Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.Ancient Whale Skeleton Holds Clues to Climate Change
A whale skeleton thought to be up to 5000 years old has been discovered, almost perfectly preserved, by researchers in Thailand.
The skeleton, believed 【小题1】 (be) a Bryde’s whale, was found in Samut Sakhon, west of Bangkok. Researchers have excavated (挖掘) 80% of the remains and so far have identified nine complete vertebrae (椎骨), five ribs, shoulder blade and fins. The skeleton 【小题2】 (measure) 12 metres, with a skull that is 3 metres long.
The bones will be carbon dated to identify their age, but it is thought that they are 【小题3】 3000 and 5000 years old.
Bryde’s whales are still found in Thailand’s waters, 【小题4】 they are considered a protected species. The whales—which prefer waters above 16℃ and feed on schooling fish such as anchovies—face threats from fishing equipment 【小题5】 tourism.
The remains, which were found about 12 kilometres inland, will help scientists understand the evolution of the species, and track 【小题6】 sea levels have changed over thousands of years.
Marcus Chua, of the National University of Singapore, said the discovery adds to evidence of “relatively large sea level changes around 6000 years to 3000 years ago in the Gulf of Thailand, where the shoreline was up to tens of kilometres inland in comparison to the present coast.”
Previously, only marine deposits 【小题7】 (contain) small fossilised marine shells or crabs had been found inland, and it was not clear 【小题8】 those fossils had been moved by humans, said Chua. “A large subfossil whale dated thousands of years ago near Bangkok would provide strong evidence of where the sea was during that time.” he said.
Such evidence is highly relevant, given that the climate crisis is contributing to rising sea levels. “This 【小题9】 certainly bring attention to the issue, and show how and where low-lying areas was flooded,” said Chua.
The discovery will also help deepen researchers’ understanding of the Bryde’s whale, and other marine life. Alongside the skeleton, researchers found preserved items including shark teeth and shells. “Scientists could also study the deposits 【小题10】 (find) at the same level as the whale to reconstruct the biological communities present during that time, and compare them to present day systems,” said Chua.
