Passage 3

      Questions II to 15 are based on the following passage.

      In today's extremely connected world. (80) people appear to have more chances to get into contact with one another than ever. Yet societies known as "uncontacted peoples" remain in parts of the world. These are communities with little contact with the wider world. It is estimated that about one hundred groups of uncontacted

peoples exist today. In general, these groups remain uncontacted by choice, because of this, it is impossible to know much about their societies

      For example, North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean is home to a group that clearly wishes to stay separate from the rest of the world. They are referred to as the North Sentinelese. North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, which are part of India. While groups on other Andaman Islands have slowly accepted tourism and development, the North Sentinelese fire warning arrows from their beaches at any boat that approaches their land. Over many decades, gifts and other efforts from outsiders have been rejected. From what little we know about their language, they have probably been isolated for tens of thousands of years.

      Why might uncontacted peoples choose to remain isolated? Unfortunately, in many cases, these groups' past encounters with the outside world were violent Former members of uncontacted groups have said that after friends and family were attacked or killed by outsiders, they avoided any kind of contact. Even peaceful contact can have disastrous effects. Many uncontacted groups have never been exposed to diseases, not even the common cold or flu. As a result, they often don t have immunity(免疫力)to these diseases, meaning that even minor contact with outsiders has resulted in deadly outbreaks. It's not surprising, then, that some groups prefer to keep to themselves.

        在当命这个高度互联的世界中,人们似乎比以往任何时候都有更多的机会相互接触。然而,被称为“未接触民族“的社会仍然存在于世界上的某些地方。这些社会群体与广阔世界的接触很少。据估计,目前存在的未接触民族大约有一百个。总的来说,这些群体出于自己的选择与外界保持隔绝。正因如此,人们不可能对他们的社会有太多的了解。

       例如.印度洋的北森蒂纳尔岛有一个明显希望与世界其他地方保持距离的族群。他们被称为北森蒂纳尔人。北森蒂纳尔岛是安达曼群岛之一,属于印度。虽然其他安达曼群岛上的族群已逐渐接受旅游业和开发但北森蒂纳尔人依然会从海难上向任何靠近其岛屿的船只射箭告。几十年来外界的礼物和其他尝试都遭到拒绝。从我们对他们的语富知之备少这一点可以看出,他们可能已经与世隔绝几万年了。

       未接触民族为什么会选择保持隔绝的状态呢?不幸的是，在许多情况下,这些人群过去与外界的接触是暴力的。曾属干未接触民族的成员说,在朋友和家人被外来者袭击或杀死后,他们就避免任何此类接触。即使是和平的接触,也会造成灾难性的后果。许多未接触人群从未患病,甚至没有患过普通的感冒或流感。因此.他们通常对这些疾病没有免疫力,这就意味着基至与外界很少的接触都会导致致命的疾病爆发。那么,一些人群宁愿保持与世隔绝的状态也就不足为奇了。