新GRE中短篇阅读真题精选
Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
1. The passage mentions which of the following as an effect of bird plumage?
A. It contributes to a bird’s ability to fly.
B. It hides the inner workings of birds.
C. It contributes to the structural soundness of birds.
2. The author implies which of the following about the “underlying body parts” of nonhuman mammals?
A. They are more similar to humans’ underlying body parts than most people assume.
B. They are more predictable in their workings than are the underlying body parts of humans.
C. Their smooth and grateful actions belie how complicated they actually are.
D. They work in much different ways than do the underlying body parts of most birds.
E. They are easier to observe and understand than are underlying parts of birds.
答案：ABC E
Passage 8
An influential early view held that ecosystems contain niches for a limited number of species and that competition for resources among species—whether native or nonnative invading ones—determines ecosystems’ species composition. However, factors other than competition often help explain invading species’ success. For example, the American grey squirrel, often cited as a classic example of competitively superior invading species, was introduced in England in 1876 and now thrives, while the native red squirrel population has declined. Although scientists have found gray squirrels to be more efficient foragers than red ones, they also note that even before the gray squirrel’s arrival, Britain’s red squirrel populations had a periodic tendency to die out, only to be subsequently reintroduced. Furthermore, many gray squirrels are silent carriers of a disease fatal to red squirrels.
1. It can be inferred that the author of the passage mentions the efficiency with which gray squirrels forage primarily in order to
A. identify a factor that explains a certain phenomenon
B. call attention to an inconsistency in a particular theory
C. suggest that competition cannot be the factor responsible for a particular outcome
D. acknowledge a fact that appears to support a view that the author intends to qualify
E. cite evidence that is not consistent with an early influential view about species competition
2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the “early view?”
A. It reflects a mistaken assumption about the means by which nonnative species are introduced into ecosystems.
B. Its basic premise is shown to be valid by the effect of American gray squirrels on Britain’s red squirrel population.
C. It presents a simplistic picture of the means by which species composition within ecosystems is determined.
D. It can effectively explain the formation of ecosystems that contain few species but cannot adequately account for the formation of complex ecosystems.
E. It understates the importance of competition as a factor determining species composition within ecosystems.
答案：D C
Passage 9
Hotter and more massive than the Sun, stars called “stragglers” are puzzling to astronomers because such rapidly burning stars would not be expected to persist in ancient star clusters. Some researchers believe that the typical blue stragglers formed when two ancient, lower-mass stars collide and merge form more massive, hotter star. Peter Leonard theorizes alternatively that in low density globular clusters, where mergers between single stars occur too infrequently to account for the observed quantity of blue stragglers, these stragglers are created instead by a group of stars. He suggests that a pair of stars already orbiting each other presents a larger target for a third star or another pair. Once this new grouping forms, close encounters between the stars could prompt any two to merge as a blue straggler. Leonard’s model predicts that each blue straggler has a distant orbiting companion—as appears true of many blue stragglers in the M67 cluster of the Milky Way galaxy.
1. The reference to a “larger target” serves primarily to suggest why a
A. blue straggler would be more likely to collide and merge with another star than would be a lower-mass star
B. pair of stars would be more likely to encounter other stars than would the typical blue straggler
C. pair of stars would be more likely to interact with other stars than would a single star
D. blue straggler would be more likely to interact with a pair of stars than it would with a third star