托福 新托福 20 - Early Settlements in the Southwest Asia
题目
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1.The word "momentous" in the passage is closest in meaning to
  • A.numerous
  • B.regular
  • C.very important
  • D.very positive
  • 正确答案:
    答案解析:
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    The universal global warming at the end of the Ice Age had dramatic effects on temperate regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. Ice sheets retreated and sea levels rose. The climatic changes in southwestern Asia were more subtle, in that they involved shifts in mountain snow lines, rainfall patterns, and vegetation cover. However, these same cycles of change had momentous impacts on the sparse human populations of the region. At the end of the Ice Age, no more than a few thousand foragers lived along the eastern Mediterranean coast, in the Jordan and Euphrates valleys. Within 2,000 years, the human population of the region numbered in the tens of thousands, all as a result of village life and farming. Thanks to new environmental and archaeological discoveries, we now know something about this remarkable change in local life.

    Pollen samples from freshwater lakes in Syria and elsewhere tell us forest cover expanded rapidly at the end of the Ice Age, for the southwestern Asian climate was still cooler and considerably wetter than today. Many areas were richer in animal and plant species than they are now, making them highly favorable for human occupation. About 9000 B.C., most human settlements lay in the area along the Mediterranean coast and in the Zagros Mountains of Iran and their foothills. Some local areas, like the Jordan River valley, the middle Euphrates valley, and some Zagros valleys, were more densely populated than elsewhere. Here more sedentary and more complex societies flourished. These people exploited the landscape intensively, foraging on hill slopes for wild cereal grasses and nuts, while hunting gazelle and other game on grassy lowlands and in river valleys. Their settlements contain exotic objects such as seashells, stone bowls, and artifacts made of obsidian (volcanic glass), all traded from afar. This considerable volume of intercommunity exchange brought a degree of social complexity in its wake.

    Thanks to extremely fine-grained excavation and extensive use of flotation methods (through which seeds are recovered from soil samples), we know a great deal about the foraging practices of the inhabitants of Abu Hureyra in Syria's Euphrates valley. Abu Hureyra was founded about 9500B.C, a small village settlement of cramped pit dwellings (houses dug partially in the soil) with reed roofs supported by wooden uprights. For the next 1,500 years, its inhabitants enjoyed a somewhat warmer and damper climate than today, living in a well-wooded steppe area where wild cereal grasses were abundant. They subsisted off spring migrations of Persian gazelles from the south. With such a favorable location, about 300 to 400 people lived in a sizable, permanent settlement. They were no longer a series of small bands but lived in a large community with more elaborate social organization, probably grouped into clans of people of common descent.

    The flotation samples from the excavations allowed botanists to study shifts in plant-collecting habits as if they were looking through a telescope at a changing landscape. Hundreds of tiny plant remains show how the inhabitants exploited nut harvests in nearby pistachio and oak forests. However, as the climate dried up, the forests retreated from the vicinity of the settlement. The inhabitants turned to wild cereal grasses instead, collecting them by the thousands, while the percentage of nuts in the diet fell. By 8200B.C., drought conditions were so severe that the people abandoned their long-established settlement, perhaps dispersing into smaller camps.

    Five centuries later, about 7700B.C., a new village rose on the mound. At first the inhabitants still hunted gazelle intensively. Then, about 7000 B.C., within the space of a few generations, they switched abruptly to herding domesticated goats and sheep and to growing einkorn, pulses, and other cereal grasses. Abu Hureyra grew rapidly until it covered nearly 30 acres. It was a close-knit community of rectangular, one-story mud-brick houses, joined by narrow lanes and courtyards, finally abandoned about 5000 B.C.. Many complex factors led to the adoption of the new economies, not only at Abu Hureyra, but at many other locations such as 'Ain Ghazal, also in Syria, where goat toe bones showing the telltale marks of abrasion caused by foot tethering (binding) testify to early herding of domestic stock.

