READING PASSAGE 2 (对应考试日期：2011年1月8日 2008年11月29日 2007年12月1日)

 

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

 

Coastal Archaeology of Britain

 

The recognition of the wealth and diversity of England’s coastal archaeology has been one of the most important developments of recent years. Some elements of this enormous resource have long been known. The so-called ‘submerged forests’ off the coasts of England, sometimes with clear evidence of human activity, had attracted the interest of antiquarians since at least the eighteenth century, but serious and systematic attention has been given to the archaeological potential of the coast only since the early 1980s.

 

It is possible to trace a variety of causes for this concentration of effort and interest. In the 1980s and 1990s, scientific researches into climate change and its environmental impact spilled over into a much broader public debate as awareness of these issues grew; the prospect of rising sea levels over the next century, and their impact on current coastal environments, have been a particular focus for concern. At the same time archaeologists were beginning to recognise that the destruction caused by natural processes of coastal erosion and by human activity was having an increasing impact on the archaeological resource of the coast.

 

The dominant process affecting the physical form of England in the post-glacial period has been the rise in the altitude of sea level relative to the land, as the glaciers melted and the landmass readjusted. The encroachment of the sea, the loss of huge areas of land now under the North Sea and the English Channel, and especially the loss of the land bridge between England and France which finally made Britain an island, must have been immensely significant factors in the lives of our prehistoric ancestors. Yet the way in which prehistoric communities adjusted to these environmental changes has seldom been a major theme in discussions of the period. One factor contributing to this has been that, although the rise in relative sea level is comparatively well documented, we know little about the constant reconfiguration of the coastline. This was affected by many processes, mostly quite localised, which have not yet been adequately researched. The detailed reconstruction of coastline histories and the changing environments available for human use will be an important theme for future research.

 

So great has been the rise in sea level and the consequent regression of the coast that much of the archaeological evidence now exposed in the coastal zone, whether being eroded or exposed as a buried land surface, is derived from what was originally terrestrial occupation. Its current location in the coastal zone is the product of later unrelated processes, and it can tell us little about past adaptation to the sea. Estimates of its significance will need to be made in the context of other related evidence from dry land sites. Nevertheless, its physical environment means that preservation is often excellent, for example in the case of the Neolithic structure excavated at the Stumble in Essex.

 

In some cases these buried land surfaces do contain evidence for human exploitation of what was a coastal environment, and elsewhere along the modern coast there is similar evidence. Where the evidence does relate to past human exploitation of the resources and the opportunities offered by the sea and the coast, it is both diverse and as yet little understood. We are not yet in a position to make even preliminary estimates of answers to such fundamental questions as the extent to which the sea and the coast affected human life in the past, what percentage of the population at any time lived within reach of the sea, or whether human settlements in coastal environments showed a distinct character from those inland.

 

The most striking evidence for use of the sea is in the form of boats, yet we still have much to learn about their production and use. Most of the known wrecks around our coast are not unexpectedly of post-medieval date, and offer an unparalleled opportunity for research which has as yet been little used. The prehistoric sewn-plank boats such as those from the Humber estuary and Dover all seem to belong to the second millennium BC; after this there is a gap in the record of a millennium, which cannot yet be explained, before boats reappeared, but built using a very different technology. Boatbuilding must have been an extremely important activity around much of our coast, yet we know almost nothing about it. Boats were some of the most complex artefacts produced by premodern societies, and further researches on their production and use make an important contribution to our understanding of past attitudes to technology and technological change.

 

Boats needed landing places, yet here again our knowledge is very patchy. In many cases the natural shores and beaches would have sufficed, leaving little or no archaeological trace, but especially in later periods, many ports and harbours, as well as smaller facilities such as quays, wharves, and jetties, were built. Despite a growth of interest in the waterfront archaeology of some of our more important Roman and medieval towns, very little attention has been paid to the multitude of smaller landing places. Redevelopment of harbour sites and other development and natural pressures along the coast are subjecting these important locations to unprecedented threats, yet few surveys of such sites have been undertaken.

