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The unique human habit of taking in and employing animals—even competitors like wolves—spurred on human tool-making and language

admin2022-08-27  16
问题     The unique human habit of taking in and employing animals—even competitors like wolves—spurred on human tool-making and language, which have both driven humanity’s success, Pat Shipman says, paleoanthropologist of Perm State University. "Wherever you go in the world, whatever ecosystem (生态系统), whatever culture, people live with animals," Shipman said.
    For early humans, taking in and caring for animals would seem like a poor strategy for survival. "On the face of it, you are wasting your resources. So this is a very weird behavior," Shipman said. But it’s not so weird in the context something else humans were doing about 2.6 million years ago: switching from a mostly vegetarian diet to one rich in meat. This happened because humans invented stone hunting tools that enabled them to compete with other top predators. Quite a rapid and bizarre switch for any animal. So we invented the equipment, learned how to track and kill, and eventually took in animals who also knew how to hunt—like wolves and other canines. Others, like goats, cows and horses, provided milk, hair and, finally, hides and meat.
    Managing all of these animals—or just tracking them—requires technology, knowledge and ways to preserve and convey information. So languages had to develop and evolve to meet the challenges. Tracking game has even been argued to be the origin of scientific inquiry, said Peter Richerson, professor emeritus (名誉退休的) in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis. One of the signs that this happened is in petroglyphs (史前岩画) and other rock art left by ancient peoples. At first they were abstract, geometric patterns that are impossible to decipher (破译). Then they converge on one subject: animals.
    There have also been genetic changes in both humans and our animals. For the animals those changes developed because human bred them for specific traits, like a cow that gives more milk or a hen that lays more eggs. But this evolutionary influence works both ways. Dogs, for instance, might have been selectively taken in by humans who shared genes for more compassion. Those humans then prospered with the dogs’ help in hunting and securing their homes.
What do we learn from the first paragraph about animals?
选项 A、Animals have driven humanity’s success.
B、Making tools and using language are uniquely human habits.
C、Employing wolves is uniquely human habit.
D、People live with animals everywhere.
答案D
解析 根据题干的信息将答题线索定位到第一段。选项A说动物促进了人类的成功，但第一段中说促进人类成功的因素是制作工具和语言能力的发展，而这两种能力来自于人类驯养和利用动物的习惯，显然选项A的概括是不准确的。选项B说制作工具和使用语言是人类独有的习惯，但文章中说的却是驯养和利用动物是人类独有的习惯，显然该选项偷换了概念。选项C说利用狼是人类独有的习惯，但文章并没有把人类驯养狼抽象为人类的一个 “习惯”，文章说的“独特习惯”是指宏观的驯养和利用动物，该选项也属于偷换概念。第一段的最后一句说“无论你走到世界上的哪个角落，无论那里的生态系统如何，文化如何，人类都和动物生活在一起”，而选项D是“在任何地方人类都和动物生活在一起”，符合原文，所以D正确。
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