题目内容:
根据以下材料,回答题One day a group of people walked into a cave and painted handprints all over the walls. Ten thousand years later, archaeologists have no idea why.
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But this is the kind of challenge now facing a group of scientists, historians and futurists who are trying to send a message to the people of the distant future. In what has been called the first, ever attempt at "reverse archaeology", they are designing a sign that will last at least 10,000 years. The message: Don't dig here, we buried nuclear waste.
The repository in question, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, or WIPP, was constructed in the 1970s and 80s in a disused salt mine near Carlsbad, New Mexico. In 1999, it became the first underground repository in the world licensed to house waste from the production of nuclear weapons. Once it reaches full capacity in 2033, it will be monitored by the US Department of Energy for 1000 years before being abandoned. Computer models predict that within 1000 years the mine will collapse in on itself, sealing the chemical sludge, toxic waste and contaminated lab equipment inside.
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This is a major challenge. In 10,000 years our descendants may have no recollection of our culture languages or technologies, They may be more technologically advanced than we can imagine, or civilisation as we know it may have long since crashed and burned.
Clearly the survival of the WIPP message depends on more than paper or digital records. Maps and technical details will be stored in libraries around the world, but the warning signs on the site itself will need to be big, obvious and permanent. They will need to survive over thousands of years without eroding, being looted or being destroyed by vandals.
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But making sure the message remains legible is only half the battle. It will also need to be understood, and, equally critically, believed. This is where things get tricky. Chances are the people of the future will no longer use language in the same way that we do. Even if they do use the spoken and written word to communicate, there is no guarantee their language will bear any relation to ours.
In the early 1990s, Nelson gathered two teams of historians, anthropologists and semioticians experts in signs--and challenged them to come up with the perfect warning sign
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Anthropologists say there is no universal symbol that will convey danger to any human past, present or future. Interpretations of colours vary between cultures, and while depictions of animals like spiders and snakes may inspire fear, they don't tell you what you should be frightened of.
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So if the symbols no longer mean anything to our descendants, will the two faces be enough to get the message across? "Both are relevant, I suppose," says Robert Aunger, "although we argue that disgust is a response to threat only of infectious disease; radioactivity is not contagious. Fear is more relevant than disgust. " Barfing extreme genetic modification, chances are faces will look much the same in 10,000 years.
A.Allthingsgoingwellitshouldstaythatwayforthe250,000yearsitwilltakeformostofthewastetobecomesafe.However,accordingtolegislationdrawnupin1985bytheUSDepartmentofEnergy,arepositorymustbesafeguardedforatleast10,000years,andthatmeansitmustbemarked.
B.Allweknowisthatnuclearwasteisdangerousnowandislikelytostaythatwayforaverylongtime,andthatmeanswehavetotry.
C.Tobefairtotheartistsinquestion,theyprobablydidn'tsetouttocreatesomethingthatwouldmakesensein~00generations'time.Evenifthoughtsofthefuturehadcrossedtheirminds,howcouldtheypossiblyhaveimaginedwhatwouldhavebecomeofthehumanrace?Sincethatday,mankindhasinventedthewheel,developedhundredsoflanguagesandgotthroughseveralmajorcivilisations,nottomentionremodelledtheplanetanditsclimate.
D.Facialexpressions,though,areuniversallyunderstood."Fearisthemostbasicofemotions,andsowouldsurviveanyculturalevolution,"saysRobertAunger,abiologicalanthropologist.Withthisinmind.theWIPPdesignerscameupwithtwosymbols:ahumanfaceshowingfearandanothershowingrevulsionanddisgust.Therewillalsobeadescriptionofthesiteinsevenlanguages,plustheword"Danger"andtoday'ssymbolsforbiohazardsandradioactivity.
E.Thebiggestchallengewaschoosinganimage.Symbolsdoexisttoillustrateradiationandbiohazards,butsymbolshaveahabitofchangingtheirmeaningsovertime.Theswastika,forexample,wasfirstusedbyEuropeantribesin4000BCandwasaHinduholysymbollongbeforetheNazisgotholdofit.
F.Theplanisliterallytosetthewarningsinstone,bycarvingthemonto8-metre-tallmonoliths.AstudyofancientrockcarvingscommissionedbyWIPPin2000foundthatdeepcarvingsonbasaltsurvivedwell,as.surprisingly,didthoseonsandstone.Theteamisnowtestingotherrocktypesagainstfreeze/thawcrackingandwindabrasion,aswellasworkingoncheaperartificialalternatives.
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