Severe droughts are bringing archaeological w onders历史遗迹重现人间

李全忠

主题语境：文化遗产 篇幅：321词 建议用时：6分钟

1 Severe droughts are bringing archaeological wonders and historic horrors to the sur?face. See what the global drought has revealed as water levels continue to drop in manyparts of the world.

2 Bridge across time

A long drought during this hot summer loweredwater levels at Baitings Reservoir so much that remainsof a sunken village appeared in northern UK—includingan ancient packhorse bridge that linked Yorkshire andLancashire. The reservoir， created to supply the nearbycities with water， flooded the village in the 1950s.

3 Footsteps of dinosaurs

Dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago have been revealed at DinosaurValley State Park in Texas due to severe drought conditions that dried up a river. Mosttracks that have recently been uncovered and discovered at different parts of the river inthe park belong to Acrocanthosaurus. The last time the prints were visible was in 2000.

4 Hunger stones

Stories have been circling around the Internetrecently about the re?emergence in certain Czech andGerman rivers of so?called “hunger stones”—rocksembedded in rivers during droughts to mark the water level and warn future generations of the likely famine and hardship to come whenever thestones became visible again. The coverage has been fueled largely by a statement on theInternet noting one stone in particular， inscribed with a warning，“ If you see me， weep.”

5 Village ruins

A sprawling 3400?year?old city emerged in Iraq after a reservoir's water level swiftlydropped due to extreme drought. Kurdish and German archaeologists excavated the settle?ment in the Mosul reservoir， along the Tigris River in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq，in January and February. The archaeological site， Kemune， is believed to be the BronzeAge city Zakhiku， a major hub of the Mittani Empire that reigned from 1550 to 1350 BC.

Reading

Check

1. What was set up to save water for citizens？

A. Baitings Reservoir.

B. An ancient packhorse bridge.

C. Hunger stones.

D. Village ruins.

2. When were footsteps of dinosaurs seen last time？

A. In the 1950s.

B. 113 million years ago.

C. More than 20 years ago.

D. In the 19th century.

3. What do we know about Hunger stones？

A. It has the longest history.

B. It involves two countries.

C. It is the most important.

D. It stands for good luck.

4. In which part of a magazine can we read the text？

A. Weather. B. Technology.

C. Entertainment. D. Advertisement.

Language

Study

Ⅰ. 日積月累

lower v. 降低；使……降下

link v. 联系；相关联

uncover v. 发现；揭开

so?called adj. 所谓的；号称……的

swiftly adv. 迅速地

settlement n. 解决；协议；定居点

major adj. 主要的；重要的

due to 由于

belong to 属于

in particular 尤其

Ⅱ. 单句填空

1. The committee will debate whether________（lower） the age of club membership to 16.

2. If someone or something________（link） two things or situations， there is a relationship between them.

3. While the two are only days apart in age， they seem to belong ________wholly different generations.

4. She moved________（swift） to the rescue.

5. The two departments have reached a________（settle） over new working conditions.