必考托福阅读真题10篇.pdfVIP

Passage1 CrownofThornsStarfishandCoralReefs The crown of thorns starfish, Acanthaster Tlanci, is large, twenty-five to thirty-five centimetersindiameter,andhasseventotwenty-onearmsthatarecoveredinspines.Itfeeds primarilyoncoralandisfoundfromtheIndianOceantothewestcoastofCentralAmerica, usually at quite low population densities. Since the mid-1950s, population outbreaks at densitiesfourtosixtimesgreaterthannormalh eoccurredatthesametimeinplacessuch asHawaii,Tahiti,Panama,andtheGreatBarrierReef.Theresulthasoftenbeenthelossofa fiftypercenttonearlyonehundredpercentofthecoralcoveroverlargeareas. A single Acanthaster can consume five to six square meters of coral polyps per year, and dense populations can destroy up to six square kilometers per year and move on rapidly. Acanthastersshowapreferenceforbranchingcorals,especiallyAcroporids.Afteranoutbreak in a particular area, it is mon to find that Acroporids h e been selectively removed, le ingamosaicoflivinganddeadcorals.InplaceswhereAcroporidspreviously inated the munitydevastationcanbealmost plete,andlocalareasofreefsh ecollapsed. Areasofdeadcoralareusuallycolonizedrapidlybyalgaeandoftenarelatercolonizedby sponges and soft corals. Increases in abundance of plant-eating fish and decreases in abundance of coral-feeding fish ac pany these changes. Coral larvae settle among the algaeandeventuallyestablishflourishingcoralcolonies.Intentofifteenyearsthereefsoften returntoaboutthesamepercentageofcoralcoverasbefore.Developmentofafour-species diversitytakesabouttwentyyears. Twoschoolsofthoughtexistconcerningthecau fthe utbreaks.Onegroupholdsthat they are natural phenomena that h e occurred many times in the past, citing old mens recollections of earlier outbreaks and evidence from traditional cultures. The other group maintains that recent human activities ranging f