高智威阅读机经26+1分析

psyche89

今天是第16篇，因为16篇的第一篇文章没有题目，所以下面贴出的是相关文章，这篇文章同时也是陈虎平阅读36套里面EX10的第三篇文章，老面孔了哦。

If a supernova (the explosion of a massive star) triggered star formation from dense clouds of gas and dust, and if the most massive star to be formed from the cloud evolved into a supernova and
triggered a new round of star formation, and so on, then a chain of star-forming regions would result. If
many such chains were created in a differentially rotating galaxy, the distribution of stars would
resemble the observed distribution in a spiral galaxy.

This line of reasoning underlies an exciting new theory of spiral-galaxy structure. A computer
simulation based on this theory has reproduced the appearance of many spiral galaxies without
assuming an underlying density wave, the hallmark of the most widely accepted theory of the
large-scale structure of spiral galaxies. That theory maintains that a density wave of spiral form
sweeps through the central plane of a galaxy, compressing clouds of gas and dust, which collapse
into stars that form a spiral pattern.

16.1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) describe what results when a supernova triggers the creation of chains of star-forming regions
(B) propose a modification in the most widely accepted theory of spiral-galaxy structure
(C) compare and contrast the roles of clouds of gas and dust in two theories of spiral-galaxy structure
(D) describe a new theory of spiral-galaxy structure and contrast it with the most widely accepted
theory
(E) describe a new theory of spiral-galaxy structure and discuss a reason why it is inferior to the most
widely accepted theory

16.2. The passage implies that, according to the new theory of spiral-galaxy structure, a spiral galaxy
can be created by supernovas when the supernovas are
(A) producing an underlying density wave
(B) affected by a density wave of spiral form
(C) distributed in a spiral pattern
(D) located in the central plane of a galaxy
(E) located in a differentially rotating galaxy

16.3. Which of the following, if true, would most discredit the new theory as described in the passage?
(A)The exact mechanism by which a star becomes a supernova is not yet completely known and may
even differ for different stars.
(B) Chains of star-forming regions like those postulated in the new theory have been observed in the
vicinity of dense clouds of gas and dust.
(C) The most massive stars formed from supernova explosions are unlikely to evolve into supernovas.
(D) Computer simulations of supernovas provide a poor picture of what occurs just before a supernova
explosion.
(E) A density wave cannot compress clouds of gas and dust to a density high enough to create a star.

psyche89

答案：DEC

文章讲超新星的。

文章很短，第一段两句话。16.3题考这一整段，从答案来看，整个第一段讲的都是新理论是什么。可是我一开始错选了B，不明原因。
第一句讲的是个连锁反应，归纳起来就是supernova——star formation——supernova——star formation......的无尽循环。
第二句讲，如果很多这种连锁反应发生在a differentially rotating galaxy（不太理解differentially这个词，这句话指的是发生在一个rotating galaxy里，还是发生在很多不同的rotating galaxy里呢？），那么rotating galaxy里星星的分布就会和spiral galaxy里星星的分布类似了。16.2题考这里，问当supernova怎样时，spiral galaxy才能形成，正确选项几乎是从原文里直接抄下来的，但是我对这道题还是有点点不理解。

第二段三句话。
第一句紧紧承接上段最后一句，说上一句描述的东西构成了一个关于spiral galaxy结构的新理论。
第二句继续描述新理论，同时这一句还带了一个对比，对比的是之前的旧理论。新理论是，电脑模拟出了许多spiral galaxy的表面，并且是在假设没有density wave的基础上模拟出来的。而density wave恰恰是旧理论的一个特征。
第三句说旧理论是啥。旧理论认为density wave会扫过一个星系的中心，压缩气体和尘埃，然后形成spiral的形状。

