1. When another old cave is discovered in the south of
France, it is not usually news. Rather, it
is an ordinary event. Such discoveries are so frequent
these days that hardly anybody
pays heed to them.
However, when the Lascaux cave complex was
discovered in 1940, the world was amazed. Painted
directly on its walls were hundreds of scenes showing
how people lived thousands of years ago. The scenes
show people hunting animals, such as bison or wild
cats. Other images
depict birds and, most noticeably,
horses, which appear in more than 300 wall images,
by far outnumbering all other animals.
Early artists drawing these animals accomplished
a monumental and difficult task.
They did not limit
themselves to the easily accessible walls but carried
their painting materials to spaces that required climbing
steep walls or crawling into narrow passages in the
Lascaux complex. Unfortunately, the paintings have
been exposed to the destructive action of water and
temperature changes, which easily wear the images
away. Because the Lascaux caves have many
entrances, air movement has also damaged the
images inside. Although they are not out in the
open air, where natural light would have destroyed
them long ago, many of the images have deteriorated
and are barely recognizable. To prevent further
damage, the site was closed to tourists in 1963,
23 years after it was discovered.
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Q7) In line 14, the word They refers to _______.