第一篇：
TOPIC 大陆漂移学说
关于大陆漂移学说四个人提出的观点。第一个人研究地层，发现不同大陆有相同的地层，看地图发现海岸线吻合，两岸动物相似，动物通过大陆桥migrate;第二个人说大陆漂移是因为地球抓住月亮，向赤道跑，海底山脉形成。他还发现了太平洋底的range。前两个人理论有误，但都有贡献。第三个人即魏格纳，给了三个证据，提出大陆其实原来都是一个超大陆，第四个人给出生物的证据，一种生活在淡水的动物的化石分别在两个大陆出现，而这种动物是无法横渡海洋的，起到支持魏格纳的作用。
解析：本文属地质学话题，内容经典，大陆漂移学说在
Continental Drift
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other by appearing to drift across the ocean bed. The speculation that continents might have 'drifted' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596. The concept was independently and more fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, but his theory was rejected for being incomplete. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed by the theory of plate tectonics, which explains how the continents move.
Alfred Wegener
The hypothesis that the continents had once formed a single landmass before breaking apart and drifting to their present locations was first presented by Alfred Wegener to the German Geological Society on 6 January 1912. Although Wegener's theory was formed independently and was more complete than those of his predecessors, Wegener later credited a number of past authors with similar ideas: Franklin Coxworthy (between 1848 and 1890), Roberto Mantovani (between 1889 and 1909), William Henry Pickering (1907) and Frank Bursley Taylor (1908). Eduard Suess had proposed a supercontinent Gondwana in 1858 and the Tethys Ocean in 1893, from a sunken land-bridge/ geosyncline theory point-of-view, though. John Perry had written an 1895 paper proposing that the earth's interior was fluid, and disagreeing with Lord Kelvin on the age of the earth.
For example: the similarity of southern continent geological formations had led Roberto Mantovani to conjecture in 1889 and 1909 that all the continents had once been joined into a supercontinent (now known as Pangaea); Wegener noted the similarity of Mantovani's and his own maps of the former positions of the southern continents. Through volcanic activity due to thermal expansion this continent broke and the new continents drifted away from each other because of further expansion of the rip-zones, where the oceans now lie. This led Mantovani to propose an Expanding Earth theory which has since been shown to be incorrect.
Some sort of continental drift without expansion was proposed by Frank Bursley Taylor, who suggested in 1908 (published in 1910) that the continents were dragged towards the equator by increased lunar gravity during the Cretaceous, thus forming the Himalayas and Alps on the southern faces. Wegener said that of all those theories, Taylor's, although not fully developed, had the most similarities to his own.
Wegener was the first to use the phrase "continental drift" (1912, 1915) (in German "die Verschiebung der Kontinente" – translated into English in 1922) and formally publish the hypothesis that the continents had somehow "drifted" apart. Although he presented much evidence for continental drift, he was unable to provide a convincing explanation for the physical processes which might have caused this drift. His suggestion that the continents had been pulled apart by the centrifugal pseudoforce (Polflucht) of the Earth's rotation or by a small component of astronomical precession was rejected as calculations showed that the force was not sufficient. The Polflucht hypothesis was also studied by Paul Sophus Epstein in 1920 and found to be implausible.
Evidence of continental 'drift'
Evidence for the movement of continents on tectonic plates is now extensive. Similar plant and animal fossils are found around different continent shores, suggesting that they were once joined. The fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile rather like a small crocodile, found both in Brazil and South Africa, are one example; another is the discovery of fossils of the land reptile Lystrosaurus from rocks of the same age from locations in South America, Africa, and Antarctica. There is also living evidence—the same animals being found on two continents. Some earthworm families (e.g.: Ocnerodrilidae, Acanthodrilidae, Octochaetidae) are found in South America and Africa, for instance.
The complementary arrangement of the facing sides of South America and Africa is obvious, but is a temporary coincidence. In millions of years, slab pull and ridge-push, and other forces of tectonophysics will further separate and rotate those two continents. It was this temporary feature which inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift, although he did not live to see his hypothesis become generally accepted.
