翻译考试历年中级口译真题(7)_第8页

Questions 16~20
      World prehistory  is written  from data recovered from thousands of archaeological sites, places where traces of  human activity are to be found. Sites are normally identified through the presence of manufactured tools.

      Archaeological sites are most commonly classified  by the activity that occurred  there. Habitation sites are places where people lived and carried out a wide range of different activities. Most prehistoric sites come under this category, but habitation sites can vary from a small open campsite  through  rockshelters and caves,to large accumulations of shellfish  remains  (shell middens). Village habitation sites may consist of a small accumulation of occupation deposit and mud hut fragments, huge earthen mounds, or communes of stone buildings or entire buried cities. Each presents its own special excavation problems.

      Burial sites provide a wealth of information on the prehistoric past. Grinning skeletons are very much part of popular archaeological legend, and human remains are common finds in the archaeological  record.The earliest deliberate human burials are between  fifty and  seventy thousand  years old.Individual burials are found in habitation sites,but often the  inhabitants designated a special area for a cemetery. This cemetery could be a communal burial place where everyone was buried  regardless of  social  status.Other   burial  sites, lik  the Shang  royal cemeteries in China, were reserved for nobility alone.Parts of a cemetery were sometimes reserved for certain special individuals in society such as clan leaders or priests. The patterning of grave goods in a cemetery can provide information about intangible aspects of human society such as religious beliefs or  social organization. So can the pattern of deposition of the burials, their orientation in their graves, even family grouping. Sometimes physical anthropologists can detect biological similarities between different skeletons that may reflect close family, or other, ties.

      Quarry sites are places where people mined prized  raw materials such as obsidian (a volcanic glass used for fine knives and mirrors) or copper.Excavations at such sites yield roughed out blanks of  stone,or metal ingots,as well as finished products ready for trading elsewhere.Such objects were bartered widely in prehistoric times.

     Art Sites such as the cave of Altamira in northern Spain, or Lascaux in southwestern France, are commonplace in some areas of the world,noticeably southern Africa and parts of North America.Many are caves and rockshelters where prehistoric people painted or engraved game animals,scenes of daily  life,or religious symbols.Some French art sites are at  least  fifteen thousand years old.

      Each of these site types represents a particular form of  human activity, one that  is represented in the archaeological record by specific artifact and surface indications found and recorded by the archaeologist.

16.An archaeological site is defined as a place where __________.
   (A) some record of human activity is found
   (B) humans bury beloved animals
   (C) evidence of plant or animal life exists
   (D) particular rock formations suggest the patterns of history
17. Generally speaking, archaeological sites are classified according to ___________.
   (A) the people who lived there
   (B) the historical period during which they were occupied
   (C) the type of activity for which they were used
   (D) the degree of civilization of those who lived there
18.The author mentions all of the following features of graves which may provide archaeologists with information about a particular society EXCEPT_______.
   (A) the location of the grave                                    (B) the goods buried with the person
   (C) The degree of preservation of the body              (D) The orientation of the body in the grave
19. Quarry sites are places where ________________.
   (A) paintings showing scenes of daily life
   (B) engravings of famous people
   (C) paintings recording the location of burial sites
   (D) tools and primitive devices used for engraving
20. According to the passage, art sites often contain                      .
   (A) paintings showing scenes of daily life
   (B) engravings of famous people
   (C) paintings recording the location of burial sites
   (D) tools and primitive devices used for engraving