托福經(jīng)典加試閱讀之蘇美爾文明英文全文

1、2005年10月12日開始第一次加試Sumerian CivilizationIt is an astonishing fact that human civilization should have emerged into the light of history in two separate places at just about the same time. Between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C. when Egypt was being united under pharaonic rule, another great civilization arose i

2、n Mesopotamia, the “l(fā)and between the rivers”. And for close to three thousand years, the two rival centers retained their distinct characters, even though they had contact with each other from their earliest beginnings, and their destinies were interwoven in many ways. The pressure that forced the i

3、nhabitants of both regions to abandon the pattern of Neolithic village life may well have been the same. But the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, unlike that of the Nile, is not a narrow fertile strip protected by desert on either side. It resembles a wide, shallow trough with few natural

4、defenses, crisscrossed by two great rivers and their tributaries, and is easily encroached upon from any direction. P2: Thus the facts of geography tend to discourage the idea of uniting the entire Mesopotamian area under a single head. Rulers who had this ambition did not appear, so far as we know,

5、 until about a thousand years after the beginnings of Mesopotamian civilization, and they succeeded in carrying it out only for brief periods and at the cost of almost continuous warfare. As a consequence, the political history of ancient Mesopotamia has no underlying theme of the sort that divine k

6、ingship provides for Egypt. Local rivalries, foreign incursions, the sudden upsurge and equally sudden collapse of military power these are its substance. P3: The origin of the Sumerians remains obscure. Their language is unrelated to any other known tongue. Sometimes before 4,000 B.C. they came to

7、southern Mesopotamia, from Persia, and there, within the next thousand years, they founded a number of city-states and developed their distinctive form of writing in cuneiform (wedge-shaped) characters on clay tablets. Unfortunately, the tangible remains of Sumerian civilization are extremely scanty

8、 compared to those of ancient Egypt. Building stone being unavailable in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians used mud brick and wood, so that almost nothing is left of their architecture except the foundation. Nor did they share the Egyptians concern with the hereafter, although some richly endowed tombs in

9、the shape of vaulted chambers below ground from the early dynastic period have been found in the city of Ur. Our knowledge of Sumerian Civilization thus depends very largely on chance fragments brought to light by excavation, including vast numbers of inscribed clay tablets. Yet we have learned enou

10、gh to form a general picture of this vigorous, inventive, and disciplined people.P4: Each Sumerian city-state had its own local god, who was regarded as its king and owner. It also had a human ruler, the steward of the divine sovereign, who led the people in serving the deity. The local god, in turn

11、, was expected to plead the cause of his subjects among his follow deities who controlled the forces of nature such as wind and weather, water, fertility, and the heavenly bodies. Nor was the idea of divine ownership treated as a mere pious fiction. The god was quite literally believed to own not on

12、ly the territory of the city-state but also the labor power of the population and its products. All these were subject to his commands, transmitted to people by his human steward. The result was an economic system. The temple controlled the pooling of labor and resources for communal enterprises, su

13、ch as the building of dikes or irrigation ditches, and it collected and distributed a considerable part of the harvest. All this required the keeping of detailed written records. Hence, we need not be surprised to find that the texts of early Sumerian inscriptions deal very largely with economic and

14、 administrative rather than religious matters, although writing was a priestly privilege.P1: 令人驚異的是從歷史的角度看人類文明同時在兩個不同的地方產(chǎn)生。公元前3500到3000年之間，當埃及在法老統(tǒng)治下統(tǒng)一時，另一個偉大的文明在美索不達米亞（河間地）產(chǎn)生。在后來將近3000年的時間里，盡管兩個對立的文化中心一直相互聯(lián)系并且他們的命運在很多方面交織在一起，它們保持了各自獨有的特點。迫使兩個地區(qū)的居民拋棄新石器時代鄉(xiāng)村生活模式的也很有可能是同樣的壓力。埃及文化仰仗尼羅河，河水孕育了富饒的土地，兩岸有沙漠作

15、為自然屏障。但是兩河流域和尼羅河不同的地方在于它不是兩邊有沙漠屏障的細長的富饒河流，而是一個不具備天然屏障的寬（narrow）而淺的水槽。交織在兩條大河及支流間，美索不達米亞很容易被從任意方向侵占。P2：所以，地理事實很多時候會阻礙把整個美索不達米亞地區(qū)聯(lián)合在一個首領(lǐng)下的想法。有這種野心的統(tǒng)治者，據(jù)我們考證，直至美索不達米亞文明開始之后一千年都沒有出現(xiàn)。而這種統(tǒng)治者的統(tǒng)治也只成功執(zhí)行了很短一段時間，并以不斷地戰(zhàn)爭為代價。當初美索不達米亞的居民生活好像挺好的，所以一直沒有人提出統(tǒng)一的想法，很久以后才有，可是由于大量的花費在戰(zhàn)爭上什么的，很快就覆滅了。后來又變成蘇美爾了，這是從外面遷徙過來的民族。

