Two nations, Peru and Bolivia, share the shoreline of South America"s largest freshwater lake, Lake Titicaca. [■] The lake, approximately 122 miles long and 35 miles wide, has a surface area of almost 10,000 square kilometers, an average depth of between 140 and 180 meters (460 and 600 feet), and is located 3,800 meters above sea level high in the Andes Mountains in the plateau region known as the Altiplano. [■] Located between snow-capped peaks , Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. [■] The origin of the lake"s name is unknown and the local people refer to the lake by several names, but Lake Titicaca"s name translates as "stone puma" because the lake"s shape is similar to the shape of a puma hunting a rabbit. [■]
? Ancient Andean cultures established civilizations around the area of Lake Titicaca because of the rich agricultural soil and fresh glacial waters. Ruins, visible on shore and on the islands, confirm the existence of some of the oldest, highly civilized peoples in South America who pre-dated the Christian era. Forty-one islands rise up from Lake Titicaca, some of them having provided homes for the indigenous peoples. Some of the islands are made from reeds which grow along the shores of the lake. According to one legend the sun god, Inti, sent his son and daughter down from the heavens to improve the lives of the ancient Andean people. The children landed on the largest island, referred to as Sun Island, and founded the Inca civilization. Another legend reports that the sun god"s children rose from the lake to establish the Inca empire. Regardless of which legend is believed, Lake Titicaca has remained a holy, sacred lake for the Andean people.
Sun Island, one possible location for the founding of the Inca civilization, is also known as Titicaca Island and belongs to the country of Bolivia. Some of the other islands in the lake are part of Peruvian territory. The Uros, a group of indigenous peoples, fled the Incas and retreated to one of the nine islands in the lake which were made of reeds. Approximately three hundred descendents of the ancient Uros continue to live on the artificial islands made of floating totora reeds. They maintain the islands by continually adding fresh totora reeds to the tops of the island to replace those reeds which rot away from the bottom. The Uros build their homes of reeds and travel in reed rafts today just as the original inhabitants did centuries ago. They also craft items from reeds and sell them to tourists. Another indigenous group, well-known for high quality hand-woven textiles, lives on another reed island.
? The shores of Lake Titicaca are densely populated. The Aymara people comprise another ancient civilization and live in the Bolivian Altiplano and Titicaca Basin. It is notable that they farm on stepped terraces, use farming methods that pre-date the Incas, and grow barley, potatoes, and other grains. Grains which are grown at the high altitudes of the Altiplano are not used for human consumption because the grain does not ripen. The stalks, however, serve as forage for animals such as llamas and alpacas.
? Reports of sunken treasure have excited diving expeditions for several years. Legends explain that when the Spanish arrived in Peru, the Incas removed an enormous gold chain from a temple and threw it into the lake. The chain has never been found but divers have explored portions of the lake in hopes of recovering treasures reported to exist. International archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient temple, road, wall, a terrace, and pottery. When Jacques Cousteau explored portions of the lake bottom in 1973, his expedition team found numerous giant frogs which weighed approximately two pounds and were about two feet long. These bottom dweller frogs, with their wrinkly skin, were found to be able to survive the harsh, high altitude because they could absorb oxygen directly from the frigid waters through their skin. When a Cousteau expedition "returned several years later they discovered possible remains of a city lying under the lake"s waters and found the frog population diminished."
? Today, tourists enjoy the settlements along the shores and on the islands of Lake Titicaca, and people travel between Bolivia and Peru by boat. The Bolivian military has also utilized the lake to maintain an active navy despite the fact the country is landlocked.

plateau: an elevated and fairly level expanse of land
altiplano: a high plateau
alpaca: a domesticated south American mammal
landlocked: surrounded by or almost entirely by land

单选题 The word peaks in the passage refers to

单选题 The word origin in the passage is closest in meaning to

单选题 What does "Peru and Bolivia share the shoreline" appear to indicate?

单选题 Why does the author mention, in paragraph 2, that the shore has rich agricultural soil?

单选题 What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the ruins which exist in and near the lake?

单选题 Why does the author mention Sun Island?

单选题 The word artificial in the passage is closest in meaning to

单选题 According to paragraph 4, what is the most important characteristic of the Aymara people?

单选题 According to paragraph 5, what did Jacques Cousteau discover during his first expedition to Lake Titicaca?

单选题 According to Paragraph 5, diving expeditions have discovered

单选题 According to paragraph 6, why do travelers enjoy Lake Titicaca today?

填空题 Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
The vast lake is fed from rainfall and water melting from glaciers in the high sierras of the Altiplano as well as from more than twenty-five rivers which flow into it.
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Lake Titicaca is important historically, commercially, and aesthetically to both Bolivia and Peru.
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