所以总体来说，这个一篇新老观点对比的文章。16.3题就问了这个。

psyche89

第17篇，是研究鸟的叫声的文章。

Over the years, biologists have suggested two main pathways by which sexual selection may have
shaped the evolution of male birdsong. In the first, male competition and intrasexual selection produce relatively short, simple songs used mainly in territorial behavior. In the second, female choice and
intersexual selection produce longer, more complicated songs used mainly in mate attraction; like such
visual ornamentation as the peacock’s tail, elaborate vocal characteristics increase the male’s chances
of being chosen as a mate, and he thus enjoys more reproductive success than his less ostentatious
rivals. The two pathways are not mutually exclusive, and we can expect to find examples that reflect
their interaction. Teasing them apart has been an important challenge to evolutionary biologists.
Early research confirmed the role of intrasexual selection. In a variety of experiments in the field,
males responded aggressively to recorded songs by exhibiting territorial behavior near the speakers.
The breakthrough for research into intersexual selection came in the development of a new technique
for investigating female response in the laboratory. When female cowbirds raised in isolation in
sound-proof chambers were exposed to recordings of male song, they responded by exhibiting mating
behavior. By quantifying the responses, researchers were able to determine what particular features of
the song were most important. In further experiments on song sparrows, researchers found that when
exposed to a single song type repeated several times or to a repertoire of different song types, females
responded more to the latter. The beauty of the experimental design is that it effectively rules out
confounding variables; acoustic isolation assures that the female can respond only to the song structure
itself.

If intersexual selection operates as theorized, males with more complicated songs should not only
attract females more readily but should also enjoy greater reproductive success. At first, however,
researchers doing fieldwork with song sparrows found no correlation between larger repertoires and
early mating, which has been shown to be one indicator of reproductive success; further, common
measures of male quality used to predict reproductive success, such as weight, size, age, and territory,
also failed to correlate with song complexity.

The confirmation researchers had been seeking was finally achieved in studies involving two
varieties of warblers. Unlike the song sparrow, which repeats one of its several song types in bouts
before switching to another, the warbler continuously composes much longer and more variable songs
without repetition. For the first time, researchers found a significant correlation between repertoire size
and early mating, and they discovered further that repertoire size had a more significant effect than any
other measure of male quality on the number of young produced. The evidence suggests that warblers
use their extremely elaborate songs primarily to attract females, clearly confirming the effect of
intersexual selection on the evolution of birdsong.

17.1. The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) showing that intrasexual selection has a greater effect on birdsong than does intersexual selection
(B) contrasting the role of song complexity in several species of birds
(C) describing research confirming the suspected relationship between intersexual selection and the
complexity of birdsong
(D) demonstrating the superiority of laboratory work over field studies in evolutionary biology
(E) illustrating the effectiveness of a particular approach to experimental design in evolutionary
biology

17.2. The author mentions the peacock’s tail in line 8 most probably in order to
(A) cite an exception to the theory of the relationship between intrasexual selection and male
competition
(B) illustrate the importance of both of the pathways that shaped the evolution of birdsong
(C) draw a distinction between competing theories of intersexual selection
(D) give an example of a feature that may have evolved through intersexual selection by female choice
(E) refute a commonly held assumption about the role of song in mate attraction

17.3. According to the passage, which of the following is specifically related to intrasexual selection?
(A) Female choice
(B) Territorial behavior
(C) Complex song types
(D) Large song repertoires
(E) Visual ornamentation

17.4. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly demonstrate the interaction mentioned in lines
11-13?
(A) Female larks respond similarly both to short, simple songs and to longer, more complicated songs.
(B) Male canaries use visual ornamentation as well as elaborate song repertoires for mate attraction.
(C) Both male and female blackbirds develop elaborate visual and vocal characteristics.
(D) Male jays use songs to compete among themselves and to attract females.
(E) Male robins with elaborate visual ornamentation have as much reproductive success as rivals with
elaborate vocal characteristics.

17.5. The passage indicates that researchers raised female cowbirds in acoustic isolation in order to
(A) eliminate confounding variables
(B) approximate field conditions
(C) measure reproductive success
(D) quantify repertoire complexity
(E) prevent early mating

17.6. According to the passage, the song sparrow is unlike the warbler in that the song sparrow
(A) uses songs mainly in territorial behavior
(B) continuously composes long and complex songs
(C) has a much larger song repertoire
(D) repeats one song type before switching to another
(E) responds aggressively to recorded songs

