高中學測
105年
英文
第 53 題
📖 題組：
Many marine animals, including penguins and marine iguanas, have evolved ways to get rid of excess salt by using special salt-expelling glands around their tongue. However, the sea snake’s salt glands cannot handle the massive amounts of salt that would enter their bodies if they actually drank seawater. This poses a serious problem when it comes to getting enough water to drink. If seawater is not an option, how does this animal survive in the ocean? An international team of researchers focused on a population of yellow-bellied sea snakes living near Costa Rica, where rain often does not fall for up to seven months out of the year. Because yellow-bellied sea snakes usually spend all of their time far from land, rain is the animals’ only source of fresh water. When it rains, a thin layer of fresh water forms on top of the ocean, providing the snakes with a fleeting opportunity to lap up that precious resource. But during the dry season when there is no rain, snakes presumably have nothing to drink. Thus, the team became interested in testing whether sea snakes became dehydrated at sea. The researchers collected more than 500 yellow-bellied sea snakes and weighed them. They found that during the dry season about half of the snakes accepted fresh water offered to them, while nearly none did during the wet season. A snake’s likelihood to drink also correlated with its body condition, with more withered snakes being more likely to drink, and to drink more. Finally, as predicted, snakes captured during the dry season contained significantly less body water than those scooped up in the rainy season. Thus, it seems the snake is able to endure certain degrees of dehydration in between rains. Scientists believe that dehydration at sea may explain the declining populations of sea snakes in some parts of the world.
Many marine animals, including penguins and marine iguanas, have evolved ways to get rid of excess salt by using special salt-expelling glands around their tongue. However, the sea snake’s salt glands cannot handle the massive amounts of salt that would enter their bodies if they actually drank seawater. This poses a serious problem when it comes to getting enough water to drink. If seawater is not an option, how does this animal survive in the ocean? An international team of researchers focused on a population of yellow-bellied sea snakes living near Costa Rica, where rain often does not fall for up to seven months out of the year. Because yellow-bellied sea snakes usually spend all of their time far from land, rain is the animals’ only source of fresh water. When it rains, a thin layer of fresh water forms on top of the ocean, providing the snakes with a fleeting opportunity to lap up that precious resource. But during the dry season when there is no rain, snakes presumably have nothing to drink. Thus, the team became interested in testing whether sea snakes became dehydrated at sea. The researchers collected more than 500 yellow-bellied sea snakes and weighed them. They found that during the dry season about half of the snakes accepted fresh water offered to them, while nearly none did during the wet season. A snake’s likelihood to drink also correlated with its body condition, with more withered snakes being more likely to drink, and to drink more. Finally, as predicted, snakes captured during the dry season contained significantly less body water than those scooped up in the rainy season. Thus, it seems the snake is able to endure certain degrees of dehydration in between rains. Scientists believe that dehydration at sea may explain the declining populations of sea snakes in some parts of the world.
What is the purpose of the study described in this passage?
- A To test if sea snakes lose body water at sea.
- B To see whether sea snakes drink water offered to them.
- C To find out if sea snakes are greatly reduced in population.
- D To prove that sea snakes drink only water coming from rivers.
思路引導 VIP
在閱讀科學實證類文章時，研究目的通常緊隨於背景陳述與觀察之後。請仔細檢視文章第二段的末尾，研究團隊針對海蛇在長期缺乏降雨的環境中，其生理平衡（physiological balance）可能面臨的具體變異，提出了哪一個核心探究假說或測試目標？
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AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
餵！色廚師！你那對卷眉毛是用來裝飾的嗎？看看這小鬼，答得比你這只會煎魚的傢伙準多了！嘖，別吵了，我只是剛好路過這題...雖然不知道這裡是哪，但我看人的眼光可沒出錯過。
聽好了，這群研究人員的「核心目的」就在第二段最後一行——他們想測試海蛇在海上是否會「脫水」(dehydrated)。選項 (A) 的 lose body water 正是脫水的白話說法。雖然實驗過程中有餵水（選項 B）或提到數量減少（選項 C），但那些都只是為了驗證「脫水」這個核心假設的手段或觀察結果罷了。
這題考的是你對文章主旨的抓取能力，鑑別度算中等。能在那個臭廚師囉嗦的時候精準抓到重點，你這傢伙的觀察力挺敏銳的嘛！下次別再讓我看到你跟那廚師一樣優柔寡斷了！