首页
登录
职称英语
When less was known of animals and plants, the discovery of a new species wa
When less was known of animals and plants, the discovery of a new species wa
游客
2023-12-31
36
管理
问题
When less was known of animals and plants, the discovery of a new species was the great object. This is now almost the lowest kind of scientific work. The discovery of a new species as such does not change a feature in the science of natural history. It is merely adding to the enumeration of objects.
We should look rather for the fundamental relations among animals; the number of species we may find is of importance only if they explain the distribution and limitation of different
genera
and families, their relations to each other and to the physical conditions under which they live. The origin of life is the great question of the day. How did the organic world come to be as it is? How did Brazil come to be inhabited by the animals and plants now living there? Who were its inhabitants in past times? What reason is there to believe that the present condition of things in this country is in any sense derived from the past?
The first step in this investigation must be to ascertain the geographical
distribution
of the present animals and plants. Suppose we first examine the Rio San Francisco. The basin of this river is entirely isolated.
Are its inhabitants, like its waters, completely distinct from those of other basins
? Are its species peculiar to itself, and not repeated in any other river of the continent? Extraordinary as this result would seem, I nevertheless expect to find it so. The next water-basin we shall have to examine will be that of the Amazons, which connects through the Rio Negro with the Orinoco. It has been frequently repeated
that
the same species of fish exist in the waters of the San Francisco and in those of Guiana and of the Amazons. At all events, our works on fish constantly indicate Brazil and Guiana as the common home of many species; but this observation has never been made with sufficient accuracy.
Fifty years ago the exact locality from which any animal came seemed an unimportant fact in its scientific history, for the bearing of this question on that of origin was not then perceived. To say that any specimen came from South America was quite enough; to specify that it came from Brazil, from the Amazons, the San Francisco, or the La Plata, seemed a marvelous accuracy in the observers. In the museum at Paris, for example, there are many specimens entered as coming from New York or from Para; but all that is absolutely known about them is that they were shipped from those seaports. Nobody knows exactly where they were collected. All this kind of investigation is far too loose for our present object. Our work must be done with much more precision.
Therefore, my young friends who come with me on this expedition, let us be careful that every specimen has a label, recording locality and date. We must try not to mix the fish of different rivers, even though they flow into each other, but to keep our collections
perfectly
distinct. You will easily see the vast importance of thus ascertaining the limitation of species, and the bearing of the result on the great question of origin. [br] The author illustrates the example of the museum at Paris in Paragraph 4 to________.
选项
A、give his opinion about the current generation of scientists
B、show how unlikely it was for observers to be so specific in the past
C、make fun of the observers not to be careful
D、make a heartfelt plea for understanding the exact locality of animals
答案
B
解析
细节识别。题干的to表示目的,据此找到第四段的巴黎博物馆,举例后的总结是“All this kind of investigation is far too loose for our present object”。其中,loose表示“太笼统,不精确”,与选项B的表述一致。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3320393.html
相关试题推荐
Hydroponics______thecultivationofplantswithoutsoil.A、doesB、isC、doD、are
Hydroponics______thecultivationofplantswithoutsoil.A、doesB、isC、doD、areB
Container-grownplantscanbeplantedatanytimeoftheyear,but______inwin
ThediscoveryoftheconnectionbetweenaspirinandReyessyndrome,arareandde
Mostspeciesofthisplantthriveinordinarywell-drainedgardensoilandthey
Scientistsconsideredthatbuildingadamheremightmenaceanimalslivinginth
Nowwhicharetheanimalsreallytobepitiedincaptivity?First,thosecle
Nowwhicharetheanimalsreallytobepitiedincaptivity?First,thosecle
Nowwhicharetheanimalsreallytobepitiedincaptivity?First,thosecle
Nowwhicharetheanimalsreallytobepitiedincaptivity?First,thosecle
随机试题
HowtoDevelopanOutlineI.ApreliminaryoutlineA.
Duringthetwentiethcentury,theUnitedStatesparticipatedintwomajorwa
AtamusicfestivalinCaliforniainJune1967,amiddle-agedsitarplayerw
关于《建筑工程方案设计招标投标管理办法》(建市[2008]63号)的下列说法,表
对机械性损伤患者最先采取的措施是A、抢救生命 B、补充血容量 C、固定骨折
为了调查某校学生每月的生活费支出,从全校抽取6个班级的学生进行调查,这种调查方法
国债基金的收益会受市场利率的影响,当市场利率下调时,其收益会也随之下降。()
按桥体龈端的形态分类不包括A.盖嵴式桥体 B.改良盖嵴式桥体 C.船底式桥体
下列资产中,资产减值损失一经确认,在以后会计期间不得转回的有()。A.在建工程
某中型机电安装工程项目,由政府和一家民营企业共同投资兴建,施工合同800万元
最新回复
(
0
)