State Formation托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

State Formation托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、State Formation托福聽力原文：

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

FEMALE PROFESSOR:One of the big questions when we look at prehistory is:Why did the earliest states form? Well,to begin we'd better define exactly what we mean when we talk about states. Uh,the human groups that are the smallest and have the least social and political complexity we call"bands."The groups that are the largest and most socially and politically complex we call"states."So the level of complexity here refers to the organization of people into large,diverse groups and densely populated communities?

and there are four levels in total:bands,tribes,chiefdoms,and states.But-but back to my original question. Why did early states form?Why not just continue to live in small groups?Why become more complex?

One theory,called the"environmental approach"hypothesizes that the main force behind state formation was population growth.It assumes that centralized management was critical to dealing with issues caused by sudden population surges,like a strain on limited food supplies.At the least-complex end of the spectrum,the few families living in bands are able to meet their own basic needs. They usually hunt,gather,and forage whatever foods are available to them,instead of domesticating animals and planting crops. In order to efficiently take advantage of the wild foods available,bands are often nomadic,and move around following herds of animals. This strategy is feasible when you have a small population.

But when you have a large population,well,the whole population can't just get up and move to follow a wild herd of animals.So you need sophisticated technologies to produce enough food for everyone.And there is an increased need to resolve social problems that arise as people begin to compete for resources.To manage intensified food production—to collect,store,and distribute food—you need centralized decision making?centralized decision makers.

It's the same thing when it comes to maintaining social order. You need to create and efficiently enforce a formal legal code.It makes sense to have a centralized authority in charge of that,right?So a hierarchy forms.By definition,states have at least three social levels:usually an upper class of rulers,a middle class comprised of managers and merchants,and a lower class of craft producers and agricultural laborers.

The environmental approach hypothesizes that states appear in certain environmental settings—settings which have a severe population problem or a shortage of agricultural land.But not everyone agrees with the theory. It definitely has some weaknesses.

For example,states have developed in places like the Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica,and in Egypt's Nile River valley. Both places had vast areas of fertile farmland—no shortage of agricultural land.And what about population increase? Well,there were some early states that formed where there wasn't any sudden population increase.So it seems that these are valid criticisms of the environmental approach.

二、State Formation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：當(dāng)我們研究史前史時(shí)，一個(gè)大問題是：為什么最早的國家會形成；好吧，首先，我們最好準(zhǔn)確地定義我們在談?wù)搰視r(shí)的意思；呃，最小的、社會和政治復(fù)雜性最低的人類群體，我們稱之為“樂隊(duì)”最大、社會和政治最復(fù)雜的群體，我們稱之為“國家”那么這里的復(fù)雜程度是指將人們組織成大型、多樣的群體和人口稠密的社區(qū)？

總共有四個(gè)層次：部落、部落、酋長領(lǐng)地和國家。但回到我原來的問題；為什么早期國家會形成？為什么不繼續(xù)小團(tuán)體生活呢？為什么變得更復(fù)雜？

一種稱為“環(huán)境方法”的理論假設(shè)，國家形成背后的主要力量是人口增長。它假設(shè)集中化管理對于處理人口突然激增引起的問題至關(guān)重要，例如有限的糧食供應(yīng)緊張。至少在最不復(fù)雜的一端，生活在樂隊(duì)中的少數(shù)家庭能夠滿足自己的基本需求；他們通常狩獵、采集和飼喂任何食物，而不是馴養(yǎng)動物和種植作物；為了有效地利用現(xiàn)有的野生食物，樂隊(duì)通常是游牧民族，跟隨成群的動物四處走動；當(dāng)人口較少時(shí)，這種策略是可行的。

但是，當(dāng)你有一個(gè)龐大的種群時(shí)，整個(gè)種群不能只是站起來跟著一群野生動物。所以你需要先進(jìn)的技術(shù)來為每個(gè)人生產(chǎn)足夠的食物。隨著人們開始爭奪資源，越來越需要解決社會問題。為了管理強(qiáng)化食品生產(chǎn)以收集、儲存和分發(fā)食品，您需要集中決策嗎？集中決策者。

在維護(hù)社會秩序方面也是一樣；您需要?jiǎng)?chuàng)建并有效實(shí)施正式的法律法規(guī)。有一個(gè)中央集權(quán)機(jī)構(gòu)負(fù)責(zé)這件事是有道理的，對嗎？這樣就形成了等級制度。根據(jù)定義，各州至少有三個(gè)社會階層：通常是統(tǒng)治者的上層階級，由經(jīng)理和商人組成的中產(chǎn)階級，以及手工藝品生產(chǎn)者和農(nóng)業(yè)勞動者的下層階級。

環(huán)境方法假設(shè)國家出現(xiàn)在某些環(huán)境環(huán)境中，這些環(huán)境具有嚴(yán)重的人口問題或農(nóng)業(yè)用地短缺。但并非所有人都同意這一理論&nbsp；它肯定有一些弱點(diǎn)。

例如，在中美洲的瑪雅低地和埃及的尼羅河流域等地，國家已經(jīng)發(fā)展起來；這兩個(gè)地方都有大片肥沃的農(nóng)田，并不缺乏農(nóng)業(yè)用地。那么人口增長呢；嗯，有一些早期的州是在人口沒有突然增加的情況下形成的。因此，這些似乎是對環(huán)境方針的有效批評。

三、State Formation托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What does the professor mainly discuss?

A.Sudden population increases in early states

B.Possible reasons for the formation of early states

C.Consequences of agricultural land shortages in ancient Egypt

D.Common political problems of chiefdoms

Q2:2.According to the professor,what are two typical characteristics of a band?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.It is the smallest type of group.

B.It is the most sociopolitically complex type of group.

C.It practices intensified agriculture.

D.It is able to meet its own basic needs.

Q3:3.What does the professor say is a characteristic feature of states?

A.States often damage the environment of the area they occupy.

B.States engage in trade to obtain necessary goods for their population.

C.States often undergo sudden changes in population.

D.States manage food production for the entire population.

Q4:4.What reason for prehistoric social problems does the professor mention?

A.Competition for resources

B.Poor decisions by the ruling classes

C.The existence of several conflicting legal codes

D.Cultural differences between neighboring states

Q5:5.Why does the professor mention upper,middle,and lower classes?

A.To explain why formal legal codes were developed

B.To explain what factors caused the destruction of several early states

C.To stress the importance of agricultural workers

D.To further describe the organization of states

Q6:6.What is the professor's opinion about the environmental approach?

A.It will remain popular for a long time.

B.It does not help explain how early states formed.

C.Some evidence supports it,but other evidence contradicts it.

D.It should be applied when analyzing hierarchies.

四、State Formation托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：B

A2:正確答案：AD

A3:正確答案：D

A4:正確答案：A

A5:正確答案：D

A5:正確答案：C

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