Cats'Domestication托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Cats'Domestication托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Cats'Domestication托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:In our last class we began talking about animal domestication.And we said it's the process whereby a population of animals is bred in captivity and becomes accustomed to being provided for and controlled by humans.Question,Jim?

MALE STUDENT:Yeah.I was thinking...you said domesticated animals usually served some kind of purpose for humans,like horses could...uh...pull heavy loads,and dogs could hunt or herd sheep,but cats,why were they ever domesticated?I mean,mine can't do much of anything.FEMALE PROFESSOR:Interesting question.Cats don't seem likely candidates for domestication,do they?They actually lack an important characteristic that most animals that can be domesticated have:Domesticable animals tend to live in herds or packs,with clear dominance hierarchies.Humans could easily take advantage of this hierarchical structure.By supplanting the alpha individual,they could gain control of the whole group or of individuals as in the case of dogs.Cats in the wild,though,rarely have this structure.For the most part,they are solitary hunters.But...as for their utility to humans...Well,it's helpful to think about when and where cat domestication might've begun. Any ideas,Jim?

MALE STUDENT:Well,I'd guess ancient Egypt?I'm thinking of all those ancient Egyptian paintings of cats.FEMALE PROFESSOR:Good guess.—those paintings you mentioned do provide the oldest known depictions of full cat domestication,where cats are,without question,household companions.The paintings from about 3,600 years ago typically show cats in Egyptian homes poised under chairs,sometimes wearing collars,eating scraps of food out of bowls.....But the Egyptians don't get credited for the early stages of cat domestication where cats are just beginning to interact with humans.There are signs of early domestication as far back as 9,500 years ago!Recently,two graves were discovered on the Island of Cyprus.

One was the grave of a human,buried with some tools,sea shells and other items,and nearby,a cat was buried in its own grave.Interestingly,the cat's body was oriented in the same westward direction as the human's body.

Another notable thing about the two bodies was that they were in an identical state of preservation,suggesting they had been buried at the same time.So we can assume that humans had at least some kind of relationship with cats as early as 9,500 years ago!MALE STUDENT:So cat domestication began in Cyprus?

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,except cats weren't native to Cyprus.They were undoubtedly brought over to the island by boat probably from the nearby coast of the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East.In fact,extensive DNA analysis has now confirmed what archaeologists have believed for quite some time.All modern domesticate cats arose from just one subspecies of wild cat from that single location:the Fertile Crescent,and not from any of the other four subspecies of wild cats located in other areas throughout the world.Pretty amazing,isn't it?Which brings us back to Jim's question:why did it happen?And how?Well,for years,researchers have pondered this question of cat domestication,and the best I can do here is just a theory?But tell me it doesn't make sense!

In evolutionary terms,early settlements and agriculture in the Fertile Crescent around 10,000 years ago created a completely new environment for any wild animals that were flexible and curious enough to exploit it.Mice were attracted to these settlements,and cats,being obligate carnivores they must eat meat to thrive,They were almost certainly drawn to the settlements by the mice.Over time,only the cats that could adapt to living in human-dominated environments would have stayed and thrived.People probably encouraged them to stick around and controlled the mice in the field and the granaries,and eventually,their homes,and perhaps simply grew to like their company too.MALE STUDENT:Hmm...so in a way,the difference with cats was that domestication was their idea instead of ours.

But?why do you suppose only one of the five subspecies was domesticated?Were the others just not friendly enough towards humans?FEMALE PROFESSOR:Well,no.In fact,at least two of the other subspecies are known to be relatively friendly,but the Fertile Crescent subspecies had,well,a head start because of its proximity to the first human settlements.And as agriculture spread,the tamed ancestors of this subspecies spread with it.So they filled the niche of home companion in each region they entered—and effectively shut out the local subspecies that were already there.

二、Cats'Domestication托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：在考古學(xué)課上聽一部分講座。女教授：上節(jié)課我們開始討論動物馴化。我們說這是；圈養(yǎng)繁殖動物群體在圈養(yǎng)中繁殖并習(xí)慣于由人類提供和控制的過程。有問題嗎，吉姆？

男學(xué)生：是的。我在想…你說家養(yǎng)動物通常對人類有某種用途，比如馬可以…呃…拉重物，狗可以打獵或放羊，但是貓，為什么它們會被家養(yǎng)？我的意思是，我的什么都做不了。女教授：這是一個有趣的問題。貓似乎不太可能被馴化，是嗎？它們實際上缺乏大多數(shù)可馴化動物所具有的一個重要特征：家養(yǎng)動物往往成群結(jié)隊地生活，具有明顯的優(yōu)勢等級。人類可以很容易地利用這種層次結(jié)構(gòu)。通過取代阿爾法個體，他們可以像狗一樣控制整個群體或個體。然而，野生貓很少有這種結(jié)構(gòu)。在大多數(shù)情況下，他們是孤獨(dú)的獵人。但是…至于它們對人類的效用…好吧，思考一下貓的馴化何時何地開始是很有幫助的&nbsp；有什么想法嗎，吉姆？

