题目内容
Whenever two or more unusual traits or situations are found in the same place, it is tempting to look for more than a coincidental relationship between them. The high Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau certainly have extraordinary physical characteristics and the cultures that are found there are also unusual, though not unique. However there is no intention of adopting Montesquieu's view of climate and soil as cultural determents. The ecology of a region merely poses some of the problems faced by the inhabitants of the region, and while the problems facing a culture are important to its development, they do not determine it.
The appearance of the Himalayas during the late Tertiary Period and the accompanying further raising of the previously established rages had a marked effect on the climate of the region. Primarily, of course, it blocked the Indian monsoon from reaching Central Asia at all. Secondly, air and moisture from other directions were also reduced.
Prior to the raising of the Himalayas, the land now forming the Tibetan uplands had a dry, continental climate with vegetation and animal's life similar to that of much of the rest of the region on the same parallel, but somewhat different from that of the areas farther north, which were already drier①. With the coming of the Himalayas and the relatively sudden drying out of the region, there was a severe thinning out of the animal and plant population. The ensuing incomplete Pleistocene glaciations had a further thinning effect, but significantly did not wipe out life in the area. Thus after the end of the glaciations there were only a few varieties of life extant from the original continental species. Isolated by the Kunlun range from the Tarim basin and Turfan depression, species that had already adapted to the dry steppe climate, and would otherwise have been expected to flourish in Tibetan, the remaining native fauna and flora multiplied②. Armand de scribed the Tibetan fauna as not having great variety, but being "striking" in the abundance of the particular species that are present. The plant life is similarly limited in variety, with some observers finding no more than seventy varieties of plants in even the relatively fertile Eastern Tibetan valleys, with fewer than ten food crops. Tibetan "tea" is a major staple, perhaps replacing the unavailable vegetables.
The difficulties of living in an environment at once dry and cold, and populated with species more usually found in more hospitable climates, are great. These difficulties may well have influenced the unusual polyandrous societies typical of the region. Lattimore sees the maintenance of multi-husband households as being preserved from earlier forms by the harsh conditions of the Tibetan uplands, which permitted no experimentation and "froze" the cultures that came there. Kawakiwa, on the other hand, sees the polyandry as a way of easily permitting the best householder to become the head husband regardless of age. His de tailed studies of the Bhotea village of Tsumje do seem to support this idea of polyandry as a method of talent mobility in a situation where even the best talent is barely enough for survival.
In sum, though arguments can be made that a pre-existing polyandrous system was strengthened and preserved (insofar as it has been) by the rigors of the land, it would certainly be an overstatement to lay causative factors of any stronger nature to the ecological influences in this case③.
What are the "unusual traits or situations" referred to in the first sentence？
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The body and the mind are closely interwoven in all of us, and certainly in Johnson's case the influence of the body was extremely oblivious. His melancholy, his constantly repeated conviction of the general unhappiness of human life, was certainly the result of his constitutional infirmities. On the other hand, his courage, and his entire indifference to pain, was partly due to his great bodily strength. Perhaps the vein of rudeness, almost of fierceness, which sometimes showed itself in his conversation, was the natural temper of an invalid and suffering giant. That at any rate is what he was. He was the victim from childhood of a disease that resembled St. Vitus's dance. He never knew the natural joy of a free and vigorous use of his limbs; when he walked it was like the struggling walk of one in irons. All accounts agree that his strange gestures and contortions were painful for his friends to witness and attracted crows of starters in the streets.
But Reynolds says that he could sit still for his portrait to be taken, and that when his mind was engaged by a conversation the convulsions ceased. In any case, it is certain that neither this perpetual misery, nor his constant fear of losing his reason, nor his many grave attacks of illness, ever induced him to surrender the privileges that belonged to his physical strength②. He justly thought no character so disagreeable as that of a chronic invalid, and was determined not to be one himself. He had known what it was to live on four pence a day and scorned the life of sofa cushions and tea into which well-attended old gentlemen so easily slip.
Visitors to St. Paul Cathedral are surprised when they look at Johnson's statue because ______.
