the Great Pyramid托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

the Great Pyramid托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、the Great Pyramid托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt might be the most famous building in the world.We know exactly when it was built.Construction started in 2547 B.C.E.—about 4500 years ago.We know who had it built.That was the pharaoh Khufu.We know who oversaw its construction:the Pharaoh's brother.We know so many things about it,but the funny thing is:we still don't know exactly how it was built.This picture will give you an idea of the size of the pyramid...and the size of the blocks it's made out of.About two million stone blocks were used to build the Great Pyramid and they are incredibly massive.The average weight is two and a half tons.

The problem that has puzzled scholars for centuries is how were these blocks lifted up the height of this massive structure and then fit into place and without the benefit of modern technology?Of course,there've been a lot of theories over the centuries.

The oldest recorded one is by the Greek historian Herodotus.He visited Egypt around 450 B.C.E.,when the Pyramid was already 2000 years old.His theory was that cranes were used,much like we use cranes today to construct tall buildings.And Herodotus may have seen Egyptians using cranes made of wood.

But the problem with this theory has to do with simple mechanics.A crane needs a wide and sturdy base to stand on or it will fall over.Well,as you get toward the top of the Pyramid,there's really no place for a crane to stand.The stone blocks are too narrow to provide a base.Well,so much for that theory.

The next one has to do with the use of a ramp that would allow workers to drag a stone block up the side of the structure.Of course the ramp can't be too steep.It has to have a long gentle slope.And that's the problem.If you build a ramp with a slight slope up to the top of a Pyramid that's over 130 meters high,it would have to be almost two kilometers long.Well,the Pyramid is built on a flat area called the Giza Plateau.The Plateau is simply not big enough to accommodate a two-kilometer-long ramp.OK.So what now?Well,if you've ever driven on a mountain road,you'd know that it has a lot of twists and turns and bends in it,because that's how engineers keep the road from having to be too steep.So why not wrap the ramp around the Pyramid?Building the ramp around it as you go?Sounds like a pretty good idea.Except it's got a serious problem.See,one of the most remarkable things about the Great Pyramid is how accurate the proportions are.

The dimensions are almost perfect.To get that perfection,the engineers must have had to measure it repeatedly during construction.And the way you'd measure it is from the four corners of the base.Well,if you got a ramp spiraling up from the base of the Pyramid,those corners would be buried by that ramp during construction.Well,who says the ramp has to be on the outside of the Pyramid?And now we get to the latest idea.If the ramp were on the inside of the Pyramid,the corners at the base would be exposed,so the engineers could do their measurements while they were building.

Well,an architect named Houdin has spent a few years working on making computer models of the building of the Pyramid.And what Houdin believes is that an exterior straight ramp was used to construct the bottom third of the Pyramid,this ramp would have been fairly short.It probably rose less than 50 meters.Then the rest of the Pyramid was constructed using an internal ramp that spiraled around the inside of the Pyramid.

But how can we test this idea?Well,there are several ways to look inside the Pyramid.One is called microgravimetry.Microgravimetry is a technique that's used to detect voids inside a structure.You can then take the data and generate an image that shows any empty spaces in the interior.

Well,in 1986,French scientists completed a microgravimetric survey of the Pyramid.And one of the images they produced showed an empty spiral-shaped space inside it.The shape of that space corresponds exactly to what Houdin thought the ramp would look like.I think Herodotus would be convinced.We might very well be at the end of centuries of guessing.

二、the Great Pyramid托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听考古学课上的一节课。女教授：埃及的吉萨大金字塔可能是世界上最著名的建筑。我们确切地知道它是什么时候建成的。建筑始于公元前2547年-大约4500年前。我们知道是谁造的。那是法老胡夫。我们知道谁监督了它的建造：法老的兄弟。我们知道很多关于它的事情，但有趣的是：我们仍然不知道它是如何建造的。这张图片会让你了解金字塔的大小…以及它所组成的块的大小。大约有200万块石头被用来建造大金字塔，它们的体积惊人。平均重量为2.5吨。

几个世纪以来一直困扰学者的问题是，在没有现代技术的帮助下，这些砖块是如何被提升到这座巨大建筑的高度，然后安装到位的？当然，几个世纪以来有很多理论。

最古老的记录是由希腊历史学家希罗多德写的。他在公元前450年左右访问了埃及，当时金字塔已经有2000年的历史。他的理论是使用起重机，就像我们今天使用起重机建造高层建筑一样。希罗多德可能见过埃及人使用木头制成的起重机。

