S e c o n d e d I t I o n 1 Reading for the Real World 1

Abominable
Snowmen. The Africans call them Ngoloko, and the Chinese tell 
stories of the Gin-Sung, or bearman.
Though 
sightings
have been reported for centuries, is there any scientific 
evidence for the existence of these creatures? Some say yes, and others say no. 
Dr. Grover Krantz, a physical 
anthropologist
at the University of Oregon, 
believes that Bigfoot may be a type of creature known as a Gigantopithecus. 
A Gigantopithecus is an animal that lived in Asia over 300,000 years ago and 
looked like a 
mix
between an ape and a very large man. Dr. Krantz believes that 
these animals, which lived long before humans, may have migrated from Asia 
and decided to settle in the heavily 
wooded
area of the Pacific Northwest, 
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pass down --- to tell from one generation to the next
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regardless of --- in spite of; not considering
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abominable --- terrible
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sightings --- fact of seeing; something seen
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anthropologist --- a person who studies the development of humans
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mix --- a combination
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wooded --- having many trees
Track 3
 

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45
trickster --- a person who cheats others 
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deeper --- farther inside
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elusive --- not easy to find; good at hiding
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where food was plentiful. 
Is it possible that creatures like these could have survived for so many years 
unknown to humans? Cryptozoologists compare the case of Bigfoot to that of the 
coelacanth. The coelacanth is a type of fish that was believed to have gone 
extinct over 70,000,000 years ago, but this fish has been discovered to be still 
living off the coast of South Africa. Cryptozoologists believe that the animals that 
we now call Bigfoot have been able to survive by living in an area that people, 
until recently, have seldom gone. 
There are, however, some questions that science has been 
unable to answer. For example, why have no dead Bigfoot 
bodies ever been discovered? And where is the physical proof 
of their existence? Bigfoot researchers point out that it is 
unusual to find the dead remains of any animal in the forest. 
Most of the time, they say, other animals eat the remains soon 
after death; this may be the case for Bigfoot, too. Many 
skeptics, people who do not believe in Bigfoot, say that the video and 
photographs of Bigfoot are really pictures of people wearing an ape costume. 
They also believe that the Bigfoot footprints are really the footprints of a bear, or 
footprints made by 
tricksters
trying to fool scientists. 
It is possible that we may never know the truth about these animals. If they 
have avoided being seen for the last several thousand years, then maybe they will 
stay hidden for another several thousand. Or it may be that as we humans go