一段话不明白什么意思，求助

不明白第一段话的意思。还有跟全文的关系是怎么样的？题目问题不大，就是关系没明白

XDJM帮我。。。。。谢谢

Passage 60

     Until recently, scientists did not know of a close verte-

   brate analogue to the extreme form of altruism abserved in

   eusocial insects like ants and bees, whereby individuals

   cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own oppor-

( 5) tunities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others.

   However, such a vertebrate society may exist among under-

   ground colonies of the highly social rodent Heterocephalus

   glaber, the naked mole rat.

     A naked mole rat colony, like a beehive, wasp’s nest, or

(10) termite mound, is ruled by its queen, or reproducing

   female. Other adult female mole rats neither ovulate nor

   breed. The queen of the largest member of the colony, and

   she maintains her breeding status through a mixture of

   behavioral and, presumably, chemical control. Queens have

(15) been long-lived in captivity, and when they die or are

   removed from a colony one sees violent fighting for breed-

   ing status among the larger remaining females, leading to a

   takeover by a new queen.

   Eusocial insect societies have rigid caste systems, each

(20) insects’s role being defined by its behavior, body shape, and

   physiology. In naked mole rat societies, on the other hand,

   differences in behavior are related primarily to reproductive

   status (reproduction being limited to the queen and a few

   males), body size, and perhaps age. Smaller nonbreeding

(25) members, both male and female, seem to participate pri-

   marily in gathering food, transporting nest material, and

   tunneling. Larger nonreaders are active in defending the

   colony and perhaps in removing dirt from the tunnels.

   Jarvis’ work has suggested that differences in growth rates

   may influence the length of time that an individual performs

(30) a task, regardless of its age.

     Cooperative breeding has evolved many times in verte-

   brates, but unlike naked mole rats, most cooperatively

   breeding vertebrates (except the wild dog, Lycaon pictus)

(35) are dominated by a pair of breeders rather than by a single

   breeding female. The division of labor within social groups

   is less pronounced among other vertebrates than among

   naked mole rats, colony size is much smaller, and mating

   by subordinate females may not be totally suppressed,

(40) whereas in naked mole rat colonies subordinate females are

   not sexually active, and many never breed.

你的问题很模糊啊。不过ETS是最好的老师。将解释简单标一下，看能不能解决你的问题呢。其实第一段就2句话。在解释中也涉及了。我把所有的解释都列出了，为我是每个解释都看完，才把与这第一段有最直接关系的解释加黑的。其实呢，解释是对原文最好的、整体性的、方法论的、提纲挈领的、有轻重缓急的阐释。我们好好看看，OG的问题都能解决，而且会真正提高我们的阅读所需的思维能力。

Until recently, scientists did not know of a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism observed in eusocial insects like ants and bees, whereby individuals cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own opportunities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others.

However, such a vertebrate society may exist among underground colonies of the highly social rodent Heterocephalus glaber, the naked mole rat.

160.

The best answer is C. The first paragraph of the passage introduces the idea that the naked mole rat colony is similar to certain insect colonies. The rest of the passage provides comparisons of naked mole rat behavior with the behavior of eusocial insects (paragraphs 2 and 3) and contrast naked mole rat behavior with that of other vertebrates (paragraph 4). None of the other choices states a main idea included in the passage. Choices A and D are not correct according to lines   好像这里说得已经很清楚了。

32-33. Choices B and E are also incorrect: in lines 19-27, naked mole rat social systems are

contrasted with rigid caste systems like those of eusocial insects.

161.

The best answer is B. All that the passage reveals about Jarvis’ work is that it suggested that

“differences in growth rates may influence the length of time that an individual performs a task,

regardless of its age” (lines 29-31). Thus, in Jarvis’ view, age may not be a crucial variable in

explaining what naked mole rats do.

162.

The best answer is B. According to lines 19-24, in eusocial insect societies, role is defined by

“behavior, body shape, and physiology.” For naked mole rats, in contrast, “reproductive status…,

body size, and perhaps age” influence behavior; no mention is made of body shape. The passage

does not indicate whether all tasks are performed cooperatively in eusocial societies, so A is

incorrect. Choice C is incorrect: the passage contains no information about the relative size of

breeders in insect societies. Choice D is incorrect because reproduction rat societies. Choice E is

not correct: body size is not mentioned as affecting the distribution of tasks in eusocial insect

societies.

163.

The best answer is B. The word “presumably” in line 14 of the passage indicates that it is certain

that the queen in a naked mole rat colony exerts chemical control over the colony. The passage

states that the queen is the largest member of the colony (Choice A). There is no indication of

doubt concerning either the number of males the queen mates with (C) or her status as the only

breeding female (E). The queen’s attainment of her status through aggression is indicated by the

statement that when a queen dies other females fight violently for breeding status (D).

164.

The best answer is E. According to the lines 33-36 in the passage, most cooperatively breeding

vertebrates are dominated by a pair of breeders, but the wile dog, Lycoon pictus, is an exception to

this statement, and therefore breeding among these dogs is not dominated by a single pair. The

passage provides no information to support the inferences in choices A, B, C, and D.

165.