 

One of the most important revelations of recent researches has been the extent of industrial activities along the coast. Fishing and salt production are among the better documented activities, but even here our knowledge is patchy. Many forms of fishing will leave little archaeological trace, and one of the surprises of recent surveys has been the extent of past investment in facilities for procuring fish and shellfish. Elaborate wooden fish weirs, often of considerable extent and responsive to aerial photography in shallow water, have been identified in areas such as Essex and the Severn estuary. The production of salt, especially in the late Iron Age and early Roman periods, has been recog-nised for some time, especially in the Thames estuary and around the Solent and Poole Harbour, but the reasons for the decline of that industry and the nature of later coastal salt working are much less well understood. Other industries were also located along the coast, either because the raw materials outcropped there or for ease of working and transport: mineral resources such as sand, gravel, stone, coal, ironstone, and alum were all exploited. These industries are poorly documented, but their remains are sometimes extensive and striking.

 

Some appreciation of the variety and importance of the archaeological remains preserved in the coastal zone, albeit only in preliminary form, can thus be gained from recent work, but the complexity of the problem of managing that resource is also being realised. The problem arises not only from the scale and variety of the archaeological remains, but also from two other sources: the very varied natural and human threats to the resource, and the complex web of organisations with authority over, or interests in, the coastal zone. Human threats include the redevelopment of historic towns and old dockland areas, and the increased importance of the coast for the leisure and tourism industries, resulting in pressure for the increased provision of facilities such as marinas. The larger size of ferries has also caused an increase in the damage caused by their wash to fragile deposits in the intertidal zone. The most significant natural threat is the predicted rise in sea level over the next century, especially in the south and east of England. Its impact on archaeology is not easy to predict, and though it is likely to be highly localised, it will be at a scale much larger than that of most archaeological sites. Thus protecting one site may simply result in transposing the threat to a point further along the coast. The management of the archaeological remains will have to be considered in a much longer time scale and a much wider geographical scale than is common in the case of dry land sites, and this will pose a serious challenge for archaeologists.

 

Questions 14-16

 

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

 

Write your answers in boxes 14-16 on your answer sheet.

 

14 What has caused public interest in coastal archaeology in recent years?

A The rapid development of England’s coastal archaeology

B The rising awareness of climate change

C The discovery of an underwater forest

D The systematic research conducted on coastal archaeological findings

 

15 What does the passage say about the evidence of boats?

A There’s enough knowledge of the boatbuilding technology of the prehistoric people.

B Many of the boats discovered were found in harbours.

C The use of boats had not been recorded for a thousand years.

D Boats were first used for fishing.

 

16 What can be discovered from the air?

A Salt mines

B Roman towns

C Harbours

D Fisheries

 

 

Questions 17-23

 

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 17-23 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

 

17 England lost much of its land after the Ice Age due to the rising sea level.

18 The coastline of England has changed periodically.

19 Coastal archaeological evidence may be well-protected by sea water.

20 The design of boats used by pre-modern people was very simple.

21 Similar boats were also discovered in many other European countries.

22 There are few documents relating to mineral exploitation.

23 Large passenger boats are causing increasing damage to the seashore.

 

Questions 24-26

 

Choose THREE letters from A-G.

 

Write your answer in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

 

Which THREE of the following statements are mentioned in the passage?

A How coastal archaeology was originally discovered.

B It is difficult to understand how many people lived close to the sea.

C How much the prehistoric communities understand the climate change.

D Our knowledge of boat evidence is limited.

E Some fishing grounds were converted to ports.

F Human development threatens the archaeological remains.

G Coastal archaeology will become more important in the future.

