Although many lines of evidence indicate that birds evolved from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs, some scientists remain unconvinced. They argue that theropods appeared too late to have given rise to birds, noting that Archaeopteryx lithographic - the oldest known bird - appears in the fossil record about 150 million years ago, whereas the fossil remains of various nonavian maniraptor theropods - the closest known relatives of birds - date only to about 115 million years ago. But investigators have now uncovered bones that evidently belong to nonavian maniraptors dating to the time of Archaeopteryx. In any case, failure to find fossils of a predicted kind does not rule out their existence in an undiscovered deposit. Skeptics also argue that the fused clavicles (the "wishbone") of birds differ from the unfused clavicles of theropods. This objection was reasonable when only early theropod clavicles had been discovered, but fossilized theropod clavicles that look just like the wishbone of Archaeopteryx have now been unearthed. Finally, some scientists argue that the complex lungs of birds could not have evolved from theropod lungs, an assertion that cannot be supported or falsified at the moment, because no fossil lungs are preserved in the paleontological record.


The primary purpose of the passage is to


compare the development of two hypotheses concerning the evolutionary origin of birds

suggest revisions to the standard theory of the evolutionary history of birds

evaluate the usefulness of fossil evidence in determining the evolutionary history of birds

challenge the theory that birds evolved from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs

respond to criticisms of the theory that birds evolved from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs

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正确答案是 E。本文的主要目的是回应一些关于鸟类从行走类恐龙进化而来的理论的批评。本文首先开门见山地指出,尽管许多证据表明鸟类从地面上行走的类恐龙演变而来,但是一些科学家仍然不相信。然后,文章放大了批评者的主要论点,包括 类恐龙出现时间太晚,类恐龙的锁骨和鸟的胸骨不同,以及鸟的复杂肺不可能从类恐龙肺演变而来。文章就这些论点分别作出了回应,指出证据表明,类恐龙出现的时间正好在鸟类出现之前;发现了类恐龙的锁骨看上去就像是鸟的胸骨;鸟的复杂肺的演变暂时无法证明或者质疑。因此,本文的主要目的就是回应一些关于鸟类从行走类恐龙进化而来的理论的批评,所以选项 E 正确。

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