New Guinea托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

New Guinea托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、New Guinea托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:So,we've been talking about early civilizations—how they developed…and early agriculture—and it’s believed that agriculture arose independently in a few areas of the world about 10,000 years ago,and then spread from those areas to the rest of the world.Those cradles of agriculture include the Middle East,China and Southeast Asia,and parts of the Americas.

Now,for many years archaeologists have speculated that agriculture also arose independently in another center,too—New Guinea,which is just north of Australia,in the South Pacific Ocean.You can see it on this map.

So…it'd been assumed for a long time that New Guinea…that domesticated plants and animals—the practice of agriculture generally—had been introduced from Southeast Asia about 3,500 years ago—had come south,essentially.

Then,in the nineteen sixties and seventies,research was conducted at sites in New Guinea to explore the possibility of independent agricultural development—but unfortunately the evidence gathered at that time was inconclusive.

For instance,although evidence was found of deforestation—you know,cutting down trees—from at least 7,000 years ago—that is,long before we had thought previously—it was unclear whether the forest had been cleared by farmers to plant fields or by hunter-gatherers so they could hunt more easily.And many plant remains,like seeds and fruits,don’t preserve well in swampy soils,in humid environments like you often find in New Guinea,so really,the proof was limited.

But,recent research has turned up some pretty convincing support.A group of archaeologists returned to a site that had been previously examined—Kuk Swamp,which is in a mountain valley in the highlands of what is now Papua New Guinea.

Based on their findings,they identified a succession of phases of agricultural development in the wetlands there,with several of these phases predating the earliest known agricultural influence from Southeast Asia.

At the site in Kuk,they used an array of modern archaeological methods to analyze sediment samples from the soil.From the oldest soil layer,dating back 10,000 years,they found evidence of pits,stake holes,and ditches.Now,these all indicate that crops were being planted…plants are tied to stakes and ditches are…for,for drainage—eh,proof of a very early first phase of agricultural development.

The second phase,which they identified from a higher layer of soil,featured regularly distributed mounds.Mounds were constructed to plant crops that can’t tolerate very wet soil,such as bananas,because remember,Kuk is a swampy wetland,and bananas wouldn’t ordinarily grow well there….

And,in the layer from Kuk’s third phase,they found evidence of an extensive network of ditches and drainage channels—indicating a further refinement of wetland cultivation.Because they had more advanced techniques than were available to earlier researchers,the archaeologists also were able to identify actual plant remains,microfossils,in the soil—from banana plants—and…and also grains of starch from taro on the edges of stone tools that date from about 10,000 years ago.

Finding the taro remains was very important,because it meant that it must have been planted there—brought from the lowlands,because taro doesn't grow naturally in the highlands.

And as for the bananas,researchers also found a high percentage of fossils from banana plants in sediment samples dating from about 7,000 years ago—proof that bananas were deliberately planted.Because where bananas grow naturally,the concentration of the plant fossils is lower—bananas don't naturally grow so densely.As a matter of fact,recent genetic research—genetic comparisons of banana species—suggest that the type of banana grown in New Guinea was domesticated there and then brought to Southeast Asia.

So,not sure where I'm going with this?

Well,usually we expect to see that certain social changes are brought about by the development of agriculture—structural changes in the society,like rapid population growth,different social classes…but,New Guinea,it's largely unchanged…it's remained an egalitarian and rural society,so what does that tell us about the usual assumption?

二、New Guinea托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：在人類學(xué)課上聽一節(jié)課的一部分。

女教授：所以，我們一直在談?wù)撛缙谖拿魇侨绾伟l(fā)展的……以及早期農(nóng)業(yè)，人們認(rèn)為農(nóng)業(yè)在大約10000年前在世界上的一些地區(qū)獨(dú)立出現(xiàn)，然后從這些地區(qū)傳播到世界其他地區(qū)。這些農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)源地包括中東、中國(guó)和東南亞以及美洲部分地區(qū)。

多年來，考古學(xué)家一直推測(cè)，農(nóng)業(yè)也在另一個(gè)中心獨(dú)立興起，也就是新幾內(nèi)亞，它位于南太平洋澳大利亞北部。你可以在這張地圖上看到它。

所以……很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間以來，人們一直認(rèn)為新幾內(nèi)亞……馴化的動(dòng)植物——大約3500年前從東南亞引進(jìn)的農(nóng)業(yè)實(shí)踐——基本上是從南方傳入的。

然后，在二十世紀(jì)六七十年代，在新幾內(nèi)亞的一些地點(diǎn)進(jìn)行了研究，以探索獨(dú)立農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展的可能性，但不幸的是，當(dāng)時(shí)收集的證據(jù)沒有定論。

例如，雖然有證據(jù)表明森林被砍伐，你知道，至少7000年前就開始砍伐樹木，也就是說，早在我們之前就知道，森林是被農(nóng)民開墾成農(nóng)田還是被狩獵采集者開墾成農(nóng)田，以便他們更容易狩獵。許多植物遺骸，如種子和果實(shí)，在沼澤土壤中保存得不好，在新幾內(nèi)亞常見的潮濕環(huán)境中也保存得不好，所以事實(shí)上，證據(jù)是有限的。

