（語句）

□in the blink of an eye(一瞬；extremely quickly)
□fateful(運命を決する；having an important and usually negative effect on the future)　
□Pleistocene(更新世(の)；belonging to the period in the Earth's history which lasted from about 2,000,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago)　
□make do with[without](〜で間に合わせる；to manage with or without something, even though this is not completely satisfactory)　
□game(猟の獲物；wild animals and birds that are hunted for food or sport: game area)　
□grind(粉になる；to make something into small pieces or a powder by pressing between hard surfaces)　
□leach(濾過する；to remove a substance from a material, especially from earth, by the process of water moving through the material)　
□lend itself to sth(〜に適する、〜と結び付く；it is suitable for that thing or can be considered in that way)　
□outcompete((相手を)上回る；to do something better something else)　
□unlock(解き明かす；to discover important new facts about something)　
□clime(気候；climateの文語形)　
□demographics(人口統計; information about the people who live in a particular area)

さあ皆さんいかがでしたか。このパッセージは語彙も比較的簡単で読みやすかったはすです。では問題の方はどうでしょうか。一緒に見て行きましょう。

(35) According to the passage, what important development concerning the origins of agriculture has not been explained by existing theories?
1. How agriculture could have developed in a single location and then spread over the world.
2. Why the first Homo sapiens abandoned the hunter-and gatherer lifestyle over 200,000 years ago.
3. Why agriculture appeared in different areas in roughly the same historical period.
4. How the hunter-and gatherer lifestyle lead to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species

Although Homo sapiens emerged as a distinct species more than 200,000 years ago, the domestication of plants and animals did not occur until a little over 16,000 years ago. Perhaps the most startling mystery is why domestication seems to have occurred independently in about nine areas of the world over a span of only 6000 years, historical blink of an eye. No theory yet proposed has satisfactorily explained how this amazing development could have occurred, seemingly by coincidence.

第1問目は第1段落の内容に関する問題で、上の英文の太字の部分をパラフレーズした3が正解です。つまり、domesticationをagriculture、appearをoccur、in different areasをindependently(別個に)でパラフレーズしており、over a span of only 6,000 years, a historical blink of an eye(長い歴史から見ればあっという間に)がin roughly the same historical periodになることを読解できれば、非常に簡単な問題です。

それでは次の問題です。

(37) What can be said about the spread of farming?
1. Climate change at the end of the Pleistocene age forced people to move south, taking their agricultural techniques with them.
2. The declining numbers of big-game species meant hunters often had to travel longer distances, bringing them into contact with early farmers.
3. Agriculture naturally started in the most fertile areas, such as river valleys, and was carried north and south by expanding groups of farmers.
4. Agriculture generally spread more easily along similar latitudes, as early farmers did not have to change their methods to suit new conditions.

この問題はいかがでしょう。次の第6段落をサマリーした選択肢４が正解です。
Farming expanded more rapidly along east-west axes than north-south axes, since locations at similar latitudes are more likely to share similar climates, day-lengths, and seasons. This allowed farmers to use the same domesticated plants and animals, and the same farming techniques. Early farmers moving to locations at vastly different latitudes, on the other hand, had to find ways to adapt their crops and livestock to the new climes, facing cold winters and short summers to the north, and hotter, often drier climates to the south.

この問題は読解問題でよく用いられる「裏返しパターン」というもので、選択肢4は前半が上の文章の黒の太字部分のパラフレーズ、後半が青字部分を丁度裏返したもので、「農民が新たな環境に順応するように農業方法を変えていく必要がなくなるにつれて、農耕が同じ緯度でどんどん広がって行った」の文脈で、３は論外、１、２もそんなに高度なdistractorではないので、すぐに正解がわかるでしょう。