Domestication was not an innovation restricted to farming societies. The first of all domestic animals-the dog-was domesticated by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic Age. which ended roughly 12,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA lineages suggests an initial domestication at least 14.000 and perhaps as much as 135.000 years ago. Hunter-gatherers often develop close relationships with key plants as well as with animal species, which lead to practices verging on domestication. Certain Australian Aborigines, for example, followed a practice of replanting parts of the yams that they dug up. In northern Australia the practice was to eave the main plant and its root, and to collect and consume only the side tubers; in western Australia, however, people dug up the tubers, broke them into pieces, and returned some parts to the ground. Even more elaborate practices occurred elsewhere: the Owens Valley Paiute tribe of eastern California diverted streams to irrigate natural “fields” of water-meadow root crops.

Two conclusions may be drawn from this. First, that hunter-gatherers were not simply passive bystanders in the history of plant and animal exploitation, but modified those species on which they relied, both intentionally and unintentionally. And second, that close relationships between humans and their food sources did not begin abruptly with the development of agriculture less than 10,000 years ago in the early postglacial period, but have a much longer history stretching back tens of thousands of years into the Paleolithic.

Domestication involves the removal of species from the wild and their propagation by humans within a sheltered or manipulated setting. As a result, domesticates are subjected to different selective pressures from their wild relatives and so undergo morphological and genetic change from their wild ancestors through processes of natural selection. Domesticated species are also subject to selection by humans, who may prefer smaller and more docile individuals in a herd, for example, or may breed new forms that have specially valued characteristics, such as woolly sheep.

Other consequences of human contact may be unintentional. In a now-classic experiment, Jack Harlan harvested wild stands of cereals by hand in southeast Turkey and showed that it was possible for a small family group to gather in only three weeks enough to sustain them for a year. It is important to consider the effect of such collection on plant communities, in particular on the way in which plants reseed themselves. Those with brittle seed heads will drop their seeds to the ground as soon as they are touched, so those with tougher seed heads will be preferentially gathered by human collectors. Should human collectors use the plants they gathered as the basis of next year’s crop, they will be sowing the tougher seed head variety, thus altering the characteristics of the species overall. It may have been through this sort of process of unintentional selection that domesticated forms of wheat and barley first developed in Southwest Asia.

There were other common changes in domesticated species. A reduction in body size among animals occurred, either through intentional selection or as the unintentional result of breeding conditions. It should be noted, however, that size reduction is a widespread feature of postglacial mammals and has affected humans as well as animals. There is evidence also for an increase in size among cereals and tubers, through selective propagation. Studies in the dry valleys of Mexico, for example, have demonstrated the dramatic size increase of maize cobs that can occur through intentional selection.In addition, incidental changes, such as twisted horns in goats, or the loss of natural coloring in cows or horses, may be due to the relaxation of natural selective pressures in the protected humanly controlled environment; black and white Friesian cows, for example, would be conspicuous to predators and thus have reduced adaptive fitness in the wild.

The eventual result of these changes was the emergence of distinct domesticated species, many (though not all) of which could no longer survive in the wild without human intervention. Furthermore, the success of the new food-producing economy, based on effective combinations of domestic plants and animals (such as the triad of maize, beans, and squash in the Americas) led to its relatively rapid expansion at the expense of hunting and gathering. As a result, species were carried by human action to areas far beyond the geographical range of their wild ancestors.

1

Domestication was not an innovation restricted to farming societies. The first of all domestic animals-the dog-was domesticated by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic Age. which ended roughly 12,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA lineages suggests an initial domestication at least 14.000 and perhaps as much as 135.000 years ago. Hunter-gatherers often develop close relationships with key plants as well as with animal species, which lead to practices verging on domestication. Certain Australian Aborigines, for example, followed a practice of replanting parts of the yams that they dug up. In northern Australia the practice was to eave the main plant and its root, and to collect and consume only the side tubers; in western Australia, however, people dug up the tubers, broke them into pieces, and returned some parts to the ground. Even more elaborate practices occurred elsewhere: the Owens Valley Paiute tribe of eastern California diverted streams to irrigate natural “fields” of water-meadow root crops.

The phrase “verging on” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Adependent

Bclose to

Cresulting from

Dequal to

2

Domestication was not an innovation restricted to farming societies. The first of all domestic animals-the dog-was domesticated by hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic Age. which ended roughly 12,000 years ago. Analysis of DNA lineages suggests an initial domestication at least 14.000 and perhaps as much as 135.000 years ago. Hunter-gatherers often develop close relationships with key plants as well as with animal species, which lead to practices verging on domestication. Certain Australian Aborigines, for example, followed a practice of replanting parts of the yams that they dug up. In northern Australia the practice was to eave the main plant and its root, and to collect and consume only the side tubers; in western Australia, however, people dug up the tubers, broke them into pieces, and returned some parts to the ground. Even more elaborate practices occurred elsewhere: the Owens Valley Paiute tribe of eastern California diverted streams to irrigate natural “fields” of water-meadow root crops.

