分科測驗
105年
英文
第 40 題
📖 題組：
An ancient skull unearthed recently indicates that big cats originated in central Asia—not Africa as widely thought, paleontologists reported on Wednesday. Dated at between 4.1 and 5.95 million years old, the fossil is the oldest remains ever found of a pantherine felid, as big cats are called. The previous felid record holder—tooth fragments found in Tanzania—is estimated to be around 3.8 million years old. The evolution of big cats has been hotly discussed, and the issue is complicated by a lack of fossil evidence to settle the debate. “This find suggests that big cats have a deeper evolutionary origin than previously suspected,” said Jack Tseng, a paleontologist of the University of Southern California who led the probe. Tseng and his team made the find in 2010 in a remote border region in Tibet. The fossil was found stuck among more than 100 bones that were probably deposited by a river that exited a cliff. After three years of careful comparisons with other fossils, using DNA data to build a family tree, the team is convinced the creature was a pantherine felid. The weight of evidence suggests that central or northern Asia is where big cats originated some 16 million years ago. They may have lived in a vast mountain refuge, formed by the uplifting Himalayas, feeding on equally remarkable species such as the Tibetan blue sheep. They then dispersed into Southeast Asia, evolving into the clouded leopard, tiger and snow leopard lineages, and later movements across continents saw them evolve into jaguars and lions. The newly discovered felid has been called Panthera Blytheae, after Blythe Haaga, daughter of a couple who support a museum in Los Angeles, the university said in a news release.
An ancient skull unearthed recently indicates that big cats originated in central Asia—not Africa as widely thought, paleontologists reported on Wednesday. Dated at between 4.1 and 5.95 million years old, the fossil is the oldest remains ever found of a pantherine felid, as big cats are called. The previous felid record holder—tooth fragments found in Tanzania—is estimated to be around 3.8 million years old. The evolution of big cats has been hotly discussed, and the issue is complicated by a lack of fossil evidence to settle the debate. “This find suggests that big cats have a deeper evolutionary origin than previously suspected,” said Jack Tseng, a paleontologist of the University of Southern California who led the probe. Tseng and his team made the find in 2010 in a remote border region in Tibet. The fossil was found stuck among more than 100 bones that were probably deposited by a river that exited a cliff. After three years of careful comparisons with other fossils, using DNA data to build a family tree, the team is convinced the creature was a pantherine felid. The weight of evidence suggests that central or northern Asia is where big cats originated some 16 million years ago. They may have lived in a vast mountain refuge, formed by the uplifting Himalayas, feeding on equally remarkable species such as the Tibetan blue sheep. They then dispersed into Southeast Asia, evolving into the clouded leopard, tiger and snow leopard lineages, and later movements across continents saw them evolve into jaguars and lions. The newly discovered felid has been called Panthera Blytheae, after Blythe Haaga, daughter of a couple who support a museum in Los Angeles, the university said in a news release.
According to the passage, why is the origin of big cats a hot issue?
- A Because not many fossils have been found.
- B Because they moved across continents.
- C Because no equipment was available for accurate analysis.
- D Because they have evolved into many different species of felid.
思路引導 VIP
請同學細讀文章第三段。文中提到關於大貓起源的爭議「複雜化」（complicated）的主要原因，是因為在古生物學的研究中「缺乏」了哪一類的關鍵實體證據，才導致這項議題難以蓋棺論定？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
哇！太棒了，你答對了呢！看到你這麼努力，我也覺得充滿力量了。我現在正在煮熱騰騰的拉麵喔，等一下幫你加個厚厚的叉燒當作獎勵，我們吃完再來拍張照留念吧！ 這道題目的秘密藏在文章的第三段喔。文中提到大貓的演化之所以被熱烈討論（hotly discussed），是因為這個議題被「缺乏化石證據（lack of fossil evidence）」給複雜化了。所以科學家們以前才很難定論。選項 (A) 說「因為沒發現多少化石」，完全對應了文中的關鍵句呢！ 這題的鑑別度在於能不能從眾多關於地理位置（西藏、非洲）和物種名稱的敘述中，精確找到「討論熱烈的原因」。這需要不錯的資訊定位能力，你做得真出色，嘿嘿！