Question

If a diver surfaces too quickly, he may suffer the bends. Nitrogen(氮) dissolved(溶解) in his blood is suddenly liberated by the reduction of pressure. The consequence, if the bubbles (气泡)accumulate in a joint, is sharp pain and a bent body—thus the name. If the bubbles form in his lungs or his brain, the consequence can be death.

Other air-breathing animals also suffer this decompression(减压) sickness if they surface too fast: whales, for example. And so, long ago, did ichthyosaurs. That these ancient sea animals got the bends can be seen from their bones. If bubbles of nitrogen form inside the bone they can cut off its blood supply. This kills the cells in the bone, and consequently weakens it, sometimes to the point of collapse. Fossil (化石)bones that have caved in on them selves are thus a sign that the animal once had the bends.

Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a study of ichthyosaur bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150 million years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world’s natural-history museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

When he started, he assumed that signs of the bends would be rarer in younger fossils, reflecting their gradual evolution of measures to deal with decompression. Instead, he was astonished to discover the opposite. More than 15% of Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs had suffered the bends before they died, but not a single Triassic specimen(标本) showed evidence of that sort of injury.

If ichthyosaurs did evolve an anti-decompression means, they clearly did so quickly—and, most strangely, they lost it afterwards. But that is not what Dr Rothschild thinks happened. He suspects it was evolution in other animals that caused the change.

Whales that suffer the bends often do so because they have surfaced to escape a predator (捕食动物) such as a large shark. One of the features of Jurassic oceans was an abundance of large sharks and crocodiles, both of which were fond of ichthyosaur lunches. Triassic oceans, by contrast, were mercifully shark- and crocodile-free. In the Triassic, then, ichthyosaurs were top of the food chain. In the Jurassic and Cretaceous, they were prey(猎物) as well as predator—and often had to make a speedy exit as a result.

1.Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends?

A. A twisted body.    B. A gradual decrease in blood supply.

C. A sudden release of nitrogen in blood.    D. A drop in blood pressure.

2.The purpose of Rothschild’s study is to see________ .

A. how often ichthyosaurs caught the bends    B. how ichthyosaurs adapted to decompression

C. why ichthyosaurs bent their bodies    D. when ichthyosaurs broke their bones

3.Rothschild’sfindingstatedinParagraph4 .

A. confirmed his assumption    B. speeded up his research process

C. disagreed with his assumption    D. changed his research objectives

4.Rothschild might have concluded that ichthyosaurs.

A. failed to evolve an anti decompression means

B. gradually developed measures against the bends

C. died out because of large sharks and crocodiles

D. evolved an anti decompression means but soon lost it

Answer

1. A

2. B

3. C

4. A

【解析】

本文是说明文，也可以说是研究发现，是对鱼龙等海洋生物变弯曲的原因的研究。

1.细节理解题。第一段第三句提到遭遇bend的症状是"sharp pain and a bent body"，此处bent等于twisted，意为"扭曲的，弯曲的"，故答案选A。

2.细节理解题。根据第三段第二句"What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150million years．"可知Rothschild教授的研究目的是鱼龙如何适应减压问题，答案为B。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段第二句"Instead，he was astonished to discover the opposite．"可知研究结果与他原本的假设相反，因此答案为C。

4.推理判断题。根据文章倒数第二段第一句If ichthyosaurs did evolve an anti-decompression means，they clearly did so quickly-and，most strangely，they lost it afterwards．可以推断出答案，Rothschild可能已经得出结论：鱼龙类生物未能进化出反减压器官，故选A。