📖 原文
(1) Life originated in the early seas less than a billion years after the Earth was formed. (2) Yet another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals (3) appeared on the continents. Life's transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life. (4) What forms of life were able to make such a drastic change in lifestyle? The (5) traditional view of the first terrestrial organisms is based on megafossils - relatively (6) large specimens of essentially whole plants and animals. Vascular plants, related to (7) modern seed plants and ferns, left the first comprehensive megafossil record. Because (8) of this, it has been commonly assumed that the sequence of terrestrialization reflected (9) the evolution of modern terrestrial ecosystems. In this view, primitive vascular plants first colonized the margins of continental waters, followed by animals that fed on the (10) plants, and lastly by animals that preyed on the plant-eaters. Moreover, the megafossils (11) suggest that terrestrial life appeared and diversified explosively near the boundary (12) between the Silurian and the Devonian periods, a little more than 400 million years ago. (13) Recently, however, paleontologists have been taking a closer look at the sediments below this Silurian-Devonian geological boundary. It turns out that some fossils can be extracted from these sediments by putting the rocks in an acid bath. The technique has (14) uncovered new evidence from sediments that were deposited near the shores of the (15) ancient oceans — plant microfossils and microscopic pieces of small animals. In many instances the specimens are less than one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. Although they were entombed in the rocks for hundreds of millions of years, many of the fossils (16) consist of the organic remains of the organism. (17) These newly discovered fossils have not only revealed the existence of previously (18) unknown organisms, but have also pushed back these dates for the invasion of land by (19) multicellular organisms. Our views about the nature of the early plant and animal (20) communities are now being revised. And with those revisions come new speculations (21) about the first terrestrial life-forms.
❓ 试题解析
问题 28： The word “drastic” in line 5 is closest in meaning to
A. widespread
B. radical
C. progressive
D. risky
✅ 正确答案： B）radical
📝 解析： “such a drastic change in lifestyle” — drastic = 剧烈的/根本性的。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：drastic = radical = extreme。
问题 29： According to the theory that the author calls “the traditional view,” what was the first form of life to appear on land?
A. Bacteria
B. Meat-eating animals
C. Plant-eating animals
D. Vascular plants
✅ 正确答案： D）Vascular plants
📝 解析： “primitive vascular plants first colonized the margins of continental waters” — 维管植物最先出现。
💡 解题技巧： 细节题定位“first colonized”。
问题 30： According to the passage, what happened about 400 million years ago?
A. Many terrestrial life-forms died out.
B. New life-forms on land developed at a rapid rate.
C. The megafossils were destroyed by floods.
D. Life began to develop in the ancient seas.
✅ 正确答案： B）New life-forms on land developed at a rapid rate.
📝 解析： “terrestrial life appeared and diversified explosively near the boundary ... a little more than 400 million years ago。”
💡 解题技巧： 细节题定位“appeared and diversified explosively”。
问题 31： The word “extracted” in line 17 is closest in meaning to
A. located
B. preserved
C. removed
D. studied
✅ 正确答案： C）removed
📝 解析： “some fossils can be extracted from these sediments by putting the rocks in an acid bath” — extracted = 提取/取出。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：extract = remove = take out。
问题 32： What can be inferred from the passage about the fossils mentioned in lines 16-19?
A. They have not been helpful in understanding the evolution of terrestrial life.
B. They were found in approximately the same numbers as vascular plant fossils.
C. They are older than the megafossils.
D. They consist of modern life-forms.
✅ 正确答案： C）They are older than the megafossils.
📝 解析： 这些微化石来自志留纪-泥盆纪边界之下更古老的沉积层，比 megafossils 更古老。
💡 解题技巧： 推理题定位“below this Silurian-Devonian geological boundary”和“pushed back these dates”。
问题 33： The word “instances” in lines 19-20 is closest in meaning to
A. methods
B. processes
C. cases
D. reasons
✅ 正确答案： C）cases
📝 解析： “In many instances the specimens are...” — instances = 情况/例子。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：instance = case = example。
问题 34： The word “they” in line 20 refers to
A. rocks
B. shores
C. oceans
D. specimens
✅ 正确答案： D）specimens
📝 解析： “In many instances the specimens are less than ... Although they were entombed in the rocks” — they 指 specimens。
💡 解题技巧： 代词题找前一个名词（specimens）。
问题 35： The word “entombed” in line 21 is closest in meaning to
A. crushed
B. trapped
C. produced
D. excavated
✅ 正确答案： B）trapped
📝 解析： “they were entombed in the rocks for hundreds of millions of years” — entombed = 被埋葬/被困。
💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：entombed = buried = trapped。
问题 36： Which of the following resulted from the discovery of microscopic fossils?
A. The time estimate for the first appearance of terrestrial life-forms was revised.
B. Old techniques for analyzing fossils were found to have new uses.
C. The origins of primitive sea life were explained.
D. Assumptions about the locations of ancient seas were changed.
✅ 正确答案： A）The time estimate for the first appearance of terrestrial life-forms was revised.
📝 解析： “pushed back these dates for the invasion of land by multicellular organisms” — 将陆地生命出现的时间提前了。
💡 解题技巧： 细节题定位“pushed back these dates”。
问题 37： With which of the following conclusions would the author probably agree?
A. The evolution of terrestrial life was as complicated as the origin of life itself.
B. The discovery of microfossils supports the traditional view of how terrestrial life evolved.
C. New species have appeared at the same rate over the course of the last 400 million years.
D. The technology used by paleontologists is too primitive to make accurate determinations about ages of fossils.
✅ 正确答案： A）The evolution of terrestrial life was as complicated as the origin of life itself.
📝 解析： 作者说“Life's transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of life” — 向陆地生命的转变与生命起源本身一样具有挑战性。
💡 解题技巧： 推理题定位首段末句。
🌐 中文翻译
生命在地球形成后不到十亿年的早期海洋中起源。然而，又过了三十亿年，第一批植物和动物才出现在大陆上。生命从海洋到陆地的 transition 也许与生命的 genesis 一样，都是一个巨大的 evolutionary challenge。 什么样的生命形式能够完成如此 drastic 的生活方式改变？对第一批陆地生物的传统观点基于 megafossils——基本上是 whole 植物和动物的相对大型标本。与现代种子植物和蕨类植物有关的维管植物留下了第一个全面的 megafossil 记录。正因为如此，人们普遍认为，陆地化的顺序反映了现代陆地生态系统的 evolution。根据这种观点，原始维管植物首先 colonized 大陆水域的边缘，其次是食植物物，最后是捕食食植物物的动物。此外，megafossil 表明，陆地生命在志留纪和泥盆纪 period 之间的边界附近出现并 explosively 多样化，时间大约是4亿多年前。 然而，最近古生物学家一直在 closer 观察这个志留纪-泥盆纪地质边界以下的沉积物。事实证明，通过将岩石放入酸浴中，可以从这些沉积物中提取出一些化石。这项技术从古代海洋岸边附近沉积的沉积物中发现了新的证据——植物微化石和 small animals 的 microscopic pieces。在许多情况下，标本的直径小于十分之一毫米。尽管它们被 entombed 在岩石中数亿年，许多化石仍然由生物体的有机遗骸组成。 这些 newly discovered 化石不仅揭示了 previously unknown 生物的存在，而且还将 multi-cellular 生物入侵陆地的日期推得更早。我们对早期动植物群落性质的看法正在被 revised。随着这些修正，出现了关于第一批陆地生命形式的新猜测。
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