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  3. The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists lor more than two centuries.

The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists lor more than two centuries.

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问题     The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists lor more than two centuries. How such large crea- tures, which weighed in some cases as much as a piloted hang-glider and had wingspans from 8 to 12 meters, solved the problems of powered flight, and exactly what these creatures were—reptiles or birds—are among the questions scientists have puzzled over.
    Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles. Their skulls, pelvises, and hind feet are reptilian. The anatomy of their wings suggests that they did not evolve into the class of birds. In pterosaurs a greatly elongated fourth finger of each forelimb supported a winglike membrane. The other fingers were short and reptilian, with sharp claws. In birds the second finger is the principal strut of the wing, which consists primarily of feathers. If the pterosaurs walked on all fours, the three short fingers may have been employed for grasping. When a pterosaur walked or remained stationary, the fourth finger, and with it the wing, could only turn upward in an extended inverted V-shape along each side of the animal’ s body.
    The pterosaurs resembled both birds and bats in their overall structure and proportions. This is not surprising because the design of any flying vertebrate is subject to aerodynamic constraints. Both the pterosaurs and the birds have hollow bones, a feature that represents a savings in weight. In the birds, however, these bones are reinforced more massively by internal struts.
    Although scales typically cover reptiles, the pterosaurs probably had hairy coats. T. H. Huxley reasoned that flying vertebrates must have been warmblooded because flying implies a high rate of metabolism, which in turn implies a high internal temperature. Hux- ley speculated that a coat of hair would insulate against loss of body heat and might streamline the body to reduce drag in flight. The recent discovery of a pterosaur specimen covered in long, dense, and relatively thick hairlike fossil material was the first clear evidence that his reasoning was correct.
    Efforts to explain how the pterosaurs became airborne have led to suggestions that they launched themselves by jumping from cliffs, by dropping from trees, or even by rising into light winds from the crests of waves. Each hypothesis has its difficulties. The first wrongly assumes that the pterosaurs’ hind feet resembled a bat’s and could serve as hooks by which the animal could hang in preparation for flight. The second hypothesis seems un- likely because large pterosaurs could not have landed in trees without damaging their wings. The third calls for high waves to channel updrafts. The wind that made such waves however, might have been too strong for the pterosaurs to control their flight once airborne.
It can be inferred from the passage that some scientists believe that pterosaurs
选项 A、lived near large bodies of water.
B、had sharp teeth for tearing food.
C、were attacked and eaten by larger reptiles.
D、had longer tails than many birds.
E、consumed twice their weight daily to maintain their body temperature.
答案A
解析 文中可以推断出有些科学家确信，翼龙有何特点?注意：是有些科学家，不一定是作者观点。A．靠近水体居住。正确。最后一段第三个设想：“翼龙从浪尖起飞”的必要条件。B．为撕咬食物有锐利牙齿。无。C．被更大爬行动物捕食。无。D．比许多鸟类尾巴长。无。E．吃相当于它们身体两倍的食物以维持体温。无。
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