The story that traces life from sea to land then into the multiple niches that exist there for a great variety of living things is a fascinating one, but far too detailed for our purposes. One key point for us in that story is the emergence of the biological class of animals that are called mammals. Mammals have a number of features that distinguish them from the reptiles from which they developed. They are warm blooded; that is, they have a system of temperature control that keeps the body at a constant temperature. Mammals have a set of teeth of different shapes that serve different functions such as cutting, gouging, and grinding. Young mammals spend their earliest days of development shielded within the mother's body and are then born alive, rather than hatching from eggs. In addition, after birth they are nourished by milk provided by the mother's mammary glands. The enforced association between mother and infant provides an opportunity for learning that does not exist for those kinds of creatures that are hatched from eggs long after their parents have departed from the scene. Young mammals play something that amphibians and reptiles never do which provides additional learning opportunities.
The foregoing list leaves little doubt that we are mammals. There are, of course, a great many kinds of mammals, most of which developed after the great extinction of dinosaurs and other reptiles about 65 million years ago that opened opportunities for the few small mammals that were already in existence. One of the groups of mammals that resulted was a biological order called primates which includes monkeys, apes, humans, and some smaller creatures familiar only to ardent zoogoers. Primates share a number of behavioral features that have played important roles in their evolutionary development. Most primates are arboreal; that is, they spend their lives in and among trees. Their tree-climbing and tree-dwelling habits impose needs that are reflected in primate anatomy. Although diet varies from species to species, many primates are largely vegetarian. But they can eat and digest meat, and some species vary their diets of leaves, shoots, and fruits by eating insects, birds' eggs, and even small animals. Primates are hand-feeders, depending on their hands both to collect food and to get it into their mouths. Perhaps the most important feature of their behavior is that primates are social animals. Their genetics, habits, and even their survival are geared to living in groups. Although human beings have come to have a way of life very different from that of typical primates, the basic primate adaptation provided prehuman with capabilities that allowed them to become culture-builders.
The anatomical features that separate primates from other kinds of animals relate clearly to the way primates behave.
1.Where do you think is the passage from?
a. newspaper. b. gazette.
c. journal. d. science magazine.
2.Which of the following is not the features of mammals that distinguish them from the reptiles?
a.they're warm-blooded.
b.they have a set of teeth of different shapes.
c.the first period of development of young mammals is within their mother's body.
d.there's some association between mother and infant.
3.Which can be inferred from the passage?
a.mammals developed from the reptiles.
b.the animals that are hatched from eggs have no opportunity for learning.
c.mammals developed at the cost of the extinction of reptiles.
d.not all the primates are mammals.
4.Primates are social animals because .
a.they are hand-feeders b.of their anatomical features
c.they are arboreal d.they depend on each other
5.What leads to the features of the primate anatomy?
a.their tree-climbing and tree-dwelling life.
b.their diet.
c.the way they behave.
d.the social emphasis in their life.
参考答案:
1.D 从全文内容来看,文章主要讲述了哺乳类及灵长目动物的特点及生活习惯等,属于科普类文章,所以最有可能刊登在科学杂志上。
2.D A、B、C三项在文章第一段有明显对应的句子,至于D,文中原句是“The enforced association between mother and infant provides an opportunity for learning that does not exist for those kinds of creatures that are hatched from eggs long after their parents have departed from the scene.”选项与原文意思有出入。
3.A 根据第一段第三句“Mammals have a number of features that distinguish them from the reptiles from which they developed.”可判断,A正确。
4.D A、B、C显然不合题意,从第二段倒数第二句“Their genetics, habits, and even their survival are geared to living in groups.”来看,灵长目动物为了生存,必须选择群居生活,它们彼此相互依赖。
5.C A、B、D或不合题意或不够全面。从最后一段“The anatomical features that separate primates from other kinds of animals relate clearly to the way primates behave.”可知C为最佳答案。
本文选自新东方在线论坛。
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