2014-2015学年高中英语 Unit 5 Meeting your ancestors 听力原文练习 新人教版选修8.docVIP

Using Language DATING METHODS Zhou Heping (ZH) has come to ask the archaeologist, Richard Leakey (RL), how he dates the bones he finds. Listen to Part 1. Listen again and fill in the blanks. ZH: How can you tell how old bones are when you find them? RL: There are two main ways: the first uses the layers in the ground and the second uses radiocarbon dating. ZH: I see. How does the layer method work? RL: Well, look at the diagram in your book. Think of a wastepaper basket. When you came into work, you ate an orange and threw the orange skin into it. That’s layer number 1. Later somebody threw some yogurt pots into it. That’s layer number 2. ZH: Oh yes, and then I threw some paper into it. So that’s layer number 3. RL: Yes, and finally someone threw away some used envelopes. So how many layers are there in this wastepaper basket? ZH: There are four. RL: Which layer is the first and therefore the oldest? ZH: The orange skin. RL: And which is the last and therefore the most recent? ZH: Of course – the used envelopes. I see how it works now. But how does it help? RL: Well, layers of soil are produced at different times like the layers in your wastepaper basket. Each time people live somewhere, they make a layer in the soil. If they live there for a long time, they make a lot of layers. Each layer has a different colour and texture which we use to find out how old it is. ZH: How splendid! Listen to Part 2. Listen again and fill in the blanks. ZH: Now what about radiocarbon dating? RL: This is more scientific. It uses radioactivity to measure the amount of carbon in living things. The carbon in a dead body disappears at a fixed rate. We know how long that takes, so we can measure the amount of carbon and work out how old a bone is. ZH: Thats very clever. Is it accurate too? RL: There are some problems with very old bones, so you are always given two dates. ZH: How does that work? RL: Well, the date for a bone may be between 9,900 years and 10,100 years old. ZH: I see!