快速查题-汉语言文学本科试题

                                                                       They Say Ireland's the Best

    Ireland is the best place in the world to live for 2005, according to a life quality ranking(排名) that appeared in Britain's Economist magazine last week. The ambitious attempt to compare happiness levels around the world is based on the principle

that wealth is not the only measure of human satisfaction and well-being

    The index of 111 countries uses data on incomes, health, unemployment, climate, political stability, job security, gender(心动) equality as well as what the magazine calls"freedom, family and community life”.

    Despite the bad weather, troubled health service, traffic congestion(拥挤), gender inequality and the high cost of living,

Ireland scored an impressive 8. 33 points out of 10.

    That put it well ahead of second-place Switzerland, which managed 8.07. Zimbabwe troubled by political insecurity and

hunger, is rated the gloomiest(最差的) picking up only 3.89 points

    “Although rising incomes and increased individual choices are highly valued,"the report said, “some of the factors

associated with modernization such as the breakdown in traditional institutions and family values in part take away from a

positive impact."

   “Ireland wins because it successfully combines the most desirable elements of the new with the preservation of certain

warm elements of the old, such as stable family and community life.”

The magazine admitted measuring quality of life is not a straightforward thing to do, and that its findings would have their

critics.

   No.2 on the list is Switzerland. The other nations in the top 10 are Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden. Australia, Iceland, Italy, Denmark and Spain.

   The UK is positioned at No 29, a much lower position chiefly because of the social and family breakdown recorded in official statistics. The US, which has the second highest per capita GDP after Luxembourg, took the 13th place in the survey. China was in the lower half of the league at 60th.

                                                                                    Rare Fossil Record

     The preservation of embryos and juveniles is a rare occurrence in the fossil record. The tiny delicate skeletons are

usually scattered by scavengers(食腐动物)weathering before they can be fossilized Ichthyosaurs(鱼龙) had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures be-cause, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less

subject to erosion. Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by

other animals, a lack of swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial. Given these

factors, some areas have become a treasury of well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.

    The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis. The ichthyosaur remains are found in

black, bituminous marine shales(页岩)deposited about 190 million years ago. Over the years, thousands of specimens of

marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos.

    Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden,

suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time. The embryos are quite

advanced in their physical development; their paddles, for example, are already well formed. One specimen is even

preserved in the birth canal. In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30

inches long.

     Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare else-where? The quality of

preservation is almost unmatched and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of

the fossils. But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of

pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.