    冰河时代末期全球普遍升温,这对亚洲、欧洲和北美洲的温带地区产生了巨大的影响。冰原后退,海平面上升。亚洲西南部气候的变化则更加细微,因为涉及到山脉雪线、降水类型和植被覆盖的变化。然而,这些相同的变化周期对该地区稀少的人口产生了重要的影响。在冰河时代末期,地中海东部沿岸的约旦河和幼发拉底河流域仅生活着数千人。随后的两千年内,农村生活和农业使该地区的人口数量变成了数以万计人。正是由于在环境和考古学方面的新发现,我们才得以了解当地生活中发生的这种显著变化。 来自叙利亚和其他地方的淡水湖的花粉样本向我们揭示出在冰河时代末期森林覆盖迅速增长,这是因为当时亚洲西南部的气候比现在要更凉爽,而且要湿润得多。当时很多地区的动植物种类要比现在丰富,这就使得这些地区非常适宜人类居住。大约在公元前9ooo年,大部分人类定居点都位于地中海沿岸以及伊朗的扎格罗斯山脉和丘陵地带。某些局部地区,例如约旦河谷、幼发拉底河谷中部以及某些扎格罗斯谷地的人口就比别的地方要更密集。迁移性更低、更为复杂的社会在这里兴旺发展起来。这些人对该地貌进行高强度的开发,他们在山坡上采集野生的谷物和坚果,在长满青草的低地和河谷中捕捉瞪羚及其他猎物。在他们的定居点发现了从远方交易获得的外来物品,例如贝壳、石碗和黑曜石(火山玻璃)制成的古器。这种数量可观的社会间的交换随后给社会带来了一定的复杂度。 极精细的挖掘和浮选法(可以从土壤样本中发现种子)的广泛使用使得我们对叙利亚境内的幼发拉底河流域阿布胡赖拉的居民的觅食习惯有了深入的了解。阿布胡赖拉是建于公元前9500年的一座小村庄,村庄里都是狭小的洞穴房(房子的一部分是挖到地下的),芦苇做的屋顶是用木头柱子支撑的。随后的1 500年,该地的居民享受着比我们现在略为温暖潮湿的气候,他们居住在树木繁茂的大草原,那里生长着大量的野生谷类植物。他们喂养着从南部地区迁移过来的波斯瞪羚的后代。在这个地理位置绝佳的地方,大约有300~400人居住在一个比较大的永久定居点。他们不再是一系列的小型部落而是住在一起的大社区,拥有更复杂的社会组织,很有可能是按照共同祖先划分的部族。 从挖掘物中获取的浮选样本使得植物学家可以研究他们采集植物习性的变化,就像是通过望远镜观看变化的景致。几百个小型植物残留物显示了这些居民是如何采集附近森林里的开心果和橡子的。然而,随着气候变干燥,森林从定居点的附近向后退缩。居民就转而采集大量的野生谷物,而坚果在饮食中所占的比例下降了。到公元前8200年的时候,干旱变得非常严重以至于人们放弃了他们的长久居住地,也许分散成小的群落了。 五个世纪以后,大约是公元前7700年,高地上出现了一个新的村庄。最初那里的居民仍然集中于猎取瞪羚。后来大约在公元前7000年,没过几代,这些居民就忽然转向饲养家养的山羊和绵羊,并种植单粒小麦、豆类及其它谷类植物。阿布胡赖拉迅速壮大,最终扩张到了近30英亩。它是一座结构紧凑的矩形村庄,单层的泥砖房屋与狭窄的小道和院子相连,这座村庄最终于公元前5000年被废弃。有很多复杂的因素导致人们采用新的经济形式,这不只是发生在阿布胡赖拉,在其它很多地方例如在艾因加扎勒和叙利亚发现的山羊的趾骨上就有显示足部被栓(绑)造成的磨损的迹象,这就证明该地出现了早期的畜牧业。

