A. SITUATION B. EXAMINATION C. GENERATION D. EDUCATION READ THE...

Câu 41: A. situation B. examination C. generation D. education

Read the following passage and blacken the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct

answer to the following questions.

Very few people in the modern world obtain their food supply by hunting and gathering in the natural

environment surrounding their homes. This method of harvesting from nature's provision is the oldest known

subsistence strategy and has been practised for at least the last two million years. It was, indeed, the only way to

obtain food until rudimentary farming and the domestication of wild animals were introduced about 10,000

years ago.

Because hunter-gatherers have fared poorly in comparison with their agricultural cousins, their numbers

have dwindled, and they have been forced to live in marginal environments, such as deserts and arctic

wastelands. In higher latitudes, the shorter growing seasons have restricted the availability of plant life. Such

conditions have caused a greater dependence on hunting, and on fishing along the coasts and waterways. The

abundance of vegetation in the lower latitudes of the tropics, on the other hand, has provided a greater

opportunity for gathering a variety of plants. In short, the environmental differences have restricted the diet and

have limited possibilities for the development of subsistence societies.

Contemporary hunter-gatherers may help us understand our prehistoric ancestors. We know from the

observation of modern hunter-gatherers in both Africa and Alaska that a society based on hunting and gathering

must be very mobile. While the entire community camps in a central location, a smaller party harvests the food

within a reasonable distance from the camp. When the food in the area has become exhausted, the community

moves on to exploit another site. We also notice seasonal migration patterns evolving for most hunter-gatherers,

along with a strict division of labor between the sexes. These patterns of behavior may be similar to those

practised by mankind during the Paleolithic Period.