©(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, Jerome Delay, Matthew Craft)
Pre-reading questions:
I will read each question. Then, please answer them.
講師がそれぞれの質問を読むので答えましょう。
- Have you ever visited a place that was very hot or very cold?
- Do you think it is exciting to explore new places?
Vocabulary:
I will read the words, meanings, and sample sentences. Then, repeat after me.
単語、意味、例文を読みます。講師に続いて音読しましょう。
- different /DIF-er-uhnt/
- understand /uhn-dr-STAND/
- desert /DEZ-ert/
- rainforest /REYN-fawr-ist/
- skill /skil/
[adjective] – not the same as something else
Students in the group come from different towns across the country.
[verb] – to know the meaning or reason of something
The student asked a question to understand the math problem better.
[noun] – a large, dry area of land with very little rain and few plants
Camels can live in deserts without water for many days.
[noun] – a thick forest in hot places with a lot of rain
Many colorful birds live in rainforests.
[noun] – the ability to do something well
Cooking is an important skill to learn.
Article reading:
Please read the whole article. Then, I will check your pronunciation and intonation.
記事を音読しましょう。講師はあなたの発音とイントネーションを確認します。
A study published on June 18, 2025, in Nature said that ancient humans could live in many different and hard places before they left Africa about 50,000 years ago. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute and Loyola University Chicago looked at old places in Africa where humans lived between 120,000 and 14,000 years ago. They used weather models to understand what the land was like at that time. The study showed that around 70,000 years ago, early humans started living in more places, such as deserts and rainforests. This helped them move and live in many parts of the world.The study did not agree with the old idea that humans left Africa because of a new tool or skill. Instead, it said that early humans were good at changing how they lived. The researchers said Homo sapiens were “ecosystem generalists.” This means they could live in many places by using food and tools around them. Other early humans like Neanderthals also left Africa, but only Homo sapiens lived in many difficult places. The study showed that this skill helped them stay alive. It also asked why Homo sapiens lived on, but other early humans did not.
True or False:
Read the sentences and identify if they are true or false based on the article.
文章を読んで、記事に基づいて正誤を答えましょう。
- Ancient humans stayed only in one easy place in Africa.
- Scientists studied new cities built by modern people.
- The researchers used weather models to study the past.
- Early humans started living in deserts and rainforests 7,000 years ago.
- Moving to new places helped early humans live in many parts of the world.
Fill in the blanks:
Choose the correct word from the table, then fill in the blanks.
適切な言葉を選んで空欄を埋めましょう。
| different | understand | deserts | rainforest | skill |
- Some animals only come out at night in ______ because it is too hot in the day.
- She has a ______ for drawing and painting.
- Scientists found new plants in the deep parts of the ______.
- It is hard to ______ people when they speak very fast.
- The animals in the zoo live in ______ areas like grasslands, mountains, and rivers.