地继续开展工作了。沙漠栖息地可以缩至很小的范围。”Whaley解释说：“(森林走廊)又不是说像雨林那般需要一大片辽阔的区域。生物的活动范围总是局限在走廊和林岛之中。即使只剩下了几棵树，它们也能迅速生长，因为它们很善于开采所到之处的水源。” 他将自己的项目视为一种模式，有可能推广到世界其他干旱地区。“假如我们能在地球上这一最脆弱的生态系统中做到这点，那么这对许多地方包括非洲来说者是一个真正的希望，那些地方干旱严重，那里的人们恐怕无法依赖降雨。”