Widespread distribution of Permo-Carboniferous glacial sediments in South America, Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, Antarctica and Australia was one of the major pieces of evidence for the theory of continental drift. The continuity of glaciers, inferred from oriented glacial striations and deposits called tillites, suggested the existence of the supercontinent of Gondwana, which became a central element of the concept of continental drift. Striations indicated glacial flow away from the equator and toward the poles, in modern coordinates, and supported the idea that the southern continents had previously been in dramatically different locations, as well as contiguous with each other.
第二篇：
TOPIC 鸟的大脑Bird Brain
说鸟的脑袋构造很轻，并且左右脑分工不同Lateralization，目的是使鸟能够飞翔。举例是鸡，左眼用来分辨食物和与食物相似的小东西，右眼对不熟悉的物体有反应。鸟的左眼有右脑控制，右眼由左脑控制。鸟可以通过需要增加或减少脑细胞。又举例是一种sound bird的singing的脑细胞，鸟只在春天交配的时候需要唱歌，所以这种脑细胞在春天比较发达。一般的鸟都是左脑控制singing，有一种鸟相反，一边听singing的整体，另一边听detail。
解析：本文属生物学话题，且考察的是最重要最高频被考察的动物学话题。本文结构属于描述类，说明鸟类大脑构造及运作方式，文中观点理论与举例非常清晰。
Lateralization of bird song
Oscine songbirds produce song through the vocal organ, the syrinx, which is composed of bilaterally symmetric halves located where the trachea separates into the two bronchi. Using endoscopic techniques, it has been observed that song is produced by air passing between a set of medial and lateral labia on each side of the syrinx. Song is produced bilaterally, in both halves, through each separate set of labia unless air is prevented from flowing through one side of the syrinx. Birds regulate the airflow through the syrinx with muscles—M. syringealis dorsalis and M. tracheobronchialis dorsalis—that control the medial and lateral labia in the syrinx, whose action may close off airflow. Song may, hence, be produced unilaterally through one side of the syrinx when the labia are closed in the opposite side.
Because the lateralized control of songs of certain species, such as cardinals, demands such precision in motor control, the ability to produce high-quality, seamless syllables may provide an indicator of fitness to potential mates. Supporting this hypothesis, certain syllables called "sexy syllables" sung by male canaries at high frequency are more effective than others in eliciting sexual displays from females. These particular syllables all contain two notes that are sung alternately by each side of the syrinx. Thus, control of the rapid switching from one side of the syrinx to the other is required to produce these attractive syllables.
Lateralization also allows for rapid and abrupt frequency changes. Studies of mockingbirds mimicking tone pairs in which the first tone was either higher or lower than a median tone of 2 kHz (either side is capable of producing this median tone) revealed that alternating sides of the syrinx for each note was necessary to reproduce them correctly. Correct mimicking was performed by singing the first syllable with the appropriate side of the syrinx—right for a high frequency tone and left for low frequency—and the second median tone with the opposite side. When the same side was used for both tones, the step-wise frequency change between the tones became slurred, suggesting that lateralization allows for abrupt frequency changes in song.
第三篇：
TOPIC Centralized Societies
讲centralized city的特点，如何统治人民，包括税收、收入再分配等，生产提高，食物丰富。以南美洲某地为例(应该是印加的某一个地方)，讲到它的社会集权，它的中心在不那么高产的地区，但是会储存粮食，并且统一分配，有比较高的社会分工，在这个城市里有固定的卖啤酒和衣服的地方共50间房的样子。另外，在城市里有wall区分不同的地方，专门做某一项工作的craft people会有专业的technology。考古学家研究他们的生活痕迹，他们工作的地方很特殊，四周是墙体，一个门。
解析：本文属历史类话题，考察到某南美地方的社会结构特点。这篇文章考生回忆比较少，内容也比较散乱。主要原因是此类文章中细节较多，且与观点不易有效区分，所以大家在处理这类文章时应重视题目选项的正误，而不是强求文章的主干和细节的区分。
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire was a federalist system which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four quarters, or suyu: Chinchay Suyu (NW), Anti Suyu (NE), Kunti Suyu (SW), and Qulla Suyu (SE). The four corners of these quarters met at the center, Cusco. These suyu were likely created around 1460 during the reign of Pachacuti before the empire assumed it largest territorial extent. It is probably the case that at the time the suyu were established they were roughly of equal size and only later changing their proportions as the empire expanded north and south along the Andes.
