Part A: Reading Comprehension
Directions: Read the following text. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)
Text 1
For thousands of years, donkeys have been critical for propelling human civilizations forward. They’ve helped pull wheeled vehicles, carry travelers and move goods across the world. But where and when these animals first became intertwined with humans has been a mystery. Now, researchers have used genomes of over 200 donkeys to trace their domestication back to a single event around 7,000 years ago in East Africa—about 3,000 years before humans tamed horses. The team published their findings in the journal Science this month.
“Through their DNA, the animals are telling their history themselves,” coauthor Samantha Brooks, an equine researcher at the University of Florida, says in a statement. “We usually only get the human’s side of history through written accounts, but of course written history does not always record exactly how something happened. Looking at these DNA sequences, we get a biological testimony to the environment these animals lived in and the experiences they survived.”
The researchers examined 207 genomes from modern donkeys living in 31 countries across the globe. They also looked at genomes from 15 wild equids and 31 earlier donkeys that lived between about 4,000 and 100 years ago. The team reconstructed the animals’ evolutionary tree and used computer models to pinpoint the domestication event when herders in Kenya and the Horn of Africa tamed wild asses. They then traced how the animals spread across the rest of the continent and into Europe and Asia about 2,500 years later.
Though it’s still unclear why the original domestication happened, Science News’ Freda Kreier reports that the event coincided with the Sahara growing larger and drier. “Donkeys are champions when it comes to carrying stuff and are good at going through deserts,” co-author Ludovic Orlando, an evolutionary biologist at Paul Sabin University in France, tells the publication. Prehistoric humans may have tamed donkeys to help navigate the expanding Sahara.
Researchers say these findings could help put donkeys in the spotlight. The animals could benefit from more research: Currently, there are no published genomes from donkeys located south of the Equator in Africa. But understanding where the animals were first domesticated could guide archaeologists to a narrow region to search for insights about the original tamed donkeys.
Not only does understanding the equines’ genetic makeup help reveal their contribution to human history, but it also might improve their management in the future, as climate change alters the planet’s environment, write the authors.
21. What can be learned about donkeys from Paragraph 1?
22. What message is conveyed in Brooks’ statement?
23. In their study, the researchers investigated how donkeys
24. As to why the original domestication of donkeys happened, Orlando
25. The authors think that their research could help with
答案与解析 (Answers)
21. [C] They were tamed at an earlier time than horses.
解析：第一段明确指出，驴的驯化追溯到约7,000年前，并补充说这比人类驯服马的时间早了约3,000年（about 3,000 years before humans tamed horses）。故选C。
22. [D] Genetic analysis offers insight into the history of donkeys.
解析：第二段 Brooks 的话中提到：“通过它们的 DNA，这些动物自己在讲述自己的历史（telling their history themselves）”。DNA 序列为动物生活的环境和经历提供了“生物见证（biological testimony）”。这说明基因分析能够深入了解驴的历史，选D。
23. [A] dispersed widely in the world.
解析：第三段提到，研究人员调查了来自全球31个国家的现代驴基因组，并追踪了这些动物是如何扩散到非洲其他地区以及欧洲和亚洲的（traced how the animals spread across the rest of the continent and into Europe and Asia）。“扩散（spread/disperse）”对应 A 选项。
24. [B] provides a possible explanation.
解析：第四段讨论驯化原因时，Orlando 指出驴擅长背负重物和穿过沙漠。紧接着提到史前人类“可能（may have）”为了穿越不断扩张的撒哈拉沙漠而驯化了驴。这是一个假设性的解释，故选B。
25. [B] better management of donkeys.
解析：最后一段末尾写道，了解驴的遗传构成不仅揭示其贡献，而且“可能改善它们未来的管理（improve their management in the future）”，特别是在气候变化改变地球环境的背景下。选B。
核心长难句精解 (Highlighted Sentences)
1. 宾语从句与同位语从句的复合：
"Now, researchers have used genomes of over 200 donkeys to trace their domestication back to a single event around 7,000 years ago in East Africa—about 3,000 years before humans tamed horses."
【解析】trace... back to... 意为“追溯到”。破折号后的内容作为时间状语的补充说明，强调了驴比马驯化更早这一核心考点。
【翻译】现在，研究人员利用200多头驴的基因组，将其驯化历史追溯到约7000年前东非的一次单一事件——这比人类驯服马的时间早了大约3000年。
"Now, researchers have used genomes of over 200 donkeys to trace their domestication back to a single event around 7,000 years ago in East Africa—about 3,000 years before humans tamed horses."
【解析】trace... back to... 意为“追溯到”。破折号后的内容作为时间状语的补充说明，强调了驴比马驯化更早这一核心考点。
【翻译】现在，研究人员利用200多头驴的基因组，将其驯化历史追溯到约7000年前东非的一次单一事件——这比人类驯服马的时间早了大约3000年。
2. 并列宾语从句与定语从句：
"Looking at these DNA sequences, we get a biological testimony to the environment these animals lived in and the experiences they survived."
【解析】Looking at... 是现在分词作状语。these animals lived in 和 they survived 是两个并列的省略了 that/which 的定语从句，分别修饰 environment 和 experiences。
【翻译】通过观察这些 DNA 序列，我们获得了关于这些动物所处环境及其幸存经历的生物学见证。
"Looking at these DNA sequences, we get a biological testimony to the environment these animals lived in and the experiences they survived."
【解析】Looking at... 是现在分词作状语。these animals lived in 和 they survived 是两个并列的省略了 that/which 的定语从句，分别修饰 environment 和 experiences。
【翻译】通过观察这些 DNA 序列，我们获得了关于这些动物所处环境及其幸存经历的生物学见证。
3. Not only... but also... 引导的部分倒装：
"Not only does understanding the equines’ genetic makeup help reveal their contribution to human history, but it also might improve their management in the future..."
【解析】Not only 放在句首时，主句要进行部分倒装，因此助动词 does 提到了主语 understanding 前面。这是一个典型的考研高频句式。
【翻译】了解这些马科动物的遗传构成，不仅有助于揭示它们对人类历史的贡献，还可能在未来气候变化改变地球环境时，改进对它们的管理。
"Not only does understanding the equines’ genetic makeup help reveal their contribution to human history, but it also might improve their management in the future..."
【解析】Not only 放在句首时，主句要进行部分倒装，因此助动词 does 提到了主语 understanding 前面。这是一个典型的考研高频句式。
【翻译】了解这些马科动物的遗传构成，不仅有助于揭示它们对人类历史的贡献，还可能在未来气候变化改变地球环境时，改进对它们的管理。