 

Reading Passage 2. Coastal Archaeology of Britain

 

题目详解

 

Questions 14-16

 

14. 利用细节信息“public interest in coastal archaeology”和顺序原则定位于原文段第四行“… had attracted the interest of antiquarians since at least the eighteenth century, but serious and systematic attention has been given…”。但是这种现象的原因并不位于段，而在第二段“It is possible to trace a variety of causes for this concentration of effort and interest”后面的信息。后面主要讲到人们开始关注“coastal archaeology” 是因为“climate change and its environmental impact”， 因为“sea levels” 上涨影响了“coastal environments”，于是更多的人意识到“coastal erosion”和“human activity”对“archaeological resource of the coast”有破坏作用，这些信息都与选项B“the rising awareness of climate change”相关，所以答案为B。

 

15. 利用细节信息“boats”定位于原文第六段，这里提及了大量“boats”方面的考古发现。选项A“There’s enough knowledge of the boatbuilding technology of the pre-historic people”应该排除，因为其与原文内容“we still have much to learn about their production and use”正好相反。选项B“Many of the boats discovered were found in harbours” 也可以排除，因为“harbours”在第七段才出现，而且也没有提及是否在“harbours” 发现了大量的船。选项D“Boats were first used for fishing”也应该排除，因为“fishing” 在第八段才提到，讲的是沿海人类的经济活动，并没提及船最初都是用作打渔的。所以答案为C。“The use of boats had not been recorded for a thousand years”对应原文第六段第五行“after this there is a gap in the record of a millennium…”。

 

16. 利用细节信息“from the air”定位于原文第八段第四句“Elaborate wooden fish weirs, often of considerable extent and responsive to aerial photography in shallow water…”，原文中的“aerial photography”对应题目信息“discovered from the air”。原文信息“Elaborate wooden fish weirs”与选项D“fisheries”直接对应，所以答案为D。

 

Questions 17-23

 

17. 利用细节信息“after the Ice Age”和“rising sea level”定位于原文第三段前两句话“… in the post-glacial period… the rise in the altitude of sea level… The encroachment of the sea, the loss of huge areas of land now under the North Sea and the English Channel…”，题目信息“after the Ice Age”对应原文中的“post-glacial period”，题目内容是原文的简单归纳，所以答案为True。

 

18. 利用细节信息“the coastline of England”和顺序原则定位于原文第三段倒数第四行“the constant reconfiguration of the coastline”，题目信息“changed periodically”与原文中的“constant reconfiguration”不相符，所以答案为False。

 

19. 利用细节信息“well-protected by sea water”定位于原文第四段倒数第三行“its physical environment means that preservation is often excellent”，题目信息“well-protected by sea water”对应原文中的“preservation is often excellent”。题目信息与原文是同义表达，所以答案为True。

 

20. 利用细节信息“the design of boats”和“pre-modern people”定位于原文第六段倒数第三行“Boats were some of the most complex artefacts produced by pre-modern societies”，题目信息“very simple”与原文中的“the most complex artefacts”正好相反，所以答案为False。

 

21. 原文没有找到“other European countries”和在其他欧洲国家发现类似船只的信息，所以答案为Not Given。

 

22. 利用细节信息“mineral exploitation” 定位于原文第八段倒数第三行“mineral resources such as sand, gravel, stone, coal, ironstone, and alum were all exploited. These industries are poorly documented…”，题目信息“few documents”对应原文中的“poorly documented”，所以答案为True。

 

23. 利用细节信息“large passenger boats”和顺序原则定位于原文一段倒数第八行“The larger size of ferries has also caused an increase in the damage caused by their wash to fragile deposits in the intertidal zone”，题目信息“passenger boats”对应原文中的“ferries”，题目信息“intertidal zone”对应原文中的“seashore”。题目与原文是同义表达，所以答案为True。

 

Questions 24-26

 

选项A“How coastal archaeology was originally discovered”应该排除，因为原文并没有提到这方面的内容。

 

