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阅读理解。
Since earliest times we humans have been thrilled and chilled by things we can not understand-weather, death, the movement of stars and planets, even the darkness of night.
In order to cope with these great terrors, myths and legends were born-dragons and ghosts and winged beings from heavenly realms.
Even today, as we enter the new age, the old fears remain.Instead of dragons and ghosts and lost civilizations like Atlantis, however, modern terrors include UFOs, tropical plagues(瘟疫)and killer asteroids from the far reaches of space.
Anyone who thinks we have outgrown our old fears and fascination for the unknown need only visit a bookstore or tune in to cable television.Many of these popular books and programs deal with angels, ghosts, lost civilizations, UFOs, doomsday comets and other mysteries.
Wouldn't it be wonderful, I used to think deeply, if someone came along and did a book about the mysteries-a kind of no-nonsense summary that gives us a brief but thorough overview of the word's greatest mysteries of science, religion, folklore and history?
Fortunately, such a book has now appeared-E.Randall Floyd's startlingly clear and concise 100 of the World's Greatest Mysteries:Strange Secrets of the Past Revealed.From the Big Bang and rise of man to death-dealing asteroids and spontaneous human destruction by fire, this book covers them all, an amazing range of facts, figures and human drama, all told from a seasoned journalist's perspective.
Mr.Floyd, a former European correspondent for United Press International, professor of history, motion pictures screenwriter and author of more than a dozen-best-selling books, says the idea for the book originated with his nationally syndicated newspaper column, Strange Encounters.He spent five years researching and writing the book.
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