TPO45 阅读文本答案翻译

TPO-45

Microscopes The Beringia Landscape

During the peak of the last ice age, northeast Asia (Siberia) and Alaska were connected by a

broad

land

mass

called

the

Bering

Land

Bridge.

This

land

bridge

existed

because

so

much

of

Earth’s water was frozen in

the great ice sheets that sea levels were over 100 meters lower than

they

are

today.

Between

25,000

and

10,000

years

ago,

Siberia,

the

Bering

Land

Bndge,

and

Alaska shared many environmental characteristics. These included a common mammalian fauna

of large mammals, a common flora composed of broad grasslands as well as wind-swept dunes

and tundra, and a common climate with cold, dry winters and somewhat warmer summers. The

recognition

that

many

aspects

of

the

modem

flora

and

fauna

were

present

on

both

sides

of

the

Bering Sea asremnants of the ice-age landscape led to this region being named Beringia.

It

is

through

Beringia

that

small

groups

of

large

mammal

hunters,

slowly

expanding

their

hunting

territories,

eventually

colonized

North

and

South

America.

On

this

archaeologists

generally

agree,

but

that

is

where

the

agreement

stops.

One

broad

area

of

disagreement

in

explaining

the

peopling

of

the

Americas

is

the

domainof

paleoecologists,

but

it

is

critical

to

understanding human history: what was Beringia like?

The

Beringian

landscape

was

very

different

from

what

it

is

today.

■

Broad,

windswept

valleys; glaciated mountains; sparse vegetation; and less moisture created a rather forbidding land

mass. ■ This land mass supported herds of now

-extinct species of mammoth, bison, and horse and

somewhat

modern

versions

of

caribou,

musk

ox,

elk,

and

saiga

antelope.

■

These

grazers

supported

in

turn

a

number

of

impressive

carnivores,

including

the

giant

short-faced

bear,

the

saber- tooth cat, and a large species of lion.

■

The presence

of

mammal

species

that

require

grassland

vegetation

has

led Arctic biologist

Dale

Guthrie

to

argue

that

while

cold

and

dry,

there

must

have

been

broad

areas

of

dense

vegetation to support herds of mammoth, horse, and r, nearly all of the ice-age fauna

had teeth that indicate an adaptation to grasses and sedges; they could not have been supported by

a modern flora of mosses and lichens. Guthrie has also demonstrated that the landscape must have

been subject to intense and continuous winds, especially in winter. He makes this argument based

on the anatomy of horse and bison, which do not have the ability to search for food through deep

snow cover. They need landscapes with strong winds that remove the winter snows, exposing the

dry grasses beneath. Guthrie applied the term

“

mammoth steppe

In contrast, Paul Colinvaux has offered a counterargument based on the analysis of pollen in

lake sediments dating to the last ice age. He found that the amount of pollen recovered in these

sediments is so low that the Beringian landscape during the peak of the last glaciation was more

likely to have been what he termed a

was

it

possible

that

this

region

could

have

supported

large

herds

of

mammals

and

thus,

human

hunters.

Guthrie

has

argued

against

this

view

by

pointing

out

that

radiocarbon

analysis

of

mammoth,

horse,

and

bison

bones

from

Beringian

deposits

revealed

that

the

bones

date

to

the

period of most intense glaciation.

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The

argument

seemed

to

be

at

a

standstill

until

a

number

of

recent

studies

resulted

in

a

spectacular suite of new finds. The first was the discovery of a 1,000-square- kilometer preserved

patch of Beringian vegetation dating to just over 17,000 years ago

—

the peak of the last ice age

The plants were preserved under a thick ash fall from a volcanic eruption. Investigations of the

plants found grasses, sedges, mosses, and many other

varieties in a nearly continuous cover, as

was

predicted

by

Guthrie.

But

this

vegetation

had

a

thin

root

mat

with

no

soil

formation,

demonstrating that there was little long-term stability in plant cover, a finding supporting some of

the arguments of Colinvaux. A mixture of continuous but thin vegetation supporting herds of large

mammals is one that seems plausible and realistic with the available data.

1. The word

O remains

O evidence

O results

O reminders

2. The word

O field of expertise

O challenge

O interest

O responsibility

3. According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of the Beringian landscape EXCEPT.

O There was little vegetation.

O The mammal species there all survived into modern versions.

O The climate was drier than it is today.

O There were mountains with glaciers.

4. The purpose of paragraph 3 is to

O contrast today’s Beringian landscape with other landscapes in the American continent

O describe the Beringian landscape during the last ice age

O explain why so many Beringian species became extinct during the last ice age

O summarize the information about Beringia that historians agree on

5. The word

” in the passage is closest in meaning to

O unpredictable

O very cold

O dangerous

O uninterrupted

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6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted

sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out

essential information.

O According to biologist Dale Guthrie, mammal species require broad areas of vegetation to

survive.

