The extinction of the woolly mammoth has long been attributed to overhunting by early humans. However, recent evidence suggests that climate change was the primary driver. First, the warming climate at the end of the Pleistocene reduced the mammoth's grassland habitat, as forests and tundra replaced steppe vegetation. Pollen records from Siberia and Alaska show a rapid shift from grasses to shrubs and trees, which would have deprived mammoths of their main food source. Second, climate change also altered water sources, leading to drier conditions that made it harder for mammoths to survive, especially during droughts. Finally, the timing of extinction in different regions correlates with climate events, not human arrival. For instance, mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 2000 BCE, long after humans had arrived, but they disappeared when island vegetation changed due to warming. Thus, climate, not hunting, explains their 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 reading's argument that climate change alone killed the woolly mammoth is flawed. While habitat changes did occur, they were not as rapid or uniform as claimed. In many regions, grasslands persisted until the mammoth's disappearance, and mammoths could adapt by eating shrubs and twigs, as observed in modern elephants. As for water, there is no evidence that droughts were severe enough to cause extinction, and mammoths likely had physiological adaptations to conserve water. Most importantly, the timing argument is misleading. On Wrangel Island, humans did not settle until around 2000 BCE, so the mammoth's extinction there coincides with human arrival, not just vegetation change. Moreover, on mainland continents, archaeological sites show clear evidence of hunting, such as butchered mammoth bones, and the extinction occurred at the peak of human hunting pressure, not during a major climate shift. Therefore, overhunting, not climate, is the more plausible cause.
📝 คำแนะนำการเขียน 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).
