『新东方在线托福阅读』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 46 Passage 1阅读练习：The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning to真题题目及答案解析，TPO/Official 46 Passage 1阅读原文范文音频翻译

托福TPO/Official 46 Passage 1阅读原文The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning to题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

文明就是在埃及和美索不达米亚（今天的伊拉克）兴起的，在那里我们找到了文明的关键特征——书写的最早例子。

It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing.

这些例子刻在公元前三千年之前的粘土片上，在苏美尔人的考古遗址中被发现。苏美尔人定居在美索不达米亚平原南部，是一个有天赋的族群。

These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia.

埃及人在书写方面没落后太多，但我们没法追溯到他们详细的书写历史，因为他们用的是易腐烂的书写材料。

The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material.

古时候，尼罗河两岸种满了纸莎草，埃及人用纸草芦苇造纸；它质量很好，但像任何纸一样，易碎。

In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile.

美索不达米亚的河流没有这么有用的芦苇，但它的土地提供了很好的粘土。因此，粘土片成为了标准的材料。

Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material.

它虽然笨重，但却有考古学家珍视的优点：耐用。

Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable.

比如，火对纸莎草制成的纸或其他如皮革或木材的书写材料来说是致命的。但火只会使粘土片烘烤变硬，从而使它更加耐用。

Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable.

所以当征服者放火烧毁美索不达米亚的宫殿时，反而确保了里面粘土片的保留。

So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it.

此外，粘土很便宜，而且很容易制成粘土片。这些因素使得粘土片不仅在美索不达米亚，而且在叙利亚、小亚细亚、波斯、甚至克里特岛和希腊都成为首选的书写材料。

Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece.

开凿者在所有这些地区都出土了粘土片。

Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands.

在近东地区，他们被使用了2500年以上。在某些地区，它们一直延续到公元开始，直到彻底让位于更方便的替代品。

In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient  alternatives.

苏美尔人完善了一种适合粘土的写作风格。

The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay.

这种笔迹由简单的形状组成，基本就是楔形的形状和线条，可以很容易地用芦苇或木笔在软粘土上刻划；学者们把它命名为楔形文字，因为楔形的标记（拉丁文中写作cunei）是它的标志。

This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus; scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark.

虽然这些要素只是些楔形和线条，但这些基本的形式有上百种组合，代表不同的声音或词语。

Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words.

学习这些复杂的符号需要长时间的训练和大量的练习；不可避免的是，读写能力在很大程度上局限于一小部分专业人士，即抄写员。

Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited to a small professional class, the scribes.

阿卡德人在公元前3000年左右征服了苏美尔人，他们接管了苏美尔文字中的楔形文字标示，并赋予了它们适合自己语言的声音和词语价值。

The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language.

巴比伦人和亚述人也是这样做的，叙利亚人和小亚细亚人也同样。

The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same, and so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor.

苏美尔人的文学作品在整个近东地区都被珍视，在苏美尔语停止使用很久之后，巴比伦人和亚述人等人把它作为一种文学语言保留了下来，就像罗马帝国灭亡后欧洲人保留拉丁语一样。

The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East, and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken, the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome.

对于这些非苏美尔语言的抄写员来说，训练是双重的要求，因为他们既要知道苏美尔语的各种楔形文字符号的意义，也要知道他们自己语言的意义。

For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages, training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language.

最早的粘土片上的内容是一些简单的商品数量符号——动物、罐子、篮子等等。

The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals, jars, baskets, etc.

看起来，书写最初是一种原始的记账形式。

Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping.

它的使用范围很快扩大到记录日常生活中涉及的众多事物和行为，从简单的商品存货到复杂的政府规章制度。

Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations.

考古学家经常发现成批的粘土片。

Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches.

这些批次（其中一些包含数千片）包含了上述类型文件的大部分：账单、交付、收据、存货、贷款、婚姻合同、离婚协议、法院判决等等。

The batches, some of which contain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventories, loans, marriage contracts, divorce settlements, court judgments, and so on.

这些事实事件的记录被保存起来以供参考——它们实际上是文件，或者，用古近东专家们喜欢的术语来说，是档案。

These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference—they were, in effect, files, or, to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives.

有时，这些档案包括一些有着明显不同顺序的文章，这些文章不仅记录了一些事实，而且涉及到创造性的智力活动。

Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order, writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity.

它们的范围从简单的教科书材料到文学作品——它们很早就出现了，甚至从公元前3000年就开始了。

They range from simple textbook material to literature—and they make an appearance very early, even from the third millennium B.C.E.

The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning to

The word “virtue” in the passage is closest in meaning to

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.

What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about clay as a writing material?

In paragraph 2, why does the author discuss the Egyptian use of papyrus as a writing material?

According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of cuneiform writing EXCEPT:

According to paragraph 4, how did the Akkadians use the Sumerian language?

Paragraph 4 answers all the following questions about Sumerian writing in the period after the Sumerians were conquered EXCEPT:

The word “document” in the passage is closest in meaning to

According to paragraph 5, writing was first used for

The phrase “Now and then” in the passage is closest in meaning to

According to paragraph 6, large batches of clay writing tablets were stored because the tablets

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. However, the Sumerian language did not entirely disappear.  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 Origin of Writing It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing. These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia. The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material. In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it. Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece. Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives. The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus; scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark. Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words. Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited to a small professional class, the scribes. The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language.  The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same, and so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor.  The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East, and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken, the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome.  For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages, training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language.  The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping. Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations. Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches. The batches, some of which contain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventories, loans, marriage contracts, divorce settlements, court judgments, and so on. These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference—they were, in effect, files, or, to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives. Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order, writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity. They range from simple textbook material to literature—and they make an appearance very early, even from the third millennium B.C.E.