选项B“It is difficult to understand how many people lived close to the sea”是正确选项。该选项对应原文第五段第四行“We are not yet in a position to make even preliminary estimates of answers to such fundamental questions as the extent to which the sea and the coast affected human life in the past, what percentage of the population at any time lived within reach of the sea…”。题目信息“It is difficult to understand” 对应原文中的“not yet in a position to make even preliminary estimates”， 题目信息“how many people” 对应原文中的“what percentage of the population”，题目“lived close to the sea”对应原文中的“within reach of the sea”。

 

选项C“How much the prehistoric communities understand the climate change”应该排除，虽然原文开头提及“climate change”并多处提到“prehistoric communities”，但是却没有提及他们对气候变化的认识。

 

选项D“Our knowledge of boat evidence is limited”是正确选项。该选项对应原文第六段句“… yet we still have much to learn about their production and use”，以及该段倒数第三行“…yet we know almost nothing about it”。

 

选项E“Some fishing grounds were converted to ports”是错误选项，因为原文第七段提及“ports”，第八段提及“fishing”，但是却并没有“fishing grounds”转变成“ports”的信息。

 

选项F“Human development threatens the archaeological remains”是正确选项。该选项对应原文一段，该段整体都在讲人类活动和自然对“archaeological remains”的影响。

 

选项G“Coastal archaeology will become more important in the future”是错误选项，因为原文并没有提到这方面的内容。

 

所以24‐26 题的正确答案为B、D、F。

 

参考译文

 

英国的海岸考古学

 

认识到英国海岸考古学的丰富内容和多样性是近几年的重要进步之一。这个庞大的资源中有一部分长久以来便为人们所知晓。英国沿海所谓的“淹没的森林”至少从18世纪就已经开始吸引古文物研究者的兴趣了，其中常常有人类活动的明显证据。但是，直到20 世纪80 年代初，才有人开始对沿岸有潜在价值的考古物投注认真、系统化的注意力。

 

我们可以追溯引起该程度的努力和兴趣的各种原因。20 世纪80 和90 年代，关于天气变化和它带来的环境影响的科学研究随着对这些问题认识的加深而成为一个更广泛的公众讨论话题。下一个世纪，海平面升高的前景和它对现在海岸环境的影响已经成为特别关注的焦点。同时，海岸考古学家开始认识到，由海岸侵蚀的自然过程和人类活动造成的破坏对海岸考古资源有越来越大的影响。

 

在冰川后期，随着冰川融化和板块调整，影响英国海岸线的最主要的因素就是海平面的上升。海洋的入侵、北海和英吉利海峡海底大面积地域的丢失，特别是最终使英国成为一个岛屿的英法之间陆地桥梁的消失，一定曾是我们史前祖先生活的极其重要的因素。但史前人们适应这些环境变化的方式几乎不是这个时期讨论的主要主题。造成这一状况的原因是，虽然相对来说海平面上升有很好的证明，但我们几乎不知道海岸线是如何不断重组的。这一点受很多过程的影响，而这些过程又大部分发生在小范围内，对它们的研究也是不够的。海岸线历史的细节再现和适宜人类的环境变化将会是未来研究的一个重要主题。

 

海平面上升和随后发生的海岸退化极其严重，以至于目前多数暴露在海岸区的海岸考古学证据——无论是被侵蚀了或者是被当做被掩埋的陆地表层而曝光的证据——都源自于陆地。它现在在海岸区域的位置是之后的无关过程的产物，它可以告诉我们一点点关于海岸线对海洋的适应过程。对其意义的估算将会在干燥陆地上得来的别的相关证据的基础上进行。然而，它的物理环境意味着它通常被保护得很好，比如在埃塞克斯郡挖掘的新石器时代的构造这一例子。

 

