初中生英語(yǔ)美文摘抄
初中生英語(yǔ)美文摘抄
美文就是語(yǔ)句非常優(yōu)美的文章。美文之美 ,是指形式美,包括遣詞造句、音韻節(jié)律,品讀再三,如行山陰道上,美不勝收。學(xué)習(xí)啦小編分享初中生英語(yǔ)美文，希望可以幫助大家!
初中生英語(yǔ)美文：Oil Refining
An important new industry, oil refining, grew after the Civil war. Crude oil, or petroleum – a dark, thick ooze from the earth – had been known for hundreds of years, but little use had ever been made of it. In the 1850’s Samuel M. Kier, a manufacturer in western Pennsylvania, began collecting the oil from local seepages and refining it into kerosene. Refining, like smelting, is a process of removing impurities from a raw material.
Kerosene was used to light lamps. It was a cheap substitute for whale oil, which was becoming harder to get. Soon there was a large demand for kerosene. People began to search for new supplies of petroleum.
The first oil well was drilled by E.L. Drake, a retired railroad conductor. In 1859 he began drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The whole venture seemed so impractical and foolish that onlookers called it “ Drake’s Folly”. But when he had drilled down about 70 feet(21 meters), Drake struck oil. His well began to yield 20 barrels of crude oil a day.
News of Drake’s success brought oil prospectors to the scene. By the early 1860’s these wildcatters were drilling for “ black gold” all over western Pennsylvania. The boom rivaled the California gold rush of 1848 in its excitement and Wild West atmosphere. And it brought far more wealth to the prospectors than any gold rush.
Crude oil could be refined into many products. For some years kerosene continued to be the principal one. It was sold in grocery stores and door-to-door. In the 1880’s refiners learned how to make other petroleum products such as waxes and lubricating oils. Petroleum was not then used to make gasoline or heating oil.
煉油
一種重要的新興工業(yè)--煉油業(yè)在國(guó)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)后成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)。未加工的石油，或原油--一種深色的地下的稠漿--數(shù)百年來(lái)一直為大眾所知，但是人們卻很少使用過(guò)它。
在十九世紀(jì)五十年代，薩繆爾?M?科爾，賓西法尼亞西部的一位制造商，開(kāi)始從當(dāng)?shù)氐囊绯鑫镏惺占?/p>
并將它煉成煤油。與冶煉礦石一樣，石油提煉是一個(gè)從未加工的原料中除去雜質(zhì)的過(guò)程。煤油被用來(lái)點(diǎn)燈。
它是鯨油的一種便宜的替代品，而鯨油正變得越來(lái)越難以獲得。不久就產(chǎn)生了對(duì)煤油的大量需求。人們開(kāi)始尋找新的石油供應(yīng)。第一口油井為E?L?瑞克，一個(gè)退休的火車(chē)檢票員所鉆得。1859年他開(kāi)始在賓西法尼亞的泰特斯維爾鉆井。整個(gè)的這項(xiàng)冒險(xiǎn)事業(yè)看起來(lái)是如此不現(xiàn)實(shí)和愚蠢以致旁觀者稱(chēng)之為"鴨子的蠢行"。(譯者注：Drake'sFolly,drake
在這里意含雙關(guān)，即指瑞克的名字，又指該詞的本義即鴨子。)但當(dāng)瑞克往下鉆至70英尺(21米)的時(shí)候，他發(fā)現(xiàn)了石油。他的油井從此每天生產(chǎn)20桶原油。瑞克成功的消息將石油勘探者們吸引到現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。截止到19世紀(jì)60年代早期，這些冒險(xiǎn)者為尋找"黑色的金子"鉆探遍了整個(gè)賓西法尼亞西部。這項(xiàng)繁榮的事業(yè)在刺激性和粗獷的西部氣氛上可與1848年的加州淘金熱相媲美，而且它為勘探者帶來(lái)了遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)淘金潮的財(cái)富。原油能被提煉成許多產(chǎn)品。多年以來(lái)煤油一直是主要的一種產(chǎn)品。
它在雜貨店中出售由人挨戶(hù)推銷(xiāo)。19世紀(jì)八十九十年代煉油者們懂得了生產(chǎn)其它石油產(chǎn)品，如蠟和潤(rùn)滑油。那時(shí)石油還沒(méi)有被用來(lái)制造汽油或采暖裝置用油。
初中生英語(yǔ)美文：Raising Oysters
In the oysters were raised in much the same way as dirt farmers raised tomatoes- by transplanting them. First, farmers selected the oyster bed, cleared the bottom of old shells and other debris, then scattered clean shells about. Next, they ”planted” fertilized oyster eggs, which within two or three weeks hatched into larvae. The larvae drifted until they attached themselves to the clean shells on the bottom. There they remained and in time grew into baby oysters called seed or spat. The spat grew larger by drawing in seawater from which they derived microscopic particles of food. Before long, farmers gathered the baby oysters, transplanted them once more into another body of water to fatten them up.
