托福阅读真题Official 52 Passage 2（一）

托福阅读真题Official 52 Passage 2（一）

Natufian Culture

In the archaeological record of the Natufian period,from about 12,500 to 10,200 years ago,in the part of the Middle East known as the Levant―roughly east of the Mediterranean and north of the Arabian Peninsula―we see clear evidence of agricultural origins.The stone tools of the Natufians included many sickle-shaped cutting blades that show a pattern of wear characteristic of cereal harvesting.Also,querns(hand mills)and other stone tools used for processing grain occur in abundance at Natufian sites,and many such tools show signs of long,intensive use.Along with the sickle blades are many grinding stones,primarily mortars and pestles of limestone or basalt.There is also evidence that these heavy grinding stones were transported over long distances,more than 30 kilometers in some cases,and this is not something known to have been done by people of preceding periods.Fishhooks and weights for sinking fishing nets attest to the growing importance of fish in the diet in some areas.Stone vessels indicate an increased need for containers,but there is no evidence of Natufian clay working or pottery.Studies of the teeth of Natufians also strongly suggest that these people specialized in collecting cereals and may have been cultivating them and in the process of domesticating them,but they were also still hunter-foragers who intensively hunted gazelle and deer in more lush areas and wild goats and equids in more arid zones.

The Natufians had a different settlement pattern from that of their predecessors.Some of their base camps were far larger(over 1,000 square meters)than any of those belonging to earlier periods,and they may have lived in some of these camps for half the year or even more.In some of the camps,people made foundations and other architectural elements out of limestone blocks.Trade in shell,obsidian,and other commodities seems to have been on the rise,and anthropologists suspect that the exchange of perishables(such as skins,foodstuffs)and salt was also on the increase.With the growing importance of wild cereals in the diet,salt probably became for the first time a near necessity:people who eat a lot of meat get many essential salts from this diet,but diets based on cereals can be deficient in salts.Salt was probably also important as a food preservative in early villages.

As always,there is more to a major cultural change than simply a shift in economics.The Natufians made(and presumably wore)beads and pendants in many materials,including gemstones and marine shells that had to be imported,and it is possible that this ornamentation actually reflects a growing sense of ethnic identity and perhaps some differences in personal and group status.Cleverly carved figurines of animals,women,and other subjects occur in many sites,and Natufian period cave paintings have been found in Anatolia,Syria,and Iran.More than 400 Natufian burials have been found,most of them simple graves set in house floors.As archaeologist Belfer-Cohen notes,these burials may reflect an ancestor cult and a growing sense of community emotional ties and attachment to a particular place,and toward the end of the Natufian period,people in this area were making a strict separation between living quarters and burial grounds.In contrast with the Pleistocene cultures of the Levant,Natufian culture appears to have experienced considerable social change.

The question of why the Natufians differed from their predecessors in these and other ways and why they made these first steps toward farming as a way of life remains unclear.There were climate changes,of course,and growing aridity and rising population densities may have forced them to intensify the exploitation of cereals,which in turn might have stimulated the development of sickles and other tools and the permanent communities that make agriculture efficient.But precisely how these factors interacted with others at play is poorly understood.

Question 1 of 14

All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 1 as evidence that the Natufians may have engaged in the growing and processing of cereals and grains EXCEPT

A.tools with a specific pattern of wear

B.the widespread presence of grinding stones

C.the presence of clay containers

D.results from the analysis of Natufian teeth

正确答案：C

题目详解题型分类：否定事实信息题

原文定位：整个段落都在讨论Natufians，可直接通过选项定位。

选项分析：

C选项与倒数第二句but there is no evidence of Natufian clay working矛盾。

A选项出自于第二句The stone tools of the Natufians included many sickle-shaped cutting blades that show a pattern of wear characteristic of cereal harvesting。

B选项出自于第四句Along with the sickle blades are many grinding stones,primarily mortars and pestles of limestone or basalt。

D选项出自于最后一句Studies of the teeth of Natufians also strongly suggest that these people specialized in collecting cereals and may have been cultivating them and in the process of domesticating them...。

Question 2 of 14

Why does the author say that“many such...intensive use”in connection with Natufian agriculture?

A.To argue that the Natufian people consumed grains long before they included fish in their diet

B.To suggest that Natufian people could not replace their tools frequently because they had to travel very long distances to find grinding stones

C.To illustrate the sophistication of the Natufians in the design of stone tools

D.To support the claim that the archaeological record of the Natufian period shows clear evidence of agricultural origins

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：修辞目的题

题干分析：本题考查句子之间的关系，需结合段落结构来理解。

选项分析：

这一句描述的是与tools相关的具体信息，用来支持前文提到的观点。结合第一段结构，第1句作者首先提出了we see clear evidence of agricultural origins的观点，而后文中所提到的镰刀状刀片磨损的痕迹、手推石磨、研磨石等，都是证明Natufian人种植和加工谷物的证据。结合选项描述，可知，选项D符合原文内容。

A选项fish在第3句出现过，但与题干无关。

B选项travel very long distances在第5句出现过，但是because这层因果关系原文未提及，无中生有。

C选项sophistication无中生有。

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