题目内容：

    Recently according to a new research, humans have had a link to starches (含淀粉的食物) for up to 120,000 years — that’s more than 100,000 years longer than we’ve been able to plant them in the soil during the time of the ice Age’s drawing to an end. The research is part of an ongoing study into the history of Middle Stone Age communities.

An international team of scientists identified evidence of prehistoric starch consumption in the Klasies River Cave, in present-day South Africa. Analyzing small, ashy, undisturbed hearths(壁炉) inside the cave, the researchers found “pieces of burned starches” ranging from around 120,000 to 65,000 years old. It made them the oldest known examples of starches eaten by humans.

The findings do not come as a complete surprise — but rather as welcome confirmation of older theories that lacked the related evidence. The lead author Cynthia Larbey said that there had previously only been genetic biological evidence to suggest that humans had been eating starch for this long. This new evidence, however, takes us directly to the dinner table, and supports the previous assumption that humans’ digestion genes gradually evolved in order to fit into an increased digestion of starch.

Co-author Sarah Wurz said, “The starch remains show that these early humans living in the Klasies River Cave could battle against their tough environment and find suitable foods and perhaps medicines. And as much as we all still desire the tubers (块茎), these cave communities were gilling starches such as potatoes on their foot-long hearths. They knew how to balance their diets as well as they could, with fats from local fish and other animals.”

As early as the 1990s, some researchers started to study the hearths in the Klasies River Cave. Scientist Hilary Deacon first suggested that these hearths contained burned plants. At the time, the proper methods of examining the remains were not yet available. We now know human beings have always been searching for their desired things.

1.When did humans begin to farm starches?

A.After the Ice Age. B.After the Middle Stone Age.

C.About 20,000 years ago. D.About 100,000 years ago.

2.What was the previous assumption of starches?

A.Starch diet promoted food culture. B.Starch diet shaped humans’ evolution.

C.Starches had a variety of functions. D.Starches offered humans rich nutrition.

3.What can we learn about the early humans described by Sarah Wurz?

A.They were smart and tough. B.They preferred plants to meat.

C.They were generally very healthy. D.They got along with each other.

4.What’s the best title for the text?

A.Great Civilization of South Africa B.The Evolution of Foods in History

C.Starches--the Important Food of Today D.Big Findings--the Starches in Ancient Times