Until recently the supply of wild oysters and those crudely farmed were more than enough to satisfy people’s needs. But today the delectable seafood is no longer available in abundance. The problem has become so serious that some oyster beds have vanished entirely.
Fortunately, as far back as the early 1900’s marine biologists realized that if new measures were not taken, oysters would become extinct or at best a luxury food. So they set up well-equipped hatcheries and went to work. But they did not have the proper equipment or the skill to handle the eggs. They did not know when, what, and how to feed the larvae. And they knew little about the predators that attack and eat baby oysters by the millions. They failed, but they doggedly kept at it. Finally, in the 1940’s a significant breakthrough was made.
The marine biologists discovered that by raising the temperature of the water, they could induce oysters to spawn not only in the summer but also in the fall, winter, and spring. Later they developed a technique for feeding the larvae and rearing them to spat. Going still further, they succeeded in breeding new strains that were resistant to diseases, grew faster and larger, and flourished in water of different salinities and temperatures. In addition, the cultivated oysters tasted better!
飼養(yǎng)牡蠣
過(guò)去人們飼養(yǎng)牡蠣的方式很大程度上類(lèi)似于田地里的農(nóng)夫種植蕃茄--通過(guò)移植來(lái)飼養(yǎng)它們。
首先，農(nóng)夫選好牡蠣苗床，清除底部的舊殼和其它雜物，然后四處撒播干凈的殼。接著，他們"栽種"已受精的牡蠣卵。這些卵在2～3周內(nèi)會(huì)孵化成幼貝。
幼貝一直漂流直到粘在苗床底部干凈的殼上為止。它們會(huì)呆在那兒并逐漸長(zhǎng)成小牡蠣。我們稱(chēng)之為種子或貝
苗。貝苗吸進(jìn)海水中的微小生物作為食物從而越長(zhǎng)越大。不久之后，農(nóng)夫?qū)⑦@些小牡蠣收
集起來(lái)，把它們移種進(jìn)其他的水域加快其生長(zhǎng)，然后再次將它們移種進(jìn)另外的水域以使其肥壯起來(lái)。直到最近，野生的以及人工飼養(yǎng)的牡蠣完全能夠滿(mǎn)足人們的需要。
但是今天這種可口的海味已不再大量存在。這個(gè)問(wèn)題已經(jīng)變得如此嚴(yán)重以至于一些牡蠣苗床已完全消失。幸運(yùn)的是，早在20世紀(jì)初期海洋生物學(xué)家們就意識(shí)到如果不采取新的措施，牡蠣將會(huì)滅絕或至少會(huì)變?yōu)橐环N奢侈的食品。因此他們建造了裝備良好的孵卵場(chǎng)所并開(kāi)始工作。但是他們尚沒(méi)有適當(dāng)?shù)难b置或技術(shù)來(lái)處理牡蠣卵。他們不知道何時(shí)、用什么以及如何喂養(yǎng)幼貝。他們對(duì)捕食數(shù)百萬(wàn)幼小牡蠣的動(dòng)物天敵也所知無(wú)幾。
他們失敗了，但他們頑強(qiáng)地堅(jiān)持了下來(lái)。終于，在20世紀(jì)40年代，一個(gè)重要的突破性的進(jìn)展產(chǎn)生了。海洋生物學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，升高水溫能夠誘導(dǎo)牡蠣不僅在夏季也在秋季、冬季和春季里產(chǎn)卵。后來(lái)他們發(fā)展了一項(xiàng)技術(shù)來(lái)喂養(yǎng)幼貝至其長(zhǎng)成貝苗。
他們進(jìn)一步成功地培養(yǎng)出了新的品種，可以抵抗疾病、長(zhǎng)得更快、更大并且在不同的鹽度和溫度的水中都能茁壯生長(zhǎng)。此外，這些培殖出的牡蠣口感更佳!
