ГОУ ВПО «МАТИ» - РОССИЙСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

имени К.Э.Циолковского

____________________________________________

Кафедра «Иностранные языки»

SCIENCE FRONTIERS

(from the pages of the World's Scientific Journals)

READING for

UNDERGRADUATED STUDENTS

http://www.science-frontiers.com

Москва 2006

Text 1

DID HUMANS EVOLVE IN SIBERIA?

№1. Прочтите заголовок текста. Рассмотрите картинку и попытайтесь предугадать о чем говорится в тексте. Изложите свои предположения в 2-3 предложениях. This text may be about human’s origin. That people evolve in Siberia.

№2. Прочитайте текст, выделяя ключевые слова.

1950 Знаков

R ussian academician Yuri Mochanov thinks so! He does not dispute that humans may also have evolved in Africa and, perhaps, Southeast Asia. And he has brought back some 4,000 stone tools collected at 15 sites in the Siberian permafrost to bolster his claim that Siberia, too, was a point of origin for hominids (see map).

«Molchanov’s controversial evidence is indeed striking: a collection of chipped and flaked rocks that are clearly artifacts fashioned by humanlike hands and that he contends are 2.5 million years old – plus or minus a half-million years. Remarkably, that same era marked the time when early human ancestors known as Homo habilis lived and left their remains in the tropical Olduvai Gorge of what is now Tanzania. Mochanov’s collection of tools closely resembles the ones that anthropologists have long collected from digs in Africa.

All this contrasts strongly with the dominant view of hominid evolution, which cites warm, verdant African forests and savannas as our most likely place of origin. Siberia, with its -50° winters and fleeting summers, hardly seems conducive to hominid speciation. Mochanov’s rationale is that this severe climate actually stimulated ancient hominids to create tools, fashion warm clothing, and build winter shelters – these Siberian hominids had to evolve or perish!

In addition to the climate factor are two other problems: (1) The Siberian sites have yielded no hominid bones nor have animal bones of any kind been found; and (2) The dating of the tools is shaky. They cannot be radiometrically dated. Instead, Mochanov has had to rely on the tools' similarity to African tools of 2 million years ago, magnetostratigraphy, the decayed luminescence of the soil, and the ages of the strata in the 450-foot gorge of the Lena River. It goes without saying that other anthropologists are reserving judgment.

Nevertheless, Mochanov’s Siberian discoveries have produced a magnitude-8 tremor in science.

(Perlman, David; "Russian Scientist Says Homo sapiens Has Arctic Origins," San Francisco Chronicle, January 17, 1994. Cr. J. Covey. A short summary of Mochanov's research appeared in: Stone, Richard; "Turning Out-of-Africa Inside Out," Science, 262:1963, 1993.)

№3. Напишите краткие ответы на следующие вопросы:

1. Who does agree with the words in the headline of the text?

Russian academician Yuri Mochanov does.

2. Why is Molchanov's controversial evidence striking?

Because a collection of chipped and flaked rocks that are clearly artifacts fashioned by humanlike hands and that he contends are 2.5 million years old – plus or minus a half-million years.

3. What is the main contrast of Molchanov's theory with the dominant view of hominid evolution?

The main contrast of Molchanov's theory is the temperature of the place where humans envolved - warm, verdant African forests and savannas against Siberia, with its -50° winters and fleeting summers.

4. What is the problem with the dating of the tools?

They cannot be radiometrically dated.

5. Is the theory of Russian academician really revolutionary?

Yes, it is.

№4. Переведите следующие предложения на английский язык.

1. Русский академик Юрий Молчанов полагает, что человечество зародилось в Сибири.

Russian academician Yuri Mochanov thinks that humans evolved in Siberia.

2. Северный климат заставлял древних людей производить орудия и теплую одежду для того, чтобы выжить.

Severe climate forced ancient people to make tools and warm clothes to survive.

№5. Напишите краткий пересказ текста, используя ключевые слова, выделенные при чтении.

In spite of popular theory of origin for hominids in warm Africa Russian academician Yuri Mochanov thinks that that humans evolved in Siberia. And that its 50° winters and fleeting summers stimulated ancient hominids to create tools, fashion warm clothing, and build winter shelters. They had to do it to survive. His controversial evidence is really striking: Mochanov’s collection of tools (fashioned by humanlike hands and 2.5 million years old – plus or minus a half-million years) closely resembles the ones that anthropologists have long collected from digs in Africa.

But there are two problems: no hominid bones nor animal bones were found in the Siberian sites. And the dating of the tools is shaky because they cannot be radiometrically dated.

Nevertheless, the theory of Russian academician is really revolutionary.