Question

A "lost tribe" that reached America from Australia may have been the first Native Americans, according to a new theory.

If proved by DNA evidence, the theory will break long established beliefs about the southerly migration of people who entered America across the Bering Strait, found it empty and occupied it.

On this theory rests the belief of Native Americans to have been the first true Americans. They would be classified to the ranks of escapee, beaten to the New World by Aboriginals (土著人) in boats.

To a European, this may seem like an academic argument, but to Americans it is a philosophical question about identity (身份), Silvia Gonzales, of Liverpool University said .

Her claims are based on skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico that have skulls (頭骨) quite unlike the broad Mongolian features of Native Americans. These narrow-skulled people have more in common with southern Asians, Aboriginal Australians and people of the South Pacific Region.

The bones, stored at the National Museum of Anthropology (人類學) in Mexico City, have been carbon-dated and one is 12,700 years old, which places it several thousand years before the arrival of people from the North. "We think there were several migration waves into the Americas at different times by different human groups," Dr. Gonzales said． "The timing, route and point of origin of the first colonization of the Americas remains a most contentious topic in human evolution."

But comparisons based on skull shape are not considered conclusive by anthropologists, so a team of Mexican and British scientists, backed by the Natural Environment Research Council, has also attempted to take out DNA from the bones. Dr. Gonzales declined yesterday to say exactly what the results were, as they need to be checked, but indicated that they were consistent（一致） with an Australian origin.

It is generally considered that the first Native Americans came from _____.

       A．North Asia      B．Australia   C．South Pacific   D．South Asia

The skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico have _____.

       A．the broad skull shape     

       B．the narrow skull shape

       C．different features of Aboriginal Australians   

       D．the same features of Native Americans

The underlined “contentious” is similar in meaning to “_____”.

       A．likely to cause great interest    B．difficult to solve

       C．well-known to all           D． likely to cause argument

Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

       A．Research on skulls can draw an exact conclusion.

       B．DNA tests have proved the fact that the first Native Americans came from Australian.

       C．Scientists are still not sure about the origin of the Native Americans.

       D．People began to enter America across the Bering Strait about 12,700 years ago.

Answer 1

【小題1】A

【小題2】B

【小題3】D

【小題4】C

解析:

這是一篇歷史類短文。本文探討的是“誰是第一批踏足美洲的人？”。

【小題1】推斷題。第二段的意義是“如果DNA檢測證實了這個理論的話，這將動搖長期以來人們一直堅信的觀點：一群往南遷徙的移民穿過白令海峽進入美洲后，發現無人在此居住，便占領了它。” 據此推斷可得。

【小題2】細節題。根據第五段表述的意思“這些頭骨和美國土著居民那種蒙古人寬頭骨的特征極為不同。這些窄頭骨的人種和南亞人、澳洲土著和環南太平洋國家的人種有更多共同點。”可知。

【小題3】詞義猜測題。科學家一直在探討“誰是美洲最早的土著居民”這一問題，根據上下文可猜測出，在人類進化史上，最早在美國進行殖民活動的時間、路線和人口來源是一個最“有爭議的”話題。

【小題4】 事實確認題。本文提到的“新理論”和“長期以來人們一直堅信的觀點”都在探討研究之中。對于DNA檢測，岡薩雷斯博士拒絕透露確切的結果，因為研究結果還需要核對，他只是暗示這些DNA和澳大利亞人的血統是吻合的。由此可確認C是正確的。