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.


In the context of the passage, the phrase "fossils of a predicted kind" (highlight) most likely refers to which of the following?


Theropod fossils with fused clavicles

Theropod fossils that are similar in structure to Archaeopteryx fossils

Theropod fossils dating back more than 150 million years

Fossils indicating the structure of theropod lungs

Fossils indicating the structure of Archaeopteryx lungs

考题讲解

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本题正确答案是 B。因为文中提到,一些科学家认为类似鸟的古生物 Archaeopteryx lithographic 出现的时间太早了,不可能是由与鸟关系最近的古生物,即各种 nonavian maniraptor theropods 演化而来,而这些古生物的化石只出现在 115 百万年前。但是研究者发现非鸟 maniraptors 的骨骼,与 Archaeopteryx lithographic 同时期的,这就证明了上述科学家的论断是不准确的。所以 fossils of a predicted kind 指的是科学家预料中类似 Archaeopteryx lithographic 的古生物化石,故选项 B 正确。

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