Passage 2

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:

In today's extremely connected world, (78)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.