17.7. The passage suggests that the song sparrow experiments mentioned in lines 37-43 failed to
confirm the role of intersexual selection because
(A) females were allowed to respond only to the song structure
(B) song sparrows are unlike other species of birds
(C) the experiments provided no evidence that elaborate songs increased male reproductive success
(D) the experiments included the songs of only a small number of different song sparrows
(E) the experiments duplicated some of the limitations of previous field studies

manad

我有点不明白，Gaskell她到底是不是工人阶级出身的呢？因为原文说的是As a member of the middle class, Gaskell could hardly help approaching working-class life as an outside observer and a reporter，我理解这句话的意思是，因为她是中产，不是工人阶级，所以她只能以一个旁观者的身份记录他们的生活。这也是我为啥找不到13.5题出处的原因，因为我觉得文章在这里就已经说她是个旁观者了呀，为啥还要改进这一点呢？
还有你可不可以把下面你总结的那个文章的内容结构写详细点呢？比如，第二段里文章作者指出了哪些缺点？因为我没看出来缺点是啥。
========================
我的理解，缺点就是她没能以局外人的角度来写。我也不知道middle class和working class的具体区别，但
根据could hardly help approaching working-class life as an outside observer and a reporter这句，could hardly help approaching as an outside observer，就是说没办法以outside的身份来写，所以我感觉这里是作者对Gaskell作为outsider的一个否定，而不是说明她是以旁观者的角度来写。

而且这一段最后一句，If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that whould completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton.这里的full participation，作者认为Gaskell是以参与者的角度来写，所以作者用了if never这样的假设，就是说，如果Gaskell没有把这种full participation的感觉也都convey到小说中去的话，那小说就更加真实了。

psyche89

答案：CDBDADC

这篇文章讲的是选择配偶和繁衍后代对雄鸟叫声的进化产生的影响，第一遍看的时候，鸟的种类就把我绕晕了。

第一段五句话，介绍的是两种sexual selection（雌雄淘汰）对雄鸟歌声进化的影响途径。
第一句就说有两种途径。后面两句就分别介绍了它们。
第二句说的是第一种途径，叫intrasexual selection，同性间的竞争。它产生short, simple的歌声，并有territorial的行为。
第三句说的是第二种途径，叫intersexual selection，异性间的选择。它产生longer, complicated的歌声，来吸引配偶。后面举了个例子，说那些尾巴上有装饰，歌声特点很详细的雄鸟更容易被选作配偶，进而更容易繁衍自己的后代。17.2题问作者说尾巴上的装饰是为了干啥，因为原文这个分句前有一个“like....”，因此很明显是用来举例的。
第四、五句承上启下，说这两种途径不是彼此独立的，下文就会用例子来说明他们之间的关系（但其实我没找到后文哪里写这两者的关系）。17.4题问了这个关系，虽然有点摸不着头脑，但是只有正确选项D里是既提到intrasexual selection又提到了intersexual selection。

第二段7句话，列举了一些研究分别支持者两种途径，所以这一段分两层，第一层是前两句话，讲支持intrasexual selection的研究；第二层是第三句到第七句第讲支持intersexual selection的研究。
第一层，研究者发现，他们给雄鸟听别的雄鸟的歌声的磁带，这些雄鸟会做出很有攻击性的回应，并且在播放器附近做出territorial的行为。17.3题问和intrasexual selection有关的是啥，答案当然是territorial行为，这个第一段也有提到。
第二层，研究的是雌鸟的回应。第一个例子是，研究者把雌cowbirds单独放，然后给它们听雄鸟的磁带，发现她们会做出交配动作。通过量化这些反应，研究者就可以确定雄鸟歌声的哪些特征是最重要的。第二个例子是对sparrows的研究，它们给雌sparrows分别听单一类型的歌声和多种类型的歌声，发现雌鸟更喜欢后者。作者觉得这个实验在设计上可以帮助排除其他的干扰因素，而且将雌鸟单独放置就是为了确保雌鸟只对歌声做反应。17.5题就问雌鸟单独放置是为了什么，答案就是排除干扰因素。

第三段两句话，其实是对上一段第二层的第二个例子的展开讨论，说的是早期的研究其实并不支持这个结论（也就是雌鸟更喜欢复杂一点的歌声这个结论）。依旧是以举例子的形式。
第一句讲，如果按照第二段得出的结论，那么能唱出复杂歌声的雄鸟就更容易异性，而且能繁衍更多后代。
第二句用研究反驳了第一句，讲最开始对sparrows的早期研究并没有发现歌声的复杂程度和交配之间的相关，也没发现和成功繁衍后代之间的相关。

