If you want to learn about bringing back extinct animals, reading John Smith's Back from the Dead is a good start. But I have to say I can't agree with everything he says.
From his book, I can see Smith is an advocate of bringing extinct animals back. He says we have lost many animals because we made their living spaces too dirty. He also thinks we must do everything we can to bring them back. However, I don't know how much time and money we would need to make the world a better place for them, and honestly no one knows if they could actually come back.
Smith also says that bringing back extinct animals may be good for us. He talks about an extinct frog that grew tadpoles in its stomach. Some women's babies die before they are born, and Smith believes bringing back the frog may be an answer to the problem. According to him, by studying how the tadpoles grow inside the frog's stomach, we might be able to find new ways to help these women successfully keep their babies. But I don't think things are as easy as Smith thinks. We have spent ten years and millions of dollars on this kind of frog, but all we have got are only a few dead frog eggs. If we can't see a real frog, how can we be sure women will get the help they need?
Dr. Solomon Wang from the Animal Saving Office says the study of bringing back extinct animals is "throwing good money after bad." And he's right. A lot of hard work has been put into this expensive dream, but we haven't seen anything come out of it. So should we still keep going down this road?
extinct 絕種的
tadpole 蝌蚪
likely 可能
Why does Ellen Zimmer use the words from Dr. Solomon Wang?
A
To start a new topic
B
To share a big dream
C
To make her idea clearer
D
To invite people to take action
正解:(C) To make her idea clearer
Ellen Zimmer 為什麼要引用 Dr. Solomon Wang 的話?
(A) 為了帶出另一個話題。
(B) 為了說出一個宏大的願景。
(C) 為了讓她自己的想法更清楚。
(D) 為了號召大家採取行動。
詳解
判斷引用目的,看引用完之後作者說了什麼。Zimmer 引完 Wang 那句「把好錢丟進壞錢坑」,下一句就是 And he's right(而他說得對)。這三個字把答案釘死了:她不是在報導別人的看法,是拉一個有頭銜的專家來替自己的質疑背書。整篇書評她一路在說「我不覺得有那麼容易」「錢燒了、蛙卵死了」,最後借專家的嘴把同一件事再說一次,力道加倍。引用在議論文裡最常見的功能就是這個:讓自己的主張站得更穩。
誘答分析
•
(A):引用出現在全文最後一段,是收尾不是起頭。以為「出現新人物就是新話題」的人會選,但 Wang 講的還是同一件事:這研究不值得。
•
(B):文章裡確實有 dream 這個字,但原句是 this expensive dream(這個昂貴的夢),是在挖苦,不是在分享憧憬。抓到單字卻沒抓到語氣的人會掉進來。
•
(D):結尾那句 So should we still keep going down this road? 看起來像在呼籲,其實是反問:這條路還要走下去嗎?言下之意是該停了。號召行動是要大家「去做」,她是要大家「別再做」,方向相反。
關鍵字彙
throw good money after bad(慣用語:把錢丟進無底洞)、expensive(adj. 昂貴的)、come out of(片語:從……產生)