Section B Trying Your Hand
Consolidation Exercise
Read the paragraph below and write a summary by following the above suggestions．
Giraffes have always aroused irresistible curiosity in people．These strange African mammals are the third heaviest land animals after the elephant and rhinoceros，and of course they are by far the tallest：an adult male stands 5．5 m（18 feet）high，and a female 4．5 m（15 feet）．Three basketball players standing feet to shoulders could scarcely look at a male giraffe in the eye，yet a young giraffe just a few months old can easily browse tender leaves from the high branches of an acacia tree…The Roman emperor Julius Caesar had the graceful beasts captured and paraded in the Roman Colosseum．And to satisfy the same public fascination，most major zoos since earliest times have kept giraffes on display．
Explanations
Here is the paragraph reprinted，this time with the underlined key words and double slashes（／／）to show its structure：
Giraffes have always aroused irresistible curiosity in people．／／These strange African mammals are the third heaviest land animals after the elephant and rhinoceros，and of course they are by far the tallest ：An adult male stands 5．5 m（18 feet）high，and a female 4．5 m（15 feet）．Three basketball players standing feet to shoulders could scarcely look a male giraffe in the eye，yet a young giraffe just a few months old can easily browse tender leaves from the high branches of an acacia tree…／／The Roman emperor Julius Caesarhad the graceful beasts captured and paradedin the Roman Colosseum．And to satisfy the same public fascination，most major zoos since earliest times have kept giraffes on display．
Here is a sample summary of this paragraph：
People have long been curious about giraffes the strange African mammal that is the third heaviest and tallest land animal．Giraffes are so tall that even a young one can eat the leaves from a tree’s highest branches．From the time of Julius Caesar，who paraded giraffes in the Roman Colosseum，to our own time，giraffes have long fascinated the public．