高中英语 Unit 5 Meeting your ancestors背景知识拓展 新人教.docVIP

Unit 5 Meeting your ancestorsThis week，bones from Australopithecus① Sediba are unveiled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Scientists believe their fossilised② skeletons show they could be our direct ancestors, the long-sought “missing link?between a
pes and humans. Now new details about it make it clear our ancient relative displayed both primitive characteristics as well as more modern, human-like traits. Au. sediba hit the headlines last year after a scientists nine-year-old son found the partial skeleton of a 60lb 10 to 13-year-old male during a dig at a site known as Malapa. This time, two primitive ape-like creatures, believed to be a mother and her young son. Further exploration led to the discovery of the remains for an adult female in her late 20s or early 30s weighing around 73lb. The latest research sheds new light on the creature which include descriptions of the most complete hand, one of the more complete pelvises ever discovered and brand new pieces of the foot and ankle. Au. sediba, walked on two legs and had hips similar to ours, but still retained a few more primitive features, such as longer arms and a smaller brain. Until now, fossils dated to 1.9million years ago and mostly attributed to Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis梙ave been undisputed considered ancestral to Homo erectus. But, the older age of these Au. sedi
ba fossils raises the possibility of a separate, older lineage from which Homo erectus may have evolved. Dr Kristian Carlson said: 揟he actual brain residing within a crani
um does not fossilise. By studying the impressions on the inside of a cranium, palaeontologists have an opportunity to estimate what the surface of a brain may have looked like and estimate the size of a brain.” 本周，南方古猿人的骨骼在约翰尼斯堡金山大学公布于众。 科学家认为，这些已变成化石的骨骼显示他们是人类的直系祖先，这是人们一直在寻找的存在于人猿和人类之间的过渡生物。现在，有关它的新细节，都清楚的显示了这些远古亲戚接近现代原始人类的特征。 去年，在南非马拉帕，一位科学家九岁的儿子在一次考古中发现了一名13岁男子60磅的部分骨架，南方古猿人那时就成了新闻头条。 这次发现的两个类人猿是一位母亲和他年轻的儿子。经过遗骸的进一步研究，科学家发现成