男學(xué)生：我猜是古埃及吧？我想到了所有古埃及的貓畫。女教授：猜對了-你提到的那些畫確實提供了已知最古老的貓完全馴化的描述，毫無疑問，貓是家庭伴侶。大約3600年前的畫作通常展示了埃及家庭中的貓在椅子下一動不動，有時戴著項圈，吃著碗里的零碎食物……但埃及人并沒有因為貓馴化的早期階段而得到認(rèn)可，因為貓才剛剛開始與人類互動。早在9500年前就有早期馴化的跡象！最近，在塞浦路斯島上發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩座墳?zāi)埂?/p>

一個是一個人的墳?zāi)?，埋著一些工具、貝殼和其他物品。附近，一只貓被埋在自己的墳?zāi)估?。有趣的是，貓的身體和人的身體朝向同一個西方方向。

關(guān)于這兩具尸體，另一件值得注意的事情是，它們處于相同的保存狀態(tài)，這表明它們是同時埋葬的。所以我們可以假設(shè)人類至少早在9500年前就和貓有過某種關(guān)系！男學(xué)生：那么，貓的馴化是從塞浦路斯開始的？

女教授：嗯，除了貓不是土生土長的塞浦路斯人。毫無疑問，他們是從中東富饒的新月海岸附近乘船來到該島的。事實上，廣泛的DNA分析已經(jīng)證實了考古學(xué)家相當(dāng)長一段時間以來的看法。所有現(xiàn)代家養(yǎng)貓都來自同一地點(diǎn)的野生貓的一個亞種：肥沃的新月，而不是來自世界其他地區(qū)的其他四個野生貓亞種。真是太神奇了，不是嗎？這讓我們回到了吉姆的問題：為什么會這樣？怎么做？好吧，多年來，研究人員一直在思考貓的馴化問題，而我在這里能做的只是一個理論？但告訴我這沒有意義！

從進(jìn)化的角度來看，大約10000年前肥沃的新月地帶的早期定居點(diǎn)和農(nóng)業(yè)為任何具有足夠靈活性和好奇心的野生動物創(chuàng)造了一個全新的環(huán)境。老鼠被吸引到這些定居點(diǎn)，而貓，作為必須吃肉才能茁壯成長的食肉動物，它們幾乎肯定會被老鼠吸引到定居點(diǎn)。隨著時間的推移，只有能夠適應(yīng)人類主導(dǎo)環(huán)境的貓科動物才能生存和繁衍。人們可能鼓勵他們留下來，控制田里和谷倉里的老鼠，最終控制他們的家，也許只是喜歡上了他們的公司。男學(xué)生：嗯……所以在某種程度上，與貓的區(qū)別在于馴化是他們的想法，而不是我們的想法。

但是為什么你認(rèn)為這五個亞種中只有一個被馴化了？其他人對人類不夠友好嗎？女教授：嗯，不。事實上，至少有兩個其他亞種是相對友好的，但肥沃的新月亞種因為靠近第一個人類住區(qū)而領(lǐng)先。隨著農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展，這個亞種馴服的祖先也隨之傳播。因此，他們填補(bǔ)了他們進(jìn)入的每個地區(qū)的家庭伴侶生態(tài)位，并有效地將已經(jīng)存在的本地亞種排除在外。

三、Cats'Domestication托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.The development of a herding instinct in one subspecies of wildcat.

B.The recent discovery of a wildcat subspecies native to Cyprus.

C.The cultural significance of cats in ancient Egypt.

D.The ancient origins of the modern domestic cat.

Q2:2.Why does the professor point out that most cats are solitary hunters?

A.To provide one reason that cats might seem unlikely animals to be domesticated.

B.To give an example of a characteristic that developed relatively recently in the evolutionary history of cats.

C.To explain why wild dogs were generally more successful at hunting than cats.

D.To explain why cats evolved into many unique subspecies.

Q3:3.According to the professor,what do many ancient Egyptian painting reveal about cats?

A.Cats in ancient Egypt were in the early stages of domestication.

B.Cats were welcome as companions in the homes of ancient Egyptians.

C.Many different breeds of cats existed in ancient Egypt.

D.Ancient Egyptian cats did not closely resemble any of the five subspecies of wildcat.

Q4:4.Why do researchers believe that the cat's grave and the human's grave on the island of Cyprus provide evidence of early cat domestication?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.Both graves contained a collar,scraps of food,and a bowl.

B.The cat's body and the human's body were positioned to face in the same direction when they were buried.

C.The box in which the cat was buried and the box in which the human was buried were similarly decorated.

D.The cat's body and the human's body were apparently buried at the same time.

Q5:5.Why does the professor mention that the wildcat subspecies of the Fertile Crescent lived close to the first human settlements?

A.To explain why that subspecies developed an unfriendly disposition

B.To explain why that subspecies was the only one that evolved a relatively small skeletal frame

C.To explain why that subspecies was the only one to be domesticated

D.MARK_1314To explain why members of that subspecies became obligate carnivores

Q6:6.What can be inferred about the professor when she says this:

A.She wants the students to tell her which aspects of the theory are not clear.

B.She wants to know whether anyone has already heard the theory.

C.She expects that the students will agree with her that the theory seems reasonable.

D.She is critical of researchers who have oversimplified a complex question.

四、Cats'Domestication托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：D

A2:正確答案：A

A3:正確答案：B

A4:正確答案：BD

A5:正確答案：C

A6:正確答案：C

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