The best answer is A. The passage indicates that scientists once knew of no vertebrate group exhibiting extreme altruism like that of eusocial insects but the naked mole rat does exhibit such altruism. Choice B is incorrect: lines 32-36 indicate that other vertebrate groups breed cooperatively. Choice C is also incorrect: the passage does not indicates that naked mole rats are the only vertebrates having a single breeding female. The passage indicates that a naked mole rat may perform different tasks during its lifetime but does not discuss this for other vertebrates, so D cannot be correct. Choice E is not correct: although the passage indicates that fighting results in the selection of the queen, no information is given about the selection of breeding females in other vertebrate groups. 这里又重复了一下，说法不太一样而已。

166.

The best answer is C. The third paragraph provide information contrasting naked mole rat

societies with eusocial insect societies, whereas earlier in the passage, similarities between the two

kinds of societies have been emphasized. Choice A is not correct: the author of the passage

presents factual information rather than drawing a conclusion in the third paragraph. Because the

fourth paragraph presents information about breeding among other vertebrate groups, it does not

contradict information in the third paragraph, so B is not correct. Choice D is incorrect because the

mention of Jarvis’ work serves to provide new information. Choice E is incorrect because no

explanatory factors are discussed in the third paragraph.

多谢wangyu73cn老大这么详细的解释：明白了第一段和后面的关系了。

可能我问的不是很清楚（还有点不明白的）：

Until recently, scientists did not know of a close verte-

   brate analogue to the extreme form of altruism abserved in

   eusocial insects like ants and bees, whereby individuals

   cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own oppor-

( 5) tunities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others.

   However, such a vertebrate society may exist among under-

   ground colonies of the highly social rodent Heterocephalus

   glaber, the naked mole rat.

（1）   altruism 字的意思我查的是“利他注意”还有后面的一些说“ 它们互相合作，有时甚至放弃自己生存和繁殖的机会，为了其它同类（生存繁殖的）好”。可是我觉得整个文章就主要在说合作分工（在繁殖，抵御外敌，准备食品，。。。），没看到哪里有“利他注意”的的自我牺牲精神啊？

（2）a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism abserved in eusocial insects like ants and bees,这个大宾语是说vertebrate和eusocial insects在altrusim上的相似性吧？可是我看这句话特不顺：a close vertebrate analogue to中的close修饰analogue吧？怎么能把vertebrate放它们中间？analogue to sth是词组么？我就是觉得这个结构是什么和什么比，特别不清楚（在结构上），它们比较的东西不平行。

（3）whereby这个词是不是表示因果关系呢？individual指的是什么，insects还是vertebrate或者一起？我觉得whereby用在这里好象不特别合适，没看出来有因果关系前后句中。

（4）however那个转折关系词，不知道地下群落中有这种“altrusim”为什么就要转折？？

麻烦GG再给讲下，谢谢先

以下是引用fbfamous在2004-11-23 4:18:00的发言：

Until recently, scientists did not know of a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism observed in eusocial insects like ants and bees, whereby individuals cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own opporities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others. However, such a vertebrate society may exist among underground colonies of the highly social rodent Heterocephalus glaber, the naked mole rat.

（1）   altruism 字的意思我查的是“利他注意”还有后面的一些说“ 它们互相合作，有时甚至放弃自己生存和繁殖的机会，为了其它同类（生存繁殖的）好”。可是我觉得整个文章就主要在说合作分工（在繁殖，抵御外敌，准备食品，。。。），没看到哪里有“利他注意”的的自我牺牲精神啊？

（2）a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism abserved in eusocial insects like ants and bees,这个大宾语是说vertebrate和eusocial insects在altrusim上的相似性吧？可是我看这句话特不顺：a close vertebrate analogue to中的close修饰analogue吧？怎么能把vertebrate放它们中间？analogue to sth是词组么？我就是觉得这个结构是什么和什么比，特别不清楚（在结构上），它们比较的东西不平行。

（3）whereby这个词是不是表示因果关系呢？individual指的是什么，insects还是vertebrate或者一起？我觉得whereby用在这里好象不特别合适，没看出来有因果关系前后句中。

（4）however那个转折关系词，不知道地下群落中有这种“altrusim”为什么就要转折？？

麻烦GG再给讲下，谢谢先

1、什么是"altruism"呢？这里whereby individuals cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own opporities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others. 应该就是这个词最好的解释了。whereby在此是不是表示"借此"的意思呢？“此”即altruism吧？那此词前后应该是解释关系吧？

2、是不是vertebrate analogue与form 来类比呢？脊椎动物中类似那些有利他主义形式的非脊椎动物的所谓类似物，是不是也是一种“form”呢？从ETS的写法来看，应该是吧？是不是我们理解“form”不太对呀？从ETS的写法来看，应该是我们没理解“form”这个词。这里可能提醒我们要以人家的理解来纠正我们的中文式的直译式的理解，而要领会其含义。这里，如果ETS基本正确，我们才真正学习到了“form”这个词的意思。这句的句法大概是vertebrate analogue是主句宾语， to 之后可理解为一个介词引导的定语从句。

3、indivisual应不是特指某类吧？

4、however这个词是对 scientists did not know ，即主句的否定。

综上，看来，楼主还需要注意加强对句子和词的理解。这是基础的基础，ETS的解释中是照顾不到我们如何理解具体的语法和词汇的这个基本需要的，他的要求更高。这就要求我们通过杨鹏难句阅读来把基础的基础打牢靠。

不当之出，还请谅解并指正。

这次都明白啦！！真不容易！！

非常非常感谢