Thousands of years ago, in North America’s past, all of its megafauna—large mammals such as mammoths and giant bears—disappeared

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问题 Thousands of years ago, in North America’s past, all of its megafauna—large mammals such as mammoths and giant bears—disappeared. One proposed explanation for this event is that when the first Americans migrated over from Asia, they hunted the megafauna to extinction. These people, known as the Clovis society after a site where their distinctive spear points were first found, would have been able to use this food source to expand their population and fill the continent rapidly. Yet many scientists argue against this "Pleistocene overkill" hypothesis. Modern humans have certainly been capable of such drastic effects on animals, but could ancient people with little more than stone spears similarly have caused the extinction of numerous species of animals? Thirty-five genera or groups of species (and many individual species) suffered extinction in North America around 11,000 B.C., soon after the appearance and expansion of Paleo-lndians throughout the Americas (27 genera disappeared completely, and another 8 became locally extinct, surviving only outside North America).
Why does the author compare "Modern humans" with "ancient people"?

选项 A、To argue that modern people have continued to have drastic effects on animal species
B、To illustrate how people from different historical times treated animals differently
C、To question the idea that ancient people could have hunted the megafauna to extinction
D、To emphasize that modern people are more successful hunters than ancient people were

答案C

解析 本题问的是为什么作者要将现代人和古代人相比较?首先,根据题干关键词:compare、Modem humans和ancient people,可定位到本段提到的将现代人和古代人进行比较的关键句:Modem humans have certainly been capable of such drastic effects on animals,but could ancient people with little more than stone spears similarly have caused the extinction of numerous species of animals?“现代人对动物确实可以造成如此大的影响,但古代人仅有石茅,他们是否同样也能导致无数种动物灭绝呢?”这句话无疑是对之前几个句子所提出的Pleistocene overkill理论(从亚洲来到美洲的克洛维斯人捕杀像猛犸这样的巨型动物,并将其灭绝)的质疑,故选C项。
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