每天做一些标准的GRE阅读练习，有助于大家在GRE考试的复习过程中不断地进行练习和总结。希望大家在进行GRE阅读练习时，充分运用平时所积累的知识，这样才能有效果。
(This passage is excerpted from an article that was published in 1981.)
The deep sea typically has a sparse fauna dominated by tiny worms and crustaceans, with an even sparser distribution of larger animals. However, near hydrothermal (hydrothermal: adj.热水的, 热液的) vents, areas of the ocean where warm water emerges from subterranean sources, live remarkable densities of huge clams, blind crabs, and fish.
Most deep-sea faunas rely for food on particulate matter (particulate matter: 颗粒物质), ultimately derived from photosynthesis, falling from above. The food supplies necessary to sustain the large vent communities, however, must be many times the ordinary fallout. The first reports describing vent faunas proposed two possible sources of nutrition: bacterial chemosynthesis, production of food by bacteria using energy derived from chemical changes, and advection, the drifting of food materials from surrounding regions. Later, evidence in support of the idea of intense local chemosynthesis was accumulated: hydrogen sulfide was found in vent water; many vent-site bacteria were found to be capable of chemosynthesis; and extremely large concentrations of bacteria were found in samples of vent water thought to be pure. This final observation seemed decisive. If such astonishing concentrations of bacteria were typical of vent outflow, then food within the vent would dwarf any contribution from advection. Hence, the widely quoted conclusion was reached that bacterial chemosynthesis provides the foundation for hydrothermal-vent food chains—an exciting prospect because no other communities on Earth are independent of photosynthesis.
There are, however, certain difficulties with this interpretation. For example, some of the large sedentary organisms associated with vents are also found at ordinary deep-sea temperatures many meters from the nearest hydrothermal sources. This suggests that bacterial chemosynthesis is not a sufficient source of nutrition for these creatures. Another difficulty is that similarly dense populations of large deep-sea animals have been found in the proximity of “smokers”—vents where water emerges at temperatures up to 350℃. No bacteria can survive such heat, and no bacteria were found there. Unless smokers are consistently located near more hospitable warm-water vents, chemosynthesis can account for only a fraction of the vent faunas. It is conceivable, however, that these large, sedentary organisms do in fact feed on bacteria that grow in warm-water vents, rise in the vent water, and then rain in (rain in: 涌进, 纷纷而至) peripheral areas to nourish animals living some distance from the warm-water vents.
Nonetheless advection is a more likely alternative food source. Research has demonstrated that advective flow, which originates near the surface of the ocean where suspended particulate matter accumulates, transports some of that matter and water to the vents. Estimates suggest that for every cubic meter of vent discharge, 350 milligrams of particulate organic material would be advected into the vent area. Thus, for an average-sized vent, advection could provide more than 30 kilograms of potential food per day. In addition, it is likely that small live animals in the advected water might be killed or stunned by thermal and/or chemical shock, thereby contributing to the food supply of vents.
16. The passage provides information for answering which of the following questions?
(A) What causes warm-water vents to form?
(B) Do vent faunas consume more than do deep-sea faunas of similar size?
(C) Do bacteria live in the vent water of smokers?
(D) What role does hydrogen sulfide (hydrogen sulfide: 氢化硫) play in chemosynthesis?
(E) What accounts for the locations of deep-sea smokers?
17. The information in the passage suggests that the majority of deep-sea faunas that live in nonvent habitats have which of the following characteristics?
(A) They do not normally feed on particles of food in the water.
(B) They are smaller than many vent faunas.
(C) They are predators.
(D) They derive nutrition from a chemosynthetic food source.
(E) They congregate around a single main food source.
18. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) describe a previously unknown natural phenomenon
(B) reconstruct the evolution of a natural phenomenon
(C) establish unequivocally the accuracy of a hypothesis
(D) survey explanations for a natural phenomenon and determine which is best supported by evidence
(E) entertain (to receive and take into consideration “refused to entertain our plea”) criticism of the author’s research and provide an effective response
19. Which of the following does the author cite as a weakness in the argument that bacterial chemosynthesis provides the foundation for the food chains at deep-sea vents?
(A) Vents are colonized by some of the same animals found in other areas of the ocean floor.
(B) Vent water does not contain sufficient quantities of hydrogen sulfide.
(C) Bacteria cannot produce large quantities of food quickly enough.
(D) Large concentrations of minerals are found in vent water.
(E) Some bacteria found in the vents are incapable of chemosynthesis.
20. Which of the following is information supplied in the passage that would support the statement that the food supplies necessary to sustain vent communities must be many times that of ordinary fallout?
I. Large vent faunas move from vent to vent in search of food.
II. Vent faunas are not able to consume food produced by photosynthesis.
III. Vents are more densely populated than are other deep-sea areas.
(A) I only
(B) III only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
21. The author refers to “smokers” (line 38) most probably in order to
(A) show how thermal shock can provide food for some vent faunas by stunning small animals
(B) prove that the habitat of most deep-sea animals is limited to warm-water vents
(C) explain how bacteria carry out chemosynthesis
(D) demonstrate how advection compensates for the lack of food sources on the seafloor
(E) present evidence that bacterial chemosynthesis may be an inadequate source of food for some vent faunas
22. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the particulate matter that is carried down from the surface of the ocean?
(A) It is the basis of bacterial chemosynthesis in the vents.
(B) It may provide an important source of nutrition for vent faunas.
(C) It may cause the internal temperature of the vents to change significantly.
(D) It is transported as large aggregates of particles.
(E) It contains hydrogen sulfide.
Throughout human history there have been many stringent taboos concerning watching other people eat or eating in the presence of (in the presence of: adv.在面前) others. There have been attempts to explain these taboos in terms of inappropriate social relationships either between those who are involved and those who are not simultaneously involved in the satisfaction of a bodily need, or between those already satiated and those who appear to be shamelessly gorging. Undoubtedly such elements exist in the taboos, but there is an additional element with a much more fundamental importance. In prehistoric times, when food was so precious and the on-lookers so hungry, not to offer half of the little food one had was unthinkable, since every glance was a plea for life. Further, during those times, people existed in nuclear or extended family (extended family: 大家庭,扩大的家庭(如数代同堂的家庭)) groups, and the sharing of food was quite literally supporting one’s family or, by extension, preserving one’s self.
23. If the argument in the passage is valid, taboos against eating in the presence of others who are not also eating would be LEAST likely in a society that
(A) had always had a plentiful supply of food
(B) emphasized the need to share worldly goods
(C) had a nomadic rather than an agricultural way of life
(D) emphasized the value of privacy
(E) discouraged overindulgence
24. The author’s hypothesis concerning the origin of taboos against watching other people eat emphasizes the
(A) general palatability of food
(B) religious significance of food
(C) limited availability of food
(D) various sources of food
(E) nutritional value of food
25. According to the passage, the author believes that past attempts to explain some taboos concerning eating are
(A) unimaginative
(B) implausible
(C) inelegant
(D) incomplete
(E) unclear
26. In developing the main idea of the passage, the author does which of the following?
(A) Downplays earlier attempts to explain the origins of a social prohibition.
(B) Adapts a scientific theory and applies it to a spiritual relationship.
(C) Simplifies a complex biological phenomenon by explaining it in terms of social needs.
(D) Reorganizes a system designed to guide personal behavior.
(E) Codifies earlier, unsystematized conjectures about family life.
答案：16-26：CBDABEBACDA
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