A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion

发布时间:2020-08-16 17:55:04

A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has  e up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石),mammoths and mastodons the team pared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.
There has long been debate in the scientific munity that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.
Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950 all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should bee a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”
【小题1】
One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of     . A.the Asian elephantB.the forest elephant C.the savanna elephantD.the mastodon elephant【小题2】
The underlined word “divergence” in paragraph 4means “    ”A.evolutionB.exhibitionC.separationD.examination【小题3】
The researcher’s conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s      A.DNAB.heightC.weightD.population【小题4】
What were Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?A.The conversation of African elephants.B.The purpose of studying African elephantsC.The way to divide African elephants into two unitsD.The reason for the distinction of African elephants【小题5】
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?A.Naturalist’s Belief about Elephants.B.Amazing Experiment about ElephantsC.An Unexpected Finding about ElephantsD.A Long scientific Debate about ElephantsD 

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(答案→)D 
解析:
【小题1】fossils 定位,找到第三段第一句,有两种fossils,mam和mas,选项D
【小题1】文中divergence of the two species指代前文the Ase and the Afe have been distinct species, divergence与distinct同义替换,对应选项C
【小题1】conclusion, based on定位,找到倒数第二段最后一句lay in 与based on 同义替换,答案:A
【小题1】AR定位,找到倒数第一段,从AR的话中,第一句for conservation purpose, 最后一句for conservation purpose确定A
【小题1】文章首句点明全文主旨,答案:C
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