gre考试阅读真题解析(A)

　　For many years, Benjamin Quarles seminal account of the participation of African Americans in the American Revolution has remained the standard work in the field. According to Quarles, the outcome of this conflict was mixed for African American slaves who enlisted in Britains fight against its rebellious American colonies in return for the promise of freedom: the British treacherously resold many into slavery in the West Indies , while others obtained freedom in Canada and Africa. Building on Quarles analysis of the latter group, Sylvia Frey studied the former slaves who emigrated to British colonies in Canada. According to Frey, these refugeesthe most successful of the African American Revolutionary War participantsviewed themselves as the ideological heirs of the American Revolution. Frey sees this inheritances reflected in their demands for the same rights that the American revolutionaries had demanded from the British: land ownership, limits to arbitrary authority and burdensome taxes, and freedom of religion.

　　17. According to the passage, which of the following is true about the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution?

　　 Although they were politically unaligned with either side, they identified more with British ideology than with American ideology.

　　 While they were not immediately betrayed by the British, they ultimately suffered the same fate as did African American Revolutionary War participants who were resold into slavery in the West Indies.

　　 They settled in Canada rather than in Africa because of the greater religious freedom available in Canada.

　　 They were more politically active than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Africa.

　　 They were more successful than were African American Revolutionary War participants who settled Africa.

　　18. Which of the following is most analogous to the relationship between the African American Revolutionary War participants who settled in Canada after the American Revolution and the American revolutionaries, as that relationship is described in the passage?

　　 A brilliant pupil of a great musician rebels against the teacher, but adopts the teachers musical style after the teachers unexpected death.

　　 Two warring rulers finally make peace after a lifetime of strife when they realize that they have been duped by a common enemy.

　　 A child who has sided with a domineering parent against a defiant sibling later makes demands of the parent similar to those once made by the sibling.

　　 A writer spends much of her life popularizing the work of her mentor, only to discover late in life that much of the older writers work is plagiarized from the writings of a foreign contemporary.

　　 Two research scientists spend much of their careers working together toward a common goal, but later quarrel over which of them should receive credit for the training of a promising student.

　　19. The author of the passage suggests that which of the following is true of Benjamin Quarles work?

　　 It introduced a new and untried research methodology.

　　 It contained theories so controversial that they gave rise to an entire generation of scholarship.

　　 It was a pioneering work that has not yet been displaced by subsequent scholarship.

　　 It launched the career of a scholar who later wrote even more important works.

　　 At the time it appeared, its author already enjoyed a well-established reputation in the field.

　　20. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage concerning Britains rule in its Canadian colonies after the American Revolution?

　　 Humiliated by their defeat by the Americans, the British sharply curtailed civil rights in their Canadian colonies.

　　 The British largely ignored their Canadian colonies.

　　 The British encouraged the colonization of Canada by those African Americans who had served on the American side as well as by those who had served on the British side.

　　 Some of Britains policies in its Canadian colonies were similar to its policies in its American colonies before the American Revolution.

　　 To reduce the debt incurred during the war, the British imposed even higher taxes on the Canadian colonists than they had on the American colonists.

　　Over the years, biologists have suggested two main pathways by which sexual selection ) may have shaped the evolution of male birdsong. In the first, male competition and intrasexual selection produce relatively short, simple songs used mainly in territorial behavior. In the second, female choice and intersexual selection produce longer, more complicated songs used mainly in mate attraction; like such visual ornamentation as the peacocks tail, elaborate vocal characteristics increase the males chances of being chosen as a mate, and he thus enjoys more reproductive success than his less ostentatious rivals. The two pathways are not mutually exclusive, and we can expect to find examples that reflect their interaction. Teasing for microscopic examination) them apart has been an important challenge to evolutionary biologists.

