A recent study has provided clues to predator-prey dynamics in the late Pleistocene era. Researchers compared the number of tooth fractures in present-day carnivores with tooth fractures in carnivores that lived 36,000 to 10,000 years ago and that were preserved in the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles. The breakage frequencies in the extinct species were strikingly higher than those in the present-day species.
In considering possible explanations for this finding, the researchers dismissed demographic bias because older individuals were not overrepresented in the fossil samples. They rejected preservational bias because a total absence of breakage in two extinct species demonstrated that the fractures were not the result of abrasion within the pits. They ruled out local bias because breakage data obtained from other Pleistocene sites were similar to the La Brea data. The explanation they consider most plausible is behavioral differences between extinct and present-day carnivores-in particular, more contact between the teeth of predators and the bones of prey due to more thorough consumption of carcasses by the extinct species. Such thorough carcass consumption implies to the researchers either that prey availability was low, at least seasonally, or that there was intense competition over kills and a high rate of carcass theft due to relatively high predator densities.
7. The researchers’ conclusion concerning the absence of demographic bias would be most seriously undermined if it were found that
(A) the older as individual carnivore is, the more likely it is to have a large number of tooth fratures
(B) the average age at death of a present-day carnivores is greater than was the average age at death of a Pleistocene carnivore
(C) in Pleistocene carnivore species, older individuals consumed carcasses as thoroughly as did younger individuals
(D) the methods used to determine animals’ ages in fossile samples tend to misidentify many older individuals as younger individuals
(E) data concerning the ages of fossil samples cannot provide reliable information about behavioral differences between extinct carnivores and present-day carnivores
做这道题的关键是对 原文这句话“the researchers dismissed demographic bias because older individuals were not overrepresented in the fossil samples.”的理解。请问这句话怎么理解呢？非常感谢！作者: windows10 时间: 2010-4-2 06:57
做这道题的关键是对 原文这句话“the researchers dismissed demographic bias because older individuals were not overrepresented in the fossil samples.”的理解。请问这句话怎么理解呢？非常感谢！作者: windows10 时间: 2010-4-2 06:57
OG解释部分：The researchers concluded that demographic bias was not a factor because older individuals were not disproportionately represented among the fossils. The implication of this conclusion is that older individuals might be expected to have a higher rate of tooth breakage.
我主要是不明白为什么从the researchers dismissed demographic bias, because older individuals were not overrepresented in the fossil samples.”能推出“ older individuals might be expected to have a higher rate of tooth breakage.“作者: windows10 时间: 2010-4-2 21:12
这道题我是这样想的不知道对不对。
把older individuals were not overrepresented 取非，也就是older individuals were overrepresented 。D选项的意思决年龄的方法搞错了，本来是YOUNG的都应该是old，这样old的比率上升了。作者: williamblacks 时间: 2010-4-4 09:58