在某些情况下，那些被埋葬的陆地表面确实含有人类对曾经的海岸环境进行开发的证据，现代海岸的其他地方也有一些类似的证据。那些和早期人类对资源和海洋及海岸提供的机会的开发利用有关的证据是多种多样的，但人们迄今难以理解。我们还没有能力对如此重要的问题(如海洋和海岸在过去对人类生活的影响程度、任何时候海洋附近的人口百分比以及人类在海岸环境的定居是否与内陆定居有不同的特征)的答案进行哪怕是初步的估计。

 

人们利用海洋的最显著的证据就是船，然而，关于它们的生产和使用，我们仍有很多地方需要去了解。海岸周围大部分被发现的残骸不出意料的都是中世纪后期的，它们为还未派上用场的研究提供了的机会。史前的例如亨伯河港湾和多佛尔的独木舟似乎全都属于公元前一千多年前;这之后，在船只重现之前的一千年中，记录有一次中断，至今没人能解释这一现象，重现之后的船只则是运用了一种完全不同的建造技术。造船一定曾是我们大部分沿海地区的一项极其重要的活动，但我们对它几乎一无所知。船是近代社会最复杂的人工制品之一，对船的制造和使用的更深入研究对于我们理解过去人们对技术和技术变革的态度有很大帮助。

 

船需要停泊之处，但在这方面，我们的知识又有所欠缺。在很多情况下，天然海滨和海滩本应足够了，留下一点或者不留下任何可供海岸考古的痕迹，但是，尤其在后期，很多海港和港口，以及码头、防波堤等小型设施也被建造起来了。尽管人们对一些更重要的罗马和中世纪城镇的海滨考古的兴趣有所增长，但对那些大量的小型停泊点的关注却极少。港口的重建和其他发展以及沿海的自然压力正使这些重要的遗址遭遇的威胁，然而，很少有人对这些遗址开展调查。

 

最近的调查揭示的最重要的一点就是沿海工业活动的程度。关于渔业和制盐的文字记载相对较好，但即使是对它们，我们也并不是完全了解。很多渔业形式是没有海岸考古踪迹可循的，最近的调查中有一个惊奇的发现，那就是过去人们对捕鱼和贝类的设备的投资力度。精心制作的木制鱼梁，一般遍布在大范围区域，可以对浅水域的空中摄影作出快速的反应，这些鱼梁在埃塞克斯郡和塞文河口都有所发现。盐的生产，尤其是铁器时代晚期和罗马时代早期在泰晤士河口和索伦特及普尔港附近的盐的生产已经被确认有一段时间了。但是，盐工业衰退的原因和后来海岸盐业工作的本质却并不被人们所了解。海岸沿线也有其他工业，有的是为了那里裸露在外的原材料，有的是为了便于工作和运输——沙子、砾石、石块、煤炭、铁矿石、明矾等矿物资源都被开采出来。有关这些工业的记载非常少，但它们留下的遗迹却常常丰富而且醒目。

 

对沿海区域保存下来的考古遗迹的多样性和重要性的评价(尽管只是初步的评价)是可以通过最近的研究工作获得的，但是人们也认识到了管理该资源的复杂性。问题不仅仅在于考古遗迹的规模和多样性，还在于另外两个方面，那就是：自然和人类对资源的各种各样的威胁，以及错综复杂的组织网在海岸地带的权力和利益。人类的威胁包括对历史悠久的小镇和老旧港区的重建以及由于休闲旅游业的发展而造成的对越来越重要的海岸地区的压力，该压力体现在人们需要建设更多的小港、码头等设施。体积庞大的渡船由于为潮间带区域带来沉积物，也导致了破坏的加剧。的自然威胁是预料中的下一世纪海平面的上升，特别是在英国南部和东部。它对海岸考古学带来的影响很难预测，虽然很有可能是局部地区的，但它的影响范围会比大多数海岸考古遗址更大。所以，保护一个遗址可能只会把威胁转移到海岸沿线的另一处更远的地方。管理海岸考古遗迹比管理平常的陆地遗迹需要更长的时间，覆盖的地域范围也要更广，这对海岸考古学家来说将是一个巨大的挑战。