TOEFL Reading練習 #011 — The Snake With No Enemies(日本語解説)

1. A. vary
2. B. increase
3. C. shrink
4. D. measure

1. A. the removal programs
2. B. their owners
3. C. Burmese pythons
4. D. the pet trade

1. A. any animal that is dangerous to humans
2. B. a species that causes ecological or economic harm in a place where it did not evolve
3. C. a species that has no natural predators anywhere it lives
4. D. an animal capable of laying large numbers of eggs at once

1. A. It closely matched the warm, wet climate of the region where pythons naturally live
2. B. It had no natural predators capable of hunting large snakes
3. C. It changed dramatically after pythons entered the ecosystem
4. D. It was cooler than the climates found throughout Southeast Asia

1. A. Sightings of mammals can vary because of factors such as rainfall and the time of year
2. B. Researchers began driving survey routes through the park at night starting in 2003
3. C. Researchers used photographs from hidden cameras placed along the roads to count mammals
4. D. The survey results were compared with counts taken before pythons had spread into certain areas

1. A. In areas that pythons had not yet reached, mammal populations stayed stable, and this comparison let researchers conclude that pythons, not other factors such as drought or disease, caused the decline
2. B. Researchers concluded that drought and disease, rather than pythons, were the most likely cause of the decline in mammal populations
3. C. Mammal populations declined at the same rate throughout the park, regardless of whether pythons had reached a given area
4. D. Only in areas without pythons did researchers find any evidence that drought or disease had affected mammal populations

1. A. They have already begun to develop an inherited fear response in anticipation of a future python invasion
2. B. They are likely to experience the same sharp population declines once pythons become established there, since they share the same lack of natural defenses against the snake
3. C. They are protected from python predation by unusually cold winter temperatures
4. D. They have been relocated by park biologists to prevent future population declines

1. A. argue that Florida's python removal programs should be shut down because they have failed
2. B. compare Florida's python removal efforts with similar programs in other states
3. C. emphasize how large and persistent the python population has become despite active efforts to control it
4. D. explain the specific techniques removal programs use to capture pythons

1. A. It shows that the survey method described in paragraph 3 failed to produce reliable results
2. B. It presents the actual results produced by the survey method described in paragraph 3
3. C. It introduces an unrelated method for studying the park's mammal populations
4. D. It contradicts the plan for comparing areas that is described in paragraph 3

1. A. Square A
2. B. Square B
3. C. Square C
4. D. Square D

Burmese pythons, an invasive species that entered Florida's Everglades through the pet trade, have caused sharp declines in native mammal populations that researchers have measured through systematic surveys.

1. A. Burmese pythons can grow longer than a car and are native to the swamps and grasslands of Southeast Asia
2. B. State removal programs have caught more than twenty-three thousand pythons since 2000, yet the python population in the Everglades continues to grow
3. C. Adult pythons have no natural predators in the Everglades and can reproduce quickly, allowing their population to expand largely unchecked
4. D. A 2012 study found that mammal sightings had dropped by as much as ninety-nine percent in areas where pythons had become established, while areas without pythons showed no such decline
5. E. Beginning in 2003, researchers drove fixed routes through the park at night to count the mammals they observed
6. F. Florida park officials have proposed introducing new predator species to control the python population