unit2要点讲义.docxVIP

Unit 2 A Plant Breeders?History?of the World [1] Hybrid A Plant Breeders?History?of the World is written by Noel Kingsbury, an English horticulturalist and writer. [2] He artfully linked human cultural evolution and the 10,000-year?history?of plant breeding. [3] He convinced me that plant technologies have been a major contributor to many important developments in human history. [4] The?history?of plant breeding starts simultaneously at the dawn of agriculture, farmers planted the most favorable new types consciously or unconsciously. [5] After the domestication of several major crops, plant improvement grew painfully slow. [6] For several millennia, the returns from improving agricultural crops were far too small and too slow to be widely appreciated by rapidly developing societies. [7] Much changed during the 17th and 18th centuries. [8] Plants were coupled, botanical science was emerging. [9] Physical mechanisms of pollination were identified, the limits of hybridization between closely related species were defined, and the phenomenon of hybrid vigor was noted. [10] The era witnessed the birth of systematic plant breeding. [11] Kingsbury devotes several chapters to the fascinating?history?of 20th-century efforts to improve the productivity, reliability, and nutrition of crops. [12] The interesting?history?of crop cultivation and some other major roles in the plant breeding enterprise appeared. [13] Kingsbury weaves some prominent and less well-known personal sketches into his?history. [14] His book involves many aspects, many scientists and lay readers can pick it up on their own accord. Objectives Students are required to (1) grasp the main idea of this text and its global structure, (2) appreciate the ways to construct the text, (3) master the key language points in it and how to use them in oral and written context freely, (4) understand the cultural and academic background related to the text, (5) express themselves freely on animal theme after doing a seri