Human migration: the term is vague. What people usually think of is the
permanent movement of people from one home to another. More broadly, though,
migration means all the ways—from the seasonal drift of agricultural workers
within a country to the relocation of refugees from one country to
another. Migration is big, dangerous, and compelling. It is 60
million Europeans leaving home from the 16th to the 20th century. It is some 15
million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims swept up in a {{U}}tumultuous{{/U}} shuffle of
citizens between India and Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent in
1947. Migration is the dynamic undertow of population change:
everyone's solution, everyone's conflict. As the century turns, migration, with
its inevitable economic and political {{U}}turmoil{{/U}}, has been called "one of
the greatest challenges of the coming century". But it is much
more than that. It is, as has always been, the great adventure of human life.
Migration helped create humans, drove us to conquer the planet, shaped our
societies, and promises to reshape {{U}}them{{/U}} again. "You have
a history book written in your genes," said Spencer Wells. The book he's trying
to read goes back to long before even the first word was written, and it is a
story of migration. Wells, a blond geneticist at Stanford
University, spent the summer of 1998 exploring remote parts of Transcaucasia and
Central Asia with three colleagues in a Land Rover, looking for drops of blood.
In the blood, donated by the people he met, he will search for the story that
genetic markers can tell of the long paths human life has taken across the
Earth.
A. [■] But however the paths are traced, the basic story is simple: people
have been moving since they were people.
B. [■] If early humans hadn't moved and {{U}}intermingled{{/U}} as much as they
did, they probably would have continued to evolve into different species.
C. [■] From beginnings in Africa, most researchers agree, groups of
hunter-gatherers spread out, driven to the ends of the Earth.
D. [■] To demographer Kingsley Davis, two things made migration
happen. First, human beings, with their tools and language, could adapt to
different conditions without having to wait for evolution to make them suitable
for a new niche. Second, as populations grew, cultures began to differ, and
inequalities developed between groups. The first factor gave us the keys to the
door of any room on the planet; the other gave us reasons to use them.
Over the centuries, as agriculture spread across the planet, people moved
toward places where metal was found and worked to centers of commerce that then
became cities. Those places were, in turn, invaded and overrun by people in
later generations called {{U}}barbarians{{/U}}. In between, these storm
surges were steadier but similarly profound tides in which people moved out to
colonize or were captured and brought in as slaves. For a while the population
of Athens, that city of legendary enlightenment was as much as 35 percent
slaves. "What strikes me is how important migration is as a cause
and effect in great world events. " Mark Miller, co-author of The Age of
Migration and a professor of political science at the University of
Delaware, told me recently. It is difficult to think of any great
events that did not involve migration. Religions {{U}}spawned{{/U}} pilgrims or
settlers; wars drove refugees before them and made new land available for the
conquerors; political upheavals displaced thousands or millions; economic
innovations drew workers and entrepreneurs like magnets; environmental disasters
like famine or disease pushed their bedraggled survivors anywhere they could
replant hope. "It's part of our nature, this movement," Miller
said, "It's just a fact of the human condition. "
单选题
According to Paragraph 1, which of the following best explains the term
"human migration"?
A. Human migration is a vague term which can not be explained simply, but it
is seasonal or permanent movement of agricultural workers.
B. Human migration is the permanent movement of people within a country to
another location from one home to another.
C. Human migration means agricultural workers' seasonal moving within a
country or refugees' resettlement from one country to another.
D. Human migration is big, dangerous, and compelling, and it is the great
adventure of human life that has driven humans to conquer the planet, shape the
societies.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为事实信息题，主要考查考生排除细枝末节的干扰并抓住文章中所阐明的重要事实和信息的能力。题目问：根据第一段，下列哪一项能最好地解释移民?文中第一段“Human migration: the term is vague. What people usually think of is the permanent movement of people from one home to another. More broadly, though, migration means all the ways—from the seasonal drift of agricultural workers within a country to the relocation of refugees from one country to another”的大概意思是：移民是指从家乡永久地迁到另一地方。广义地说，移民包括很多情形，从农民季节性地在国内的流动，到难民从一个国家到另一个国家重新定居。因此，与选项C的表述完全一样。
单选题
The word {{U}}tumultuous{{/U}} in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
______.
A. large-scale
B. disorderly
C. exciting
D. deliberate
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为词汇题，主要考查考生根据上下文对单词tumultuous的理解。该词所在句子“It is some 15 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims swept up in a tumultuous shuffle of citizens between India and Pakistan...”的意思是在印度和巴基斯坦居民之间的tumultuous的穿梭。根据上下文可以判断出tumultuous的意思是“混乱的，无序的”，与选项B(无序的)同义，因此选B。选项A(大规模的)、C(激动的)和D(深思熟虑的)为干扰项。
单选题
Why does the author mention so many events in Paragraph 12?
A. To show that migration exerts a great impact on population change.
B. To illustrate that migration contributes to mankind's progress.
C. To reveal that migration brings about desirable and undesirable
effects.
D. To explain that migration may not be accompanied by human
conflicts.
单选题
According to the passage, why has migration been called the greatest
challenge of the coming century?
A. Because of the change of population.
B. Because of the coming of the new century.
C. Because of economic and political effects.
D. Because of human beings' conflicts.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题仍为事实信息题。题目问：根据文章的内容，为什么移民被称为未来世纪所面临的最大挑战?根据第三段这句话“As the century turns, migration, with its inevitable economic and political turmoil, has been called 'one of the greatest challenges of the coming century' (随着时代的发展，人口的迁移，以及随之带来的不可避免的政治和经济的动荡，已经被称为未来世纪所面临的最大挑战之一)”可知，正确答案为选项C。
单选题
The word {{U}}them{{/U}} in Paragraph 4 refers to ______.
A. humans
B. the planet
C. societies
D. human life
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为指代关系题，考查考生认定代词与篇章中其他词语的指代关系的能力。题目问：them在第四段指什么?第四段结尾处作者指出：“Migration helped create humans, drove us to conquer the planet, shaped our societies, and promises to reshape them again.”显然，them指的是societies，所以此题选C。
单选题
The word {{U}}intermingled{{/U}} in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to
______.
单选题
What kind of relationship can be described as great events and
migration?
A. Loose.
B. Indefinite.
C. Causal.
D. Remote.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为推论题，要求考生根据文章中没有明确阐述但暗示了的信息，对某一观点作出推断。题目问：大事件与移民之间可被描述成什么关系?根据第十一段给出的Mark Miller的观点“What strikes me is how important migration is as a cause and effect in the great world event”和短文第十二段首句“It is difficult to think of any great events that did not involve migration”，可见重大事件与人类迁移之间是因果相承关系，故答案选C。
单选题
Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following
sentence could be added to the passage. Genetic studies are the
latest technique in a long effort of modern humans to find out where they have
come from. Where would the sentence best fit?