The extinction of the woolly mammoth has long been attributed to human overhunting, but recent evidence suggests that climate change was the primary driver. First, the timing of mammoth decline correlates closely with the end of the last Ice Age, when temperatures rose rapidly. As the planet warmed, grasslands—the mammoths’ primary food source—were replaced by dense forests and tundra, reducing their habitat and food availability. Second, genetic studies of fossil remains show a dramatic loss of genetic diversity well before humans arrived in many regions, indicating that populations were already shrinking due to environmental stress. Finally, archaeological records reveal that early human hunting tools were often too primitive to effectively kill such large animals, and human population densities were too low to cause a mass extinction. Thus, climate-induced habitat loss, not human activity, was the decisive factor in the mammoth’s demise.
🎧 听力讲座
🎯 模拟考试环境：先点「播放讲座」听完内容，再作答。听力原文默认隐藏。
The lecture challenges the reading’s claim that climate change alone drove woolly mammoth extinction. While climate change did play a role, human hunting was the critical factor. First, the reading overlooks that mammoths survived previous interglacial warming periods, such as the one 120,000 years ago, when temperatures were even warmer than at the end of the last Ice Age. If climate alone were responsible, they would have gone extinct then. Instead, their final extinction coincided with the arrival of highly skilled human hunters. Second, the genetic diversity loss cited in the reading is misleading; similar reductions occurred in many species that survived, and mammoth populations could recover from low numbers if not overhunted. Third, the claim about primitive tools is false. Archaeological finds include sophisticated spears and coordinated hunting strategies, and even simple weapons can cause significant mortality in slow-breeding large mammals. Moreover, human-driven fires altered mammoth habitats more directly than climate shifts. Therefore, the lecture concludes that human overhunting was the decisive cause.
📝 Инструкция по письму Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on the specific points made in the reading passage.
📊 TOEFL Integrated Writing Rubric
Content Accuracy: Accurately capture the relationship between lecture and reading
Information Completeness: Cover all key counter-arguments from the lecture
Structure & Coherence: Logical organization and progression
Language Use: Grammar, vocabulary, expression accuracy
Scored 0-30 based on holistic scoring (original 0-5, scaled to 30).
