Lesson 3 （细节练习）

Q1：

Early in his research, Kramer found that caged migratory birds become very restless at about the time they would normally have begun migration in the wild. Furthermore, he noticed that as they fluttered around in the cage, they often launched themselves in the direction of their normal migratory route. He then set up experiments with caged starlings and found that their orientation was, in fact, in the proper migratory direction except when the sky was overcast, at which times there was no clear direction to their restless movements. Kramer surmised, therefore, that they were orienting according to the position of the Sun. To test this idea, he blocked their view of the Sun and used mirrors to change its apparent position. He found that under these circumstances, the birds oriented with respect to the new “Sun.” They seemed to be using the Sun as a compass to determine direction. At the time, this idea seemed preposterous. How could a bird navigate by the Sun when some of us lose our way with road maps? Obviously, more testing was in order.

According to paragraph 3, when do caged starlings become restless?

A.When the weather is overcast.

B.When they are unable to identify their normal migratory route.

C.When their normal time for migration arrives.

D.When mirrors are used to change the apparent position of the Sun.

Q2：

Paragraph 4.

For Clements, the climax was a “superorganism”, an organic entity. Even some authors who accepted the climax concept rejected Clements’ characterization of it as a superorganism, and it is indeed a misleading metaphor. An ant colony may be legitimately called a superorganism because its communication system is so highly organized that the colony always works as a whole and appropriately according to the circumstances. But there is no evidence for such an interacting communicative network in a climax plant formation. Many authors prefer the term “association” to the term “community” in order to stress the looseness of the interaction.

According to paragraph 4, why do many authors prefer the term “association” to “community” when describing a climax plant formation?

A.Because the term “association” does not suggest the presence of a tight network involving interactive communication.

B.Because the term “association” indicates that the grouping is not necessarily beneficial to all members.

C.Because the term “community” indicates continuing dynamic development that a climax formation does not have.

D.Because the term “community” suggests an organization that has been designed for a specific purpose.

Q3：

Paragraph 5

In experimenting with artificial suns, Kramer made another interesting discovery. If the artificial Sun remained stationary, the birds would shift their direction with respect to it at a rate of about 15 degrees per hour, the Sun's rate of movement across the sky. Apparently, the birds were assuming that the “Sun” they saw was moving at that rate. When the real Sun was visible, however, the birds maintained a constant direction as it moved across the sky. In other words, they were able to compensate for the Sun's movement. This meant that some sort of biological clock was operating-and a very precise clock at that.

The experiment described in paragraph 5 caused Kramer to conclude that birds possess a biological clock because

A.when birds navigate they are able to compensate for the changing position of the Sun in the sky

B.birds innate bearings keep them oriented in a direction that is within 15 degrees of the Suns direction

C.birds’ migration is triggered by natural environmental cues, such as the position of the Sun

D.birds shift their direction at a rate of 15 degrees per hour whether the Sun is visible or not

Q4：

Paragraph 5

Each of the preceding techniques provides the researcher with evidence that the infant can detect or discriminate between stimuli. With these sophisticated observational assessment and electro-physiological measures, we know that the neonate of only a few days is far more perceptive than previously suspected. However, these measures are only “indirect” indicators of the infant's perceptual abilities.

Paragraph 5 indicates that researchers who used the techniques described in the passage discovered that

A.infants find it difficult to perceive some types of stimuli

B.neonates of only a few days cannot yet discriminate between stimuli

C.observational assessment is less useful for studying infant perception than researchers previously believed

D.a neonate is able to perceive stimuli better than researchers once thought

Q5：

Paragraph 4

Gigantothermy, though, would not be enough to keep a leatherback warm in cold northern waters. It is not enough for whales, which supplement it with a thick layer of insulating blubber (fat). Leatherbacks do not have blubber, but they do have a reptilian equivalent thick, oil-saturated skin, with a layer of fibrous, fatty tissue just beneath it. Insulation protects the leatherback everywhere but on its head and flippers. Because the flippers are comparatively thin and blade-like, they are the one part of the leatherback that is likely to become chilled. There is not much that the turtle can do about this without compromising the aerodynamic shape of the flipper.

According to paragraph 4, which of the following features enables the leatherback turtle to stay warm?

