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　　老托福阅读100篇相对TPO要简单一些，也是伴随托福备考学员的很重要的一份资料，对于基础薄弱，做TPO真题阅读需要过渡的考生来说再适合不过了，今天一诺留学小编给大家分享的是老托福阅读100篇之早期狩猎对大型体格动物灭绝的影响，希望考生认真练习。

　　早期狩猎对大型体格动物灭绝的影响

　　Many prehistoric people subsisted as hunters and gatherers. Undoubtedly, game animals, including some very large species, provided major components of human diets. An important controversy centering on the question of human effects on prehistoric wildlife concerns the sudden disappearance of so many species of large animals at or near the end of the Pleistocene epoch. Most paleontologists suspect that abrupt changes in climate led to the mass extinctions. Others, however, have concluded that prehistoric people drove many of those species to extinction through overhunting. In their "Pleistocene overkill hypothesis," they cite what seems to be a remarkable coincidence between the arrival of prehistoric peoples in North and South America and the time during which mammoths, giant ground sloths, the giant bison, and numerous other large mammals became extinct.

　　Perhaps the human species was driving others to extinction long before the dawn of history. Hunter-gatherers may have contributed to Pleistocene extinctions in more indirect ways. Besides overhunting, at least three other kinds of effects have been suggested: direct competition, imbalances between competing species of game animals, and early agricultural practices. Direct competition may have brought about the demise of large carnivores such as the saber-toothed cats. These animals simply may have been unable to compete with the increasingly sophisticated hunting skills of Pleistocene people.

　　Human hunters could have caused imbalances among game animals, leading to the extinctions of species less able to compete. When other predators such as the gray wolf prey upon large mammals, they generally take high proportions of each year's crop of young. Some human hunters, in contrast, tend to take the various age-groups of large animals in proportion to their actual occurrence. If such hunters first competed with the larger predators and then replaced them, they may have allowed more young to survive each year, gradually increasing the populations of favored species. As these populations expanded, they in turn may have competed with other game species for the same environmental niche, forcing the less hunted species into extinction. This theory, suggests that human hunters played an indirect role in Pleistocene extinctions by hunting one species more than another.

　　1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

　　(A) The effects of human activities on prehistoric wildlife

　　(B) The origins of the hunter-gatherer way of life

　　(C) The diets of large animals of the Pleistocene epoch

　　(D) The change in climate at the end of the Pleistocene epoch

　　2. The word "Undoubtedly" in line 1 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) occasionally

　　(B) unexpectedly

　　(C) previously

　　(D) certainly

　　3. The word "components" in line 2 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) parts

　　(B) problems

　　(C) changes

　　(D) varieties

　　4. Which of the following is mentioned as supporting the Pleistocene overkill hypothesis?

　　(A) Many of the animals that became extinct were quite large.

　　(B) Humans migrated into certain regions around the time that major extinctions occurred.

　　(C) There is evidence that new species were arriving in areas inhabited by humans.

　　(D) Humans began to keep and care for certain animals.

　　5. The word "Besides" in line 14 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) caused by

　　(B) whereas

　　(C) in addition to

　　(D) in favor of

　　6. The author mentions saber-toothed cats in line 17 as an example of a carnivore that

　　(A) became extinct before the Pleistocene epoch

　　(B) was unusually large for its time

　　(C) was not able to compete with humans

　　(D) caused the extinction of several species

　　7. The word "they" in line 22 refers to

　　(A) human hunters

　　(B) game animals

　　(C) other predators

　　(D) large mammals

　　8. According to the passage , what is one difference between the hunting done by some humans and the hunting done by gray wolves?

　　(A) Some humans hunt more frequently than gray wolves.

　　(B) Gray wolves hunt in larger groups than some humans.

　　(C) Some humans can hunt larger animals than gray wolves can hunt.

　　(D) Some humans prey on animals of all ages, but gray wolves concentrate their efforts on young animals.

　　9. The word "favored" in line 26 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) large

　　(B) escaping

　　(C) preferred

　　(D) local

　　10. According to the passage , the imbalances discussed in paragraph 3 may have resulted from

　　(A) the effect of climate changes on large game animals

　　(B) large animals moving into a new environment

　　(C) humans hunting some species more than others

　　(D) older animals not being able to compete with younger animals

　　答案：ADABC CCDCC

　　以上内容就是老托福阅读100篇之早期狩猎对大型体格动物灭绝的影响的介绍，希望对大家的托福考试有帮助。如需了解更多留学考试的相关信息，欢迎拨打一诺留学的免费热线400-003-6508或者010-62680991进行出国留学咨询，或者点击一诺留学官方网站http://www.yinuoedu.net/页面的“在线咨询”与一诺留学专家直接对话。