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托福TPO/Official 64 Passage2阅读原文题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

The Development of Complex Societies in Ancient Mexico

在9000至4000年前，墨西哥大部分地区主要居住着狩猎-采集者，他们以小群体生活，随季节迁移以利用仙人掌果实、鹿群、坚果以及他们范围内数百种其他动植物物种，具体取决于季节。

Between 9,000 and 4,000 years ago, most of Mexico was inhabited mainly by hunter-foragers who lived in small bands that moved with the seasons to exploit cactus fruits, deer herds, nuts, and the hundreds of other plant and animal species in their range, depending on the season.

由于这些群体规模小，且从未在一个地方停留足够长时间以对他们赖以生存的动植物种群产生显著的长期影响，狩猎-采集者对其环境的总体影响较小。

Since these bands were small in size and never stayed in one place for a sufficient period of time to have much long-term effect on the plant and animal populations on which they subsisted, the hunter-foragers' overall impact on their environment was low.

墨西哥谷地湖泊边缘的一些群体可能是定居的村民，沿海的一些群体也是如此，他们在动植物驯化和农业最终传播中的作用尚不清楚。

A few groups along the margins of the lake in the Valley of Mexico may have been sedentary villagers, as were some groups along the coasts, and their role in the domestication of plants and animals and the eventual spread of agriculture is unclear.

然而，一些研究人员认为，大约4000年前，玉米棒的大小已足够大，使墨西哥高地的大片地区的人们主要以玉米为生。

Some researchers suggest, however, that by about 4,000 years ago, maize cob size had become large enough that people over large areas of the Mexican highlands could subsist mainly on maize.

最近对中美洲（古墨西哥）一些据称是最早驯化的玉米的重新定年（约公元前3500年）提出了这样一种可能性：最初的农业是从相对定居的人群加强采集活动中演变而来的，这些人群可能全年或大部分时间居住在一两个地方，甚至可能正在发展社会差异（社会等级），这增加了他们采集的强度。

The recent re-dating of some of the supposedly earliest domesticated maize in Mesoamerica (Ancient Mexico) to about 3500 B.C. raises the possibility that initial agriculture evolved out of intensified foraging by groups of people who were relatively sedentary, perhaps living all or most of the year in one or a few places, and that they were perhaps even in the process of developing social differences (social hierarchy) that increased the intensity of their foraging.

无论玉米是如何被驯化的，也无论由谁驯化，玉米似乎在公元前2000年左右达到了足够的产量，允许村落农业生活方式的出现，大约在这个时候，许多不同地区出现了农业社区。

However maize was domesticated, and by whom, maize appears to have reached sufficient productivity to permit the village-farming way of life soon after about 2000 B.C., and agricultural communities appeared at about this time in many different areas.

从炎热潮湿的沿海低地到干旱的特瓦坎谷地，最早的村庄在规模和内容上相当相似。

From the hot, wet coastal lowlands to the arid Tehuacan Valley, the earliest villages were quite similar in size and contents.

几乎所有房屋都使用篱笆和涂泥方法建造——棍子、树枝和藤条在垂直墙杆之间编织，然后覆盖上泥浆，由烈日晒干。

Almost all houses were built using the wattle-and-daub method—sticks, branches, and cane were woven in-and-out between vertical wall poles, then covered with a mud plaster, which was dried by the hot sun.

房屋很少超过四乘六米，带有茅草屋顶和夯实的粘土地板，地板上撒有细沙。

Houses, which were seldom larger than four by six meters, featured thatched roofs and tamped clay floors on which fine sand was scattered.

大多数最早的农业社区是小型村庄——由十到十二栋房屋组成，居住大约五十到六十人——但一些社区规模更大。

Most of the earliest farming communities were tiny hamlets—villages of ten to twelve houses that were home to about fifty to sixty people—but some communities were larger.

大多数被挖掘的房屋发现了相同的遗物，主要包括磨石、储藏坑、大型陶瓷储藏罐的碎片、棉尾兔的骨头、碳化的玉米碎片和陶瓷炭炉的破片。

Most houses that have been excavated have yielded the same remains, mainly grinding stones, storage pits, pieces of large ceramic storage jars, bones of cottontail rabbits, carbonized maize fragments, and broken pieces of ceramic charcoal braziers.

此外，烤炉、垃圾堆和坟墓非常常见。

In addition, ovens, middens, and graves are very common.

虽然植物和动物食物的比例有所不同，但所有村庄可能都种植了玉米、豆类、南瓜、辣椒和其他一些作物，并狩猎鹿和兔子。

While the proportion of plant and animal foods varied somewhat, all villages probably grew maize, beans, squash, peppers, and some other crops, and hunted deer and rabbits.

每个村庄或每个大家庭可能都有一个专门从事石器压力剥片（制作工具）、皮革加工或类似工艺的专家，个别村庄可能专注于盐生产、羽毛编织、贝壳加工和磨石制造等专业领域。

Each village, or each extended family, may have had a specialist who did pressure flaking of stone (to make tools), leather-working, or a similar craft, and individual villages may have concentrated on specialties like salt production, feather-weaving, shell-working, and grinding stone manufacture.

正如美索不达米亚、中国和其他地方一样，中美洲复杂社会起源的背景是大量相对简单的农业村庄，这些村庄掌握了生产可靠、可扩展的食物供应的机制。

As in Mesopotamia, China, and elsewhere, the background to the origins of complex society in Mesoamerica was a great scatter of relatively simple agricultural villages in which the mechanics of producing a reliable, expandable food supply had been mastered.

中美洲简单村庄农业传统的早期激进突破发生在墨西哥南 gulf 沿海的酷热低地。

An early radical break with the simple village farming tradition of Mesoamerica occurred in the sweltering lowlands of the South Gulf Coast of Mexico.

