考满分 toefl

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

旁白：请听人类学课上的部分内容。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->OK, today we're going to be moving on and we're going to be talking about early pottery.

教授：好的，我们继续往下讲，我们今天要讲的是早期陶器。

2 .But rather than me just giving you a broad overview of how pots—or ceramic vessels—were developed and used in different regions of the world, we're going to consider a specific example—a case study.

但是比起我仅仅给你们宽泛地概述一下陶罐或者陶器—在世界上不同地区是如何发展出并使用的，不如我们一起来思考一个具体的例子，进行一次案例研究。

3 .And we're going to focus on ceramic cooking vessels from just one part of the world.

而且我们要关注的只是世界上一个地区的陶器炊具。

4 .So the question I want to look at today concerns the use of ceramic cooking vessels—clay pots—in the Arctic during ancient times.

所以今天我想讨论的问题和古代时期北极地区陶器炊具——陶土罐的使用有关。

5 .Why were they developed and used there?

为什么当地人会发明出并使用陶土罐呢？

1 .So, to begin with, we don't know for sure when human beings first started creating pottery, but we have evidence of it from over 15,000 years ago.

那么，首先，我们不确定人类最初开始制作陶罐是什么时候，但是我们有15000多年前的证据。

2 .And in the Arctic, ceramic cooking pots didn't appear there until some 2,500 years ago.

在北极地区，陶器炊具直到2500年前才出现。

3 .Now, it's not surprising that they appeared relatively late there.

它们在那里出现得相对较晚并不意外。

4 .In fact, what's been something of a mystery is why they were used at all—in the Arctic, I mean. Ken?

事实上，让人想不通的是他们究竟为什么要使用陶器，我是说在北极地区，Ken？

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Why wouldn't they use pottery?

学生：他们为什么不用陶器呢？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Good question.

教授：问得好。

2 .What would some of the drawbacks of ceramic containers be—for ancient people groups in the Arctic? [Pause, while waiting for an answer that doesn’t come… then hinting]

陶土容器对住在北极的古人来说有哪些缺点？

3 .Ancient Arctic societies were nomadic, right?

古时候的北极社会是游牧民族，对吧？

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->I get it. Clay pots are fragile.

学生：我知道了！陶土罐很易碎。

2 .So if people were moving around all the time, well, the pots would probably keep breaking.

所以如果人们一直四处移居的话，这些罐子可能会一个接一个碎掉。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Precisely. Ceramic cooking vessels can't be transported easily.

教授：没错。陶土炊具无法轻易运输。

2 .That's one thing.

这是一点。

3 .And think of how ceramics are produced.

再想想陶器是如何制作的。

4 .You need water and clay, of course...you need to make the pot, allow it to dry for a long time—warm, dry locations work best for this, of course—and then you need to fire it... uh, bake it.

你需要水和黏土，这毋庸置疑。。。你需要把罐子做出来，让它晾干很长时间，当然了，温暖干燥的地点是最好的，然后你要把它放进火里烘烤。

5 .So you can see the role that climate would play in whether or not ancient people created and used ceramic cooking pots—and that's why manufacturing pottery would have been a challenge, actually quite difficult for people in the Arctic.

所以你们能看出来气候在古人是否制作和使用陶器炊具方面所起的作用—而这就是为什么制作陶器是一项挑战了，事实上对生活在北极的人来说这相当困难。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->But you're saying they did make ceramic cooking pots.

学生：但是你也说了他们确实会做陶器炊具。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Yes. So the question is, given all these clear disadvantages, why would Arctic people choose to make and use ceramic cooking vessels. Sue?

教授：是的，所以问题是，考虑到所有这些明显的不利之处，北极人为什么还选择制作和使用陶器炊具呢？Sue？

1 .<-FEMALE STUDENT:->I read somewhere that, by cooking food in clay pots, people increased the, uh...well, they made food easier to digest.

学生：我在某个地方看到过，通过在陶土罐中烹煮食物，人们会增加......食物会更好消化。

2 .Something about making the nutritional components of foods more accessible.

和更容易获得食物中的营养成分有关？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->That's definitely true as far as many nutrients are concerned.

教授：在很多营养学家看来，这绝对没错。

2 .But some nutrients, like vitamin C, are destroyed by cooking.

但是一些营养成分，比如维他命C，在烹煮后会受到破坏。

3 .But the ancient Arctic people ate a diet that consisted almost entirely of raw or only minimally cooked meat and fish or shellfish.

但是古时候北极人的食谱几乎完全由生的，或者稍微烹煮过的肉类、鱼类或贝类组成。

1 .I saw something on television once...a documentary that talked about how healthy the diet was—how it provided all the nutrients they needed.

我有一次在电视上看到过，一个纪录片，讲的是那种饮食有多健康，它如何提供给人们所需的所有营养物质。

2 .I guess that would include vitamin C as well.

我猜那也包括维他命C。

3 .But then what I don't understand is, why would they have cooked their food at all?

但是说到这我不理解的是：他们究竟为什么烹煮他们的食物呢？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Ah, here's where we need to look beyond obvious factors and consider things like culinary preferences.

教授：啊，在这个问题上，我们需要越过显而易见的因素，想一想像烹调偏好这样的事情。

2 .Although the diet of ancient Arctic people mainly consisted of raw and minimally cooked food, it was carefully prepared.

虽然古北极人的食谱主要由生的和最低程度烹煮过的食物组成，但它是经过仔细处理的。

3 .It was based on an interplay of contrasts—uh, different temperatures...or hard and soft textures.

它是以巨大差异的相互作用为基础的，比如不同的温度，或者软硬的质地。

4 .Sometimes meat was only partially defrosted.

有时候肉只是部分解冻了。

5 .For example, one way of preparing meat was to boil it briefly, leaving the center frozen.

比如，处理肉类的一个方法就是快速地煮一下就捞出来，让中间部分保持冰冻的状态。

1 .So cooked food...or partially cooked food, for ancient Arctic people, was a matter of social preference.

烹煮过的食物烹煮过的食物或者部分烹煮过的食物对古北极人来说只是一种社会偏好的问题。

2 .So again, the question is why did they use ceramic pots to cook their food.

所以再说一次，问题是：他们为什么使用陶罐来烹煮他们的食物？

3 .That's not the only way to cook food, and we've already looked at some disadvantages of ceramic pots.

那不是烹煮食物的唯一方式，而且我们已经发现了陶罐的一些缺点。

4 .So why use them?

那为什么还用呢？

1 .Well, first of all, wood for cooking fires was in short supply.

首先，烧火的木头供应不足。

2 .And because of the extreme climate, food had to be prepared inside, indoors, most of the year.

而且由于这种极端气候，食物必须在里面处理，一年中大部分时间都必须在室内做饭。

3 .Therefore, fires had to be small and cooking methods had to be efficient.

因此，火一定要小，烹煮的方法一定要高效。

4 .So in regions of the Arctic where wood was scarce, and where the houses could not withstand large fires and did not have good ventilation, we do find advantages associated with ceramic pots.

所以在北极地区这样木头稀缺，房子经受不住大火，而且通风不好的地方，我们确实能发现陶罐的好处。