　　Early research confirmed the role of intrasexual selection. In a variety of experiments in the field, males responded aggressively to recorded songs by exhibiting territorial behavior near the speakers. The breakthrough for research into intersexual selection came in the development of a new technique for investigating female response in the laboratory. When female cowbirds raised in isolation in sound-proof chambers were exposed to recordings of male song, they responded by exhibiting mating behavior. By quantifying the responses, researchers were able to determine what particular features of the song were most important. In further experiments on song sparrows that is brownish above and white below with brownish streaks on the breast and that is noted for it melodious song), researchers found that when exposed to a single song type repeated several times or to a repertoire of different song types, females responded more to the latter. The beauty of the experimental design is that it effectively rules out confounding variables; acoustic isolation assures that the female can respond only to the song structure itself.

　　If intersexual selection operates as theorized, males with more complicated songs should not only attract females more readily but should also enjoy greater reproductive success. At first, however, researchers doing fieldwork with song sparrows found no correlation between larger repertoires and early mating, which has been shown to be one indicator of reproductive success; further, common measures of male quality used to predict reproductive success, such as weight, size, age, and territory, also failed to correlate with song complexity.

　　The confirmation researchers had been seeking was finally achieved in studies involving two varieties of warblers. Unlike the song sparrow, which repeats one of its several song types in bouts before switching to another, the warbler continuously composes much longer and more variable songs without repetition. For the first time , researchers found a significant correlation between repertoire size and early mating, and they discovered further that repertoire size had a more significant effect than any other measure of male quality on the number of young produced. The evidence suggests that warblers use their extremely elaborate songs primarily to attract females, clearly confirming the effect of intersexual selection on the evolution of birdsong.

　　21. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　 showing that intrasexual selection has a greater effect on birdsong than does intersexual selection

　　 contrasting the role of song complexity in several species of birds

　　 describing research confirming the suspected relationship between intersexual selection and the complexity of birdsong

　　 demonstrating the superiority of laboratory work over field studies in evolutionary biology

　　 illustrating the effectiveness of a particular approach to experimental design in evolutionary biology

　　22. The author mentions the peacocks tail in line 8 most probably in order to

　　 cite an exception to the theory of the relationship between intrasexual selection and male competition

　　 illustrate the importance of both of the pathways that shaped the evolution of birdsong

　　 draw a distinction between competing theories of intersexual selection

　　 give an example of a feature that may have evolved through intersexual selection by female choice

　　 refute a commonly held assumption about the role of song in mate attraction

　　23. According to the passage, which of the following is specifically related to intrasexual selection?

　　 Female choice

　　 Territorial behavior

　　 Complex song types

　　 Large song repertoires

　　 Visual ornamentation

　　24. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly demonstrate the interaction mentioned in lines 11-13?

　　 Female larks respond similarly both to short, simple songs and to longer, more complicated songs.

　　 Male canaries use visual ornamentation as well as elaborate song repertoires for mate attraction.

　　 Both male and female blackbirds develop elaborate visual and vocal characteristics.

　　 Male jays use songs to compete among themselves and to attract females.

　　 Male robins with elaborate visual ornamentation have as much reproductive success as rivals with elaborate vocal characteristics.

　　25. The passage indicates that researchers raised female cowbirds in acoustic isolation in order to

　　 eliminate confounding variables

　　 approximate field conditions

　　 measure reproductive success

　　 quantify repertoire complexity

　　 prevent early mating

　　26. According to the passage, the song sparrow is unlike the warbler in that the song sparrow

　　 uses songs mainly in territorial behavior

　　 continuously composes long and complex songs

　　 has a much larger song repertoire

　　 repeats one song type before switching to another

　　 responds aggressively to recorded songs

　　27. The passage suggests that the song sparrow experiments mentioned in lines 37-43 failed to confirm the role of intersexual selection because

　　 females were allowed to respond only to the song structure

　　 song sparrows are unlike other species of birds

　　 the experiments provided no evidence that elaborate songs increased male reproductive success

　　 the experiments included the songs of only a small number of different song sparrows

　　 the experiments duplicated some of the limitations of previous field studies

　　答案：17-27：ECCDCDBDADC