新托福经典加试阅读——《苏美尔文明》超级完整版
 
Sumerian Civilization
Paragraph One

Q1	选C
原文	It is an astonishing fact that human civilization should haveemerged into the light of history in two separate places at justabout the same time.
题干	1. The word astonishing in the passage is closest in meaningto (A) important (B) unknown (C) amazing (D) interesting
解析	这道题目属于“熟词熟义”题。

 

Q2	选C
原文	Between 3500 and 3000 B.C. when Egypt was being united underpharaohic rule, another great civilization arose in Mesopotamia,the “land between the rivers”.
题干	2. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essentialinformation in the highlighted sentence in the passage?Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways orleave out essential information. (A) A great civilization arose in Mesopotamia, the “land betweenthe rivers” under pharaonic rule. (B) Egypt and another great civilization both developed inMesopotamia between 3500 and 3000 B.C. (C) A great civilization arose in Mesopotamia between 3500 and 3000B.C. at the same time that ancient Egypt was being united. (D) As Egypt was being united under pharaonic rule, a greatcivilization arose there.
解析	按照无词阅读法“一一对应”的原则，原文中有一个关键信息“between 3500 and 3000B.C.”，只有B和C有，从而立刻排除A和D。而原文中强调的是两个文明的“同时性”（when …），对应题干的at the sametime。所以无需翻译即可完成。

 
Paragraph Two

Q3	选A
原文	As a consequence, the politicalhistory of ancient Mesopotamia has no underlyingtheme of the sort that divine kingship provides for Egypt. Localrivalries, foreign incursions, the sudden upsurge and equallysudden collapse of military power – these are its substance.
题干	3. The phrase its substance refers to (A) the political history of ancient Mesopotamia (B) divine kingship (C) Egypt (D) the sudden collapse of military power
解析	关系词As a consequence是解题的关键，因为这里要给出结论了。后面的主语the political historyof ancientMesopotamia是这个结论的“主题”，因此后面的解释内容肯定是围绕这个主题展开的，于是这个主题就成了答案。 注释：无词阅读法的三个要素就是“主题+方向+关系词”。“主题”就是一句话的point，方向是正负向，关系词是维持或改变方向的标志。只要抓住这三个要素，托福阅读就可以在不大量背单词的情况下取得高分。 表示结果的关系词：so, therefore, thus, hence, as a result, as aconsequence, accordingly, consequently 表示原因的关系词：because, as, since, for, in that, due to

 
Paragraph Three

Q4	选A
原文	The origin of the Sumerians remains obscure. Their language isunrelated to any other known tongue.
题干	4. The word obscure in the passage is closest in meaningto (A) unclear (B) unique (C) controversial (D) important
解析	这道题目对于部分同学而言属于“生词生义”题，所以可以利用方向判断，首先是负向，因为后面说unrelated to anyother known tongue。A最符合负向的含义。

 

Q5	选A
原文	Unfortunately, the tangible remains of Sumerian Civilization areextremely scanty compared to those of ancient Egypt. Building stonebeing unavailable in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians used mud brick andwood, so that almost nothing is left of their architecture exceptthe foundations. Nor did they share the Egyptians’ concern with thehereafter, although some richly endowed tombs in the shape ofvaulted chambers below grounded from the early dynastic period havebeen found in the city of Ur.
题干	5. The author mentions “Nor did they share the Egyptians’concern with the hereafter” in order to (A) To provide one explanation for the relatively few physicalremains of ancient Sumerian society. (B) To explain why ancient Sumerian built with mud brick and woodrather than with stone. (C) To help account for the fact that tombs and vaulted chambershave been found only at Ur. (D) To counter the claim that all ancient societies paid greatattention to the afterlife.
解析	第一句话主题是the tangible remains of SumerianCivilization，方向是scanty（很多同学不认识）。但是从第二句话的unavailable可以看出是负向，说明thetangible remains是不可获得的。而且注意第二句话的关系词so是维持方向的，其后的nothing isleft继续首句的意思。所以，并列关系词nor肯定也是在解释首句的意思。因此答案选A。依据无词阅读法“一一对应”的解题原则，A中的fewphysical remains对应the tangible remains arescanty。另外，C和D选项中分别存在绝对词only和all，可以排除。 表示并列的关系词：and, or, as well as, too, also, not…nor…, neither…nor…,one…another…, first…second…finally

 

Q6	选D
原文	这道题目属于纯粹的推断题，因为City of Ur位于美索不达米亚，而美索不达米亚恰恰在两河流域，所以选D。（原文省略）
题干	6. According to the passage, it can be inferred that the City ofUr is located in (A) Egypt (B) Persia (C) northern Mesopotamia (D) near the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates

 

Q7	选B
原文	Our knowledge of Sumerian Civilization thus depends very largelyon chance fragments brought to light by excavation, including vastnumbers of inscribed clay tablets.
题干	7. The word vast in the passage is closest in meaning to (A) random (B) very large (C) surprising (D) relatively small
解析	这道题目属于“熟词熟义”，不需要多想。

 

