The findings are too new to apply to human evolution, but at first glance they seem to fit the facts. Anthropologists believe that our ancestors became fully human only after they left their secure life in the trees for the harsh world of savanna(plain without trees). There, the demanding conditions triggered that most human of traits, the large brain, and the most profound evolutionary step of all was taken.
26. Two recent papers in Science magazine claim to have found evidence which contradicts the traditional notion that .
A) relatively harsh environments are the nurseries of evolution
B) evolution occurred in regions with biological diversity
C) new forms of life come into being in near-shore areas
D) species of birch and redwood originated in the south
27. According to Leo Hickey of Yale University, which of the following may have spawned more advanced species of land animals?
A) The barren ocean floor.B) The Arctic.
C) The rain forest.D) Temperate Zones.
28. The word “innovations” in the second paragraph means .
A) new theoryB) new phenomenonC) changesD) new inventions
29. How would anthropologists take the new findings?
A) They would look at them dubiously.
B) They would eagerly apply them to the study of human evolution.
C) They would challenge them, though at first glance they tend to look at them favorably.
D) They would most probably think the new findings fit well into their theory.
30. Which of the following may be an appropriate title of the passage?
A) Darwin’s Theory Modified.B) How Animals Evolve.
C) Evolution in Hard Places.D) Where Did Large Sea Animals Originate.
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
That question “why women live longer than men” can be answered at two levels. An evolutionary biologist would tell you that it is because women get evolutionary bonus points from living long enough to help bring up the grandchildren. Men, by contrast, wear themselves out competing for the right to procreate in the first place. That is probably true, but not much help to the medical profession. However, a group of researchers at John Moores University has just come up with a medically useful answer. It is that while 70-year-old men have the hearts of 70-year-olds, those of their female peers resemble the hearts of 20-year-olds.
David Goldspink and his colleagues looked at 250 volunteers aged between 18 and 80 over two years. All the volunteers were healthy but physically inactive. The team’s principal finding was that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25% between the ages of 18 and 70, while that of the female heart remains undiminished.
They found that between the ages of 20 and 70, men lose 1/3 of the contractile muscle cells in the walls of their hearts. Over the same period, women lose hardly any. There is a strong link between the number of these cells and the function of the heart. What remains a mystery is why men lose these cells and women do not.
