托福阅读真题及答案（5）

托福阅读真题及答案（5）

paragraph6— 7

There are,however,many problems with this model.Significantly,though a few sites are quite impressive,there really is very little archaeological evidence to support it.Writing in 1982,Martin himself admitted the paucity of evidence;for example,at that point,the remains of only 38 individual mammoths had been found at Clovis sites.In the years since,few additional mammoths have been added to the list;there are still fewer than 20 Clovis sites where the remains of one or more mammoths have been recovered,a minuscule proportion of the millions that necessarily would have had to have been slaughtered within the overkill scenario.

Though Martin claims the lack of evidence actually supports his model—the evidence is sparse because the spread of humans and the extinction of animals occurred so quickly—this argument seems weak.And how could we ever disprove it.As archaeologist Donald Grayson points out,in other cases where extinction resulted from the quick spread of human hunters—for example,the extinction of the moa,the large flightless bird of New Zealand—archaeological evidence in the form of remains is abundant.Grayson has also shown that the evidence is not so clear that all or even most of the large herbivores in late Pleistocene America became extinct after the appearance of Clovis.Of the 35 extinct genera,only 8 can be confidently assigned an extinction date of between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago.Many of the older genera,Grayson argues,may have succumbed before 12,000 B.C.,at least half a century before the Clovis showed up in the American West.

10.According to paragraph 6,which of the following statements challenges the view that hunting by humans caused the extinctions of North American megafauna?

A.The Clovis sites that contain the remains of mammoths were settled by humans long after the extinctions occurred.

B.Only a few of the Clovis sites are located near known mammoth habitats.

C.No archaeological evidence of extinctions has been found at Clovis sites since 1982.

D.The number of mammoth remains found at Clovis sites is smaller than would be expected if hunting by humans had caused the extinctions.

Paragraph 6 is marked with an arrow

正确答案：D

11.In paragraph 7,why does the author mention that there is abundant archaeological evidence for the extinction of the New Zealand moa?

A.To show that extinctions occurred in areas other than North America

B.To challenge Martin’s claim that the lack of megafauna remains supports his model of the megafauna extinctions

C.To identify a country where humans were highly skilled as hunters

D.To help explain why it is unclear whether all large herbivores of late Pleistocene America became extinct after the appearance of Clovis

Paragraph 7 is marked with an arrow

正确答案：B