Read the texts again. Then drag and drop the statements to the proper place.

I Review of Collapse
Jared Diamond’s new book, Collapse, is a clear warning about the consequences of damaging our environment. In the book, the author describes several civilizations that collapsed because of the choices they made and their impact on the environment. One of the most disturbing examples in the book is Rapa Nui.
According to the author, Rapa Nui was settled by Polynesians sometime after 700 CE. They developed a thriving society of, perhaps, 15 000 people. They carved the moai, the famous statues, and used the natural resources available to them to move these huge moai to different locations around the island. When the first Europeans landed on Rapa Nui in 1722, the moai were still there, but the trees were gone. The population was down to a few thousand people who were struggling to survive. Mr. Diamond writes that the people of Rapa Nui cleared the land for farming and other purposes and that they over-hunted the numerous species of sea and land birds that had lived on the island. He speculates that the dwindling natural resources led to civil wars and the collapse of Rapa Nui’s society.
The lesson of this wonderful but frightening book is that in the past, humans made the choice to destroy their environment by cutting down all the trees and hunting animal species to extinction. Optimistically, the author points out, we can choose not to make the same mistakes today. The book is written well and deserves to be read by anyone who is concerned about the environment.
II Did Polynesian rats destroy Rapa Nui's trees? \(by Michael Kimball, Science Reporter\)
In 2005, Jared Diamond published Collapse. In the book, he described the human settlement of Rapa Nui \(also called Easter Island\).
The book caused a huge controversy soon after its publication. Many scientists questioned Diamond’s theory of what happened on Rapa Nui. They agreed that the huge trees had disappeared by the time Europeans first arrived on the island in the 18th century, but they did not agree with Jared Diamond’s theory about the cause of the disappearance.
Now, two scientists, Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt, have published a new theory. They believe that the Polynesian rat ate the seeds of the trees, preventing new ones from growing. The rat, they believe, was brought over either accidentally or purposefully on the canoes that the first human settlers used to land on Rapa Nui.
Studies have shown that a population of rats can double every 47 days. That’s a lot of rats to feed. To support their theory, Lipo and Hunt point to the remains of palm nuts that show the gnaw marks made by rats. Of course, they acknowledge that humans did play a role in the destruction of the forests of Rapa Nui. But they believe that the Polynesian rat was an even greater culprit among a series of factors.

• Группы
  • The 1st theory \(supported by Jared Diamond\)
    CAUSE
  • The 2nd theory \(supported by Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt\)
    CAUSE
  • The EFFECT of both theories.
• Варианты
  • Humans cut down trees to clear land for agriculture and other reasons.
  • Polynesian rats ate tree seeds and as a result no new trees could grow.
  • The large trees disappeared from Rapa Nui.
  • Settlers used canoes to bring Polynesian rats to Rapa Nui.
  • The moai were carved in the same place and then moved to different places around the island.