考研英语真题阅读理解试题及名师解析(29)

考研英语真题阅读理解试题及名师解析(29)
考研英语真题阅读理解试题及名师解析(29)
When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals: they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something
similar could be happening in the oceans.
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in
particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest
paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in
a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then。

Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That
is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now。

Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline”. The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery es when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business。

31. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that
[A] large animals were vulnerable to the changing enviro____ent。

[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared。

[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today。

[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones。

32. We can infer from Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that
[A] the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%。

[B] there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago。

[C] the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount。

[D] the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old。

33. By saying “these figures are conservative” (Line 1, Paragraph 3)， Dr. Worm means that
[A] fishing technology has improved rapidly。

[B] the catch-sizes are actually smaller then recorded。

[C] the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss。

[D] the data collected so far are out of date。

.
34. Dr. Myers and other researchers hold that
[A] people should look for a baseline that can work for a longer time。

[B] fisheries should keep the yields below 50% of the biomass。

[C] the ocean biomass should be restored to its original level。

[D] people should adjust the fishing baseline to the changing situation。

35. The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’
[A] management efficiency。

[B] biomass level。

[C] catch-size limits。

[D] technological application。

名师解析
31. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that
提及大型史前动物的灭绝是为了说明
[A] large animals were vulnerable to the changing enviro____ent。

大型动物容易受到环境变化的影响。

[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared。

当大型动物消失的时候小型物种存活了下来。

[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today。

大型海洋动物今天面临一样的威胁。

[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones。

成长缓慢的鱼要比成长快速的鱼活得长。

【答案】 C
【考点】推断题。

【分析^p 】通过题干【关键词】：^p “大型史前动物的灭绝”可以定位到第一段。

作者提到它们的灭绝是由于人类的捕杀，作者在第一段最后一句提到，“如今类似的事情可能会发生在海洋中”。

因此可以得出结论，即，作者是为了引用大型史前动物的灭绝来引出海洋物种同样面临着由于人类过度捕捞而灭绝的这个话题，故正确答案是[C]。

[A]、[B]、[D]选项都没有可以表达出作者的这个意图，而只是很浅层去分析^p 表象。

32. We can infer from Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that
从迈尔斯博士和沃尔姆博士的论文中我们可以推断出
[A] the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%。

一些老渔场里大型捕食类鱼种的贮存量已经减少了90%。

[B] there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago。

如今渔场的数量只有___年前数量的`一半。

[C] the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount。

新的渔场中的捕捉数量是原来数量的20%。

[D] the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old。

新的渔场里大型捕食类鱼种的数目下降比旧的渔场快。

【答案】 A
【考点】推断题。

【分析^p 】根据题干【关键词】：^p “Dr Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper”可以定位到第二段最后一句，“根据他们发表在《自然》杂志上的最新论文，一个新的渔场在被开发后的___年中大型捕食类鱼种的生物量平均减少了80%。

在有些长期捕捞的地区，自那以后，这个数量又减少了一半。

”本句的理解难点就是“In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then。

”这句话里面的
“since”从什么时间开场计算，影响此题的解答。

“since”指的是从___年完毕后开场算呢，还是从___年的第一年开场算。

假如是前者，那么答案是[A]，因为新的平均下降80%，
然后又下降了一半，这个意思就是一共下降了90%；假如是后者，那么得出旧渔场大型捕食类鱼种的减少速度低于新渔场，而且只有50%。

“since”接时间，后面必须是一个时间点。

假如“since”后面接的不是一个时间点而是时间段，那么从该时间段完毕的时候开场算。

例句：“It has been 10 years since I lived in Beijing。

”这句话的意思不是“我在北京十年了”，而是“我分开北京十年了”。

因此此题的正确答案是[A]。

“since”接的是___年完毕后的那个点；而且这句话里面还有一个很关键的词“again”(再次)，也很明显说明这里指的是“在下降80%之后，又再次减少了一半”，即“余下的20%又减少了一半，只剩下10%”。

33. By saying“these figures are
conservative”(Line 1, Paragraph 3)， Dr worm means that
沃尔姆博士说“these figures are conservative”(第三段第一行)，他的意思是
[A] fishing technology has improved rapidly. 捕鱼的技术已经得到快速进步。

[B] the catch-sizes are actually smaller than recorded. 捕鱼量比实际记录的少。

[C] the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss. 海洋生物量已经蒙受了更大的损失。

[D] the data collected so far are out of date. 目
前搜集的数据已经过时了。

【答案】 C
【考点】推断题。

【分析^p 】根据【关键词】：^p “conservative”的提示定位到第三段第一句。

作者说“这个
数据是保守的，因为捕鱼的技术已经进步了。

卫星和声纳定位
仪都用上了。

这就意味着如今海里有更高比例的海洋生物被捕
捞了。

如今和过去的真正差异可能比通过捕捞记录的反映出来
的差异更要糟糕。

”接下来的一句话的意思是“以前一些抓不
住的海洋生物如今都可以抓住了，以前被鲨鱼抢走的，如今由
于鲨鱼都不见了，自然被捕捞的就更多了。

”作者同时提到，“由于以前。