单选题
Anthropologists have long speculated that early humans may have mated with Neanderthals, but the latest study provides the strongest evidence so far, suggesting that such encounters took place around 60,000 years ago in the Middle East.
Small, pioneering groups of modern humans began to leave Africa 80,000 years ago and reached land occupied by the Neanderthals as they spread into Eurasia. The two may have lived alongside each other in small groups until the Neanderthals died out 30,000 years ago.
Scientists led by Svante
took four years to sequence the whole Neanderthal genome from powdered bone fragments taken from three females who lived in Europe 40,000 years ago. To see how similar the Neanderthal was to modern humans, the team compared the ancient DNA with the genomes of five people from France, China, southern Africa, western Africa and Papua New Guinea. The study is the first to attempt a whole-genome comparison between Neanderthals and modern humans.
The researchers found that modern humans and Neanderthals shared 99.7% of their DNA, which was inherited from a common ancestor 400,000 years ago. Further analysis revealed that Neanderthals were more closely related to modern humans who left Africa than to the descendants of those who stayed. Between 1% and 4% of the DNA in modern Europeans, Asians and those as far afield as Papua New Guinea, was inherited from Neanderthals.
"Those of us who live outside Africa carry a little Neanderthal in us," said Professor
Small, pioneering groups of modern humans began to leave Africa 80,000 years ago and reached land occupied by the Neanderthals as they spread into Eurasia. The two may have lived alongside each other in small groups until the Neanderthals died out 30,000 years ago.
Scientists led by Svante
took four years to sequence the whole Neanderthal genome from powdered bone fragments taken from three females who lived in Europe 40,000 years ago. To see how similar the Neanderthal was to modern humans, the team compared the ancient DNA with the genomes of five people from France, China, southern Africa, western Africa and Papua New Guinea. The study is the first to attempt a whole-genome comparison between Neanderthals and modern humans.
The researchers found that modern humans and Neanderthals shared 99.7% of their DNA, which was inherited from a common ancestor 400,000 years ago. Further analysis revealed that Neanderthals were more closely related to modern humans who left Africa than to the descendants of those who stayed. Between 1% and 4% of the DNA in modern Europeans, Asians and those as far afield as Papua New Guinea, was inherited from Neanderthals.
"Those of us who live outside Africa carry a little Neanderthal in us," said Professor
单选题
The latest study is concerned with ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。文章第一段指出，最新的研究提供了目前最有力的证据，暗示这样的接触发生在6万年前的中东。因此，A选项错误。C选项在文中并未提及，应排除。D选项是研究的一个结果，应排除。第三段指出，这项研究首次尝试对比尼安德特人和现代人的全部基因组。因此，B选项为正确答案。
单选题
Scientists took four years to ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据“four years”定位到第三段。该段首句指出，以Svante
单选题
Neanderthals are most closely related to ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。本题较为简单。文章第四段直接指出，进一步的分析表明尼安德特人和离开非洲的现代人更接近，而不是留在非洲的后裔。因此，正确答案为D选项。
单选题
In scientists" view, the study by anthropologists ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。根据文章的“scientists”一词定位到第七段。该段首句指出，这项调查被科学家们认为几乎是现代人和尼安德特人相遇时交配过的肯定证明。据此可知，在科学家们看来，人类学家的研究结果近乎结论性证据，因此正确答案为C选项。
单选题
Which of the following is probably false according to the text?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。第四段指出，进一步的分析表明尼安德特人和离开非洲的现代人更接近，而不是留在非洲的后裔。因此，B选项正确。文章第六段指出，现代人和尼安德特人的交配很可能极少发生。据此可知C选项正确。文章倒数第二段指出，这项调查被科学家们认为几乎是现代人和尼安德特人相遇时交配过的肯定证明。智人即现代人，据此可知D选项也是正确的。最后一段指出，这些人在文化上如何互动不是我们可以用什么办法推测的。因此，正确答案为A选项。