According to paragraph 1, hunter-gatherers are known to have engaged in each of the following practices EXCEPT

Areplanting parts of certain plants that they had dug up in order to consume

Bcollecting only some parts of certain food plants and leaving other parts in place

Cchanging the course of streams to provide water for certain kinds of plants

Dplanting food plants in places where water was readily available

3

Two conclusions may be drawn from this. First, that hunter-gatherers were not simply passive bystanders in the history of plant and animal exploitation, but modified those species on which they relied, both intentionally and unintentionally. And second, that close relationships between humans and their food sources did not begin abruptly with the development of agriculture less than 10,000 years ago in the early postglacial period, but have a much longer history stretching back tens of thousands of years into the Paleolithic.

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

AAnd second, close relationships between humans and their food sources began in the early postglacial period that stretched back tens of thousands of years into the Paleolithic.

BAnd second, close relationships between humans and their food sources began to develop not with the beginning of agriculture, but tens of thousands of years earlier.

CAnd second, agriculture began less than 10,000 years ago in the early postglacial period following the Paleolithic, which stretched back many thousands of years

DAnd second, the development of agriculture led to close relationships between humans and their food sources tens of thousands of years ago.

4

Domestication involves the removal of species from the wild and their propagation by humans within a sheltered or manipulated setting. As a result, domesticates are subjected to different selective pressures from their wild relatives and so undergo morphological and genetic change from their wild ancestors through processes of natural selection. Domesticated species are also subject to selection by humans, who may prefer smaller and more docile individuals in a herd, for example, or may breed new forms that have specially valued characteristics, such as woolly sheep.

According to paragraph 3, woolly sheep were a new form that resulted from

Anatural pressures of living in a herd

Bselective pressures favoring smaller size

Cprocesses of natural selection

Dintentional selection by humans

5

Other consequences of human contact may be unintentional. In a now-classic experiment, Jack Harlan harvested wild stands of cereals by hand in southeast Turkey and showed that it was possible for a small family group to gather in only three weeks enough to sustain them for a year. It is important to consider the effect of such collection on plant communities, in particular on the way in which plants reseed themselves. Those with brittle seed heads will drop their seeds to the ground as soon as they are touched, so those with tougher seed heads will be preferentially gathered by human collectors. Should human collectors use the plants they gathered as the basis of next year’s crop, they will be sowing the tougher seed head variety, thus altering the characteristics of the species overall. It may have been through this sort of process of unintentional selection that domesticated forms of wheat and barley first developed in Southwest Asia.

Paragraph 4 suggests that humans who harvested wild stands of cereals by hand preferred tougher seed heads because those are

Amore nutritious

Beasier to collect

Cmore common

Dlarger

6

There were other common changes in domesticated species. A reduction in body size among animals occurred, either through intentional selection or as the unintentional result of breeding conditions. It should be noted, however, that size reduction is a widespread feature of postglacial mammals and has affected humans as well as animals. There is evidence also for an increase in size among cereals and tubers, through selective propagation. Studies in the dry valleys of Mexico, for example, have demonstrated the dramatic size increase of maize cobs that can occur through intentional selection.In addition, incidental changes, such as twisted horns in goats, or the loss of natural coloring in cows or horses, may be due to the relaxation of natural selective pressures in the protected humanly controlled environment; black and white Friesian cows, for example, would be conspicuous to predators and thus have reduced adaptive fitness in the wild.

Why does the author mention that “size reduction is a widespread feature of postglacial mammals”?

ATo point out that size reduction was the most common change in domesticated species

BTo indicate that the assumed connection between smaller animals and domestication may be open to question

CTo suggest that size reduction was more likely the result of intentional selection than an unintended result of breeding conditions

DTo support the idea that domestication affected mammals of all kinds more differently than it affected plants such as cereals and tubers

7

There were other common changes in domesticated species. A reduction in body size among animals occurred, either through intentional selection or as the unintentional result of breeding conditions. It should be noted, however, that size reduction is a widespread feature of postglacial mammals and has affected humans as well as animals. There is evidence also for an increase in size among cereals and tubers, through selective propagation. Studies in the dry valleys of Mexico, for example, have demonstrated the dramatic size increase of maize cobs that can occur through intentional selection.In addition, incidental changes, such as twisted horns in goats, or the loss of natural coloring in cows or horses, may be due to the relaxation of natural selective pressures in the protected humanly controlled environment; black and white Friesian cows, for example, would be conspicuous to predators and thus have reduced adaptive fitness in the wild.

In paragraph 5, the loss of natural coloring in cows or horses is presented as an example of

Aa change that may have been an accidental effect of domestication

Ba change that is most likely to have resulted from intentional human selection

Ca change that resulted from natural selective pressures

Da change that creased adaptive fitness in protected environments

8

The eventual result of these changes was the emergence of distinct domesticated species, many (though not all) of which could no longer survive in the wild without human intervention. Furthermore, the success of the new food-producing economy, based on effective combinations of domestic plants and animals (such as the triad of maize, beans, and squash in the Americas) led to its relatively rapid expansion at the expense of hunting and gathering. As a result, species were carried by human action to areas far beyond the geographical range of their wild ancestors.