在这里，大约从公元前1000年开始，人们建造了巨大的粘土金字塔和平台，居住在数百甚至数千人的小镇群体中，集中耕种各种生态区，并生产了世界上最有价值的石雕之一。

Here, beginning at about 1000 8.C, people built massive clay pyramids and platforms, lived in small town groups of hundreds or even thousands, intensively farmed a variety of ecological zones, and produced what is one of the world's most valued examples of stone sculpture.

这些人被我们称为奥尔梅克，这个名字源自美洲古代对橡胶的词语——无疑是指该地区生长的橡胶树——但他们自己可能并未使用这个名字。

These people are known to us as the Olmec, a name derived from an ancient American word for rubber—doubtless a reference to the rubber trees that grow in this area—but a name they themselves probably did not use.

一些学者认为奥尔梅克文化可能是中美洲所有后期复杂社会的母文化，奥尔梅克通过军事、政治、宗教或经济手段直接负责将其邻居转变为复杂社会。

Some scholars have considered the possibility that the Olmec culture was the mother culture of all later complex societies in Mesoamerica and that the Olmec were directly responsible for transforming their neighbors by military, political, religious, or economic means into complex societies.

然而，其他学者令人信服地认为，奥尔梅克只是中美洲社会复杂性演变的几个基本独立的案例之一。

Other scholars, however, have argued convincingly that the Olmec represent only one of several largely independent cases of the evolution of social complexity in Mesoamerica.

According to paragraph 1, which of the following developments occurred in Mexico between 9,000 and 4,000 years ago?

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

Paragraph 2 supports the idea that the development of social differences would have had which of the following effects?

Paragraph 3 supports which of the following statements about the earliest houses?

According to paragraph 4, the contents of the excavated houses are mainly related to

In paragraph 5, why does the author mention the conditions in which complex society developed in Mesopotamia, China, and elsewhere?

The word "expandable" in the passage is closest in meaning to

Which of the following does the author imply in paragraph 6 is the most important scholarly controversy about Olmec society?

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. This is so because no evidence of domestication such as enlargement of grain size or thinning of seed coats has survived in these regions.  Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square  to add the sentence to the passage.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

The Development of Complex Societies in Ancient Mexico Between 9,000 and 4,000 years ago, most of Mexico was inhabited mainly by hunter-foragers who lived in small bands that moved with the seasons to exploit cactus fruits, deer herds, nuts, and the hundreds of other plant and animal species in their range, depending on the season. Since these bands were small in size and never stayed in one place for a sufficient period of time to have much long-term effect on the plant and animal populations on which they subsisted, the hunter-foragers' overall impact on their environment was low.  A few groups along the margins of the lake in the Valley of Mexico may have been sedentary villagers, as were some groups along the coasts, and their role in the domestication of plants and animals and the eventual spread of agriculture is unclear. Some researchers suggest, however, that by about 4,000 years ago, maize cob size had become large enough that people over large areas of the Mexican highlands could subsist mainly on maize. The recent re-dating of some of the supposedly earliest domesticated maize in Mesoamerica (Ancient Mexico) to about 3500 B.C. raises the possibility that initial agriculture evolved out of intensified foraging by groups of people who were relatively sedentary, perhaps living all or most of the year in one or a few places, and that they were perhaps even in the process of developing social differences (social hierarchy) that increased the intensity of their foraging. However maize was domesticated, and by whom, maize appears to have reached sufficient productivity to permit the village-farming way of life soon after about 2000 B.C, and agricultural communities appeared at about this time in many different areas. From the hot, wet coastal lowlands to the arid Tehuacan Valley, the earliest villages were quite similar in size and contents. Almost all houses were built using the wattle-and-daub method-sticks, branches, and cane were woven in-and-out between vertical wall poles, then covered with a mud plaster, which was dried by the hot sun. Houses, which were seldom larger than four by six meters, featured thatched roofs and tamped clay floors on which fine sand was scattered. Most of the earliest farming communities were tiny hamlets-villages of ten to twelve houses that were home to about fifty to sixty people-but some communities were larger. Most houses that have been excavated have yielded the same remains, mainly grinding stones, storage pits, pieces of large ceramic storage jars, bones of cottontail rabbits, carbonized maize fragments, and broken pieces of ceramic charcoal braziers. In addition, ovens, middens, and graves are very common. While the proportion of plant and animal foods varied somewhat, all villages probably grew maize, beans, squash, peppers, and some other crops, and hunted deer and rabbits. Each village, or each extended family, may have had a specialist who did pressure flaking of stone (to make tools), leather-working, or a similar craft, and individual villages may have concentrated on specialties like salt production, feather-weaving, shell-working, and grinding stone manufacture. As in Mesopotamia, China, and elsewhere, the background to the origins of complex society in Mesoamerica was a great scatter of relatively simple agricultural villages in which the mechanics of producing a reliable, expandable food supply had been mastered. An early radical break with the simple village farming tradition of Mesoamerica occurred in the sweltering lowlands of the South Gulf Coast of Mexico. Here, beginning at about 1000 8.C, people built massive clay pyramids and platforms, lived in small town groups of hundreds or even thousands, intensively farmed a variety of ecological zones, and produced what is one of the world's most valued examples of stone sculpture. These people are known to us as the Olmec, a name derived from an ancient American word for rubber-doubtless a reference to the rubber trees that grow in this area-but a name they themselves probably did not use. Some scholars have considered the possibility that the Olmec culture was the mother culture of all later complex societies in Mesoamerica and that the Olmec were directly responsible for transforming their neighbors by military, political, religious, or economic means into complex societies. Other scholars, however, have argued convincingly that the Olmec represent only one of several largely independent cases of the evolution of social complexity in Mesoamerica.