Unit 3 课时跟踪检测(2) 语言运用综合练（word练习）-【新课程学案】新教材2023-2024学年高中英语选择性必修第四册（外研版2019）

UNIT 3 课时跟踪检测（二） 语言运用综合练 Ⅰ.阅读理解 Chinese paleontologists (古生物学家) have determined that, about 47 million years ago, subtropical forests once existed on the high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The conclusion, which appears in a paper published on Tuesday, was drawn based on the large number of fossils found in the Baingoin Basin at an altitude of nearly 5,000 meters during the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the plateau. A joint team from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden conducted the research on the fossils. By combining the findings and models, the team recreated the climate and altitude that existed 47 million years ago, showing that the central plateau had an altitude of just 1,500 meters and an annual average temperature of 19℃， says Su Tao, a researcher from the tropical botanical garden and first author of the paper. “It was covered by thick forest and was rich in water and grass. It is fair to call it the ‘Shangri-La’ of ancient times，” Su adds. The researchers have also found over 70 plant fossils, the majority of which are most closely related to plant life in today's subtropical or tropical regions. “This is enough to show that the central part of the now high-altitude, freezing Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had flourishing subtropical plants 47 million years ago，” Su says. The findings provide new evidence for the study of the evolutionary history of biodiversity and the evolution of the plateau's landscape, according to Zhou Zhekun, the paper's corresponding author and a researcher at the tropical botanical garden. China launched the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in June 2017, 40 years after the first. Lasting up to 10 years, the expedition will conduct a series of studies focusing on the plateau's glaciers, its biodiversity and ecological changes, and will also monitor the changes in climate. 语篇解读：本文是一篇新闻报道。中国发起了第二次对青藏高原的全面科学考察，根据在班戈盆地采集到的植物化石，中国古生物学家已经确定，在4 700万年前，亚热带森林曾存在于青藏高原。 1．How did the