第四段四句话，讲的是最后验证了第二段提出的结论的研究，同时和第三段列举的早期研究形成对比。
第一句讲后来改用两种warblers，终于验证上述因素之间的相关关系。
第二句对比了旧研究中的sparrows和新研究中的warblers。雄sparrows在换另一段叫声之前总是把一段叫声翻来覆去重复好多遍；而雄warblers从来都不会重复同一种叫声。17.6题问sparrows的叫声特点是啥，答案就是会重复一种叫声。17.7题其实也是考这个对比，问为什么用sparrows做的实验就没法证明相关性。这个题有一点点绕，原因我想可能是，你要验证叫声的复杂程度对吧，那首先叫声得有复杂性可言吧，sparrows的叫声是一直重复的，所以不复杂，所以验证不出复杂性和交配的相关。其实从另一个角度也可以解这道题。sparrows和warblers最大的不同就是叫声一个重复一个不重复，既然叫声不重复的那个成功了，就说明失败的那个就失败在叫声重复上了。
第三句讲新研究的结论，就是叫声的复杂程度和交配和后代的数量之间都有相关关系。
最后一句总结，说warblers用他们多样的叫声来吸引配偶，由此证实了intersexual selection对雄鸟叫声的进化是有影响的。这其实也是呼应了第二段的第二层。17.1题问全文主要在干嘛，从内容上看，大部分内容都是在讨论叫声的复杂程度和intersexual selection之间的关系。

psyche89

我就是一直在纠结could hardly help到底是什么意思。
If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that would completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton, she still brings to these scenes an intuitive recognition of feelings that has its own sufficient conviction.这句要怎么翻译呢？

我的理解，缺点就是她没能以局外人的角度来写。我也不知道middle class和working class的具体区别，但
根据could hardly help approaching working-class life as an outside observer and a reporter这句，could hardly help approaching as an outside observer，就是说没办法以outside的身份来写，所以我感觉这里是作者对Gaskell作为outsider的一个否定，而不是说明她是以旁观者的角度来写。

而且这一段最后一句，If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that whould completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton.这里的full participation，作者认为Gaskell是以参与者的角度来写，所以作者用了if never这样的假设，就是说，如果Gaskell没有把这种full participation的感觉也都convey到小说中去的话，那小说就更加真实了。

-- by 会员 manad (2013/1/20 4:25:21)

psyche89

第18篇，讲恐龙灭绝的原因，是道逻辑题，可惜没有答案。

Iridium, a hard, whitish metal similar to platinum, is extremely rare on Earth. Extremely high
concentrations of iridium on Earth result from only two scenarios: massive volcanic eruptions that
release iridium from deep within the Earth and meteorites that shower down on Earth from space.
When scientists found concentrations of iridium 30 times higher than normal in rock stratum from 65
million years ago, they concluded that a massive meteor or comet hit the Earth and caused the massive
extinction of the dinosaurs.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the scientist’s conclusion?
A. Volcanoes massive enough to generate high concentrations of iridium are very rare.
B. Massive volcanic eruptions occurred frequently 80 million years ago.
C. Most scientists support the hypothesis that a cosmic impact wiped out the dinosaurs.
D. The massive extinction that occurred 70 million years ago killed not only the dinosaurs but also 70
percent of all life on Earth.
E. A comet struck the earth some 120 million years ago, but no widespread extinction occurred.

psyche89

全文一共三句话。
第一句讲Iridium，简称I，在地球上极其稀少。
第二句讲能在地球上聚集极多的I 原因只有两个：第一是大量的火山爆发释放了地球内部的I，第二个是来自太空的陨石撞了地球。
第三句讲科学家发现自从650万年前地球上的I 的含量高出正常30倍，由此他们认为是陨石撞了地球，并且导致了恐龙的灭亡。

问题问哪个选项可以支持这个结论，个人觉得需要选一个支持小行星撞地球，而不支持火山爆发的选项，所以选了A。但是感觉这个选项也不怎么站得住脚。果然又是逻辑题不会做啊。。。

manad

我就是一直在纠结could hardly help到底是什么意思。
If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that would completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton, she still brings to these scenes an intuitive recognition of feelings that has its own sufficient conviction.这句要怎么翻译呢？
================================
如果Gaskell没有传达出这种全程都有参与的感觉，这会完全认证小说Mary Barton的这方面的价值，那么她依旧带给这些情景了一种直观得认知，而这些认知的本身就已经有足够的信服力。

非常难翻。。。

psyche89

确实，好绕啊。。。

如果Gaskell没有传达出这种全程都有参与的感觉，这会完全认证小说Mary Barton的这方面的价值，那么她依旧带给这些情景了一种直观得认知，而这些认知的本身就已经有足够的信服力。

非常难翻。。。

-- by 会员 manad (2013/1/20 10:59:15)