問題詳情
The thick, woolly fleece of the domestic sheep is its distinguishing feature and thesource of much of its economic importance. Yet only a moment, in evolutionary terms,has passed since the domestic sheep had a coat resembling that of many other wild Lineanimals. As recently as 8,000 years ago, it was covered not in a white, continuouslygrowing mass of wool but in a brown coat consisting of an outer array of kemps, orcoarse hairs, that was shed annually and a fine woolly undercoat that also molted. Suchan animal could not have supported the technology that has grown up around the domesticsheep--the shearing, dyeing, spinning, and weaving of wool--any better than could awild sheep such as the bighorn of North America,Much of the selective breeding that led to the fleece types known today took placein prehistory, and even the later developments went largely unchronicled. Yet other kindsof records survive, in three forms. Specimens of wool from as long ago as 1500 B.C. havebeen found, mostly as ancient textiles, but also in the form of sheepskins. Antiquedepictions of sheep in sculpture, relief, and painting give even earlier clues to the characterof ancient fleeces. The longest line of evidence takes the form of certain primitive breedsthat are still tended in remote areas or that escaped from captivity long ago and now livein the wild. They retain the characteristics of ancient sheep, providing living snapshots ofthe process that gave rise to modern fleeces.
【題組】12. What topic does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The economic importance of sheep through the ages
(B) The development of textile crafts and technologies
(C) The evolution of the fleece of domestic sheep
(D) The influence of technology on wool manufacturing
參考答案
答案：C
難度：困難0.25
統計：A(2),B(0),C(1),D(1),E(0)