普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语选修8 Unit 5 Reading

　　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.

[小精 灵 儿童 网站]