普通高中课程标准实验教科书英语选修高二下选修8 Unit 5 Meeting your ancestors-Readin

所属教程:普通高中课程标准实验教科书英语选修高二下

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A VISIT TO THE ZHOUKOUDIAIN CAVES

A group of students (S) from England has come to the Zhoukoudian caves for a visit. An archaeologist (A) is showing them round.

A: Welcome to the Zhoukoudian caves here in China. It is a great pleasure to meet you students from England, who are interested in archaeology. You must be aware that it's here that we found evidence of some of the earliest people who lived in this part of the world. We've been excavating here for many years and ...

S1: I'm sorry to interrupt you but how could they live here? There are only rocks and trees.

A: Good question. You are an acute observer. We have found human and animal bones in those caves higher up the hill as well as tools and other objects. So we think it is reasonable to assume they lived in these caves, regardless of the cold.

S2: How did they keep warm? They couldn't have mats, blankets or quilts like we do. It must have been very uncomfortable.

A: We've discovered fireplaces in the centre of the caves where they made fires. That would have kept them warm, cooked the food and scared wild beasts away as well. We have been excavating layers of ash almost six metres thick, which suggests that they might have kept the fire burning all winter. We haven't found any doors but we think they might have hung animal skins at the cave mouth to keep out the cold during the freezing winter.

S3: What wild animals were there all that time ago?

A: Well, we've been finding the bones of tigers and bears in the caves, and we think these were their most dangerous enemies. Now what do you think this tells us about the life of these early people? (shows picture of a sewing needle)

S2.: Gosh! That's a needle. Goodness, does that mean they repaired things?

A: What else do you think it might have been used for?

S4: Let me look at it. It's at most three centimetres long. Ah yes, it seems to be made of bone. I wonder how they made the hole for the ...

S2: (interrupting) Do you mean that they made their own clothes? Where did they get the material?

A: They didn't have material like we have today. Can you guess what they used?

Sl: Wow! Did they wear clothes made entirely of animal skins? How did they prepare them? I'm sure they were quite heavy to cut and sew together.

A: Our evidence suggests that they did wear clothes made from animal skins. We continue discovering tools that were sharpeners for other tools. It seems that they used the sharpened stone tools to cut up animals and remove their skin. Then smaller scrapers were probably used to remove the fat and meat from the skin. After that they would rub an ample amount of salt onto the skin to make it soft. Finally, they would cut it and sew the pieces together. Quite a difficult and messy task! Now look at this. (shows a necklace)

S2:Why, it's a primitive necklace. Did early people really care about their appearance like we do? It's lovely!

A:Yes, and so well preserved. What do you think it's made of?.

S4:Let me see. Oh, I think some of the beads are made of animal bones but others are made of shells.

A:How clever you are! One bone is actually an animal tooth and the shells are from the seaside. Can you identify any other bones?

S1:This one looks very much like a fish bone. Is that reasonable?

A:Yes, indeed, as the botanical analyses have shown us, all the fields around here used to be part of a large shallow lake. Probably there were fish in it.

S3:But a lake is not the sea. We are miles from the sea, so how did the seashells get here?

A:Perhaps there was trade between early peoples or they travelled to the seaside on their journeys. We know that they moved around, following the herds of animals. They didn't grow their own crops, but picked fruit when it ripened and hunted animals. That's why they are called hunters and gatherers. Now, why don't we go and visit the caves?