Construction workers in Southern California have made a wild discovery. They were digging at a building site in San Timoteo Canyon (峽谷) when they unearthed hundreds of ancient animal fossils. Researchers say the bones hold important clues about the history of the region.

Nearly 1, 500 fossils were recovered from the dusty canyon. The remains are about 1.4 million years old. They include the bones of a new species of deer, several small rodents (嚙齒目動(dòng)物) and more. A giant cat fossil was also found. Scientists believe the animal was an ancestor of the saber- toothed tiger. Signs of plant life were uncovered as well.

“This is a huge find,” says Rick Greenwood, a scientist studying the site. “I don’t think most people had any idea that those types of animals were wandering around here more than a million years ago.”

San Timoteo Canyon is located about 85 miles from Los Angeles. The area of the canyon where the fossils were found was once part of a green river valley. Today, the region is dry and plant life is rare.

Most of the fossils are well preserved. Experts say a muddy lake bed may have trapped thirty animals that wandered over for a drink. The mud helped to protect the animal fossils.

The remains are a million years older than those discovered at the famous La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Scientists studying the bones will be able to learn more about how the animals adapted to changes in the environment.

“We have a confused view of what this time period was like, ” says another scientist. “A discovery like this could really be an important contribution.”

About 35 different animal species are represented in the fossil collection. Scientists began removing bones from the site last fall. The project was completed this summer. Starting next year, the fossils will be on display at the Western Science Center in the nearby city of Hemet, California.

1.

What does the passage mainly focus on?

A．The secret of ancient animals’ deaths.

B．The preparation for a future fossil exhibition.

C．A great discovery of fossils.

D．The history of San Timoteo Canyon.

2.

From what Rick says, we know ________. (原創(chuàng))

A．fossils were discovered in the canyon for the first time.

B．the canyon in ancient times was quite different.

C．more research work will be carried on in the canyon.

D．the river water helped to protect the animal fossils.

3.

Compared to the discovery at the La Brea Tar Pits, the canyon-involved fossils _______.

A．a(chǎn)re far older

B．include more species

C．a(chǎn)re better preserved

D．make experts more confused

4.

What do we know about the fossils from the passage?

A．All of them are of new species.

B．Some of them have been destroyed

C．They were looked for under experts’ guidance.

D．They will be on show in the near future.

 

【答案】

1.C

2.C

3.A

4.D

【解析】 略

 

練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

If you are lost in the mountains, stay calm in the face of darkness, loneliness, and the unknown. It will greatly increase your chances of survival（生存）. Many people think that preparing necessary equipment and knowing how to use it are very important, but actually eighty percent of mountain survival is your reaction to fear.

 

Find a hiding place.

Unnecessary labor will make you sweat and make you cold. Find a hiding place around you before trying to start your own construction. If you are in a snow-covered area, you may be able to dig a cave in deep snow for protection from the wind. You should try to hide yourself in the middle of the mountain if possible. Stay out of the valleys－cold air falls, and the valley floor can be the coldest area on the mountain.

 

Signal rescuers for help.

The best time to signal rescuers is during the day. Signal for help from the highest point possible－it will be easier for rescuers to see you, and any sound you make will travel farther. If you take a box of matches and a space blanket（a special blanket for traveling）, build three smoky fires and put your blanket－gold side facing out－on the ground.

 

Do not walk away.

   It will make finding you more difficult, as search teams will be trying to follow your path and may miss you if you have gone off in a different direction. Searchers often end up finding a car with no one in it.

 

If you get frostbite（凍傷）, do not rewarm the affected area until you’re out of danger.

    You can walk on frostbitten feet, but once you warm the area and can feel the pain, you will not want to walk anywhere. Try to protect the frostbitten area and keep it dry until you are rescued.

36．When lost in the mountains, you can increase your chances of survival if you ______.

       A．take a space blanket with you

       B．do more physical labor

       C．try to find a car immediately

       D．walk as far as possible to find help

37．According to the passage, people most probably fail to survive if they ______.

       A．do not take enough equipment

       B．stay in the middle of the mountain

       C．do not keep themselves warm

       D．stay in a snow-covered area

38．What can we infer from the passage?

       A．Don’t travel by yourself.

       B．Mountain traveling is dangerous.

       C．Don’t get frightened in danger.

       D．Avoid going to unfamiliar place.

 

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2012-2013學(xué)年浙江臨海白云高級(jí)中學(xué)高三第三次模擬英語(yǔ)卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

What separates me from everyone else? The difference is not what clothes I wear or the music I listen to, but what I feel inside.

Ever since I was young, I have loved professional wrestling（摔跤）. I woke up every Saturday to watch my favorite "Superstars." As I grew older, I got a lot of flak for watching this "fake" sport. My peers（同齡人） would laugh at me for following what was called a "man's soap opera." So, I put my love for wrestling on the shelf. Like everyone else, I wanted to be associated with the cool clique. I yearned to be invited to the parties of the in-crowd and hang out with the popular kids. I became pretty successful. Although my Friday evenings were busy with parties, I would still wake up early Saturdays to watch wrestling. It wasn't until freshman year that I realized I wasn't being myself.

