Discovering the oldest complete fish fossil

山东 李全忠

目前最古老的完整鲨鱼化石，是由中国科学家团队发现的。这块化石约有4.39亿年的历史。

主题 语 境：探 索 与 发 现 篇幅：325词 建 议 用 时：7分钟

2 The fossil was a jawed fish, some 439 million years old, and the findings from the Chongqing site, along with other fossil findings in nearby Guizhou Province, have excited the science world, as they are 11 million years older than any jawed fish fossil found before.It is a significant discovery because scientists have suspected that jaws evolved (进化) some 450 million years ago, but there had yet to be any fossils that supported this theory.The oldest fossils with jaws found were 439 million years old.

3 The research team recently published four papers on the discoveries.Today they are staring at complete early fishes, 11 million years earlier than the previous oldest finds.These are both the most exciting as well as the most challenging fossils the team have had the privilege to work on.

4 Some of the fish that were discovered were placoderms, an extinct class of fish that have hard plates that formed a shield around the head and trunk, while others were an ancestral type of shark called acanthodian.

5 The scientists have found the oldest-known teeth of any vertebrate (脊椎动物), 14 million years older than any previous findings, as well as two other shark descendants.China has been the site of numerous discoveries in recent years, including fossils of feathered dinosaurs, as well as the oldest known animals on Earth.

6 The discovery of the Chongqing site is indeed significant for fossil hunting.It made the team realize they had found a jaw-dropping fossil site.They are now close to the core of solving the fishy tree of early jawed vertebrates.

Reading Check

Inference1.What do we know about the discovery of the Chongqing site?

A.It was made by scientists at work.

B.It happened six years ago.

蒋大伟追上郑馨：怎么了，你这是？郑馨大声地：我不想跟她说话！不想看见她！蒋大伟说：咱不是说好了来拿车钱吗？你不开口，我替你说！郑馨倔强地：我不想看见她！我看见她就烦！蒋大伟耐着性子：别呀？你烦我可就麻烦了！我听出来了，她是你后妈，后妈也是妈，你就不能张口叫一声？郑馨执拗地：不！是她把我妈逼走了！她不是我妈！蒋大伟：好好，我不想断你们的家务事，我只拿我的车钱！这样好不好，你不叫我替你叫，然后你就接着说，只要拿了车钱，咱立马就走，到了兰江大桥，你砰地一声下去了，就永远也不用见她了！行吗？郑馨犹疑地看着他，蒋大伟握握拳头：我以人格向你保证！

C.It relates to animals' origin.

D.It was done all by chance.

Detail2.Why is the discovery of the Chongqing site important?

A.It inspires scientists to work on.

B.It provides evidence of jaws' evolving.

C.It helps four papers to be published.

D.It finds the oldest animal on Earth.

Gist3.In which part of a magazine can you read this text?

A.Science.

B.Culture.

C.Tourism.

D.Entertainment.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

Some of the fish that were discovered were placoderms, an extinct class of fish that have hard plates that formed a shield around the head and trunk, while others were an ancestral type of shark called acanthodian.一些被发现的鱼类是盾皮鱼，这是一种已经灭绝的鱼类，其头部和躯干周围坚硬的鳞片形成了一道屏障，而另一些则是一种被称为棘鱼的鲨鱼祖先。

【点石成金】本句是一个并列复合句。句中的while连接并列从句，在第一个分句中的三个that都引导定语从句。

Ⅱ.Fill in the blanks with a proper expression

along with__significant__stare at__previous__unbelievable__be clo___se_to

1.This house doesn't compare with our ________ one.

2.I know it sounds ________ but I never want to cheat.

3.I would rather ________ a clear, star-filled sky than a TV set.

4.There are no ________ differences between the two groups of students.

5.The problem of pollution arises ________ the rapid development of industry.

6.The task should ________ students' life, learning experience and social reality.