The capital area, Cusco, was likely not organized as a wamani, or province. Rather, it was probably somewhat akin to a modern federal district, like Washington, D.C. or Mexico City. The city sat at the center of the four suyu and served as the preeminent center of politics and religion. While Cusco was essentially governed by the Sapa Inca, his relatives, and the royal panaqa lineages, each suyu was governed by an Apu, a term of great esteem used for men of very high status and for venerated mountains. Just as with so much of Andean society and Inca administration, both Cusco as a district and the four suyu as administrative regions were grouped into upper hanan and lower hurin divisions. As the Inca did not have written records, it is impossible to exhaustively list the constituent wamani. However, records created during the Spanish colonial period allow us to reconstruct a partial list. There were likely more than 86 wamani, with more than 48 in the highlands and more than 38 on the coast.
The most populous suyu, Chinchaysuyu encompassed the former lands of the Chimu empire and much of the northern Andes. At its largest extent, the suyu extended through much of modern Ecuador and just into modern Colombia. The second smallest of the suyu, Antisuyu was located northwest of Cusco in high Andes. Indeed, it is the root of the word “Andes.” Collasuyu or Qollasuyu was named after the Aymara-speaking Qolla people and was the largest of the quarters in terms of area. This suyu encompassed the Bolivian Altiplano and much of the southern Andes, running down into Argentina and as far south as the Maule river near modern Santiago, Chile. Cuntisuyu or Kuntisuyu was the smallest suyu of all was located along the southern coast of modern Peru, extending into the highlands towards Cusco.
The colonial-era sources are not entirely clear or in agreement about the nature of the structure of the Inca government. However, its basic structure can be spoken of broadly, even if the exact duties and functions of government positions cannot be told. At the top of the chain of administration sat the Sapa Inca. Next to the Sapa Inca in terms of power may have been the Willaq Umu, literally the "priest who recounts", who was the High Priest of the Sun. However, it has been noted that beneath the Sapa Inca also sat the Inkap rantin, who was at the very least a confidant and assistant to the Sapa Inca, perhaps along the lines of a Prime Minister. From the time of Topa Inca Yupanqui on, there existed a "Council of the Realm" composed of sixteen nobles: two from hanan Cusco; two from hurin Cusco; four from Chinchaysuyu; two from Cuntisuyu; four from Collasuyu; and two from Antisuyu. This weighting of representation balanced the hanan and hurin divisions of the empire, both within Cusco and within the Quarters (hanan suyukuna and hurin suyukuna).
While there was a great deal of variation in the form that Inca bureaucracy and government took at the provincial level, the basic form of organization was decimal. In this system of organization, taxpayers—male heads of household of a certain age range—were organized into corvée labor units (which often doubled as military units) that formed the muscle of the state as part of mit'a service. Each level of jurisdiction above one hundred tax-payers was headed by a kuraka, while those heading smaller units were kamayuq, a lower, non-hereditary status. However, while kuraka status was hereditary, one's actual position within the hierarchy (which was typically served for life) was subject to change based upon the privileges of those above them in the hierarchy; a pachaka kuraka (see below) could be appointed to their position by a waranqa kuraka. Furthermore, it has been suggested that one kuraka in each decimal level also served as the head of one of the nine groups at a lower level, so that one pachaka kuraka might also be a waranqa kuraka, in effect directly responsible for one unit of 100 tax-payers and less directly responsible for nine other such units.