新托福閱讀真題練習(xí)（可免費(fèi)下載答案及解析.pdf）（一）

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It should be obvious that cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins-are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke1 andblowhole2 cannot disguise their affinities with land dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.

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Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans. In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be the oldest fossil whale. The fossil was officially named Pakicetus in honor of the country where the discovery was made. Pakicetus was found embedded in rocks formed from river deposits that were 52 million years old. The river that formed these deposits was actually not far from an ancient ocean known as the Tethys Sea.

The fossil consists of a complete skull of an archaeocyte, an extinct group of ancestors of modern cetaceans. Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious detailson the origins of cetaceans. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones lack the enlarged space that is filled with fat or oil and used for receiving underwater sound in modern whales. Pakicetus probably detected sound through the ear opening as in land mammals. The skull also lacks ablowhole, another cetacean adaptation for diving. Other features, however, show experts that Pakicetus is a transitional form between a group of extinct flesh-eating mammals, theme sonychids, and cetaceans. It has been suggested that Pakicetus fed on fish in shallow water and was not yet adapted for life in the open ocean. It probably bred and gave birth on land.

Another major discovery was made in Egypt in 1989. Several skeletons of another early whale, Basilosaurus, were found in sediments left by the Tethys Sea and now exposed in the Sahara desert. This whale lived around 40 million years ago, 12 million years after Pakicetus. Many in complete skeletons were found but they included, for the first time in an archaeocyte, a complete hind leg that features a foot with three tiny toes. Such legs would have been far toosmall to have supported the 50-foot-long Basilosaurus on land. Basilosaurus was undoubtedly a fully marine whale with possibly nonfunctional, or vestigial, hind legs.

An even more exciting find was reported in 1994, also from Pakistan. The now extinct whale Ambulocetus natans ("the walking whale that swam") lived in the Tethys Sea 49 million years ago. It lived around 3 million years after Pakicetus but 9 million before Basilosaurus. The fossil luckily includes a good portion of the hind legs. The legs were strong and ended in long feet very much like those of a modern pinniped. The legs were certainly functional both on land and at sea. The whale retained a tail and lacked a fluke, the major means of locomotion in modern cetaceans. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water. On land, where it probably bred and gave birth, Ambulocetus may have moved around very much like a modern sea lion. It was undoubtedly a whale that linked life on land with life at sea.

Fluke: the two parts that constitute the large triangular tail of a whale

"Blowhole: a hole in the top of the head used for breathing

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Directions: Mark your answer by filling in the oval next to your choice.

1. In paragraph 1, what does the author say about the presence of a blowhole in cetaceans?

○It clearly indicates that cetaceans are mammals.

○It cannot conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals.

○It is the main difference between cetaceans and land-dwelling mammals.

○It cannot yield clues about the origins of cetaceans.

2. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?

○It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like

○There were great numbers of them.

○They lived in the sea only.

○They did not leave many fossil remains.

3. The word precious in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Exact

○Scarce

○Valuable

○Initial

4. Pakicetus and modern cetaceans have similar

○Hearing structures

○Adaptations for diving

○Skull shapes

○B(yǎng)reeding locations

5. The word it in the passage refers to

○Pakicetus

○Fish

○Life

○ocean

6. The word exposed in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Explained

○Visible

○Identified

○Located

7. The hind leg of Basilosaurus was a significant find because it showed that Basilosaurus

○Lived later than Ambulocetus natans

○Lived at the same time as Pakicetus

○Was able to swim well

○Could not have walked on land

8. It can be inferred that Basilosaurus bred and gave birth in which of the following locations

○On land

○B(yǎng)oth on land and at sea

○In shallow water

○In a marine environment

9. Why does the author use the word luckily in mentioning that the Ambulocetus natans fossil included hind legs?

○Fossil legs of early whales are a rare find.

○The legs provided important information about the evolution of cetaceans.

○The discovery allowed scientists to reconstruct a complete skeleton of the whale.

○Until that time, only the front legs of early whales had been discovered.

10. 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.

○Even though Ambulocetus swam by moving its body up and down, it did not have abackbone.

○The backbone of Ambulocetus, which allowed it to swim, provides evidence of its missing fluke.

○Although Ambulocetus had no fluke, its backbone structure shows that it swam like modern whales.

○B(yǎng)y moving the rear parts of their bodies up and down, modern whales swim in a different way from the way Ambulocetus swam.

11. The word propulsion in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Staying afloat

○Changing direction

○Decreasing weight

○Moving forward

12. Look at the four squares that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.

This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.

Where would the sentence best fit?

13-14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is providedbelow. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the mostimportant ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary becausethey express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

This passage discusses fossils that help to explain the likely origins of cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins.

