A new pollen (花粉) study showed that drought was responsible for the extinction of civilizations more than 3,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.
The reason behind why the civilizations in and around modern-day Israel suddenly broke down more than 3,000 years ago has remained a mystery up until now. A new pollen study by Tel Aviv University researchers finally solved this Bronze Age mystery.
Prof. Israel Finkelstein showed that owing to serious climate changes, the entire world of the Bronze Age crumbled in a short period of time. The discovery was made on the basis of a high-resolution analysis of pollen grains taken from sediments (沉淀物) beneath the Sea of Galilee and the western shore of the Dead Sea.
Prof. Finkelstein received support from the European Research Council to conduct research aimed at reconstructing ancient Israel. Researchers of the part of the project that dealt with climate change extracted (提取) about 60 feet of samples of gray muddy sediment from the center of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. They had to drill through 1,000 feet of water and into 65 feet of the lake bed and were able to recover evidence dating over the past 9,000 years.
“Pollen is the most enduring organic material in nature,” explained Dr. Dafna Langgut, a pollen researcher who carried out the actual work of sampling. “These grains tell us about the plants that grew near the lake in the past and therefore prove the climatic conditions in the region.”
Researchers noted a sharp decrease in Mediterranean trees like oaks and pines in the Late Bronze Age. According to study experts, this could be because of repeated periods of drought. The droughts may have resulted in long famines, forcing people to migrate from north to south.The underlined word “crumbled” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
| A．settled | B．changed |
| C．established | D．disappeared |
Prof. Finkelstein conducted the new pollen study to _____.
| A．earn some money |
| B．recreate ancient Israel |
| C．learn more about local plants |
| D．discover the ancient civilizations |
By conducting the study, scientists found _____.
| A．Mediterranean trees were rare in the Early Bronze Age |
| B．climate change was to blame for the lost civilization |
| C．people in the Late Bronze Age starved to death |
| D．droughts were rare during the Bronze Age |
The text is most probably taken from _____.
| A．a travel magazine | B．a history textbook |
| C．a newspaper report | D．an agricultural book |
BUKHANNON, West Virginia~~Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two—mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident.
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates on the rescuers' progress.
The miners were trapped at about .6:30 and many families weren't informed of the accident until about 10 a.m.~~more than three hours after it happened. "It's very upsetting, but you've got to be patient, I guess," said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine.
The trapped miners were about 260 fee underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine's entrance, said Roger Nicholson, a lawyer from International Coal Group.
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p.m. Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later.
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for 30 to 35 years. The miners were equipped with al>out one hour of breathable oxygen each. The company has not released the names of the miners.
The teams test the air abou
t every 500 feet, and have to disconnect the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that. "We don't want to be electrifying anything if it's in an atmospfiere with hurnahle gases," Kips said.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. High levels of carbon monoxide (一氧化物) were discovered shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have weakened since then, authorities said.According to the passage, we ran infer that.
I.communication with the trapped miners was cut off
J.the rescue started as soon as the accident happened
K.the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time
L.all the miners who were trapped underground were still aliveIf the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig abo
ut______per hour.
| A．1,000 feet | B．1,200 feet | C．2,400 feet | D．4,800 feet |
Where ran the passage he seen?
| A．Iii a magazine. | B．In a science hook. | C．On an advertisement. | D．In a newspaper. |
You know Australia is a big country, but you may not know how easy it is to get around. The untouched beaches that go for miles and deserts that touch the horizon are just there, waiting to be reached and explored. The following are the different ways you can explore our vast country.
Getting around Australia
Air
Flying is the best way to cover large distances in a short time. You can spend more time on the Australia's can't-miss landscapes and relaxing lifestyle. Moreover, competition among airlines makes great flying fees available for you.
Drive
Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. You have no difficulty finding car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and attractions.
Bus
Bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Buses generally have air conditioning, reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient.
Rail
Train travel is the cheapest and gives you an insight into Australia's size and variety, all from the comfort of your carriage. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers.
Ferry(轮渡）
The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra sen ices are running during summer rush hours. Sea-link ferries connect South Australia and Kangaroo Island several times a day. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities.
Walk
With easy-on-the-feet pedestrian.(行人)streets, walking is a great way to get around our cities.
Besides all the above, you can also experience some of the longest: tracks and trails in the world in central Australia——impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.The underlined word "untouched" in Paragraph 1 means.
| A．secure | B．special | C．natural | D．artificial |
Which of the following is true about travelling in Australia?
| A．You can easily rent a car to explore its beautiful touring routes. |
| B．More travellers make the flying fees among airlines higher than before. |
| C．Taking a bus tour is the most comfortable, economical and efficient way. |
| D．Train services can offer you more comfort than any other means of transport, |
Ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania usually runs •
| A．several times a day | B．only at night hours |
| C．between different cities | D．only during rush hours |
From the passage, we know that.
| A．travelling in central Australia is time-consuming |
| B．central Australia has the world's shortest railway line |
| C．pedestrian walking is a great way to travel between cities |
| D．you have no choice but to walk over 1,000 kilometers in central Australia |
If you travel to a new exhibition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, you will have chances to see some meat-eating plants. Take bladderworts, a kind of such plant, for example. They appear so small and grow in a quiet pond. "But these are the fastest known killers of the plant kingdom, able to capture a small insect in 1/50 of a second using a trap door!"
