第一篇
TOPIC 火对植物生长的影响
讲火对植物生长的影响。好处是讲organic matter的decomposition，fire可以加快分解，让dead plant的nutrient被living plant absorb，如果不被火烧，dead plant可以在那里继续立着10年。提到认为灭火的policy，但是其实救火后下次更容易着火。不管火，让它自己烧，可以把太密集的dense的forest烧掉一部分，然后没有fuel可烧，则另一场火就不会烧起来。最后一段讲美国的黄石公园，历史悠久，在1988年遭遇一场大火，烧了一大片，但火后出现了之前好久都没出现过的新物种。
解析：本文属生物学话题，谈到自然环境与植物之间的关系。文章主体结构应该为因果类，围绕火对植物生长造成的影响逐一描述。关于火和植物的关系，我们常规的理解都是火会烧掉植物，而本文重点讲的就是火对植物的好处，与常规认识不同。所以大家在处理
Fire Regime
Fire ecology is concerned with the processes linking the natural incidence of fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects of this fire. Many ecosystems, particularly prairie, savanna, chaparral and conifer forests, have evolved with fire as a necessary contributor to habitat vitality and renewal. Many plant species in naturally fire-affected environments require fire to germinate, establish, or to reproduce. Fire suppression not only eliminates these species, but also the animals that depend upon them. Finally, fire suppression can lead to the build-up of flammable debris and the creation of less frequent but much larger and more destructive wildfires.
Campaigns in the United States have historically molded public opinion to believe that wildfires are always harmful to nature. This view is based on the outdated belief that ecosystems progress toward an equilibrium and that any disturbance, such as fire, disrupts the harmony of nature. More recent ecological research has shown, however, that fire is an integral component in the function and biodiversity of many natural habitats, and that the organisms within these communities have adapted to withstand, and even to exploit, natural wildfire. More generally, fire is now regarded as a 'natural disturbance', similar to flooding, wind-storms, and landslides, that has driven the evolution of species and controls the characteristics of ecosystems. The map below right shows how each ecosystem type in the United States has a characteristic frequency of fire, ranging from once every 10 years to once every 500 years. Natural disturbances can be described by key factors such as frequency, intensity and area. The map also shows intensity, since some fires are understory fires (light burns that affect mostly understory plants) while others are stand replacement fires (intense fires that tend to kill the adult trees as well.)
Fire suppression, in combination with other human-caused environmental changes, has resulted in unforeseen consequences for natural ecosystems. Some uncharacteristically large wildfires in the United States have been caused as a consequence of years of fire suppression and the continuing expansion of people into fire-adapted ecosystems. Land managers are faced with tough questions regarding where to restore a natural fire regime.
第二篇
TOPIC 欧洲城市规划发展史
早期的文艺复兴运动汲取希腊思想，谈到Greek和Italy，第一段还提到Baroque和哥特风格，之前的建筑都是为了展示city, state或church的财富wealth和地位。，支持一个法国人(但其实原文是Swiss瑞士人)的建筑师来重新规划城市，让城市有更多light，生态环境更好，修了更多monuments和广场的public建筑，有利于管理城市因为一目了然，叛乱者不好隐藏。(这几个好处是一个EXCEPT题)最后讲有新城市规划的思想，发展到了modern建筑，made of glass和concrete，举了柯布西耶的光明城思想，理念是将整个城市当做一个机器，还包括其他思想如城市功能分区等，因为这种预制的建筑很便宜，所以得到大规模推广。另外还提到manufacturer，transportation等要远离市中心。
解析：本文属历史类话题，结合历史类文章整体的时间脉络推进，同时内容主要围绕城市规划这一话题展开。文章结构属于叙述类，有明确的早期、中期、后期的时间标识，看到欧洲城市建筑规划的发展。
The Napoleon III style
The Napoleon III style is the name commonly given to a 19th-century style of Renaissance Revival architecture in France, especially in Paris. It is a sub-style of Second Empire architecture, which is a term also used elsewhere in the world for this style. It flourished during the Second French Empire, with the patronage of Napoleon III.