16、直到一種蘇美爾人來統(tǒng)一，蘇美爾人的來源和歷史，他們建立了一種蘇美爾文明，但因為美索不達米亞文化的地域限制一直沒有統(tǒng)一。Egypt的體制根兩河的政治體制不一樣，一個united under 一個聯(lián)合體制下，另外一個則由于地理條件的制約不存在united format聯(lián)合體制。結(jié)果是，古代美索不達米亞的政治歷史沒有像神的王權(quán)為埃及所提供的那種內(nèi)在主題。地方斗爭，外國侵略，突然暴亂和軍隊瓦解，這是美索不達米亞政治歷史的實質(zhì)。即使美索不達米亞這么亂，它的culture and artistic continuity are remarkable.P3:“蘇美爾人的起源仍然不清。他們的語言和其他任何已知

17、語言無關(guān)。他們大約在公元前4000年從波斯來到美索不達米亞平原南部，從此在那里以后的數(shù)千年中，他們建立了許多城邦并且形成了他們與眾不同的梭形文字。不幸的是，蘇美爾文明的實際遺跡與埃及相比極為稀少。因為美索不達米亞沒有建筑石材，蘇美爾人用的材料是泥磚和石材。這就造成了他們的建筑除了地基幾乎所剩無幾。他們也不像埃及人那樣關(guān)心來生，盡管烏爾城發(fā)現(xiàn)了王朝時期早期的地下拱形廳式的厚葬陵墓。所以我們對蘇美爾文明的了解很大程度上依賴偶然挖掘來的殘片，包括刻有大量碑文的泥板。即使這樣，我們已經(jīng)掌握了足夠證據(jù)，可以大致描畫出這個生機勃勃，善于創(chuàng)造并且紀律嚴明的民族。（雖然學(xué)者們對M地的研究取得了如此成就，我們對

18、美索不達米亞人的生活了解仍然非常有限。）P4: 每個蘇美爾城邦都有自己的土地神，它被認作是國王和所有者。另外有一個人類統(tǒng)治者，他是神權(quán)的執(zhí)行者，帶領(lǐng)人民進行祭拜神的活動。而土地神的職責是懇求其他掌管著自然力量（天氣，風水， 生育，天體等）的眾神滿足他臣民的要求。神圣王權(quán)的概念并沒有被僅僅當作是一個宗教神話。毫不夸張地說，土地神不僅擁有城邦的領(lǐng)土，還擁有人民的勞動力和產(chǎn)品。所有一切都聽他調(diào)配，人類執(zhí)行者負責傳話。其結(jié)果是一個經(jīng)濟系統(tǒng)。神廟操縱公共事業(yè)需要的勞力和資源的共享，例如建設(shè)堤防和溝灌，并且收集和分發(fā)了收成的一大部分。這些都需要詳盡的書面記錄。所以，我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)盡管碑文是牧師的特權(quán)，蘇美爾早

19、期的碑文涉及大量的經(jīng)濟和管理方面的內(nèi)容而非宗教內(nèi)容。1. The word “astonishing” in the passage is closest in meaning to_(A) important(B) unknown(C) amazing(D) interesting答案: C2. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning

20、 in important ways or leave out essential information.(A) A great civilization arose in Mesopotamia, the “l(fā)and between the rivers”under pharaonic rule. (B) Egypt and another great civilization both developed in Mesopotamia between 3500 and 3000 B.C.(C)A great civilization arose in Mesopotamia betwee

21、n 3500 and 3000 B.C. at the same time that ancient Egypt was being united. (D) As Egypt was being united under pharaonic rule, a great civilization arose there. 答案：C3. The phrase “its substitute” refers to (A) the political history of ancient Mesopotamia(B) divine kingship(C) Egypt(D)the sudden coll

22、apse of military power答案：A4. The word “obscure” in the passage is closest in meaning to_(A) unclear(B) unique(C) controversial(D) important答案： A解析：感情線索：否定：線索1. unrelated to any other known tongue，2. unfortunately。5. The author mentions “Nor did they share the Egyptians concern with the hereafter”in

23、order to(A) To provide one explanation for the relatively few physical remains of ancient Sumerian society. (B) To explain why ancient Sumerian built with mud brick and wood rather than with stone.(C) To help account for the fact that tombs and vaulted chambers have been found only in Ur. (D) To cou

24、nter the claim that all ancient societies paid great attention to the afterlife. 答案： A6. According to the passage, it can be inferred that the City of Ur is located in (A) Egypt(B)Persia(C) northern Mesopotamia(D) near the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates答案：D7：The word “vast” in the passage is clo

25、sest in meaning to_(A) random(B) very large(C) surprising(D) relatively small答案：B8. According to paragraph 2 and 3, the physical characteristics of Mesopotamia affected Sumerian civilization in all of the following ways EXCEPT:(A) Foreign invasions were made easy.(B) Creating and maintaining politic

26、al stability was made difficult.(C) Continuity of cultural and artistic traditions could not be achieved.(D)Sumerian architecture could not produce long-lasting structures答案：C9. Look at the four that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Despite these achievements, sch

27、olars know much less about Sumerian life than they would like. Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?答案：D10. According to paragraph 4, what evidence is used to support the claim that the idea of divine ownership was not “a mere pious fiction”？(A) The idea of divine ownership originated with the kings of Sumerian city-state. (B)The idea of divine ownership eventually came to replace “theocratic socialism”.(C)The idea of divine o