O Dale Guthrie is an Arctic biologist who argued that broad areas of dense vegetation were surely

enough to attract mammals such as mammoth, horse, and bison to Beringia.

O Dale Guthrie argued that Beringia, though cold and dry, must have had enough dense vegetation

to support the herds of mammoth, horse, and bison that lived there.

O As long as Beringia was cold and dry, argued Dale Guthrie, dense vegetation grew in order to

support the herds of mammoth, horse, and bison

—

the mammal species present there.

7. According to paragraph 4

，

Guthrie believes that the teeth of ice-age fauna support which of the

following conclusions?

O Large mammals would not have been able to survive in the Beringian landscape.

O Grasslands were part of the Beringian landscape.

O Strong winds exposed dry grasses under the snow.

O Horses and bison did not have the ability to search for food through deep snow cover..

8. According to paragraph 4

，

which of the following statements is true of the relationship between

ice- age Benngian animals and their environment?

O When present in sufficient quantities, lichens and mosses provide enough nutrients to satisfy the

needs of herds of large mammals.

O The anatomy of certain animals present in that environment provides information about the

intensity of winds there at that time.

O The structure of the teeth of most ice-age fauna indicates that they preyed on animals such as

the mammoth, horse, and bison.

O Horses and bison are large enough that their feet can easily penetrate deep snow and uncover

areas where they can feed on plant material.

9. In paragraph 5, the amount of pollen in Beringian lake sediments from the last ice age is used to

explain

Ohow long the ice age lasted

Ohow important pollen is as a source of food

Ohow many different kinds of plants produce pollen

Ohow little vegetation must have been present at that time

10. According to paragraph 5, how did Dale Guthrie use the information about radiocarbon

analysis of bones from Benngian deposits?

O To suggest that Colinvaux should have used different methods to measure the amount of pollen

in ice-age lake sediments

O To argue that the large Beringian mammals must have eaten plants that produce little, if any,

pollen

O To show that the conclusions that Colinvaux drew from the analysis of pollen in ice-age lake

sediments cannot be correct

O To explain why so- called polar deserts are incapable of supporting such large animals as

mammoth, horse, and bison

11. The word

O preferable

O practical

O reasonable

O advantageous

12. Which of the following best describes the organization of paragraph 6?

O Two contrasting views are presented, and a study that could decide between them is proposed

O An argument is offered, and reasons both for and against the argument are presented

O A claim is made, and a study supporting the claim is described

O New information is presented, and the information is used to show that two competing

explanations can each be seen as correct in some way.

13.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence coul

d be added to the

passage.

Nevertheless, large animals managed to survive in Beringia.

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage

.

14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below.

Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important

ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas

that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2

points.

During the last ice age, human hunters pursued large mammals across Beringia, a land

whose climatic characteristics have been in dispute.

●

●

●

Answer Choices

O Strong evidence indicates that large mammals like mammoth and bison survived in the harsh

ice-age Beringian landscape.

O Carnivores such as the saber-tooth cat were primarily responsible for the disappearance of the

largest of the grazing animals, but the harsh winters caused some grazers to die of starvation.

O The discovery that grasses, sedges, and mosses survived under the thick ash from a large

volcanic eruption proved that the ice- age Benngian plant cover was extremely resistant to climatic

extremes.

O Benngian mammals crossed easily from northeastern Asia to Alaska across the Bering Land

Bridge, though there are indications that they usually went back to Asia for the brief, but warm,

summers.

O Analyses of ice-age sediments uncovered very small amounts of pollen, suggesting that Benngia

lacked the quantity of vegetation needed to support large herds of mammals.

O Recent discoveries suggest that shallow-rooted plants created a fairly continuous cover over

ice-age Beringia, though the cover most likely was variable and uncertain in any one location.

参考答案：

1-5.A A B B D

6-10.C B B D C

11-13.C D B

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参考译文：白令陆桥景观

上一次冰期 高峰，

东北亚

（西伯利亚）

和阿拉斯加 被一名为白令陆桥的广阔大陆块连接

起来。

这座大陆桥的出现是 因为，

那时候地球上大量的水被冻结成巨大的冰盖，

所以海平面

比现在低

100

米（即大陆桥就露出来 了）。在

10000

年到

25000< /p>

年之前，西伯利亚、白令大

陆桥和阿拉斯加有许多共同的环境特征 。

其中包括，

这三个地方都有常见的由大型哺乳动物

寒风凌厉的沙丘和冻原组成的植物群，

以及冬季寒冷干

燥、

夏季校暖和的气候 。

人们认为现在白令海两岸的植物群和动物群在许多方面都可以被认

为是冰河时代的残存者，所以这个地区被命名为白令陆桥。

正是通过白令陆桥，

一些捕捉大型哺 乳动物的猎人小团体慢慢地扩大了他们的狩猎领地，

最终占领了美洲的北部和南部。

在这一点上考古学家普遍表示认同，

但是在其他方面大家就