Question

When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strong happened to the large animals; they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived; the large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. 
Now something similar could be happening in the oceans. That the seas are being over-fished has been known for years and researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) inanes fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.
Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative (保守的). One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around noise.
Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the date support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline”. The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.
小題1:The aim of the extinction of large prehistoric animals is to suggest that _______.

A．large animal were not easy to survive in the changing environment

B．small species survived as large animals disappeared

C．large sea animals may face the same threat today.

D．Slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones

小題2:We can infer from Dr Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that _______.

A．the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90%

B．there are only half as many fisheries are there were 15 years ago

C．the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount

D．the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old

小題3:By saying these figures are conservative (line 1, paragraph 3), Dr worm means that_______.

A．fishing technology has improved rapidly

B．then catch-sizes are actually smaller then recorded

C．the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss

D．the date collected so far are out of date.

小題4:Dr Myers and other researchers hold that _______.

A．people should look for a baseline that can’t work for a longer time

B．fisheries should keep the yield below 50% of the biomass

C．the ocean biomass should restore its original level.

D．people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation.

小題5:The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’ _______.

A．management efficiency

B．biomass level

C．catch-size limits

D．technological application.

Answer 1

小題1:C
小題2:A
小題3:C
小題4:D
小題5:B

試題分析：文章講述了研究人員現在指出海洋中由于過度捕撈，魚類正在減少，說明了魚類正在減少原因及呼吁改變捕魚的底線來改變現在的狀況。
小題1:推斷題。從文章第一自然段和第二自然段的描寫中，我們可知大型史前動物的滅絕的目的是為了表明如今海洋中的大型生物可能也同樣遭受著威脅，故選C
小題2:推斷題。從文章the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) inanes fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then. 可知，在一些老的漁場，大型捕食動物的儲藏量已經減少了90%，文章提到的是平均80%，所以可知A正確。
小題3:細節題。從文One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved.Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar,可知，這些數字之所以是保守估計，是因為現代科學技術的進步，給捕魚帶來帶來了方便，海洋生物已經遭受了更大的破壞，故選C
小題4:推斷題。從文章Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. 及最后可知，現在絕大多數的漁場的魚的數量只是以前的一半，甚至更少，所以人們應該調整捕魚的基線來改變現在狀態，故選D
小題5:推斷題。文章整個文段都在圍繞"海洋生物總量"這個話題展開的，文中多次出現了"biomass"這個詞，故選B
點評：本文較難，取自于2006年考研的題目。對于此類科普類文章對于學生來說，很難把握作者寫作的主要意圖和言外之意。那么在解答的過程中就必須結合題目中的選項，仔細的來推敲文章所表達的意思，對于一下子無法解決的問題，可以待所有題目解答完后，再來仔細的作答。