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    最新提问
    • wx_6697
      觉得B C 意思一样,不知道选哪个
    • wx_5576
      这道题C为什么对,E为什么不对?
    • wx_5576
      B为什么不能选啊?
    • wx_6697
      TPO30 passage 2 Q5我选的 D,不明白为啥不对?
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,TPO6passage3Q5 答案是给错了吗?好多人都选A
    • wx_6697
      这题也很容易选错选成了D
    • wx_6697
      这道题A为什么错了
    • 芊儿
      为什么这道题不选c??a中的variety不是应该对应文中的differentiating 吗??求解!
    • wx_1000
      这道题不选E是因为太细节了吗
    • 王金阁
      这个题为什么不选C啊。。。
    • 芊儿
      这道题的D选项不是和文中的better able to reproduce in open settings相对应么??
    • 风荨火
      有大佬解释一下这个为啥选D嘛?
    • 以沫
      请问这个D 在哪里提现?为什么D错?
    • 芊儿
      第六题 的C选择为什么不对,感觉A是明显驳斥啊...
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这道题D是从哪里看出来的
    • wx_6697
      这题选的A,根据是Joly’s calculations clearly supported those geologists who insisted on an age for Earth far in excess of a few million years.想问鑫哥为啥不选A
    • wx_6697
      这题我选的是C依据是into a new habitat outside of its natural range, it may adapt to the new environment and leave its enemies behind.C为啥错了呢?鑫哥
    • wx_8861
      F选项的weather-related destruction在哪里体现了呢?原文最后一段的开头Among the costs里的costs是不是打错了?应该是coast?
    • wx_6697
      求问这道题B为啥不选,原文依据:viable seeds of pioneer species can be found in large numbers on some forest floors.
    • 与托福的斗争史
      与托福的斗争史 去解答 去解答
      这题为什么选C?
    • 小雨淅沥哗啦的下
      小雨淅沥哗啦的下 去解答 去解答
      B哪里错了
    • 小雨淅沥哗啦的下
      小雨淅沥哗啦的下 去解答 去解答
      B为啥不对
    • 李浩然
      B选项错误,是因为残缺么?
    • wx_100
      请问在做题的时候如何排除c呢。看了答案,感觉是该选a的,但是当时做题脑子一热,就特别钟爱c,也没看其他选项。。求敲醒。。
    • wx xxxxx
      请问鑫哥,这段开头有写As one pesticide replaces another为什么不是对应a new pesticide is developed?
    • wx_7695
      鑫哥,从哪里看出来这个masks 不是use呀,原文说了wear呀
    • haiyuqiao
      @鑫哥,这题the damage will continue 不应该对应前面的 the target species evolves resistance to it,然后As one pesticide replaces another,不应该是结束了time cycle 吗
    • wx_2065
      鑫哥,想知道E错在哪里?
    • wx_7695
      鑫哥,B选项 cannot extended to earlier geological periods. 原文说的意思是后来的进化无法估计吧
    • wx_2163
      B为什么不选
    • wx_7780
      鑫哥,这个哪里看不use了。BD是修饰错,C是无中生有,怎么能直接选出A?
    • 100
      看到第一句话,以为是中心句就选了A... 为什么不能选A呢
    • 100
      为什么选b?
    • gu33
      请问下 这里选D的原因是 因为 evolutionary approach 对应着 原文的 Rates of evolution 嘛? 这里我选了C。。不是很懂 插入句和 D的关系 求解答
    • 我是啦啦啦
      我是啦啦啦 去解答 去解答
      这个题A哪里错了?是因为主语不对吗?这个C比A多一步推理啊
    • haiyuqiao
      鑫哥,D选项里的19世纪出现了很多假设,原文中并没有提到啊
    • wx_7060
      为什么选a 呢。我觉得a是细节。F哪错了?
    • wx_1105
      我想问一下,这道题为什么不能选A呢?
    • wx_8122
      D为什么不选
    • wx_1655
      f选项哪里说了
    • chaulaw
      鑫哥,原文是below经济损害水平,D是一触发经济损害就用,这也对吗?
    • chaulaw
      interclan婚姻是对的吗?不是只在自己的family结婚扩大家族吗?
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这道题答案是不是错了,好多人选D 我也选的D求解答
    • wx_6697
      这道题应该是一道易错题,每个选项的都有,然而我选的A错了,求解
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,这题的C是怎么得到的?B也没有找到啊?难道不是应该选B
    • wx_6697
      鑫哥,还有这个,好多人选A答案是不是错了
    • wx_6697
      求问D是从哪里得出来的,我选的B呀哎呀
    • wx_4185
      it is difficult to say how far they were intended to be portraits rather than generalized images 这句话怎么理解呢
    • 此楠楠
      请问下这个插入题怎么选的呢?
    • 此楠楠
      求鑫哥讲解下A选项。。。 Even though in error, Joly’s calculations clearly supported those geologists who insisted on an age for Earth far in excess of a few million years.