Our ape-men forefathers had no obvious natural weapons in the struggle for (1) in the open. They had neither the powerful teeth nor the p claws of the big cats. They could not (2) with the bear, whose strength, speed and claws (3) an impressive " small fire" weaponry. They could not even defend themselves (4) running swiftly like the horses, zebras or small animals. If the ape-men had attempted to compete on those terms in the open, they would have been (5) to failure and extinction. But they were (6) with enormous concealed advantages of a kind not possessed by any of their competitors.
In the search (7) the pickings of the forest, the ape-men had (8) efficient stereoscopic vision and a sense of color that the animals of the grasslands did not (9) . The ability to see clearly at close range permitted the ape-men to study practical problems in a way that lay far (10) the reach of the original inhabitants of the grassland. Good long-distance sight was (11) another matter. Lack of long-distance vision had not been a problem for forest-dwelling apes and monkeys because the (12) the viewpoint, the greater the range of sight-so (13) they had had to do was climb a tree. Out in the open, however, this simple solution was not (14) . Climbing a hill would have helped, but in many places the ground was flat. The ape-men (15) the only possible solution. They reared up as high as possible on their hind limbs and began to walk (16) . This vital change of physical position brought about considerable disadvantages. It was extremely unstable and it meant that the already slow ape-men became (17) still. (18) , they persevered and their bone structure gradually became (19) to the new, unstable position that (20) them the name Homo erectus, upright man.
3()
A.became
B.equipped
C.posed
D.provided
参考答案:D
解析:
became意为“成为;变为”;equipped意为“装备”,常用于be equipped with 或equip sb.with sth.;posed意为“摆好姿势;造成”;proVided意为“供给,提供”。这里是说熊的力量、速度和爪子为自身提供了很好的武器,故选项D最符合 题意。