That year, I tried many new things and activities and made new friends. In my town, football was the sport, so I decided to play football, thinking it might give me a head start in popularity. The team started with 48 athletes. At the end, there were 14 of us left. I stuck it out not because I liked it, but because I am not a quitter. That long season taught me a lesson: I wasn't a football player. More importantly, it taught me to be myself.

After that season, I went back to being a wrestling fan. I watched it religiously, no matter what insults were thrown my way. I came across a quote: "Don't Dream It, Be It." When I read this, my friend Dan had the same idea I had.

"What if we build a wrestling ring（拳擊場(chǎng)）?" we asked. We acquired the necessary wood and equipment for its construction. The following weekend, we met at his house. We saw our dream in a pile in his backyard. We worked from dawn to dusk to build our great establishment. By Sunday night, our mission was complete. Our hard work (combined with a little creativity) had paid off. We had a real ring. We decided to hold an "event." We practiced for hours, trying to improve every aspect of our wrestling ability. The date was May 24th. Our show had a start time of 9: 00 p.m. To our surprise, about one hundred family, friends and fans showed up to support us. It was the most important night of my life and a complete success. Since that time, we have held five shows with as many as two hundred and fifty people turning out. We continue to live this dream. We accomplished what we set out to do. We are now well known throughout school. When I walk down the halls, I am respected by my peers. Some are the same peers who ridiculed me for watching wrestling when I was younger. When they approach me, they often say, "Good match, Chris." I humbly say, "Thank you," knowing I did something I believed in.

As my senior year winds down, I'll remember all of my high school memories. But what will stick out most is the memory that I did something I loved, despite what everyone said or thought. I accomplished my goal. I lived my dream.

1.What makes the writer different from the others is __________.

A．the different sports he loves

B．the different clothes he wears and the different music he listens to

C．that he is younger than the others.

D．the different ideas he has

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．I practiced wrestling secretly in my spare time.

B．I put the clothes for wrestling on the shelf.

C．I decided to quit following wrestling.

D．I began not to watch wrestling on TV.

3.When the writer was a freshman, he ___________.

A．knew he couldn’t be a good football player  B．realized he was being himself

C．was still sociable                        D．built a wrestling ring

4.The writer built the wrestling ring in order to ________.

A．play football there                      B．make his dream realized

C．be a professional player                  D．have parties there.

5.What is the writer’s attitude towards his experience in high school?

A．Optimistic         B．Pessimistic         C．Doubtful          D．Surprised

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2012-2013學(xué)年安徽省黃山市高三第一次聯(lián)考英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(發(fā)電)and transmission (輸送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.

The 19 th century saw land grants(政府撥地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.

Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.

So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物種) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.

The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.

The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.

1.What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?

A．Small towns along the railways became abandoned.

B．Land in the West was hard to manage.

C．Some railroad stops remained underused.

D．Land grants went into private hands.

2.What is the major concern in the development of alternative energy according to the last two paragraphs?

A．The use of money and power.

B．The transmission of power.

C．The conservation of solar energy.

D．The selection of an ideal place.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards building solar plants?

A．Disapproving.      B．Approving.         C．Doubtful.          D．Cautious.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

A．How the Railways Have Affected the West

B．How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced

C．How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West

D．How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2012-2013學(xué)年上海市虹口區(qū)高考一模英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：信息匹配

Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

PARIS

1.Paris, the capital and the largest city of the country, is in north central France. The Paris metropolitan area contains nearly 20% of the nation’s population and is the economic, cultural, and political center of France. The French government has historically favored the city as the site for all decision making, thus powerfully attracting nearly all of the nation’s activities.

2.Paris has grown steadily since it was chosen as the national capital in the late 10th century. With the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, a great number of people moved to the city from the country during the 19th century. The migration was especially stimulated by the construction of railroads, which provided easy access to the capital. After World War II more and more immigrants arrived.

3.The city is the centralized control point of most national radio and television broadcasting. It is a place of publication of the most prestigious (有威望的) newspapers and magazines and an international book publishing center. With more than 100 museums, Paris has truly one of the greatest concentrations of art treasures in the world. The Louvre, opened as a museum in 1793, is one of the largest museums in the world.

4.In the late 1980s about 4.1 million pupils annually attended about 47,000 elementary schools. In addition, about 5.4 million students attended some 11,200 secondary schools. Approximately 1.2 million students were enrolled annually at universities and colleges in France in the late 1980s. French centers of learning have served as academic models throughout the world.

5.Paris is the leading industrial center of France, with about one quarter of the nation’s manufacturing concentrated in the metropolitan area. Industries of consumer goods have always been drawn to Paris by the enormous market of the big population; and modern, high-technology industries also have become numerous since World War II. Chief manufactures are machinery, automobiles, chemicals and electrical equipment.

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：2013屆福建省高二下學(xué)期期末考試英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：單項(xiàng)填空

We tried ______ to persuade him to stay home, but at last, he went to the construction site despite his bad illness.

A．in case

B．in vain

C．in fact

D．in addition

 

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案