手机APP下载

您现在的位置: 首页 > SAT > SAT阅读 > SAT阅读训练 > 正文

SAT阅读理解模拟练习题第7篇

来源:可可英语 编辑:melody   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

  SAT阅读试题:SAT Reading Comprehension Test 7

  That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has

  been a general assumption which has passed from

  one work to another; but I do not hesitate to say that

  it is completely false, and that it has vitiated the

  5 reasoning of geologists on some points of great

  interest in the ancient history of the world. The

  prejudice has probably been derived from India, and

  the Indian islands, where troops of elephants, noble

  forests, and impenetrable jungles, are associated

  10 together in every one's mind. If, however, we refer to

  any work of travels through the southern parts of

  Africa, we shall find allusions in almost every page

  either to the desert character of the country, or to the

  numbers of large animals inhabiting it. The same

  15 thing is rendered evident by the many engravings

  which have been published of various parts of the

  interior.

  Dr. Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in

  passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that,

  20 taking into consideration the whole of the southern

  part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a

  sterile country. On the southern coasts there are some

  fine forests, but with these exceptions, the traveller

  may pass for days together through open plains,

  25 covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. Now, if we

  look to the animals inhabiting these wide plains, we

  shall find their numbers extraordinarily great, and

  their bulk immense. We must enumerate the elephant,

  three species of rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the

  30 giraffe, the bos caffer, two zebras, two gnus, and

  several antelopes even larger than these latter

  animals. It may be supposed that although the species

  are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few.

  By the kindness of Dr. Smith, I am enabled to show

  35 that the case is very different. He informs me, that in

  lat. 24', in one day's march with the bullock-wagons,

  he saw, without wandering to any great distance on

  either side, between one hundred and one hundred

  and fifty rhinoceroses - the same day he saw several

  40 herds of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a

  hundred. At the distance of a little more than one

  hour's march from their place of encampment on the

  previous night, his party actually killed at one spot

  eight hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this

  45 same river there were likewise crocodiles. Of course

  it was a case quite extraordinary, to see so many great

  animals crowded together, but it evidently proves that

  they must exist in great numbers. Dr. Smith describes

  the country passed through that day, as 'being thinly

  50 covered with grass, and bushes about four feet high,

  and still more thinly with mimosa-trees.'

  Besides these large animals, every one the least

  acquainted with the natural history of the Cape, has

  read of the herds of antelopes, which can be

  55 compared only with the flocks of migratory birds.

  The numbers indeed of the lion, panther, and hyena,

  and the multitude of birds of prey, plainly speak of

  the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds: one

  evening seven lions were counted at the same time

  60 prowling round Dr. Smith's encampment. As this able

  naturalist remarked to me, the carnage each day in

  Southern Africa must indeed he terrific! I confess it is

  truly surprising how such a number of animals can

  find support in a country producing so little food. The

  65 larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over wide tracts in

  search of it; and their food chiefly consists of

  underwood, which probably contains much nutriment

  in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the

  vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part

  70 consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock.

  There can be no doubt, however, that our ideas

  respecting the apparent amount of food necessary for

  the support of large quadrupeds are much

  exaggerated.

  75 The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the

  vegetation must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more

  remarkable, because the converse is far from true. Mr.

  Burchell observed to me that when entering Brazil,

  nothing struck him more forcibly than the splendour of

  80 the South American vegetation contrasted with that of

  South Africa, together with the absence of all large

  quadrupeds. In his Travels, he has suggested that the

  comparison of the respective weights (if there were

  sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest

  85 herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would be

  extremely curious. If we take on the one side, the

  elephants hippopotamus, giraffe, bos caffer, elan,five

  species of rhinoceros; and on the American side, two

  tapirs, the guanaco, three deer, the vicuna, peccari,

  90 capybara (after which we must choose from the

  monkeys to complete the number), and then place

  these two groups alongside each other it is not easy to

  conceive ranks more disproportionate in size. After the

  above facts, we are compelled to conclude, against

  95 anterior probability, that among the mammalia there

  exists no close relation between the bulk of the

  species, and the quantity of the vegetation, in the

  countries which they inhabit.

重点单词   查看全部解释    
informed [in'fɔ:md]

想一想再看

adj. 见多识广的 v. 通告,告发 vbl. 通告,

 
eliminate [i'limineit]

想一想再看

v. 除去,剔除; 忽略

联想记忆
extremely [iks'tri:mli]

想一想再看

adv. 极其,非常

联想记忆
counted [kaunt]

想一想再看

vt. 计算;认为 vi. 计数;有价值 n. 计数;计

 
phenomenon [fi'nɔminən]

想一想再看

n. 现象,迹象,(稀有)事件

联想记忆
expedition [.ekspi'diʃən]

想一想再看

n. 远征,探险队,迅速

联想记忆
concerned [kən'sə:nd]

想一想再看

adj. 担忧的,关心的

 
except [ik'sept]

想一想再看

vt. 除,除外
prep. & conj.

联想记忆
speculative ['spekju.lətiv]

想一想再看

adj. 推测的,推理的,思索的,投机的

 
impenetrable [im'penitrəbl]

想一想再看

adj. 不能穿过的,不可理喻的

联想记忆

发布评论我来说2句

    最新文章

    可可英语官方微信(微信号:ikekenet)

    每天向大家推送短小精悍的英语学习资料.

    添加方式1.扫描上方可可官方微信二维码。
    添加方式2.搜索微信号ikekenet添加即可。