Q8	选C
原文	(A)Local rivalries, foreign incursions, the sudden upsurge andequally sudden collapse of military power – these are itssubstance. (Paragraph Two) (B)Thus the facts of geography tended to discourage the idea ofuniting the entire Mesopotamian area under a single head. Rulerswho had this ambition did not appear, so far as we know, untilabout a thousand years after the beginnings of Mesopotamiancivilization, and they succeeded in carrying it out only for briefperiods and at the cost of almost continuous warfare. (ParagraphTwo) (C)  没有 (D)  Building stone being unavailable inMesopotamia, the Sumerians used mud brick and wood, so that almostnothing is left of their architecture except the foundations.(Paragraph Three)
题干	8. According to paragraph 2 and 3, the physical characteristicsof Mesopotamia affected Sumerian civilization in all of thefollowing ways EXCEPT (A) Foreign invasions were made easy. (B) Creating and maintaining political stability was madedifficult. (C) Continuity of cultural and artistic traditions could not beachieved. (D) Sumerian architecture could not produce long-lastingstructures.
解析	这种排除题按照无词阅读法“一一对应”的原则，只要找到某个选项的部分对应点即可排除，无需多想。例如，A中的foreigninvasions对应原文的foreignincursions，可能有同学不认识两个名词invasions和incursions，但是foreign是对应的，甚至于invasions和incursions的前缀后缀都是对应的，因此就可以大胆排除而不需要考虑意思。

 

Q9	这道题目拿不准，因为我在考试时来不及记住原文中的四个插入点在哪。据说应该是插在第四个方块。估计应该在这两句话中间。请大家给我反馈。
原文	Our knowledge of Sumerian Civilization thus depends very largelyon chance fragments brought to light by excavation, including vastnumbers of inscribed clay tablets. Yet we have learned enough toform a general picture of this vigorous, inventive and disciplinedpeople.
题干	9. Look at the four [■] that indicate where thefollowing sentence could be added to the passage. Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to thepassage.   Despite these achievements, scholars know much less about Sumerianlife than they would like. Where would the sentence best fit?
解析	这道题目的解题关键在于转折关系词despite造成这句话前正后负。此外，把握独特名词achievements（正向）在原文中的对应点也很重要，我个人认为应该对应原文中的vastnumbers of inscribed clay tablets（正向）。despite后半句的know muchless（负向）能够和原文yet we have learned enough to form a generalpicture对应起来，而且方向能够通过转折关系词yet来改变。 表示虽然的转折关系词：although, though, while, despite, in spite of, eventhough, even if 表示但是的转折关系词：but, however, yet, on the other hand, nonetheless,nevertheless

 
Paragraph Four

Q10	选D
原文	Nor was the idea of divine ownership treated as a mere piousfiction. The god was quite literally believed to own not only theterritory of the city-state but also the labor power of thepopulation and its products. All these were subject to hiscommands, transmitted to people by his human steward. The resultwas an economic system.
题干	10. According to paragraph 4, what evidence is used to supportthe claim that the idea of divine ownership was not “a mere piousfiction”? (A) The idea of divine ownership originated with the kings ofSumerian city-state. (B) The idea of divine ownership was the reason why a large part ofthe harvest was offered to the god. (C) The idea of divine ownership eventually came to replace“theocratic socialism”. (D) The idea of divine ownership served as the basis for theeconomic organization of Sumerian society.
解析	这道题目按照无词阅读法“一一对应”的原则，首先可以排除B和C（缺少对应点）。而A的city-state虽然有对应点，但是该对应点是两个递进关系notonly…but also…中的一个，属于一个细节。只有D的economic organization对应原文的economicsystem，而且原文这句话The result was an economic system是个明显的概括。 表示递进的关系词：moreover, furthermore, what is more, in addition,additionally, besides, not only…but also…

 

Q11	选A
原文	原文没有记住。
题干	11. The word considerable in the passage is closest in meaningto (A) substantial (B) fixed (C) valuable (D) limited
解析	这道题目的属于“熟词熟义”题。

 

Q12	选D
原文	(A)Each Sumerian city-state had its own local god, who wasregarded as its king and owner. (B)The local god, in return, was expected to plead the cause ofhis subjects among his fellow deities who controlled the forces ofnature such as wind and weather, water, fertility, and the heavenlybodies. (C)  It also had a human ruler, thesteward of the divine sovereign, who led the people in serving thedeity. (D)  没有
题干	12. In the above passage, all of the following were true of thelocal god EXCEPT (A) The local god owned everything and everyone in thecity-state. (B) The local god represented the subjects of the city-state toother gods. (C) The local god communicated with the people of the city-statethrough a human ruler. (D) The local god sometimes fought against the local gods of rivalcity-states.
解析	解题方法与第八题相似，只要找到选项的部分对应即可排除，无需翻译，不要多想。

 
 
 
《苏美尔文明》文章主旨（精确版）
 
第一段：人类文明在同一时期出现在两个分离的地方：埃及和美索不达米亚（Mesopotamia）。这两个相互竞争的（rival）文明中心各自保持着其不同的特点，并且其命运(destinies)在很多方面交织(interwoven)在一起。但是底格里斯(Tigris)和幼发拉底(Euphrates)河谷不像尼罗河(Nile)那样受位于其侧面的沙漠的保护，因此没有天险可守，容易受到入侵（encroach）。
 
第二段：因此，在美索不达米亚地区想要建立统一的政权是很难的。即使有这样的政权，也是存在很短并且是以持续的战争为代价。所以该地区没有像埃及那样神圣的君主体制(divinekingship)，反而充满了动荡。而在此背景下存在的苏美尔人的文化和艺术遗产就更加非凡。
 
第三段：苏美尔人的起源是不清楚的(obscure)。他们的语言独立于其他文明，并且发展了独特的“楔形文字”(wedge-shapedcharacter)。只可惜这些文字刻在泥板上，所以很难像埃及文字那样流传下来。由于缺少石头，只能用泥砖和木头造房子，因此留下来的建筑几乎没有，使得我们对苏美尔文明的了解只能靠考古发掘(excavation)。
 
第四段：每一个苏美尔的城邦国家都有自己当地的一个神(localgod)，而他们的国王被认为是神的仆人（steward），带领人们一起服务于神(deity)。