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  3. Gardening The technology of beauty Now, gardening was driven by three main trends: technological change, plant prospecti

Gardening The technology of beauty Now, gardening was driven by three main trends: technological change, plant prospecti

admin2010-05-09  30
问题                                              Gardening
    The technology of beauty
    Now, gardening was driven by three main trends: technological change, plant prospecting and fashion. Of these, the most important was technology, whose advances made it possible for the middle classes to enjoy what had once been affordable only to the very rich.
    The most dramatic example of popularizing technology was surely the invention of the lawnmower. Nothing was more labour-intensive, in the 18th century, than maintaining a large lawn. It would take three men with scythes (大镰刀) a whole day to cut an acre (two-fifths of a hectare) of grass; they would be followed by lawn women whose task was to gather up the cuttings.
Just one man went to mow
    Then, in 1830, Edwin Beard Budding realised that the rotary blade used in the cloth industry to produce an even pile on textiles could be used on grass. The rotary lawnmower meant that suburban homes could afford the neat greensward (草皮) previously available only to the rich.
    The other technology that transformed Victorian gardening was the development of the art of growing plants under glass. Importing plants from countries as distant as Australia became a commercial possibility once they were sealed in wooden boxes with glass tops. From the 1830s on, Victorian gardens, private and public, used masses of bedding plants. In 1877, 2 million plants were bedded out in London’s parks, often in elaborate geometric designs. Growing them under glass protected them both from frost and from pollution.
     In the past century, technology has once again transformed and simplified gardening. Among the most significant advances is the growing of plants in containers. Instead of ordering plants grown in open fields and dug up bare-rooted for planting in autumn, gardeners now typically buy plants which, because they have been grown in containers, can be transplanted at almost any time of year. Container growing has in turn become possible largely because of the development of lighter composts.
Other men’s flowers
    The past two centuries have seen an immense increase in the range of garden plants. Native species have been refined and developed; and explorers have brought back plants from all parts of the world. The passion for plant collecting sprang partly from the expansion of Catholic religious orders (神职) abroad in the 16th century, looking for medicinal plants as well as souls to convert. Many early plant-hunters are commemorated in plant names, such as the Tradescants, father and son; Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook and brought home 3500 species from Australia.
    Fashion is every bit as important in determining what people grow as in what they wear. The geometry, gravel and bedding plants of the mid-19th-cenmry town-house garden had given way, by the century’s end, to a passion for informality and English cottage gardens, fostered by two of the great designers of the age. Their influence has proved enduring. "All over the world, people want to rival English gardens, often in a climate that makes it very difficult," says Sarah Bond, an enthusiastic amateur gardener in Manhattan.
A growing business
    Both gardening and looking at gardens are developing rapidly. Give people a piece of ground and they will buy something to put in it. Mark Bhatti and Andrew Church of Brighton University in England point to the fact that people now seem to spend far more on machinery and chemicals, and more again on benches, barbecues, pots and sun-loungers, than they spend on plants themselves.
    Moreover, the range of places where people can buy gardening supplies has expanded. Supermarkets and general stores frequently carry plants and other gardening necessities. On the contrary, Britain’s Garden Centre Association says that around 12% of the typical turnover of a garden centre now comes from the cafe. A trip to a garden centre has become a favourite outing even for those who go to sniff (闻味) and look rather than to buy.
    Lots of people now go to look at gardens too. Britain’s National Gardens Scheme now includes in its Yellow Book, staple of every garden-obsessed Brit, more than 3500 gardens that open at least one day a year. New entries are added only after serious scrutiny. Other countries have begun to copy: Australia launched its Open Garden Scheme in 1987, America’s Garden Conservancy was founded in 1989 and Japan’s version started in 2001: Nosing round other people’s gardens is a universal passion.
    Why do people garden? One reason, perhaps, is economic. A number of attempts to measure the impact on property values of environmental amenities (休闲设施) suggests that, in moderation, nice trees add to a house’s market value. One study found that trees could boost a property’s value by up to 30%; the maximum effect was given by 67% tree cover. A landscaped patio (院子) was the best buy of all, adding 12.4% to the price. But then, early Victorian property developers also knew that a garden helped sell a house: some ran their own nurseries (苗圃), to provide the plants for instant gardens.
A small taste of freedom
    Gardening seems to affect health and behaviour. Those who look after the ill and elderly get less tired if they walk or cycle through greenery; cancer patients go back to work sooner after treatment if they walk in natural surroundings or gardens; tenants in bad housing show less aggression and violence if their flats overlook something natural; girls with greener views from home are more self-disciplined and concentrate better. None of these findings would have surprised the Victorians, who laid out public parks in their cities because they believed the poor would thereby learn better behaviour and enjoy better health. Sadly, as spending on private gardens has soared, spending on public parks has generally declined.
    Most of all, though, people garden because it makes them happy. Don’t be surprised if Paradise turns out to be one vast pleasure garden, with perhaps a comer set aside for freedom-loving and vegetable-growers too.
In the 16th century people developed great passion for plant collecting out of religious reasons as well as ______.
选项
答案looking for medical plants
解析 文章第六段第三句话提到“…The passion for plant collecting sprang partly from the expansion of Catholic religious orders abroad in the 16th century，looking for medicinal plants as well as souls to convert．”。人们热衷于收集花草的一部分原因出自神职人员寻求治病药材和拯救灵魂皈依宗教的需要，因此答案为“looking for medical plants”。
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