初中生英語(yǔ)美文：Plate Tectonics and Sea-floor Spreading
The theory of plate tectonics describes the motions of the lithosphere, the comparatively rigid outer layer of the Earth that includes all the crust and part of the underlying mantle. The lithosphere(n.[地]巖石圈)is divided into a few dozen plates of various sizes and shapes, in general the plates are in motion with respect to one another. A mid-ocean ridge is a boundary between plates where new lithospheric material is injected from below. As the plates diverge from a mid-ocean ridge they slide on a more yielding layer at the base of the lithosphere.
Since the size of the Earth is essentially constant, new lithosphere can be created at the mid-ocean ridges only if an equal amount of lithospheric material is consumed elsewhere. The site of this destruction is another kind of plate boundary: a subduction zone. There one plate dives under the edge of another and is reincorporated into the mantle. Both kinds of plate boundary are associated with fault systems, earthquakes and volcanism, but the kinds of geologic activity observed at the two boundaries are quite different.
The idea of sea-floor spreading actually preceded the theory of plate tectonics. In its original version, in the early 1960’s, it described the creation and destruction of the ocean floor, but it did not specify rigid lithospheric plates. The hypothesis was substantiated soon afterward by the discovery that periodic reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field are recorded in the oceanic crust. As magma rises under the mid-ocean ridge, ferromagnetic minerals in the magma become magnetized in the direction of the magma become magnetized in the direction of the geomagnetic field. When the magma cools and solidifies, the direction and the polarity of the field are preserved in the magnetized volcanic rock. Reversals of the field give rise to a series of magnetic stripes running parallel to the axis of the rift. The oceanic crust thus serves as a magnetic tape recording of the history of the geomagnetic field that can be dated independently; the width of the stripes indicates the rate of the sea-floor spreading.
板塊結(jié)構(gòu)與海床擴(kuò)展
板塊結(jié)構(gòu)理論描述巖石圈的運(yùn)動(dòng)。巖石圈是相對(duì)堅(jiān)硬的地球外層，包括全部地殼和部分地幔。
巖石圈被劃分為幾十個(gè)大小不同形狀各異的板塊，一般而言這些板塊都處于相對(duì)運(yùn)動(dòng)之中。一道中海脊是板塊之間的邊界，在那里新的巖石圈的物質(zhì)從下部注入。
當(dāng)板塊從中海脊脫離時(shí)，它們滑向在巖石圈基部較易變形的地層上。因?yàn)榈厍虻拇笮”举|(zhì)上是不
變的，只有同等數(shù)量的巖石圈物質(zhì)在其它地方被吞沒(méi)，新的巖石圈才能生成。銷(xiāo)毀舊巖石
圈的地方形成另外一種板塊邊界：一塊潛沒(méi)的區(qū)域。在這里，一塊板塊潛沒(méi)到另一板塊的邊緣之下并結(jié)合入地幔之中。
兩種板塊邊界均與地層系統(tǒng)、地震以及火山活動(dòng)有關(guān)，但在兩種邊界處觀察到的諸般地質(zhì)活動(dòng)卻迥然不同。海床擴(kuò)展說(shuō)實(shí)際上早于板塊結(jié)構(gòu)理論。在20世紀(jì)60年代它的理論雛形中，描述了海底的生成和毀滅，但沒(méi)有詳細(xì)介紹堅(jiān)硬的巖石圈板塊。這個(gè)假定不久之后為發(fā)現(xiàn)所證實(shí)。
該發(fā)現(xiàn)表明地球磁場(chǎng)周期性的逆轉(zhuǎn)被記錄在海洋地殼中。當(dāng)巖漿從中海脊下涌起的時(shí)候，巖漿中的磁鐵礦物質(zhì)按地磁場(chǎng)的方向被磁化。巖漿冷卻并凝固下來(lái)后，地磁場(chǎng)的方向和磁極被保留在磁化了的火山巖中。磁場(chǎng)的逆轉(zhuǎn)形成一系列與斷層軸線平行的條形磁區(qū)。
這樣海洋殼就扮演了磁帶的角色，記錄下可以鑒定時(shí)間的地磁場(chǎng)的歷史。條形磁區(qū)的寬度表明了海底擴(kuò)展的速度。
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