公共英語五級閲讀文章3篇

閲讀理解是英語考試避不開的題型，因此，考生一定要注意對於閲讀理解的強化練習，下面是小編為大家整理的公共英語五級閲讀文章，希望對大家有所幫助。

From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.

In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.

The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhere -- space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.

Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.

Deaccessing -- or selling off -- works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.

Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however, "the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.

從波士頓到洛杉機，從紐約到芝加哥、到達拉斯，所有的博物館或者正在籌劃、建造或者正在完成大規模的擴建計劃。這些計劃或者已經根本性地改變了博物館門面與展廳的設計，或者預期在不久的將來會這樣做。

單單在紐約市，六個主要機構或者已經向空中和周圍擴展，或者正準備這樣做。

大家一致行動的原因是複雜多樣的，但其中的一個因素是普遍考慮的空間問題。隨着收藏品的增多，也隨着博物館的需要和功能的變化，空間已經變成了一項非常珍貴的商品。

在我國，也許沒有任何其他地方比費城藝術博物館更符合這個事實。這個博物館幾十年來一直需要額外的空間，十年前進行了最後一次重大的翻新。由於空間緊缺，該藝術博物館在考慮購買與受贈藝術品已越來越謹慎，有時甚至放棄增強藝術收藏的機會。由於博物館的空間問題，將藝術品脱手或者説賣掉已經有了新的重要意義。 博物館館長們被迫巧妙輪換利用陳列館的空間，輪流着把一些藝術傑作向公眾展出，而把另一些送入存儲室中。

雖然對額外的陳列室和存儲室空間需要很明顯，但據費城藝術博物館經理講：“博物館還沒有在未來十五年打破這個束縛的計劃。”

The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rate occurrence in the fossil record. The tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be fossilized. Ichthyosaurs had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to erosion. Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial. Given these factors, some areas have become a treasury of well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.

The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis. The ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years ago. Over the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos.

Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time. The embryos are quite advanced in their physical development; their paddles, for example, are already well formed. One specimen is even preserved in the birth canal. In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches long.

Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the fossils. But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.

胚胎與幼體被保存下來在化石記錄中是少見的事情。微小纖細的骨骼通常在石化前就被食腐肉的動物拆散了，或者被風化作用破壞掉了。魚龍比起陸地的動物有更大的機率被保存下來，因為它們作為海洋動物常生活在腐蝕性較小的環境中。但是它們的石化需要一系列因素：軟組織的腐爛速度緩慢，很少被其他動物殘食，缺少混雜、沖走小骨頭的快速水流和波浪，以及相當快地被掩埋。當這些因素存在時，某些地區就會變成一個充滿保存完好的魚龍化石的寶庫。

在德國獲爾茲梅登，那兒的沉積物給人們提出了一個有趣的分析案例。人們在黑色的、含瀝青的海洋頁巖中發現了約19，000 年前沉積下來的 魚龍化石。幾年時間內，在這些巖石中取得了數以千計的海洋爬行動物、魚類以及無脊椎動物的標本。它們的保存質量非常的好，但更令人稱奇的是保存下來的育有胚胎的魚龍化石數目。

在獲爾茲梅登附近一個小地區的六個不同的頁巖層中分別發現了育有胚胎的魚龍化石。這表明大量的魚龍經年累月重複使用一個特定的地點。那些胚胎已經發育得相當完整了。比如，它們的蹼槳已經完全形成了。有一個標本甚至被保存在產道中。而且，那塊頁巖包含着很多在20 到30 英寸之間的新生幼體的化石。

為什麼在其他地方那麼稀少的懷孕雌獸和幼體在獲爾茲梅登卻那麼多呢? 因為其保存質量幾乎舉世無雙，採集工作的進行一直是一絲不苟的。大家都認識到這些化石的價值極其珍貴，但這些因素並不能解釋這個有 趣的問題：為什麼在一個特定的地點會如此集中地出現即將臨產的懷孕魚龍羣呢?

In the late eighteenth century, battles raged in almost every corner of Europe, as well as in the Middle East, South Africa, the West Indies, and Latin America. In reality, however, there was only one major war during this time, the war between Britain and France. All other battles were ancillary to this larger conflict, and were often at least partially related to its antagonists' goals and strategies. France sought total domination of Europe. This goal was obstructed by British independence and Britain's efforts throughout the continent to thwart Napoleon; through treaties, Britain built coalitions (not dissimilar in concept to today's NATO) guaranteeing British participation in all major European conflicts. These two antagonists were poorly matched, insofar as they had very unequal strengths: France was predominant on land, Britain at sea. The French knew that, short of defeating the British navy, their only hope of victory was to close all the ports of Europe to British ships.

Accordingly, France set out to overcome Britain by extending its military domination from Moscow to Lisbon, from Jutland to Calabria. All of this entailed tremendous risk, because France did not have the military resources to control this much territory and still protect itself and maintain order at home.

French strategists calculated that a navy of 150 ships would provide the force necessary to defeat the British navy. Such a force would give France a three-to-two advantage over Britain. This advantage was deemed necessary because of Britain's superior sea skills and technology, and also because Britain would be fighting a defensive war, allowing it to win with fewer forces. Napoleon never lost sight of his goal, because Britain represented the last substantial impediment to his control of Europe. As his force neared that goal, Napoleon grew increasingly impatient and began planning an immediate attack.

在18 世紀後期，戰爭爆發於歐洲大陸的幾乎每一個角落，在中東、南非、西印度羣島、拉丁美洲亦都是如此。然而實際上，在這一時期只有一場主要的戰爭，那就是英法之間的` 戰爭。所有其他戰爭都服從於這一更大的爭端，至少是與這兩個對手的目標和戰略有某些關聯。法國力圖統治整個歐洲，而英國的自主及其力圖在整個歐洲大陸挫敗拿破崙的種種努力都是法國實現這一目標的障礙。英國通過條約建立了聯盟(和今天北約的概念沒有什麼 不同)以保證英國插手所有歐洲的主要爭端。這兩個對頭並不是一對好對手，因為他們的力量極不均衡：法蘭西在陸地上稱王，英格蘭則在海上稱霸。法國人明白，如果不能擊敗英 國海軍，他們勝利的唯一希望就是讓歐洲的所有港口都對英國艦船關閉。

於是，法國將其軍事佔領從莫斯科延伸到里斯本，從尤特蘭延伸到卡拉布里亞，企圖以此來制服英國。所 有這些行動包含着巨大的風險，因為法國並不具備足夠的軍事資源，來控制這麼多地盤，同時又能保護自己，維持國內的秩序。

法國戰略家們的算盤是，其海軍若擁有150 艘軍艦，則將足以擊跨英國海軍。這樣的武力將使法國對英國具有3 比2 的優勢。這種優勢被認為是必不可少的，因為英國人具有超羣的海上技能和技術，並且打的是一場防禦戰爭，使它能以少勝多。拿破崙從未忘卻他的目標，因為英國是他統治全歐的最後一個重大的障礙。隨着他的力量越來越靠近這個目標，拿破崙變得越來越不耐煩起來，開始策劃立即攻擊。