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The Greeks have a second Battle of Marathon on their hands. Their adversaries this time are not invading Persians, as in 490 B. C. , but environmentalists and archaeologists in growing numbers. They are closing ranks in opposition to plans to build a water sports complex at the historic battleground for use during the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Opposition to the construction has been gaining strength in Greece and the rest of Europe since the plans were announced more than a year ago. After standing back from the controversy at first, American archaeologists are now speaking out against the project as a threat to the site of one of the most decisive battles in antiquity.
In the current issue of Archaeology, a magazine of the Archaeological Institute of America, Dr. Nancy C. Wilkie, the organization's president, called on colleagues "to join in the effort to preserve this important historic and natural site."
Dr. Wilkie said the battlefield needed to he preserved because even after all this time, the plain, where the outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians, and the adjacent wetlands, where many Persian soldiers perished, "have yet to be fully investigated by archaeologists."
Environmentalists challenged the decision to create two artificial lakes for the rowing and canoe and kayak competitions, a grandstand and other buildings in the area of the coastal wetlands. They said the construction would not only intrude on the battle site but would endanger the wetlands, which are a haven for 176 species of birds and many rare plants and a vital stopover for migratory birds, including the rare glossy ibis. A number of appeals seeking to stop the construction are before an administrative court.
Defending the construction, Greek Olympic organizers insisted that Marathon was hardly a pristine landscape. Summer tourists flock to the Skinias beach, where the Persians are thought to have landed, and parts of the plain are already altered with farms and villages. The organizers noted that one of the lakes would replace an old airstrip. Their plans also include protection for the wetlands as a national park.
"It is impossible to create something like Waterloo or Gettysburg in this area," George Kazantzopoulos, environmental program manager for the Olympic organizers, has said. "It is already ruined."
But Dr. Dorothy King emphasized the intangibles of the issue. "The importance of the site is as much in its symbolism-it would be the equivalent of putting a theme park in the middle of the site of the Battle of Gettysburg."
Promoters of the construction have argued that the actual battlefield would not be affected because parts of what is now considered the site, including the Schinias beach, were three to six feet beneath the sea in antiquity.
But Dr. Wilkie, in her editorial, noted that a geological study conducted under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens contradicted such claims. By drilling bore holes to a depth of 26 feet across the plain, geologists determined that the topography was little changed since the battle. The site for the proposed water sports center, the research showed, was not beneath the sea 2,500 years ago.
But international pleas and recent protests at Marathon have so far left the Olympic organizers unmoved. While work on the ＄ 44 million project continues, they have defended the construction as possibly the best thing that could happen to Marathon. It is, they said, a way to rescue the site from earlier unplanned and often shabby development.
Environmentalists and archaeologists, fearing that the project would instead attract more commercial development, said they were not ready to give up the fight and, like the defeated Persians, flee to their ships.
The opposition to the construction came from ______.
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听力原文： Now European finance ministers are expected to reprimand the Irish government today after they meet in Brussels. They've been alarmed by December's budget in the Irish Republic which cut taxes and increased government spending. The other European countries fear this will stoke up inflation and undermine the stability of the Euro, the single currency.
Finance ministers from the European Unions 15 states are holding their regular monthly meeting in Brussels. They've been given the tricky task of trending out some public criticism to the government of the country with the most successful economy, the Irish Republic. In the last five years Ireland has boomed growing by an average eight percent a year, unemployment has reached its lowest level for 20 years and commodity prices in Dublin became more expensive than in London.
Why do other European countries criticize Ireland？
A．madeB．displacedC．transmittedD．removed
Many teachers believe that the responsibilities for learning lie with the student.【C1】______a long reading assignment is given, instructors expect students to be familiar with the【C2】______in the reading even if they do not discuss it in class or take an examination. The【C3】______student is considered to be【C4】______who is motivated(激光)to learn for the sake of【C5】______, not the one interested only in getting high grades. Sometimes homework is returned【C6】______brief written comments but without a grade. Even if a grade is not given, the student is【C7】______for learning the material assigned. When research is【C8】______,the professor expects the student to take it actively and to complete it with【C9】______guidance. It is the【C10】______responsibility to find books, magazines, and articles in the library. Professors do not have the time to explain【C11】______a university library works; they expect students,【C12】______graduate students, to be able to exhaust the reference【C13】______in the library. Professors will help students who need it, but【C14】______that their students should not be【C15】______dependent on them. In the United States professors have many other duties【C16】______teaching, such as administrative or research work.【C17】______, the time that a professor can spend with student outside of class is【C18】______. If a student has. problems with classroom work, the student should either【C19】______a professor during office hour【C20】______make an appointment.
【C1】
The human brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these may have a thousand connections. Such enormous numbers used to discourage us and cause us to dismiss the possibility of making a machine with human - like ability, but now that we have grown used to moving forward at such a pace we can be less sure. Quite soon, in only 10 or 20 years perhaps, we will be able to assemble a machine as complex as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long 6me to render it intelligent by loading in the right software(软件)or by altering the architecture but that too will happen.
I think it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon(硅)will arise first to rival and then exceed their human ancestors. Once they exceed us they will be capable of their own design. In a real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon's long control. And we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe.
As the intelligence of robots increased to match that of humans and as their cost declines through economies of scale we may use them to expand our frontiers, first on each through their ability to withstand environments, harmful to ourselves. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean beds be mined. Further a head, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the technology it will provide, the construction of a vast, man - created world in space, home to thousands or millions of people, will be within our power.
In what way can we make a machine intelligent？
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