自学新概念英语第三册笔记 Lessons 38

学以致用

　　Notes on the text课文注释

　　1  what is more，作“而且”、“再者”解，是插入语。

　　2  CD-ROM，是 compact disc read-only memory的缩写。

　　3  as it were，“可以说”，是插入语。

　　4  be faced with，作“面临”、“面对”解。

　　5  shed light on…，使清楚地显出来，解释。

　　6  come into being，产生，形成。

　　7  Ice Age，冰川时期。

　　参考译文

　　未来的历史学家在写我们这一段历史的时候会别具一格。对于逐渐积累起来的庞大材料，他们几乎不知道选取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依赖文字材料。电影、录像、光盘和光盘驱动器只是能为他们提供令人眼花缭乱的大量信息的几种手段。他们能够身临其境般地观看我们做事，倾听我们讲话。但是，历史学家企图重现遥远的过去可是一项艰巨的任务，他们必须根据现有的不充分的线索进行推理。即使看起来微不足道的遗物，也可能揭示人类早期历史中的一些有趣的内容。

　　历史学家迄今认为日历是随农业的问世而出现的，因为当时人们面临着了解四季的实际需要。但近期科学研究发现，好像这种假设是不正确的。

　　长期以来，历史学家一直对雕刻在墙壁上、骨头上、古代长毛象的象牙上的点、线和形形色色的符号感到困惑不解。这些痕迹是游牧人留下的，他们生活在从公元前约 35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩猎、捕鱼为生。历史学家通过把世界各地留下的这种痕迹放在一起研究，终于弄懂了这种费解的代码。他们发现代码与昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关，事实上是一种最原始的日历。大家早就知道，画在墙上的狩猎图景并不是单纯的艺术表现形式，它们有着一定的含义，因为它们已接近古代人的文字形式。有时，这种图画与墙壁上的刻痕共存，它们之间可能有一定的联系。看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了，比人们想像的要早20，000年。

　　Multiple choice questions多项选择题

　　Choose the correct answers to the following questions.

　　Comprehension理解

　　1  In assuming that calendars came into being with the advent of agriculture, historians made the mistake of

　　a．relying solely on the written word

　　b．disregarding the markings that early man had been responsible for

　　c．supposing that nomadic man had no reason to understand the seasons

　　d．not connecting the passage of days with the phases of the moon

　　2  The scientific evidence that has recently come to light is that ______ .

　　a．nomads engraved the bones and tusks of the animals they killed

　　b．nomads lived by hunting and fishing

　　c．nomads travelled widely in various parts of the world

　　d．the markings made by various nomadic groups all have a definite pattern

　　3  The paintings which have been found on the walls of nomadic dwelling places ______ .

　　a．have taught historians something about the nomadic way of life

　　b．have no other content than their artistic merit

　　c．are not thought to be connected with an ancient calendar system

　　d．are invariably accompanied by odd dots, lines and symbols

　　Structure结构

　　4  It ______ as if they could see and hear us in action. (11. 6-7)

　　a．was

　　b．were

　　c．should be

　　d．will be

　　5  Even ______ seem insignificant remains can shed interesting…(11. 8-9)

　　a．they

　　b．which

　　c．what

　　d．those to

　　6  Historians are now able to read this difficult code ______ markings made in… (11. 15-16)

　　a．with correlating

　　b．having correlated

　　c．which correlates

　　d．for they correlate

　　7  ______ be a definite relation between these paintings and the…(11. 19-21)

　　a．It could

　　b．There can

　　c．There may

　　d．It might

　　Vocabulary词汇

　　8  Historians have long tried to ______ dots, lines and… (1. 13)

　　a．puzzle

　　b．puzzle out

　　c．riddle

　　d．detect

　　9  By correlating markings made in ______ parts of the world…(11. 15-16)

　　a．different

　　b．several

　　c．many

　　d．other

　　10  ---- historians have been able to read ______ . (1. 16)

　　a．these puzzling signs

　　b．this hard law

　　c．these difficult signals

　　d．this uneasy letter

　　11  Until recently historians assumed that calendars ______ with the advent of agriculture. (1. 10)

　　a．came to existence

　　b．came to existing

　　c．came to exist

　　d．were existential

　　12  The people who lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age ______ . (11. 14-15)

　　a．wandered from place to place

　　b．lived in villages

　　c．first learnt to write

　　d．learnt how to farm the land