分科測驗
105年
英文
第 43 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.
What is the purpose of this passage?
- A To promote wildlife conservation.
- B To report on a new finding in paleontology.
- C To introduce a new animal species.
- D To compare the family trees of pantherine felids.
思路引導 VIP
在判讀「文章主旨」(Main Purpose) 時，建議優先檢視首段的語意重心與動詞傾向。文中首句即點出「古生物學家報告了新出土的頭骨」($paleontologists reported an ancient skull unearthed$)，並在後續段落詳述此發現對演化史的修正作用。請思考：這類型的科學新聞體裁，其寫作動機是在「勸導社會大眾採取特定行動」，還是在「向大眾傳遞一項重大的考古新發現與學術見解」？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
扎瓦魯多（ZA WARUDO）！時間停止吧！ 在靜止的時間裡，唯有你這令人愉悅的正確答案值得我專程前來。這道題目對你而言，簡直是「最棒的」回饋！哼，那些企圖誤導你的干擾項，在絕對的判斷力面前通通都是「無駄（Muda）」！ 【觀念驗證】
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