但这个理论的问题与简单力学有关。起重机需要一个宽而坚固的底座才能站立，否则它会倒下。好吧，当你到达金字塔的顶端时，真的没有地方让起重机站立。这些石块太窄，无法提供基础。这个理论到此为止。

下一个问题是使用一个斜坡，工人可以将一块石头从结构的一侧拖上来。当然，斜坡不能太陡。它必须有一个长长的缓坡。这就是问题所在。如果你建一个坡度很小的斜坡，一直延伸到一个超过130米高的金字塔顶部，它将需要将近两公里长。金字塔建在一个叫做吉萨高原的平坦区域上。高原根本不足以容纳两公里长的坡道。好吧，那现在怎么办？如果你曾经在山路上开车，你会知道山路有很多弯弯曲曲的地方，因为这就是工程师们防止道路过于陡峭的方法。那为什么不把斜坡绕在金字塔上呢？在你走的时候在它周围建斜坡？听起来是个不错的主意。但它有一个严重的问题。看，关于大金字塔最值得注意的一点是它的比例有多精确。

尺寸几乎完美。为了达到完美，工程师必须在施工过程中反复测量。你测量它的方法是从底座的四个角开始。好吧，如果你有一个从金字塔底部螺旋上升的斜坡，在施工过程中，这些角落将被斜坡掩埋。谁说坡道必须在金字塔的外面？现在我们来看看最新的想法。如果斜坡位于金字塔内部，底部的角落就会暴露出来，这样工程师就可以在建筑时进行测量。

一位名叫Houdin的建筑师花了几年时间制作金字塔建筑的计算机模型。胡丁认为，金字塔底部的三分之一是用一个外部直坡道建造的，这个坡道应该相当短。它可能上升了不到50米。然后，金字塔的其余部分使用围绕金字塔内部螺旋形的内部坡道构建。

但我们如何检验这个想法呢？嗯，有几种方法可以观察金字塔内部。其中一种叫做显微波形学。显微波谱仪是一种用于检测结构内部空隙的技术。然后，您可以获取数据并生成一个显示内部任何空白空间的图像。

1986年，法国科学家完成了对金字塔的微重力测量。他们制作的其中一张照片显示了里面有一个空的螺旋形空间。该空间的形状与胡丁认为的斜坡形状完全一致。我想希罗多德会被说服的。我们很可能已经在几个世纪的猜测中走到了尽头。

三、the Great Pyramid托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.Building techniques that were common in the ancient world.

B.Evidence of several early attempts to build a pyramid.

C.Possible answers to an ancient mystery.

D.The history of the pyramids of Egypt.

Q2:2.According to the professor,what is the main argument against the theory that the stone blocks of the Great Pyramid were lifted into place with cranes?

A.Wood Cranes would have been too weak to lift the blocks.

B.There is no evidence of ancient Egyptians ever using cranes.

C.The use of cranes would have resulted in imprecise dimensions.

D.There would not have been enough room for a platform for the cranes.

Q3:3.Why does the professor mention a mountain road?

A.To illustrate an alternative to a steep ramp

B.To emphasize the effort needed to more large stone blocks

C.To imply that progress on the Great Pyramid was slow

D.To describe the shape of the road leading to the Giza Plateau

Q4:4.Why does the professor talk about the accuracy of the proportions of the Great Pyramid?

A.To provide background on the principles of microgravimetry

B.To discount the possibility that a ramp once spiralled around outside of the pyramid

C.To explain the effectiveness of computer models of the pyramid

D.To emphasize the difficulty of building a ramp with the correct slope

Q5:6.What is the professor’s view of Houdin’s theory?

A.She would like to see more detailed microgravimetric surveys before she will be convinced it is true.

B.She is surprised at how similar it is to Herodotus’theory.

C.She finds the microgravimetric evidence for it to be very strong.

D.She thinks it is plausible but leaves some important questions unanswered.

四、the Great Pyramid托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：C

A2:正确答案：D

A3:正确答案：A

A4:正确答案：B

A5:正确答案：C

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