托福 托福 33 - Extinction Episodes of the Past
题目
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9.According to paragraph 4, all of the following contributed to the massive extinctions of the K-T period EXCEPT
  • A.tidal waves
  • B.fires
  • C.insufficient solar radiation
  • D.iridium
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    阅读原文 中文译文

    It was not until the Cambrian period, beginning about 600 million years ago, that a great proliferation of macroscopic species occurred on Earth and produced a fossil record that allows us to track the rise and fall of biodiversity. Since the Cambrian period, biodiversity has generally risen, but there have been some notable exceptions. Biodiversity collapsed dramatically during at least five periods because of mass extinctions around the globe. The five major mass extinctions receive most of the attention, but they are only one end of a spectrum of extinction events.Collectively, more species went extinct during smaller events that were less dramatic but more frequent. The best known of the five major extinction events, the one that saw the demise of the dinosaurs, is the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction

    Starting about 280 million years ago, reptiles were the dominant large animals in terrestrial environments. In popular language this was the era “when dinosaurs ruled Earth,” when a wide variety of reptile species occupying many ecological niches. However, no group or species can maintain its dominance indefinitely, and when, after over 200 million years, the age of dinosaurs came to a dramatic end about 65 million years ago, mammals began to flourish, evolving from relatively few types of small terrestrial animals into the myriad of diverse species, including bats and whales, that we know today. Paleontologists label this point in Earth’s history as the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary period, often abbreviated as the K-T boundary. This time was also marked by changes in many other types of organisms. Overall, about 38 percent of the families of marine animals were lost, with percentages much higher in some groups Ammonoid mollusks went from being very diverse and abundant to being extinct. An extremely abundant set of planktonic marine animals called foraminifera largely disappeared, although they rebounded later. Among plants, the K-T boundary saw a sharp but brief rise in the abundance of primitive vascular plants such as ferns, club mosses, horsetails, and conifers and other gymnosperms. The number of flowering plants (angiosperms) was reduced at this time, but they then began to increase dramatically.

    What caused these changes? For many years scientists assumed that a cooling of the climate was responsible, with dinosaurs being particularly vulnerable because, like modern reptiles, they were ectothermic (dependent on environmental heat, or cold-blooded). It is now widely believed that at least some species of dinosaurs had a metabolic rate high enough for them to be endotherms (animals that maintain a relatively consistent body temperature by generating heat internally). Nevertheless, climatic explanations for the K-T extinction are not really challenged by the ideas that dinosaurs may have been endothermic, because even endotherms can be affected by a significant change in the climate.

    Explanations for the K-T extinction were revolutionized in 1980 when a group of physical scientists led by Luis Alvarez proposed that 65 million years ago Earth was stuck by a 10-kilometer-wide meteorite traveling at 90,000 kilometers per hour. They believed that this impact generated a thick cloud of dust that enveloped Earth, shutting out much of the incoming solar radiation and reducing plant photosynthesis to very low levels. Short-term effects might have included huge tidal waves and extensive fires. In other words, a series of events arising from a single cataclysmic event caused the massive extinctions. Initially, the meteorite theory was based on a single line of evidence. At locations around the globe, geologists had found an unusually high concentration of iridium in the layer of sedimentary rocks that was formed about 65 million years ago. Iridium is an element that is usually uncommon near Earth’s surface, but it is abundant in some meteorites.Therefore, Alvarez and his colleagues concluded that it was likely that the iridium in sedimentary rocks deposited at the K-T boundary had originated in a giant meteorite or asteroid. Most scientist came to accept the meteorite theory after evidence came to light that a circular formation, 180 kilometers in diameter and centered on the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, was created by a meteorite impact about 65 million years ago.

    直到六亿年前的寒武纪,肉眼可看的物种才在地球上兴起。多亏了化石的帮助,我们现在可以了解到物种的兴衰。自从寒武纪,生物开始变得多样化,但是也有些例外。因为在世界范围内的灭绝事件中,至少五次有物种大规模减少的情况。虽然我们最关注这五次大灭绝,但是它们只是一系列灭绝事件中的冰山一角。总体来说,很多较小的灭绝事件虽然不够引人注目,但是它们更为频繁,大部分物种就是因此而灭绝的。在五次大灭绝中,见证恐龙灭绝的是发生在白垩—第三纪的灭绝。 二亿八千万年前,爬行动物成为陆上的主宰。通俗来说这是一个“恐龙统治地球”的时代。各类爬行动物占据了不同的生态环境。然而,没有哪一类生物可以永久保持主宰地位,在二亿年后,大约是六千五百万年前恐龙时代最终结束,哺乳动物开始繁盛,从最初的少数几种小型陆生动物逐渐发展到无数的各类物种,包括我们现在所知的蝙蝠和鲸鱼。古生物学家把地球历史上这个时间点作为白垩纪的末期和第三纪的初期,简称为K-T边界。很多K-T边界时期的其他生物也发生了重大变化。总的来说,大约38%的海洋生物消失了,更多的菊石软体动物也濒临灭绝。曾经尤为繁盛的海洋浮游生物-有孔虫也几乎消失了,尽管后来它们的数量有所回升。对植物来说,短时期突然出现了大量的原始维管植物,比如说蕨类植物,石松类植物,木贼类植物,松柏类植物和其他裸子植物。在此期间,开花植物(被子植物)的数量减少,但是接着又显著增加了。 这些变化的原因是什么呢?很多年来,科学家认为气候变冷是罪魁祸首,因为恐龙,和很多现代爬行动物一样是变温动物(依赖于环境温度,或冷血动物),面对气候变化非常脆弱。现在人们普遍相信至少有些恐龙具有足够高的新陈代谢速度,是恒温动物(动物通过在身体内部产生热量来维持相对不变的体温)。尽管如此,恐龙有可能是恒温动物这一论断未真正挑战K-T灭绝的气候变化原因。这是因为一些恒温动物仍然会受到气候显著变化的影响。 然而,在 1980年,路易斯•阿尔瓦雷茨带领的一组物理学家提出,在六千五百万年前,有一个10公里宽的陨星以每小时九万公里的速度撞击了地球,这使K-T灭绝成因发生革命性变化。他们认为:撞击产生了一层厚厚的灰尘云,笼罩了地球,阻断了太阳辐射,并使光合作用降到最低。短期内还有可能造成了巨大的海啸和广泛的火灾。也就是说,这次灾难性的撞击引发了一系列连锁反应并最终导致了大灭绝。最初,陨石理论是在一系列证据上发展起来的。在世界各地的很多地方,地质学家发现铱元素在六千五百万年前的沉积岩层中含量异常丰富。铱元素在地球表面很不常见,但在陨石中含量丰富。因此,阿尔瓦雷茨和同事推测在K-T边界沉积岩沉淀的铱元素来自于巨型陨星或小行星。科学家们逐渐接受了陨星理论,因为他们看到了六千五百万年前陨星撞击产生的圆形构造的证据。该圆形构造直径为180公里,围绕在尤卡坦半岛的西北岸。  