Once the trap door closes on the victim, the enzymes(酶）similar to those in the human stomach slowly digest the insert. When dinner is over, the plant opens the trap door and is ready to trap again.
Meat-eating plants grow mostly in wet areas with soil that doesn't offer much food nutrition. In such conditions, these amazing plants have developed insect traps to get their nutritional needs over thousands of years. North America has more such plants than any other continents.
Generally speaking, the traps may have attractive appearance to fool the eye, like pitcher plants, which get their name because they look like beautiful pitchers full of nectar(花蜜).
Hair-like growths along the pitcher walls ensure that nothing can escape, and the digestive enzymes can get to work. A tiny insect can be digested in a few hours, but a fly takes a couple of days.
Some of these pitchers are large enough to hold 7.5 liters. Meat-eating plants only eat people in science fiction movies, but sometimes a bird or other small animals will discover that a pitcher plant isn't a good place to get a drink.From Paragraph 1，we learn that bladderworts can_.
| A．kill an insect in a second |
| B．digest a fly in a few hours |
| C．be found floating on a quiet lake |
| D．capture an insect in 1/50 of a second |
If the trap door of a meat-eating plant is closed, the plant is
| A．fooling insects into taking a sip |
| B．producing nectar |
| C．tempting insects to come close |
| D．enjoying a dinner |
Meat-eating plants can grow in wet and poor soil because they.
| A．can get nutrition from animals |
| B．don't need much food nutrition |
| C．can make the most of such conditions |
| D．have developed digestive enzymes |
What can be captured by meat-eating plants for food?
| A．A child. | B．A dog |
| C．A little bird. | D．A little fish. |
Our boat floated on between walls of forest. It was too thick for us to get a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must be passing through chains of hills from time to time. Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed: although the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us from going ashore. In any case, what would we have gained by landing? The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance slowly, cutting one's way with knives the whole way. So we stayed in the boat, hoping that when we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization.
As for water, there was a choice. We could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst. We drank the water. Men who have just escaped from what appeared to be certain death lost all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water. In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result.
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us. We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time: we might not be so lucky as to escape in a stolen boat again. TOC \o "1-3" \h \z What they could see on the boat was only.
| A．high walls | B．chains of hills |
| C．heavy woods | D．vast land |
They couldn't land because.
| A．the mud on the shore was too soft |
| B．they could not find anyone |
| C．they could not find the mark on the map |
| D．the forest was too thick to go through |
From the passage, we can learn that.
| A．they were in an uninhabited area |
| B．they were on a journey home happily |
| C．the country was a civilized society |
| D．the country was a tropical jungle coutry |
The best title for this passage might he______
| A．I he Problem of Landing | B．Escape in the Jungle |
| C．An Entirely New Experience | D．Exploration of a River |
Treatment for HIV has become more widespread, especially in poorer countries. It’s also become cheaper, as medicine companies have lowered their prices for life-saving anti-retroviral drugs(抗逆转录病毒药物). But these drugs are still expensive and many countries are looking to create the biggest impact with limited resources. That’s where World Health Organization guidelines come in, says Rochelle Walensky, a disease researcher from Harvard.
Walensky and her colleagues used computer programs to model the most cost-effective disease interventions(干预), as well as collected data from clinics in Africa and India about what works best. They found that among the choices of what to do first, earlier anti-retroviral therapy (疗法)improved five-year survival dramatically and resulted in the longer life expectancy. But cost-effective doesn’t always mean affordable, especially for governments in poor countries. Countries still have to make difficult choices about how much treatment they can afford.
People in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, protest a potential free trade area agreement between the EU and India that could see cheap anti-AIDS drugs phased out（逐步淘汰）. However, Walensky notes that first-line anti-retrovirals—those medicine given to newly diagnosed patients that can keep away from symptoms for years - are much cheaper than they were a decade ago. "Second-line therapy have come down quite a bit but not to the level of first-line and countries are having a hard time affording them and increasingly over time, people are going to fail first-line therapy and they’re going second-line therapy and then, eventually, they’re going to need third-line therapy, some of them."
According to Walensky, history has shown that drug prices can come down when international pressure is applied to drug makers. But for now, she says, countries should focus on treating as many people as they can, as early as possible
Her paper is published in the online journal PLoS Medicine. Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．HIV Has Spread in Poorer Countries |
| B．Rochelle Walensky’s Life |
| C．International Pressure to Drug Makers |
| D．Early HIV Treatment Saves Lives |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Anti-retroviral drugs have become cheap now. |
| B．The cost-effective treatment may be a heavy expense. |
| C．Cheap anti-AIDS drugs have been phased out . |
| D．First-line therapy deals with the most severe disease. |
The research is done by.
| A．using computer programs and collecting data from clinics |
| B．giving medicine to newly diagnosed patients with AIDS |
| C．urging countries to focus on treating more patients earlier |
| D．publishing her paper in the online journal PLoS Medicine |
The passage serves as a（n）___________ to Rochelle Walensky ’s study.
| A．assessment | B．comment | C．introduction | D．background |