gre阅读练习每日一篇(三十五)

　　掌握了gre阅读里的长难句，到了实战演习的时候了。gre阅读练习每日一篇帮助gre考生循序渐进地进行练习和总结。希望gre考生在进行gre阅读练习时，也按着考试时候的时间规定自己的练习，这样才能有效果。

　　Of Homers two epic poems, the Odyssey has always been more popular than the Iliad, perhaps because it includes more features of mythology that are accessible to readers. Its subject is life-as-spectacle, for readers, diverted by its various incidents, observe its hero Odysseus primarily from without; the tragic Iliad, however, presents life-as-experience: readers are asked to identify with the mind of Achilles, whose motivations render him a not particularly likable hero. In addition, the Iliad, more than the Odyssey, suggests the complexity of the gods involvement in human actions, and to the extent that modern readers find this complexity a needless complication, the Iliad is less satisfying than the Odyssey, with its simpler scheme of divine justice. Finally, since the Iliad presents a historically verifiable action, Troys siege, the poem raises historical questions that are absent from the Odysseys blithely imaginative world.

　　17. The author uses Macks categories most probably in order to

　　 argue that the Iliad should replace the Odyssey as the more popular poem

　　 indicate Macks importance as a commentator on the Iliad and the Odyssey

　　 suggest one way in which the Iliad and the Odyssey can be distinguished

　　 point out some of the difficulties faced by readers of the Iliad and the Odyssey

　　 demonstrate that the Iliad and the Odyssey can best be distinguished by comparing their respective heroes

　　18. The author suggests that the variety of incidents in the Odyssey is likely to deter the reader from

　　 concentrating on the poems mythological features

　　 concentrating on the psychological states of the poems central character

　　 accepting the explanation that have been offered for the poems popularity

　　 accepting the poems scheme of divine justice

　　 accepting Maynard Macks theory that the poems subject is life-as-spectacle

　　19. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　 distinguishing arguments

　　 applying classifications

　　 initiating a debate

　　 resolving a dispute

　　 developing a contrast

　　20. It can be inferred from the passage that a reader of the Iliad is likely to have trouble identifying with the poems hero for which of the following reasons?

　　 The hero is eventually revealed to be unheroic.

　　 The hero can be observed by the reader only from without.

　　 The heros psychology is not historically verifiable.

　　 The heros emotions often do not seem appealing to the reader.

　　 The heros emotions are not sufficiently various to engage the readers attention.

　　Flatfish, such as the flounder, are among the few vertebrates that lack approximate bilateral symmetry . Most striking among the many asymmetries evident in an adult flatfish is eye placement: before maturity one eye migrates, so that in an adult flatfish both eyes are on the same side of the head. While in most species with asymmetries virtually all adults share the same asymmetry, members of the starry flounder 箭齿鲽,星斑川鲽) species can be either left-eyed or right-eyed. In the waters between the United States and Japan, the starry flounder populations vary from about 50 percent left-eyed off the United States West Coast, through about 70 percent left-eyed halfway between the United States and Japan, to nearly 100 percent left-eyed off the Japanese coast.

　　Biologists call this kind of gradual variation over a certain geographic range a cline ) and interpret clines as strong indications that the variation is adaptive, a response to environmental differences. For the starry flounder this interpretation implies that a geometric difference is adaptive, that left-eyedness in the Japanese starry flounder has been selected for, which provokes a perplexing questions: what is the selective advantage in having both eyes on one side rather than on the other?

　　The ease with which a fish can reverse the effect of the sidedness of its eye asymmetry simply by turning around has caused biologists to study internal anatomy, especially the optic nerves, for the answer. In all flatfish the optic nerves cross, so that the right optic nerve is joined to the brains left side and vice versa. This crossing introduces an asymmetry, as one optic nerve must cross above or below the other. G. H. Parker reasoned that if, for example, a flatfishs left eye migrated when the right optic nerve was on top, there would be a twisting of nerves, which might be mechanically disadvantageous. For starry flounders, then, the left-eyed variety would be selected against, since in a starry flounder the left optic nerve is uppermost.

　　The problem with the above explanation is that the Japanese starry flounder population is almost exclusively left-eyed, an natural selection never promotes a purely less advantageous variation. As other explanations proved equally untenable, biologists concluded that there is no important adaptive difference between left-eyedness and right-eyedness, and that the two characteristics are genetically associated with some other adaptively significant characteristic. This situation is one commonly encountered by evolutionary biologists, who must often decide whether a characteristic is adaptive or selectively neutral. As for the left-eyed and right-eyed flatfish, their difference, however striking, appears to be an evolutionary red herring .

　　21. According to the passage, starry flounder differ from most other species of flatfish in that starry flounder

　　 are not basically bilaterally symmetric

　　 do not become asymmetric until adulthood

　　 do not all share the same asymmetry

　　 have both eyes on the same side of the head

　　 tend to cluster in only certain geographic regions

　　22. The author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about left-eyedness and right-eyedness in the starry flounder?

　　I. They are adaptive variations by the starry flounder to environmental differences.

　　II. They do not seem to give obvious selective advantages to the starry flounder.

　　III. They occur in different proportions in different locations.

　　 I only

　　 II only

　　 I and III only

　　 II and III only

　　 I, II, and III

　　23. According to the passage, a possible disadvantage associated with eye migration in flatfish is that the optic nerves can

　　 adhere to one another

　　 detach from the eyes

　　 cross

　　 stretch

　　 twist

　　24. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage as a whole?

　　 A phenomenon is described and an interpretation presented and rejected.

　　 A generalization is made and supporting evidence is supplied and weighed.

　　 A contradiction is noted and a resolution is suggested and then modified.

　　 A series of observations is presented and explained in terms of the dominant theory.

　　 A hypothesis is introduced and corroborated in the light of new evidence.

　　25. The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?

　　 Why are Japanese starry flounder mostly left-eyed?

　　 Why should the eye-sidedness in starry flounder be considered selectively neutral?

　　 Why have biologists recently become interested in whether a characteristic is adaptive or selectively neutral?

　　 How do the eyes in flatfish migrate?

　　 How did Parker make his discoveries about the anatomy of optic nerves in flatfish?

　　26. Which of the following is most clearly similar to a cline as it is described in the second paragraph of the passage?

　　 A vegetable market in which the various items are grouped according to place of origin

　　 A wheat field in which different varieties of wheat are planted to yield a crop that will bring the maximum profit

　　 A flower stall in which the various species of flowers are arranged according to their price

　　 A housing development in which the length of the front struts supporting the porch of each house increases as houses are built up the hill

　　 A national park in which the ranger stations are placed so as to be inconspicuous, and yet as easily accessible as possible

　　27. Which of the following phrases from the passage best expresses the authors conclusion about the meaning of the difference between left-eyed and right-eyed flatfish?

　　 Most striking

　　 variation is adaptive

　　 mechanically disadvantageous

　　 adaptively significant

　　 evolutionary red herring

答案：17-27：CBEDCDEABDE