摘要: He is an explorer a sailor.

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  Easter Island is one of the most famous islands in the world.It's located in Polynesia,a group of islands about 3,700 kilometers off the South American coast.About 24 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide,Easter Island's present population is about 2,000,and it now belongs to the Republic of Chile( 智利).

  It is famous for its huge stone statues,of which there are nearly a thousand.These statues are called moai and are carved from a soft rock called tuff(凝灰岩).They show the heads and shoulders of people believed to be early inhabitants(居民)of the island.Most of the statues are between three and twelve meters high,and some of them weigh more than 50 tons!It is believed most of the statues were carved between A.D. 1000--1600.About a century before the arrival of the first Europeans,however,there is evidence(证据)of some kind of conflict(冲突)among the inhabitants of the island,and carving stopped.

  The first recorded visit by a Westerner to Easter Island was by the Dutch sailor Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday in 1722.This is where the name Easter Island comes from.The arrival of Westerners,however,did nothing to improve things because they brought new illnesses and took many of the islanders as slaves.In 1774 the British explorer Captain James Cook visited the island and recorded a great deal of information about the islanders and their statues.However,the first serious archaeological(考古)study was done by an American team,who arrived in 1886.The first detailed study of the quarry(采石场)from which the statues had been cut was made by an Englishwoman,Catherine Routledge,during the First World War.

Easter Island became really famous,however,in 1950 when Norwegian(挪威的)explorer Thor Heyerdahl published his best-selling book,Kon-Tiki.Heyerdahl had sailed from South America to Polynesia on a simple raft(筏)made from a light,soft wood called balsa(轻木).He argued in his book that the fact he could do this proved the people of Polynesia originally came from South America,not South-East Asia.Heyerdahl's theory,however,is no longer accepted by most experts on Polynesian history.

1.The story is mainly about ________.

A.the early explorers

B.the history of Polynesia

C.the statues of Easter Island

D.the inhabitants of Easter Island

2.Easter Island can be found ________.

A.in Chile

B.in America

C.in the Atlantic Ocean

D.off the coast of South America

3.Easter Island is famous for its ________.

A.explorers

B.statues

C.inhabitants

D.archaeologists

4.Most of the statues ________.

A.are carved out of wood

B.are between 3 and 12 meters high

C.weigh more than 50 tons

D.are carved two thousand years ago

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