Ancient Bananas托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Ancient Bananas托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Ancient Bananas托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:One of the important aspects of the field of archaeology,uh,one of the things that excites me about the field,is that seemingly insignificant things can suddenly change the way we think about a culture.We are always making new discoveries that have the potential to challenge widely held beliefs.

Take something like the banana,for example.It turns out that this ordinary fruit may be forcing scientists to rewrite major parts of African history!We know the bananas were introduced to Africa via Southeast Asia.And until recently,we thought we knew when they were introduced:about 2,000 years ago.

But discoveries in Uganda,that's in Eastern Africa,are throwing that into question.Scientists studying soil samples there discovered evidence of bananas in sediment that was 5,000 years old.Now,let me explain that it's not easy to find traces of ancient bananas.The fruit is soft and doesn't have any hard seeds that might survive over the ages.So after 5,000 years,you might think there would be nothing left to study.Well,fortunately for archaeologists,all plants contain what are called phytoliths in their stems and leaves.Phytoliths are microscopic structures made of silica,and they do not decay.When plants die and rot away,they leave these phytoliths behind.Because different plants produce differently shaped phytoliths,scientists can identify the type of plant from ancient remains.

So,those scientists in Uganda,dug down to sediments that were 5,000 years old.And what do you think they found?Banana phytoliths!Obviously this meant that we had to rethink our previous notions about when bananas first arrived in Africa.But,well,this discovery had other implications for history.As soon as bananas appear in the archaeological record,we know we have contact between Africa and Southeast Asia.It would appear now that this contact occurred much earlier than previously thought.

Al-although—now here's where the uncertainty comes in—we don't really have any solid evidence of trade between the peoples of these two regions that long ago.Presumably,if people were bringing bananas to Africa,they'd also be bringing other things too—pottery,tools,all sorts of objects made for trade or daily use.But any such evidence is missing from the archaeological record.um,The early appearance of bananas also suggests that agriculture began in this part of Africa earlier than scientists imagined.You see,bananas,at least the edible kind,can't grow without human intervention.They have to be cultivated.People need to plant them and care for them.So if bananas were present in Uganda 5,000 years ago,w-we'd have to assumeth-th-that someone planted them.

But,there are questions about this too.We know that bananas can be a staple food that can support large populations,as they did in Uganda in the more recent past.If bananas were grown thousands of years ago,why don't we see evidence of large populations thriving in the area earlier?

So,we are left with this mystery.We have what appears to be strong biological evidence that bananas were being cultivated in Uganda as early as 5,000 years ago.But we are missing other kinds of evidence that would conclusively prove that this is so.Clearly,more research needs to be done—Perhaps by some young scholars from this university?At least give it some thought.

二、Ancient Bananas托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：在考古學課上聽一部分講座。女教授：考古學領(lǐng)域的一個重要方面，呃，這個領(lǐng)域讓我興奮的一件事是，看似微不足道的事情會突然改變我們對文化的看法。我們總是在做出新的發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)有可能挑戰(zhàn)人們普遍持有的信念。

以香蕉為例。事實證明，這種普通的水果可能正迫使科學家改寫非洲歷史的主要部分！我們知道香蕉是通過東南亞傳入非洲的。直到最近，我們還以為我們知道它們是何時被引入的：大約2000年前。

但在東非的烏干達的發(fā)現(xiàn)使這一點受到質(zhì)疑。科學家們研究了那里的土壤樣本，發(fā)現(xiàn)了5000年前沉積物中存在香蕉的證據(jù)。現(xiàn)在，讓我解釋一下，要找到古代香蕉的蹤跡并不容易。這種水果很軟，沒有任何堅硬的種子，可以經(jīng)久保存。所以5000年后，你可能會認為沒有什么東西可以學習了。對考古學家來說幸運的是，所有植物的莖和葉中都含有所謂的植硅體。植硅體是由二氧化硅構(gòu)成的微觀結(jié)構(gòu)，不會腐爛。當植物死亡和腐爛時，它們會留下這些植硅體。由于不同的植物產(chǎn)生不同形狀的植硅體，科學家可以從古代遺跡中識別出植物的類型。

因此，烏干達的科學家們挖掘了5000年前的沉積物。你認為他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么？香蕉植硅體！顯然，這意味著我們必須重新思考我們之前關(guān)于香蕉何時首次抵達非洲的概念。但是，這個發(fā)現(xiàn)對歷史還有其他的意義。一旦香蕉出現(xiàn)在考古記錄中，我們就知道非洲和東南亞之間有聯(lián)系。現(xiàn)在看來，這種接觸比以前想象的要早得多。

阿爾：雖然現(xiàn)在不確定性來了，但我們并沒有任何確鑿的證據(jù)證明這兩個地區(qū)的人民很久以前就進行了貿(mào)易。據(jù)推測，如果人們把香蕉帶到非洲，他們也會帶其他東西——陶器、工具、各種貿(mào)易或日常用品。但考古記錄中沒有任何這樣的證據(jù)。嗯，香蕉的早期出現(xiàn)也表明非洲這一地區(qū)的農(nóng)業(yè)比科學家想象的要早。你看，香蕉，至少是可食用的那種，沒有人類的干預(yù)就無法生長。它們必須被培養(yǎng)。人們需要種植和照顧它們。因此，如果5000年前烏干達就有香蕉，我們不得不假設(shè)是有人種植的。

但是，這方面也有問題。我們知道，香蕉可以成為一種可以養(yǎng)活大量人口的主食，就像最近在烏干達所做的那樣。如果香蕉是幾千年前種植的，為什么我們看不到早期該地區(qū)大量人口繁衍的證據(jù)？

所以，我們只剩下這個謎了。我們有強有力的生物學證據(jù)表明，早在5000年前，烏干達就開始種植香蕉。但我們?nèi)鄙倨渌愋偷淖C據(jù)來確鑿地證明這一點。很明顯，也許這所大學的一些年輕學者需要做更多的研究？至少想一想。

三、Ancient Bananas托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.The history of archaeology in Africa

B.Traditional methods of archaeological research

C.Controversial new archaeological findings

D.The study of archaeology in Southeast Asia

Q2:2.What excites the professor about the field of archaeology?.

A.Established theories can be challenged by new evidence.

B.The technology used in archaeology is always improving.

C.Archaeology deals with basic issues of human societies.

D.Archaeologists often work in interesting parts of the world.

Q3:3.According to the professor,what can scientists learn by examining ancient phytoliths?

A.The nutrients a plant took in

B.The age of a certain sediment layer

C.What a plant was used for

D.What type of plant produced them

Q4:4.What are the implications of the theory that bananas arrived in Africa 5,000 years ago?[Click on 2 answers].

A.Agriculture developed in Africa earlier than previously assumed.

B.Contact between Africa and Asia occurred earlier than previously assumed.

C.People have inhabited Southeast Asia longer than previously assumed.

D.The banana plant is a more ancient plant than was previously assumed.

Q5:5.What does the professor consider a weakness of the study on bananas in Africa?

A.It did not produce accurate data.

B.Its results are of little importance.

C.Its conclusions are not supported by other studies.

D.It does not make good use of advanced technology.

Q6:6.Why does the professor say this?

A.To announce her intentions to continue the study herself.

B.To encourage her students to do archaeological research.

C.To discredit the recent research on bananas and phytoliths.

D.To highlight the university’s reputation in archaeology.

四、Ancient Bananas托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：C

A2:正確答案：A

A3:正確答案：D

A4:正確答案：AB

A5:正確答案：C

A6:正確答案：B

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