The Metropolitan Police will no longer describe black people as black, as part of a new attempt to counter charges of racism in the force. Both black and Asian people will in future be referred to as "visible minority ethnics".
The term, which replaces the phrase "black and Asian minority ethnics" is expected to be adopted officially in January.
The decision was criticized yesterday as unnecessary and confusing by black police officers. Anna Scott, the general secretary of the National Black Police Association, said it amounted to a step too far by the "political correctness" movement.
"We have gone from saying ' black ethnic minority' to ' black minority ethnic' to ' visible minority ethnic' in a matter of years," she said. "There has been so much emphasis on the issue of terminology, that the issue has become confusing for black police officers, let alone white ones①. We are risking becoming too politically correct at the expense of being clearly understood by officers and the general public."
A senior police official told The Telegraph that some white officers were using the phrase so that they would avoid saying the words "black" or "Asian", for fear of causing offence.
The official claimed that the term would allow these communities to be distinguished for others—such as the Irish and the Greeks—whose members are, according to the new terminology, "invisible" because they tend to be light-skinned②.
In the 1960s, the phrase "colored" was officially used by some police forces. By the 1970s, this had changed to "black" to describe people whose ancestors originated from the Caribbean and Africa and "Asian'' for those who originated from the Indian subcontinent.
The phrase "ethnic minority" was also widely used as a collective term for both groups, but this was dropped in favor of "minority ethnic" five years ago, promising criticism that it was an improper use of English.
Bernard Lamb, the chairman of the London branch of the Queen's English Society, said that the new description was grammatically incorrect and over-sensitive. "I do not like this new term at all. The word ethnic' is an adjective and you cannot pluralize an adjective," he said. "They seem to have used a euphemism for black and Asian when I imagine most black and Asian people do not mind the empty words themselves at all."
The change will cost a significant sum of public money in retraining officers and rewriting manuals and a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that some senior officers were already using the term.
The spokesman said that the new term was not a redefinition but was meant to standardize the phraseology used by the police.
"Concerns have been raised about the nature and range of terms used in papers presented to the authority when discussing ethnicity."
"To ensure that there is a uniform. approach and understanding of terminology used in future, and that offence is avoided, the January meeting of the authority's equal opportunities and diversity board will make decisions about the terminology we expect to use," he said③.
The word "promising" in Line 2, Para. 8 can be replaced by ______.
听力原文： The French judge investigation the death of Princess Diana has once again questioned the only person who survived the crash, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones. He arrived at the Pala’s de Justice in Paris about two hours ago and has already finished answering the judge’s questions. This is the fourth time he has traveled to Paris to speak with the judge conducting the inquiry. Rees-Jones suffered serious injuries in the crash last August and only recently began talking about it. He says he’s having flashbacks. He's quoted in a London tabloid as saying "Princess Diana was conscious and talking immediately after the crash in a Paris tunnel. "And that conflicts with French doctors who have said "She never regained consciousness."
Who was the only person having survived the crash？
听力原文： There is an art exhibition here on campus which ties well of discussions we've had about folk art. it's an exhibition of wildlife art calendars from about a hundred years ago. Like most other folk art, the calendar pictures were not considered to be art in their own days. People just thought of them as a way of decorating a practical object. In fact, the calendar pictures were originally painted as advertising for various companies that made hunting or fishing produces, like guns or fishing rods. The calendars were handed out free to customers to thank them for their business. Most people just hung the calendars on their wails where the pictures faded in the sun and then tore the pictures off the calendar as each month passed. As a result, collectors today place of a lot of value on calendars that are complete and in good condition. Even though the people who used the calendars didn't regard them as art, the original paintings the prints were made from were often of good quality. In fact, many famous wildlife painters created calendar art at some point in their lives. To them, it was way of getting a work reproduced and showed around. One aspect of the exhibit that I find very interesting is the way these pictures reflect changing attitudes toward wildlife. The pictures in the exhibit often portray the thrill and adventure of hunting rather than any particular concern for wildlife preservation. But most of today's wildlife art shows animals in their natural surroundings without any humans in the scene. This modern wildlife art appeals to large numbers of nature lovers, even those who oppose the practice of hunting.
What is the talk mainly about？
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