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    最新提问
    • wx_6697
      觉得B C 意思一样,不知道选哪个
    • wx_5576
      这道题C为什么对,E为什么不对?
    • wx_5576
      B为什么不能选啊?
    • wx_6697
      TPO30 passage 2 Q5我选的 D,不明白为啥不对?
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,TPO6passage3Q5 答案是给错了吗?好多人都选A
    • wx_6697
      这题也很容易选错选成了D
    • wx_6697
      这道题A为什么错了
    • 芊儿
      为什么这道题不选c??a中的variety不是应该对应文中的differentiating 吗??求解!
    • wx_1000
      这道题不选E是因为太细节了吗
    • 王金阁
      这个题为什么不选C啊。。。
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      这道题的D选项不是和文中的better able to reproduce in open settings相对应么??
    • 风荨火
      有大佬解释一下这个为啥选D嘛?
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      第六题 的C选择为什么不对,感觉A是明显驳斥啊...
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这道题D是从哪里看出来的
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      这题选的A,根据是Joly’s calculations clearly supported those geologists who insisted on an age for Earth far in excess of a few million years.想问鑫哥为啥不选A
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      这题我选的是C依据是into a new habitat outside of its natural range, it may adapt to the new environment and leave its enemies behind.C为啥错了呢?鑫哥
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      F选项的weather-related destruction在哪里体现了呢?原文最后一段的开头Among the costs里的costs是不是打错了?应该是coast?
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      与托福的斗争史 去解答 去解答
      这题为什么选C?
    • 小雨淅沥哗啦的下
      小雨淅沥哗啦的下 去解答 去解答
      B哪里错了
    • 小雨淅沥哗啦的下
      小雨淅沥哗啦的下 去解答 去解答
      B为啥不对
    • 李浩然
      B选项错误,是因为残缺么?
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    • wx xxxxx
      请问鑫哥,这段开头有写As one pesticide replaces another为什么不是对应a new pesticide is developed?
    • wx_7695
      鑫哥,从哪里看出来这个masks 不是use呀,原文说了wear呀
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      @鑫哥,这题the damage will continue 不应该对应前面的 the target species evolves resistance to it,然后As one pesticide replaces another,不应该是结束了time cycle 吗
    • wx_2065
      鑫哥,想知道E错在哪里?
    • wx_7695
      鑫哥,B选项 cannot extended to earlier geological periods. 原文说的意思是后来的进化无法估计吧
    • wx_2163
      B为什么不选
    • wx_7780
      鑫哥,这个哪里看不use了。BD是修饰错,C是无中生有,怎么能直接选出A?
    • 100
      看到第一句话,以为是中心句就选了A... 为什么不能选A呢
    • 100
      为什么选b?
    • gu33
      请问下 这里选D的原因是 因为 evolutionary approach 对应着 原文的 Rates of evolution 嘛? 这里我选了C。。不是很懂 插入句和 D的关系 求解答
    • 我是啦啦啦
      我是啦啦啦 去解答 去解答
      这个题A哪里错了?是因为主语不对吗?这个C比A多一步推理啊
    • haiyuqiao
      鑫哥,D选项里的19世纪出现了很多假设,原文中并没有提到啊
    • wx_7060
      为什么选a 呢。我觉得a是细节。F哪错了?
    • wx_1105
      我想问一下,这道题为什么不能选A呢?
    • wx_8122
      D为什么不选
    • wx_1655
      f选项哪里说了
    • chaulaw
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    • chaulaw
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    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这道题答案是不是错了,好多人选D 我也选的D求解答
    • wx_6697
      这道题应该是一道易错题,每个选项的都有,然而我选的A错了,求解
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这题的C是怎么得到的?B也没有找到啊?难道不是应该选B
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,还有这个,好多人选A答案是不是错了
    • wx_6697
      求问D是从哪里得出来的,我选的B呀哎呀
    • wx_4185
      it is difficult to say how far they were intended to be portraits rather than generalized images 这句话怎么理解呢
    • 此楠楠
      请问下这个插入题怎么选的呢?
    • 此楠楠
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