The style is characterized by high façades, mansard roofs, and, more rarely, pavilions. Richly decorated but with clearly defined outlines, Napoleon III structures are somewhat distinct from other Second Empire buildings.
The Napoleon III style is associated with the renovation of Paris under Baron Haussmann between 1852 and 1870. The buildings of the renovation show a singularity of purpose and design, a consistency of urban planning that was unusual for the period. Numerous public edifices: railway stations, the tribunal de commerce, and the Palais Garnier were constructed in the style.
Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian (see Greek Revival) nor Gothic (see Gothic Revival) but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes. Under the broad designation "Renaissance architecture" nineteenth-century architects and critics went beyond the architectural style which began in Florence and central Italy in the early 15th century as an expression of Humanism; they also included styles we would identify as Mannerist or Baroque. Self-applied style designations were rife in the mid- and later nineteenth century: "Neo-Renaissance" might be applied by contemporaries to structures that others called "Italianate", or when many French Baroque features are present (Second Empire).
The divergent forms of Renaissance architecture in different parts of Europe, particularly in France and Italy, has added to the difficulty of defining and recognizing Neo-Renaissance architecture. A comparison between the breadth of its source material, such as the English Wollaton Hall, Italian Palazzo Pitti, the French Château de Chambord, and the Russian Palace of Facets — all deemed "Renaissance" — illustrates the variety of appearances the same architectural label can take.
第三篇
TOPIC Active Lizards and Sit-and-wait Lizards
Sit-and-Wait Lizards的特点是：不爱动，喜欢呆在rock和tree trunk上，身体颜色和background相似，保护自己;吃爱动的insects，被爱动的predator吃;tail短。采用无氧代谢方式anaerobic metabolism，运动不能sustain。而Active Lizards的特点则是：颜色很醒目，特别是跑起来的时候;吃不爱动的insects，被不爱动的predator吃。它会吃在large group的insect，比如termite;tail长。它采用有氧代谢方式aerobic metabolism，运动可以sustain;有larger hearts，更多red blood cells。倒数第二段最后一句提到两种尾巴都在被捕食者抓的时候会断(有题)。最后一段提到ATP(Adenosine Triphosphate);sit-and-wait lizards用glycogen，可以直接用，但是不sustain，动一会儿就不行了，而active lizards用glucose，可以持续。
解析：本文属生物学话题，谈到两种不同类别的蜥蜴。文章结构清晰明白，典型的分类对比。按照这样的一种写作方式，本文最后一题极有可能出到表格题进行考察，也将是作为大家在阅读考试过程中必须把握的一篇文章。
Sit-and-wait Predator
Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals or other organisms, such as some nematophagous fungi and carnivorous plants that capture or trap prey by stealth or by strategy (typically not conscious strategy), rather than by speed or necessarily by strength.
These organisms usually hide motionless and wait for prey to come within striking distance. They often are camouflaged, and may be solitary. This mode of predation may be safer for the predator in that in lying in wait it exposes itself less to its own predators. Furthermore, when a predator cannot move faster than its preferred prey, ambushing its prey is likely to be more efficient than pursuit. Otherwise, active hunting commonly is more effective. There are however many intermediate strategies; for example when a pursuit predator is faster than its prey over a short distance, but not in a long chase, then either stalking or ambushing becomes necessary as part of the strategy.
There are however, many dimensions to predation and many overlapping strategies; for example, some predators exploit predictable prey pathways that offer opportunities intermediate between ambush and pursuit. Animals with such strategies include cats of all sizes, crocodiles and some insects such as predators that haunt ant trails. Ambush predators include many fish, snakes, and other reptiles, as well as some mammals, birds, insects and spiders.
Lizards
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with approximately 6,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group, traditionally recognized as the suborder Lacertilia, is defined as all extant members of the Lepidosauria (reptiles with overlapping scales) that are neither sphenodonts (i.e., tuatara) nor snakes – they form an evolutionary grade. While the snakes are recognized as falling phylogenetically within the Toxicofera clade from which they evolved, the sphenodonts are the sister group to the squamates, the larger monophyletic group, which includes both the lizards and the snakes.