考满分 toefl

1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.

旁白：听一段考古学课程。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->It's every archaeologist's dream to find a lost civilization, to make some huge discovery, to find artifacts no one else has laid a hand on in millennia.

教授：每个考古学家都梦想能发现一个失落的文明，有重大发现，发现千年来都没人碰过的古器物。

2 .You might think that this never happens any more, given all the research and archaeology that's been done... but in the late twentieth century, archaeologists discovered the remains of a sophisticated people whose settlement might have been the hub of a civilization few people even thought existed.

鉴于考古学界已有的研究，你们可能觉得这不会再发生了。但在20世纪晚期，考古学家们发现了一个久经世故的人的遗骸，这个聚落可能正是一个文明的中心，而没有多少人认为这个文明的存在。

1 .They found this site at the edge of a desert in Turkmenistan in central Asia where a series of mounds rise up from the plains.

在中亚，人们在土库曼斯坦沙漠边上发现了这个地方，在这里的平原上有好几个土堆。

2 .Now, you might remember-because we've talked about this-archaeologists know that mounds such as these are the kinds of geological features that indicate the presence of ancient settlements. Jim?

你们应该记得，因为我们曾讲过这个，考古学家知道，这种类型的土堆是一种地理特征，表示这里可能出现过古代聚落。吉姆？

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Um, mounds can be different things, right? Some are burial places...

学生：土堆可以是别的东西吧？有些土堆是墓地……

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Exactly. And some are the remains of cities.

教授：正确。还有的是城市遗址。

2 .The inhabitants would build houses and temples, y'know, what have you, and over time those buildings would fall down or be torn down and then be built over.

居民会建房子和寺庙等等。随着时间推移，这些房子倒塌了，或被拆掉以建新的房子。

3 .Over time, generations of building and rebuilding in the same area would result in a large hill the size of a city.

久而久之，同一地区不断建房和再建，可能会导致一个城市大小的山丘产生。

4 .Careful excavation and documentation of layers in a mound can reveal a wealth of information about the everyday life of a people in a settlement over many periods of occupation.

对土堆不同层次的挖掘和记录可以揭示出大量关于过去在这里居住的人们日常生活的信息。

1 .Now, this particular site is called Gonur-depe.

这个特殊的地点叫哥诺德帕。

1 .What was found at Gonur-depe was amazing.

人们在哥诺德帕的发现是无比惊人的。

2 .The ruins of a huge palace complex. The foundations of shops and houses, the remains of thick walls and towers that fortified the city.

巨大的宫殿群废墟、房子和商店的地基，还有用于城市防御的厚墙和高塔残骸。

3 .There was even an elaborate canal system! And a lot of very intricate jewelry.

那儿甚至还有精细的运河系统和大量精致珠宝。

4 .All these findings seem to indicate that they are the remains of an ancient civilization that was every bit as advanced as other, more famous civilizations of the time, like those in Egypt or, or China. And the site dates back to 3000 B.C.E.!

这些发现似乎都表明，这些东西都是一个古代文明的遗迹，而这个文明和当时其他著名的文明一样先进，像埃及或中国的文明。这个地方可追溯到公元前三千年。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Did they trade with those other civilizations?

学生：他们与其他文明通商吗？

2 .Because... if they did, wouldn't there've been some evidence of that, you know, in artifacts found in the ruins of other civilizations?

因为如果他们确有通商，肯定会有些证据吧？比如在其他文明遗迹中发现的文物中？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->That's a good question.

教授：问得好。

2 .I mentioned jewelry... well, jewelry had been found in Mesopotamia and at archaeological sites in modern-day Pakistan... but archaeologists didn't know where it came from.

我提到了珠宝。人们在美索不达米亚和现代巴基斯坦内的一些考古地点都发现了珠宝。但考古学家不知道这些是从哪儿来的。

3 .Only after the site at Gonur-depe was excavated were archaeologists able to identify it as coming from Gonur-depe.

只有在人们挖掘了哥诺德帕考古点后，考苦学家才能辨认出，这些珠宝是来自哥诺德帕的。

4 .Uh, Cheryl?

谢丽尔？

1 .<-FEMALE STUDENT:->I wonder why nobody had found this site before?

学生：我不明白为什么之前没人找到这个地方。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, before the discovery of this site, it was commonly believed that Central Asia had always been occupied by mostly nomadic people, so there would be no record of major settlements.

教授：在发现这个地方之前，人们都认为中亚在大多数时候都被游牧民族所占，所以没有主要聚落的记录。

2 .A couple of small finds had been made in the area, but really, no one had looked very hard.

在这一地区也有些小型发现，但说真的，没有人认真找过。

1 .Now, one mystery regarding this site is that archaeological records show it was inhabited for only a few centuries.

关于这个地方，有一个谜题：考古记录显示，这里只有短短几个世纪中有人居住。

1 .<-FEMALE STUDENT:->What happened to the people who lived there?

学生：在那儿住的人都发生了什么？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, the site was close to the Murgab River, which they would have depended on for their water.

教授：这个地方离穆尔加布河很近，人们要依靠此河供水。

2 .And the Murgab River, which runs toward the west, is the kind of river that shifts its course over time.

穆尔加布河是向西流的，这条河是那种会随时间改变流向的河。

3 .So one theory is that the river's course shifted toward the south, and they simply followed it and built new towns to the south. Another theory is that they were involved in wars with neighboring settlements. But we might never know the truth.

所以一种观点认为，河的流向转成南向了，人们就跟着河流移动，在南方建了新的城镇。另一种观点认为，这里的人和邻近的聚落开战了。但我们可能永远也无法得知真相。

1 .One thing we do know is that, in the decades since Gonur-depe was discovered, the site has deteriorated significantly.

我们能知道的一点是，自哥诺德帕被人们发现以来，几十年过去了，这个地方的情况变得越来越糟了。

2 .I mean, it's been disturbed for the first time in millennia, and being exposed to the sun and wind has taken its toll on the ancient city.

我是说，在千年来，这个地方第一次被打扰，经受日晒风吹，古城遭到严重破坏。

3 .So now, the question is, do we partially restore and rebuild the site before-the entire thing disintegrates?

所以现在的问题是，在整个哥诺德帕彻底瓦解前，我们要不要恢复和重建部分区域？

4 .It will take a lot of funding to restore it, and, uh, I'm not sure it will be made available. Which would be a pity.

重建可是需要大量资金的，我不确定是否有可能实现。这太遗憾了。

5 .Even a partly altered site can provide valuable information, which would be lost otherwise.

哪怕只是整修一小部分区域，也能为我们提供珍贵的信息。否则就没了。