4、Small discoveries in Indonesia are causing a stir in the science world. Researchers have unearthed(挖掘) tiny bones that they believe belong to an entirely new human species. If that’s true, it will change how we think about our ancestors.
Clues that the little people may have lived long ago were first revealed last year in the scientific journal Nature. Scientists said that they had found the bones of a three-foot-tall female on the island of Flores, in Indonesia. When they looked more closely, they saw that the nearly complete skeleton(骨骼) belonged to a full-grown adult. Researchers named her Hobbit, after the tiny heroes of the Lord of the Rings books.
Now the team is saying it has unearthed even more pieces of the puzzle, including a jawbone and parts of arms, legs and hands form several individuals, as well as stone tools. They reported their find in Nature this month. “The new evidence makes it very clear that these people are a new species, distinct from modern humans,” Peter Brown, a scientist on the team, said. They named these ancient humans Homo floresiensis.
Brown says that these little people lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. If Homo floresiensis was a different species from modern humans, that would make our family tree bigger than we knew. It means, says Brown, that “until recently, a relative shared the planet with us.”
Many scientists think a new species is unlikely. Some argue that the bones must have belonged to modern humans whose small size was the result of a genetic problem.
Daniel E. Lieberman, a scientist at Harvard University, thinks that the debate over the discovery is healthy. He believes that the questions and arguments raised by critics will help us learn more about these unusual skeletons. “Disagreement is an important part of the scientific process,” Lieberman said. “As far as I’m concerned, the story’s only just begun.”
1．Researchers name the skeleton Hobbit because ________.
A．it is a figure described in the Lord of the Rings
B．it resembles the tiny heroes in a set of books
C．it proves to be a full – grown adult
D．it belongs to ancient human species
2．Small discoveries in Indonesia are important because .
A．they are revealed in the scientific journal Nature
B．they are made by Peter Brown, a famous scientist
C．they are about ancestors of modern humans
D．they might provide new evidence for human study
3．According to Daniel E. Lieberman, .
A．Homo floresiensis doesn’t exist B．disagreement leads to further research
C．the investigation hasn’t begun yet D．our family tree is bigger than we knew
4．Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A．Comparison between Different Peoples
B．Arguments over Human Origin
C．Discovery of a Possible New Human Species
D．History of Indonesian People
3、Rail passengers are being forced to pay thousands of pounds more in fares as a result of poor advice from the national telephone helpline and individual stations, a consumer organization reveals today. Research by Which? found that in some cases passengers are being charged almost double the cheapest price because of errors made by staff.
Which? asked 25 questions of both station staff and the National Rail Enquiries (NRES) helpline. Only half of the 50 questions were answered correctly. If customers had followed all the advice given, they would have been ￡1,263.60 worse off.
Bad advice was given for the cheapest fare for a single journey between London and Grantham. For a ticket bought on the day of travel, both NRES and a King’s Cross station clerk quoted GNER’s ￡44.50 fare, ignoring a Hull Trains service which leaves 10 minutes earlier and costs just ￡20.
Some of the most costly misinformation was given for journeys where season tickets should have been recommended. Passengers making a return journey between Swindon and Penzance twice in a week could buy a ticket from one company for ￡70 which would cover all the travel. But both NRES and station staff quoted ￡67 for each journey, making ￡134. However, the NRES website proved to be a much more reliable source of information.
Which? also checked “the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket” claims by five companies and found this was not always the case. On some services, prices went up and down at random.
Ithiel Mogridge, 52, gave one example of poor advice: “Last Christmas I found my brother a ticket on the thetrainline. com to travel from Blackburn to Yate. While the direct route was ￡51, this one involved a change in Newport and cost just ￡21. I emailed the details to him and his partner. They went to Blackburn station, where the clerk insisted the fare was ￡51.”
Malcolm Coles, editor of which. co. uk, said: “Staff training needs to be improved. In the meantime, we’ve designed a checklist, available at which. co. uk/ railadvice.”
1．According to the passage, “Which?” is a .
A．national telephone helpline B．department under the British Rail
C．consumer organization D．website under the National Rail Enquiries
2．When the author said that customers “would have been ￡1，263，60 worse off”, he was telling us that customers would have .
A．saved ￡1,263,60 if they had followed the advice
B．spent ￡1,263,60 more than the lowest price
C．used ￡1,263,60 for the survey of 25 questions
D．been cheated of ￡1,263,60 from the poor advice
3．The phrase at random in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to “ ”.
A．casually B．purposefully C．exactly D．inevitably
4．The passage is mainly concened with the phenomenon that .
A．train passengers get bad advice on fares
B．rail passengers are ill – treated by station staff
C．booking clerks and the telephone helpline offer reliable information
D．rail passengers can get cheaper tickets if they book earlier
2、Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1．你擦一下窗好吗？（mind）
2．有困难请向警察求助。（turn to）
3．他一到上海就和我们取得了联系。（contact）
4．演出还没结束，孩子们就睡着了。（before）
5．导演得知自己的影片获奖，感到无比自豪。（award）
6．这些十八世纪的油画保存得这样好，使参观者大为惊叹。（so…that）
1、Write an English composition in 120 – 150 words according to the instructions given below.
你班打算组织一次为期两天的旅游。给旅行社写封信，按照你们的预算，提出食、住、行、游等方面的具体要求，请旅行社予以安排。（信的开头和结尾已给出。）
II．Guided writing
Dear Sir/Madam, Dec 15th ,2007
We are students of East Senior High School……
Yours sincerely,
Yao Hua
31、A man dances with a robot partner at Japan’s National Science Museum during news conference to promote Great Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, capital of Japan Oct. 22,2007.
A．the; the; / B．/; a; the C．the; a; the D．/; the; /
30、—We want someone to design the new art museum for us?
— the young fellow have a try?
A．May B．Shall C．Will D．Need
29、 is known to everybody, the moon travels round the earth once every month.
A．It B．As C．That D．Which
28、The picture reminded me of the golden days in the small village I was taken good care of.
A．where B．that C．then D．which
27、By midday the sun was very strong, Jim was so tired 1.______________
to walk. There was no trees near the road, so he rested 2. ______________
under a big rock. After drinking some water, he took his 3. ______________
shirt, lying down on the ground and feel asleep at once. 4. ______________
He was very tired that he didn’t wake up until the evening. 5. ______________
He was just about to jump while he felt something moving 6. ______________
near his feet. He looked up and saw a long black snake. 7. ______________
Jim was so frightening that he didn’t dare to move. The 8. ______________
snake began to crawl(爬) across his legs. It crawled on and 9. ______________
on until it was disappeared under the rocks, Jim jumped 10. ______________
to his feet, picked up his shirt and ran down the road.
26、Is ________ possible ________ us to master a foreign language without much memory work?
A．it; of B．that; of C．that; for D．it; for
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三、短文改错
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