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wangming

       rior to 1965 geologists assumed

      that the two giant rock plates meeting at

      the San Andreas Fault generate heat

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through friction as they grind past each


 (5)       other, but in 1965 Henyey found that

temperatures in drill holes near the

fault were not as elevated as had

been expected.  Some geologists

wondered whether the absence of

(10)       friction-generated heat could be

explained by the kinds of rock com-

posing the fault.  Geologists’ pre-1965

assumptions concerning heat gen-

erated in the fault were based on

(15)       calculations about common varieties of

rocks, such as limestone and granite;

but “weaker” materials, such as clays,

had already been identified in samples

retrieved from the fault zone.  Under

(20)       normal conditions, rocks composed of

      clay produce far less friction than do

      other rock types.

      In 1992 Byerlee tested whether

these materials would produce friction

(25)       10 to 15 kilometers below the Earth’s

surface.  Byerlee found that when clay

samples were subjected to the thou-

sands of atmospheres of pressure

they would encounter deep inside the

(30)       Earth, they produced as much friction

as was produced by other rock types.

The harder rocks push against each

      other, the hotter they become; in other

words, pressure itself, not only the

(35)       rocks’ properties, affects frictional

heating.  Geologists therefore won-

dered whether the friction between the

plates was being reduced by pockets

of pressurized water within the fault that

push the plates away from each other.





Q11:        

The passage is primarily concerned with

             

A.      evaluating a method used to test a particular scientific hypothesis

B.       discussing explanations for an unexpected scientific finding  

C.      examining the assumptions underlying a particular experiment

D.      questioning the validity of a scientific finding

E.       presenting evidence to support a recent scientific hypothesis

我选了E. 请大家帮助！答案是B.

erik2010

原文说了是explain，对应B选项的explaination.  ，    文中的evidence是用来解释explain的。GMAT文章主要考察的是选项的改写，与原文接近的选项往往都是对