Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was

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问题     Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest of insights. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things, even for other plants. They have always been enormously important to the welfare of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, dyes, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognize literally hundreds of plants and know many properties of each. To them botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all.
    Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer yields the next season, the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture: cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than get a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.
Why do tribes living in the jungles of the Amazon recognize so many plants?

选项 A、Because plants have always been enormously important to the welfare of people, especially to those ancient tribes.
B、Because their memory are very excellent.
C、Because there are many plants growing in the Amazon.
D、Because they recognize it as a special branch of knowledg

答案A

解析 从第一段最后几句可以看出,亚马逊河流域古老部落的成员能辨别大量的植物主要是因为植物对他们的生活很重要,能给他们提供食物、服装、武器、住所等。因此,四个选项中只有A符合题意。
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