The discovery of a dwarfed (矮个的)”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 (结构)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：这是一道细节推理题。根据第二段第一句可知最新发现在94000年前“Flores Human”已经使用工具了，比Homo sapiens（40000年前）要早。
68．解析：这是一道判断题。第二段第一句讲到一个发现工具和Flores Human有关联是令人惊讶的事情。接着讲了Homo sapiens是4万年前才到岛上，和工具无关。由此可知，制造工具的人，即this tiny human指的是Flores Human。
69．解析：这是一道主旨题。文章讲了Flores Human制造的工具，生活方式、演变、语言等，A、B、C均不全面。D说了文章主要讲关于Flores Human的主要的令人惊讶的发现。
70．解析：这是推断题。A说Flores Human被她的敌人变矮，肯定不对。C说她在湿热的环境中留下许多化石，最后一段讲到，湿热的环境不适宜保存化石，那个被完好保存的Flores女人的化石是因为在埋葬的时候坐了特殊处理。因此不是留下了很多化石，C也不对。D说她到达Flores4万年前，4万年前到达Flores是Homo sapiens，因此也不对。B说Flores Human能讲话。这是科学家根据她们能制造工具、用火和屠杀大型动物而推断出来的。