A.An insulating layer of blubber

B.A thick, oily skin covering fatty tissue

C.The aerodynamic shape of its flippers

D.well-insulated head

Q6：

Paragraph 5:

Of course, there is far more oil underground than can be recovered. It may be in a pool too small or too far from a potential market to justify the expense of drilling. Some oil lies under regions where drilling is forbidden, such as national parks or other public lands. Even given the best extraction techniques, only about 30 to 40 percent of the oil in a given pool can be brought to the surface. The rest is far too difficult to extract and has to remain underground.

According to paragraph 5, the decision to drill for oil depends on all of the following factors EXCEPT

A.permission to access the area where oil has been found

B.the availability of sufficient quantities of oil in a pool

C.the location of the market in relation to the drilling site

D.the political situation in the region where drilling would occur

Q7：

The basic cultural requirements for the successful colonization of the Pacific islands include the appropriate boat-building, sailing, and navigation skills to get to the islands in the first place, domesticated plants and gardening skills suited to often marginal conditions, and a varied inventory of fishing implements and techniques. It is now generally believed that these prerequisites originated with peoples speaking Austronesian languages (a group of several hundred related languages) and began to emerge in Southwest Asia by about 5000 B.C.E. The culture of that time, based on archaeology and linguistic reconstruction, is assumed to have had a broad inventory of cultivated plants including taro, yams, banana, sugarcane, breadfruit, coconut, sago, and rice. Just as important, the culture also possessed the basic foundation for an effective maritime adaptation including outrigger canoes and a variety of fishing techniques that could be effective for overseas voyaging.

All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 3 as required for successful colonization of the Pacific islands EXCEPT

A.knowledge of various Austronesian languages

B.a variety of fishing techniques

C.navigational skills

D.knowledge of plant cultivation

Q8：

Contrary to the arguments of some that much of the Pacific was settled by Polynesians accidentally marooned after being lost and adrift, it seems reasonable that this feat was accomplished by deliberate colonization expeditions that set out fully stocked with food and domesticated plants and animals. Detailed studies of the winds and currents using computer simulations suggest that drifting canoes would have been a most unlikely means of colonizing the Pacific. These expeditions were likely driven by population growth and political dynamics on the home islands, as well as the challenge and excitement of exploring unknown waters. Because all Polynesians, Micronesians, and many Melanesians speak Austronesian languages and grow crops derived from Southwest Asia, all these peoples most certainly derived from that region and not the New World or elsewhere. The undisputed pre-Columbian presence in Oceania of the sweet potato, which is a New World domesticate, has sometimes been used to support Heyerdahl’s “American Indians in the Pacific” theories. However, this is one plant out of a long list of Southwest Asian domesticates. As Patrick Kirch, an American anthropologist, points out, rather than being brought by rafting South Americans, sweet potatoes might just have easily been brought back by returning Polynesian navigators who could have reached the west coast of South America.

According to paragraph 4, which of the following is NOT an explanation for why a group of people might have wanted to colonize the Pacific islands?

A.As their numbers increased, they needed additional territory.

B.The winds and currents made the islands easy to reach.

C.The political situation at home made emigration desirable.

D.They found exploration challenging and exciting.

Q9：

Paragraph 2:

Scientists have asked important questions about this explosion for more than a century. Why did it occur so late in the history of Earth? The origin of multicellular forms of life seems a relatively simple step compared to the origin of life itself. Why does the fossil record not document the series of evolutionary changes during the evolution of animals? Why did animal life evolve so quickly? Paleontologists continue to search the fossil record for answers to these questions.

According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT a question that paleontologists asked about the Cambrian explosion?

A.Why was the origin of life a simple step in Earth's history?

B.Why did it take so long for multicellular organisms to develop?

C.Why did animal life evolve so rapidly?

D.Why does the fossil record lack evidence of animal evolution during that time?

Q10：

Paragraph 4:

The Ediacara fossil formation, which contains the oldest known animal fossils, consists exclusively of soft-bodied forms. Although named after a site in Australia, the Ediacara formation is worldwide in distribution and dates to Precambrian times. This 700-million-year-old formation gives few clues to the origins of modern animals, however, because paleontologists believe it represents an evolutionary experiment that failed. It contains no ancestors of modern animal groups.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 4 as being true of the Ediacara formation?

A.It contains fossils that date back to the Precambrian period.

B.It contains only soft-bodied animal fossils.

C.It is located on a single site in Australia.

D.It does not contain any fossils of the ancestors of modern animals.