Answer Choices

1. Recent discoveries of fossils have helped to show the link between land mammals and cetaceans.

2. The discovery of Ambulocetus natans provided evidence for a whale that lived both on landand at sea.

3. The skeleton of Basilosaurus was found in what had been the Tethys Sea, an area rich infossil evidence.

4. Pakicetus is the oldest fossil whale yet to be found.

5. Fossils thought to be transitional forms between walking mammals and swimming whaleswere found.

6. Ambulocetus' hind legs were used for propulsion in the water.

重點(diǎn)單詞：

rare[r??]adj. 稀罕的，稀薄的，罕見的，珍貴的

evolution[.i:v?'lu:??n]n. 進(jìn)化，發(fā)展，演變

limited['limitid]adj. 有限的，被限制的

constitute['k?nstitju:t]vt. 構(gòu)成，建立，任命

uncovered[,?n'k?v?d]adj. 無覆蓋物的;未保險(xiǎn)的;無蓋的 v. 脫帽致敬;

yield[ji:ld]n. 生產(chǎn)量，投資收益 v. 生產(chǎn)，屈服，投降

propulsion[pr?'p?l??n]n. 推進(jìn)，推進(jìn)力

extinct[iks'ti?kt]adj. 滅絕的，熄滅的，耗盡的

whale[weil]n. 鯨

presence['prezns]n. 出席，到場，存在

參考譯文：

眾所周知，鯨類動物是哺乳動物,如鯨魚、鼠海豚和海豚。它們用肺呼吸，而不是鰓，屬于胎生。鯨類動物呈流線型的身體，后腿的消失，尾片和氣孔的出現(xiàn)，這些特征都不能掩飾它們和陸生哺乳動物的相似之處。然而，想知道世上第一只鯨長什么樣并非易事，不像還原海獺及鰭足類動物(四肢水陸兩用如海豹，海獅，海象)的原貌那么簡單。一些完全水生的鯨類動物雖然已經(jīng)滅絕，但仍可通過化石來對它們進(jìn)行考察。陸棲哺乳動物和海洋鯨類之間有何聯(lián)系?近期發(fā)現(xiàn)的化石已經(jīng)可以很清晰地幫助人們了解這個(gè)問題，以及他們之間的過渡關(guān)系。

科學(xué)家們通過一些令人振奮的發(fā)現(xiàn)重現(xiàn)了鯨類動物幾近真實(shí)的起源。1979年，在巴基斯坦北部，一個(gè)尋找化石的考察隊(duì)發(fā)掘到了最古老的鯨魚化石。這塊化石被官方命名為 Pakicifus，以紀(jì)念人們發(fā)現(xiàn)它的地方。這塊化石是在一條河的沉積巖中發(fā)現(xiàn)的，這條河有5200萬年的歷史，離古地中海不遠(yuǎn)。

Pakicifus包括一個(gè)完整原始動物的頭蓋骨，它的主人是現(xiàn)代鯨類的祖先。盡管只是個(gè)頭蓋骨，但它卻提供了研究原始鯨類動物起源的珍貴信息。這個(gè)頭蓋骨和鯨類動物的很像，但它的下頜骨和現(xiàn)代鯨類略有不同，現(xiàn)代鯨類動物的下頜骨中含有額外的空間儲存脂肪或者油脂來吸收水下的聲音。Pakicifus的主人可能會像陸生哺乳動物那樣通過張開的耳朵來探測聲音。另外，這個(gè)頭蓋骨沒有呼吸孔，而鯨類動物有，這便是鯨類動物為了適應(yīng)水生環(huán)境的另一種適應(yīng)性表現(xiàn)。然而，專家認(rèn)為Pakicifus的其它特征表明它們是已滅絕的食肉哺乳動物(中獸科動物)和鯨類動物的過渡型。有人認(rèn)為Pakicifus 靠吃淺水的魚類為生，未能適應(yīng)在遼闊的大海里生活。它們很有可能在陸地進(jìn)行生育繁殖。

1989年，在埃及有了另一個(gè)重大發(fā)現(xiàn)。人們在古地中海殘留的沉積物中發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一類早期鯨魚Basilosaurus的一些骨骸，這些骨骸如今暴露在撒哈拉大沙漠上。Basilosaurus生活在大約4000萬年前，比Pakicifus鯨魚晚了1200萬年。盡管發(fā)現(xiàn)的這些骨骼并不完整，但這是專家們第一次在原始動物身上發(fā)現(xiàn)完整的后肢，它有三個(gè)小腳趾作為的足部特征。可這些后肢還太小，遠(yuǎn)無法支撐50英尺長的Basilosaurus在陸地行走。因此，Basilosaurus必定是完全水生的鯨魚，它們的后肢已經(jīng)不起任何作用，或者說已經(jīng)退化。

1994年，巴基斯坦報(bào)道了一個(gè)更令人興奮的發(fā)現(xiàn)。目前已經(jīng)滅絕的鯨魚Ambulocetus natans(可以步行的鯨類)4900萬年前曾在古地中海生活過。比Pakicetus晚大約 300萬年，比Basilosaurus早 900萬年左右。幸運(yùn)的是，被發(fā)現(xiàn)的Ambulocetus natans保留著完整的后肢。它的后肢很強(qiáng)壯，底部有長足，非常像現(xiàn)在的鰭足類動物。這些后肢使得他們既能在陸地行走又能在海里游行。雖然Ambulocetus natans保留了尾巴，但它們?nèi)鄙佻F(xiàn)代水生鯨類動物用于行動的主要身體部位——尾片。不過，從Ambulocetus的脊椎結(jié)構(gòu)上可以看出，即使缺少尾片，它們也能像現(xiàn)代鯨魚那樣通過身體背部的上下擺動來游走。大的后肢通常被當(dāng)作是水中前行的發(fā)動機(jī)。在它們可能交配繁殖的陸地上，Ambulocetus行動起來非常像現(xiàn)代海獅。毫無疑問，鯨魚是連接著陸地生命和海洋生命的物種。

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