According to paragraph 6. each of the following came about as a result of the development of domestication EXCEPT

Athe appearance of species that could not survive in the wild

Ba decline in hunting and gathering

Cthe relocation of hunter-gatherer economies to different areas

Dspecies being carried to areas outside their original geographical range

9

Look at the four squaresthat indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage

Studies in the dry valleys of Mexico, for example, have demonstrated the dramatic size increase of maize cobs that can occur through intentional selection.

Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square  sentence to the passage.

10

Long before humans stopped being hunters and gatherers, they had begun to influence the history of plant and animal species.

AHunter-gatherers developed close relationships in the wild with the plant and animal species on which they relied, and, in doing so hanged them both intentionally and unintentionally.

BExperimental evidence suggests that domestication was slower to occur in locations where small family groups could quickly gather enough cereal to live on for a year

CDomesticated species are subject to intentional selection by humans for valued characteristics, but many changes in domesticated species may be the unintentional results of breeding conditions

DTrue domestication involves removing species from the wild and propagating them within a humanly controlled environment in which they are subject to different pressures than their wild relatives.

EWhile some humans gave up hunting and gathering to become part of the new food-producing economy. there were many others who preferred wild as opposed to domesticated food sources.

FHumans selected for characteristics such as the twisted horns in goats in order to reduce the adaptive fitness of domesticated animal in the wild.

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https://shimo.im/docs/KlkKvZWMElCplNqd/ 《TF阅读真题第674篇The Process of Domestication》

答案：

1 B

2D

3B

4D

5B

6B

7A

8C

9D

10ACD

翻译：

家畜驯化并非仅限于农耕社会的创新。最早的家畜——狗——是由旧石器时代的狩猎采集者在大约12000年前驯化的。DNA谱系分析表明，最初的驯化至少发生在14000年前，甚至可能早至135000年前。狩猎采集者经常与关键植物和动物物种发展出密切关系，这导致了接近驯化的实践。例如，某些澳洲土著采用了挖出山药后重新种植部分山药的做法。在澳大利亚北部，人们保留主植物及其根部，仅收集并食用侧生块茎；但在西澳，人们则挖出块茎，将其分成碎片，然后将部分碎片重新埋入土中。更复杂的做法发生在其他地方：美国加州东部欧文斯谷的派尤特族通过引流溪流来灌溉天然的“水草地根菜田”。

由此可得出两个结论。首先，狩猎采集者并不仅仅是植物和动物利用历史上的被动旁观者，而是有意或无意地改变了他们所依赖的物种。其次，人类与其食物来源之间的密切关系不是在不到10000年前的早期冰后时期农业发展开始时突然出现的，而是有着远远超过旧石器时代数万年的更长历史。

驯化涉及将物种从野生环境中移除，由人类在受保护或被操纵的环境中繁殖。因此，家养动植物受到与其野生亲缘不同的选择压力，因而在自然选择过程中与其野生祖先在形态和遗传上发生了变化。家养物种还受到人类的选择，例如，在牧群中，人们可能更偏好体型较小、更温顺的个体，或者可能培育出具有特别珍贵特性的新品种，如长毛绵羊。

人类接触的其他后果可能是无意的。在一个经典的实验中，杰克·哈兰在土耳其东南部手工收割野生谷物，他证明了一个小家庭组只需三周就能收集足以维持他们一年的粮食。重要的是要考虑这种收集对植物群落的影响，尤其是对植物再播种方式的影响。那些种头易碎的植物一旦被触碰就会将种子掉落到地上，因此那些种头较坚韧的植物将更受人类收集者的青睐。如果人类收集者使用他们收集的植物作为明年种植的基础，他们将播种较坚韧种头的品种，从而改变了物种的整体特性。西亚南部小麦和大麦的家养形式可能就是通过这种无意的选择过程首次发展起来的。

在家养物种中还发生了其他常见的变化。动物体型的缩小，要么是通过有意选择，要么是作为饲养条件的无意结果。然而，应当指出，体型缩小是冰后哺乳动物的普遍特征，它也影响了人类以及动物。也有证据表明，通过选择性繁殖，谷物和块茎的体型增大。例如，在墨西哥干燥的山谷中的研究显示，通过有意选择，玉米棒的尺寸可以发生显著增加。此外，偶发的变化，如山羊扭曲的角，或奶牛或马失去自然颜色，可能是由于在受人类控制的保护环境中自然选择压力的放松；例如，黑白相间的荷斯坦奶牛在野外会显眼，因此在适应性健康方面处于劣势。

这些变化的最终结果是形成了独特的家养物种，其中许多（尽管不是全部）在没有人类干预的情况下无法在野外生存。此外，基于有效组合家养植物和动物的新型食物生产经济的成功（例如美洲的玉米、豆类和南瓜三元组）导致其相对于狩猎采集迅速扩张。因此，物种被人类行为带到了远远超出其野生祖先地理范围的地区。