文章大意：本文是说明文。文章提出如果人类突然消失了，什么动物进化出智慧创造像我们一样庞大、复杂的社会这个问题，基于基因技术和对进化的理解，科学家们做出了短期预测。
4 . Humans are pretty unique among life on Earth. As far as we know, we’re the only living species to evolve the higher intelligence, wear clothes, cook our food, and even invent smartphones. But what if humans suddenly went extinct? What other animals might evolve to have the smarts and skills to create large,complex societies as we have?
With modern genetic technology and our understanding of evolution, “we’re pretty good at making short-term predictions. “Martha Reiskind, an ecologist, told Live Science. For example, we can predict that if humans were to disappear tomorrow, climate change would continue to drive many species to adapt to drought. And species living in cold areas would continue to struggle to live as well.
“A big thing will be the concept of convergence.” Dougal Dixon, a geologist, told Live Science Convergence is an evolutionary process by which two unrelated creatures develop similar features in order to succeed in a particular environment. For example, with their sleek (光滑的) bodies and fins, fish are suitable for living in water. However, dolphins have evolved a very similar body plan—and unlike fish, they are warm-blooded, air-breathing animals with a totally different evolutionary background.
One feature that makes humans uniquely good at building is our skillful hands. In order to fill the same role as humans—that is, building cities and heavily modifying our environment—another species would need to develop a similar ability to control objects. Other primates (灵长目动物), like chimpanzees. our closest living relatives, already can make tools in the wild. It’s possible that if humans disappeared, they might replace us.
But any disaster terrible enough to destroy humans is also likely to destroy chimpanzees, which leaves another tool-using candidate to fill humans place: birds. Birds are very brainy. Some birds can use their feet to form wire into hooks. And trained African grey parrots can learn upwards of 100 words and do simple math, including understanding the concept of zero. Birds can also gather in large groups, and some even build group nesting sites.
Of course, all of these are predictions. Scientists have said it’s almost impossible to truly predict how evolution will unfold. As we go further and further out, the prediction is less accurate. And it’s even more difficult to predict whether another species will develop human-level intelligence, Some think that it could happen. Others, however, are less optimistic because they don’t think nature will make mistakes twice.
1. Why does the author mention fish and dolphins in Para. 3?
| A．To show how dolphins evolved |
| B．To explain what convergence is. |
| C．To show the advantage of the fish shape |
| D．To explain the feature of animals living in water. |
2. What do chimpanzees and some birds have in common?
| A．The ability to make tools | B．The habit of group living |
| C．The ability to do simple math | D．The close relationship with humans |
3. Which animals might replace humans if a worst disaster happened?
| A．Sea animals. | B．Chimpanzees |
| C．Birds. | D．Dogs. |
4. Which of the following best describes the future of other species filling the same role as humans?
| A．Hopeless. | B．Challenging. |
| C．Promising. | D．Uncertain. |