但是，最近的研究得到了一些非常令人信服的支持。一組考古學(xué)家回到了一處先前被檢查過的古克沼澤地，該沼澤地位于巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞高地的山谷中。

根據(jù)他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們確定了那里濕地農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展的一系列階段，其中幾個(gè)階段早于東南亞已知的最早農(nóng)業(yè)影響。

在庫克遺址，他們使用一系列現(xiàn)代考古方法分析土壤中的沉積物樣本。他們從10000年前最古老的土層中發(fā)現(xiàn)了坑、樁孔和溝渠的證據(jù)?，F(xiàn)在，這些都表明作物正在種植……植物被拴在木樁上，溝渠……用于排水，呃，證明農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展的第一階段非常早期。

第二階段，他們從更高層的土壤中確定，以規(guī)則分布的土丘為特征。建造土堆是為了種植不能忍受非常潮濕的土壤的作物，比如香蕉，因?yàn)橛涀?，庫克是一個(gè)沼澤濕地，香蕉通常在那里生長(zhǎng)不好。

而且，在Kuk第三階段的地層中，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量溝渠和排水渠網(wǎng)絡(luò)的證據(jù)，表明濕地耕作的進(jìn)一步完善。因?yàn)樗麄儞碛斜仍缙谘芯咳藛T更先進(jìn)的技術(shù)，考古學(xué)家還能夠在香蕉植物和……的土壤中識(shí)別出實(shí)際的植物遺骸、微體化石，以及大約10000年前石器邊緣的芋頭淀粉顆粒。

找到芋頭的遺骸非常重要，因?yàn)檫@意味著它一定是從低地帶到那里種植的，因?yàn)橛箢^不是在高地自然生長(zhǎng)的。

至于香蕉，研究人員還在大約7000年前的沉積物樣本中發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量香蕉植物化石，證明香蕉是故意種植的。因?yàn)樵谙憬蹲匀簧L(zhǎng)的地方，植物化石的濃度較低。香蕉自然生長(zhǎng)得不那么密集。事實(shí)上，最近的遺傳研究對(duì)香蕉物種的遺傳比較表明，生長(zhǎng)在新幾內(nèi)亞的香蕉是在那里馴化的，然后被帶到東南亞。

所以，不知道我要說什么？

嗯，通常我們希望看到農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展帶來某些社會(huì)變化社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)的變化，比如人口的快速增長(zhǎng)，不同的社會(huì)階層……但是，新幾內(nèi)亞基本上沒有變化……它仍然是一個(gè)平等主義和農(nóng)村社會(huì)，那么這告訴我們通常的假設(shè)是什么？

三、New Guinea托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.The spread of early agricultural methods from New Guinea to other cultures.

B.Differences in the types of crops grown in early centers of agriculture.

C.Evidence supporting the theory that agriculture developed independently in New Guinea.

D.Techniques used by researchers to identify farming methods in the earliest centers of agriculture.

Q2:2.According to the professor,why was the archaeological evidence found in New Guinea during the 1960s and 1970s inconclusive?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.Construction of agricultural drainage ditches had damaged much of the archaeological evidence.

B.Plant remains were not well preserved in the climate of New Guinea.

C.Ancient types of domestic plants were no longer grown by modern farmers.

D.It was unclear whether evidence of early deforestation suggested planting or hunting.

Q3:3.Why does the professor talk about layers of soil?

A.To show how phases of agricultural development were linked to evidence of population growth.

B.To describe how researchers identified several phases of agricultural development in New Guinea.

C.To illustrate how swampy conditions cause archaeological remains to deteriorate.

D.To describe one of the methods of farming used at Kuk.

Q4:4.Why did researchers conclude that the taro remains found near Kuk were a result of farming?

A.Taro does not grow wild in highland areas.

B.Taro is a native plant of China.

C.Taro was only found in a very small area near Kuk.

D.Taro normally does not grow in wet climates.

Q5:5.What evidence indicated that bananas were being cultivated in New Guinea during an earlier period than was previously thought?[Click on 3 answers.]

A.High concentrations of fossil remains of bananas.

B.The discovery of stone tools designed to harvest bananas.

C.The presence of regularly distributed mounds.

D.Indications that Kuk did not become a swampy wetland until approximately 7,000 years ago.

E.Genetic analyses of banana remains in New Guinea and Southeast Asia.

Q6:6.What point does the professor make about the theory that agriculture brings about social change?

A.Recent research has yielded unexpected evidence supporting the theory.

B.The theory seems to be contradicted by the development of society in New Guinea.

C.Future discoveries in Kuk are likely to provide definitive proof for the theory.

D.The theory explains why New Guinea has become an egalitarian society.

四、New Guinea托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：C

A2:正確答案：BD

A3:正確答案：B

A4:正確答案：A

A5:正確答案：ACE

A6:正確答案：B

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