Ⅴ.Reading A. A holidaymaker in Australia was awakened by a “horrible, animal-like” noise outside her hotel window. When she went out, she saw a giant, hairy creature crossing the garden. “It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen and it smelled awful,” Tania Smith told investigators. She described the creature as “at least two and a half meters tall and covered with long, dark hair”. When the creature saw her, it roared like a bear and escaped into the woods. “It looked almost human with sad, frightened eyes,” she said. According to Aborigine legend, a kind of ape man called the Yowie once populated Australia but when the Aborigines arrived thousands of years ago, they exterminated it. However, many people believe that the Yowie didn’t completely die out and may still survive in remote parts of Australia. B. A fisherman claims to have seen a flying creature which he later identified as a Ropen or “demon-flyer”. Ralph, who is a native of the remote Rambutyo Island of Papua New Guinea, was fishing at nightfall. “It flew out of the jungle, diving into the sea right by my boat. I was too terrified to move,” he told our reporter. There have been several recent sightings of these mysterious bird-like animals. It is reported to have two leathery wings, a long tail, a long beak filled with sharp teeth and claws. The creature has a wing-span of up to two meters. Experts think it might be a kind of pterodactyl, making it the only surviving dinosaur. The natives say the Ropen is aggressive and eats fish. C Kate Brow was driving home from a day’s hiking when she saw a thylacine near the road. “At first I thought it was a cat because of the stripes on its back but it was much bigger,” she said. “I noticed its tail. It was like a kangaroo’s, long and thick near the body.” The thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was a marsupial which once lived in Tasmanian, part of Australia. They were hunted by farmers because they attacked sheep and are now thought to be extinct. However, every year there are several unofficial sightings in remote areas of the island so it may not have disappeared completely. D There has been another sighting of the mysterious orang pendek in a national park of Indonesia. A local policeman claimed to have seen two orang pendeks, which is also called the “little man of the jungle”. “It was a small creature, only about a meter tall with short legs, broad shoulders and a hairy body.” When shown photographs of other primates, the man said it looked a bit like a gorilla but, he said “Orang pendek is more handsome than this animal, and its face is more like a human’s.” There have been so many similar sightings that the park director believes it may be an unknown species. 1. Answer the questions. 2) What do the creatures in article A and D have in common? 3) Which creature do we know for certain existed in the past? 4) Which creature may rally exist? 5) Which eye-witness report is the most convincing? |