The discovery of a dwarfed (矮個的)”human being” who lived in Flores .Indonesia, up to 18,000 years ago is changing the way we think about the human family .This “Flores Human”was three foot tall and her brain was smaller than that of the average chimp (黑猩猩),yet she and her relatives apparently lived fully human lives.They seem to have made tools ,worked together to find food and cook it,and perhaps even buried their dead with ceremony.
It was a major surprise to find tools associated with the new human family member .The tools are like those formerly seen only with European fossils (化石)from our own species;Homo sapiens (智人);and the oldest of them were made 94,000 years ago .Homo sapiens is thought to have arrived in the island about 40,000 years ago ,much too late to be responsible for the tools .If this tiny human made the tools ,them the inside structure (結構)of its brain must have been more like our own than a chimp’s ,despite being just a third the size of ours.
This “new human” was suspected to be a dwarfed branch of Homo erectus (直立人).When creatures are separated in regions with rare resources but few enemies,being big is a disadvantage, and evolution tends to shrink them, a process known as island dwarfing.Could natural selection make a human smaller while keeping — even improving — mental ability ?Quite possibly, believes Christopher Wills of the University of California.
Has the “Flores Human” even shown the ability of language? “I find it difficult to imagine that people could make tools,use fire ,and kill large animals without fairly advanced communication.”  Wills says .Did “Flores Human” possess the basic components of human culture — such as the burying of the dead with ceremony ?  Emiliano Bruner of the Italian Institute points out that Indonesia’s hot, wet environment is bad for fossilization.It is reasonable to assume , he says ,that the 18,000-year-old bones of the most complete Flores woman were well-preserved because she was buried with special care.
67.According to the passage , “Flores Human”______.
A.lived a partly human life                        B.was a branch of Homo sapiens
C.used tools before Homo sapiens arrived    D.had a brain as a common chimp’s                    
68.The underlined part “this tiny human”in Paragraph 2 refers to _______.
A.a chimp     .   B.Flores Human C.Homo sapiens   D.Homo erectus                  
69.This passage mainly talks about______.
A.the tools made by “Flores Human”    B.the language used by “Flores Human”
C.the evolution of “Flores Human”             D. the major surprising findings about “Flores Human”      
70.According to the passage ,it is believed that “Flores Human”_______.
A.was dwarfed by its enemies                          B.could use language
C.left a lot of fossils in hot and wet enviroment D.reached Flores 40,000 years ago 

67---70   CBDB  

67.解析:這是一道細節(jié)推理題。根據(jù)第二段第一句可知最新發(fā)現(xiàn)在94000年前“Flores Human”已經(jīng)使用工具了,比Homo sapiens(40000年前)要早。
68.解析:這是一道判斷題。第二段第一句講到一個發(fā)現(xiàn)工具和Flores Human有關聯(lián)是令人驚訝的事情。接著講了Homo sapiens是4萬年前才到島上,和工具無關。由此可知,制造工具的人,即this tiny human指的是Flores Human。
69.解析:這是一道主旨題。文章講了Flores Human制造的工具,生活方式、演變、語言等,A、B、C均不全面。D說了文章主要講關于Flores Human的主要的令人驚訝的發(fā)現(xiàn)。
70.解析:這是推斷題。A說Flores Human被她的敵人變矮,肯定不對。C說她在濕熱的環(huán)境中留下許多化石,最后一段講到,濕熱的環(huán)境不適宜保存化石,那個被完好保存的Flores女人的化石是因為在埋葬的時候坐了特殊處理。因此不是留下了很多化石,C也不對。D說她到達Flores4萬年前,4萬年前到達Flores是Homo sapiens,因此也不對。B說Flores Human能講話。這是科學家根據(jù)她們能制造工具、用火和屠殺大型動物而推斷出來的。
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