Reading passages

283- It is implied in the passage that Pedra Furada ------- .

A) is guarded and few people are allowed to see its treasures

B) is situated in an extremely hostile environment
C) is just one of many archaeological sites in Brazil .
D) has rock paintings depicting activities of Africans
E) is easily reached, especially during the summer months


284- We can infer from the text that the rock paintings in Pedra Furada ------ .

A) depict a wide variety of activities in prehistorical times

B) are far older than any of the other archaeological trophies in the world
C) were blackened by the smoke from primeval bonfires
D) are in a bad state of repair because of the dry climate
E) are of less interest than the early stone tools found in Brazil


285- It can be understood from the passage that, before the ancient trophies of Pedra Furada came to light, ------- .

A) north-eastern Brazil had never been inhabited

B) people believed that the first inhabitants of the American continents came either from Africa or from Australia
C) it had always been assumed that the first people in the New World came from Siberia over a bridge of ice
D) it was not suspected that the rituals of dancing and hunting went-back 12,000 years
E) this area was already attracting tourists


A recent study has confirmed that a huge flood occurred about 7000 years ago in the Black Sea. The theory was first put forward last year by marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman. In their book Noah's Flood, they claim that the great flood resulted from the last ice age, which peaked 12,000 years ago. When the poles froze, ocean levels dropped and cut off the Mediterranean from the Black Sea which dropped 150 m. to become a lake with fertile shores. When the ice melted, the Mediterranean rose back up and broke through what is known as the Bosphorus with a force equal to 200 Niagara Falls for a period of two years. The Black Sea rose, consuming a mile of shore a day. Those who had settled there sailed away, spreading their stories of the flood.