托福阅读真题及答案（1）

托福阅读真题及答案（1）

Overkill of the North American Megafauna

Thousands of years ago,in North America’s past,all of its megafauna—large mammals such as mammoths and giant bears—disappeared.One proposed explanation for this event is that when the first Americans migrated over from Asia,they hunted the megafauna to extinction.These people,known as the Clovis society after a site where their distinctive spear points were first found,would have been able to use this food source to expand their population and fill the continent rapidly.Yet many scientists argue against this“Pleistocene,the period between about 2.5 million and 11,700 years ago during which humans first appeared on Earth,overkill”hypothesis.Modern humans have certainly been capable of such drastic effects on animals,but could ancient people with little more than stone spears similarly have caused the extinction of numerous species of animals.Thirty-five genera or groups of species(and many individual species)suffered extinction in North America around 11,000 B.C.,soon after the appearance and expansion of Paleo-Indians,a group of hunters active in America during the late Pleistocene,throughout the Americas(27 genera disappeared completely,and another 8 became locally extinct,surviving only outside North America).

1.The word“proposed”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.accepted

B.obvious

C.debatable

D.suggested

正确答案：D

2.The word“distinctive”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.hidden

B.characteristic

C.scattered

D.rare

正确答案：B

3.Why does the author compare Modern humans with ancient people?

A.To argue that modern people have continued to have drastic effects on animal species

B.To illustrate how people from different historical times treated animals differently

C.To question the idea that ancient people could have hunted the megafauna to extinction

D.To emphasize that modern people are more successful hunters than ancient people were

正确答案：C