托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐七：苏美尔和埃及（2）

1托福常考话题：苏美尔和埃及话题练习题

► Paragraph 1：Scholars agree that writing originated somewhere in the Middle East, probably Mesopotamia, around the fourth millennium B.C.E. It is from the great libraries and word-hoards of these ancient lands that the first texts emerged. They were written on damp clay tablets with a wedged (or V-shaped) stick; since the Latin word for wedge is cunea, the texts are called cuneiform. The clay tablets usually were not fired; sun drying was probably reckoned enough to preserve the text for as long as it was being used. Fortunately, however, many tablets survived because they were accidentally fired when the buildings they were stored in burned

1. Paragraph 1 supports which of the following ideas about the method of preserving cuneiform texts by sun drying them?

A. It was regarded as unnecessary for texts that were actively being used.

B. It was discovered accidentally.

C. It was used for texts intended for libraries but not for other texts.

D. It did not provide enough protection for texts to survive into modern times.

2. According to paragraph 1, the name of the earliest form of writing reflects the fact that this writing was

A. inscribed on damp materials

B. preserved by accidental firing

C. made with a wedge-shaped stick

D. kept in libraries and word-hoards

► Paragraph 2：Cuneiform writing lasted for some 3,000 years, in a vast line of succession that ran through Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Nineveh, and Babylon, and preserved for us fifteen languages in an area represented by modern-day Iraq, Syria, and western Iran. The oldest cuneiform texts recorded the transactions of tax collectors and merchants, the receipts and bills of sale of an urban society. They had to do with things like grain, goats, and real estate. Later, Babylonian scribes recorded the laws and kept other kinds of records. Knowledge conferred power. As a result, the scribes were assigned their own goddess, Nisaba, later replaced by the god Nabu of Borsippa, whose symbol is neither weapon nor dragon but something far more fearsome, the cuneiform stick.

3. Select the TWO answer choices that, according to paragraph 2, indicate why cuneiform writing was important in societies of the Middle East. To obtain credit you must select TWO answer choices.

A. It allowed people from fifteen different language groups to communicate with each other

B. It was used to record different kinds of commercial transactions.

C. It was used to record laws.

D. It was used to record the established boundaries of the areas occupied by each society.

4. In paragraph 2, why does the author point out that Babylonian scribes were assigned their own goddess?

A. To explain why scribes in Babylonia were given the responsibility of writing laws.

B. To indicate a consequence of the fact that scribes were powerful in Babylonian society.

C. To explain why over time Babylonian scribes no longer recorded business transactions.

D. To explain how Babylonian scribes came to be associated with symbols of warfare.

► Paragraph 3：Cuneiform texts on science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics abound, some offering astoundingly precise data. One tablet records the speed of the Moon over 248 days; another documents an early sighting of Halley’s Comet, from September 22 to September 28, 164 B.C.E. More esoteric texts attempt to explain old Babylonian customs, such as the procedure for curing someone who is ill, which included rubbing tar and gypsum on the sick person’s door and drawing a design at the foot of the person’s bed. What is clear from the vast body of texts (some 20,000 tablets were found in King Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh) is that scribes took pride in their writing and knowledge.

5.The word “abound” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. are important

B. are available

C. are numerous

D. are revealing

6.The word “astoundingly” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. truly

B. incredibly

C. noticeably

D. reasonably

7.Why does the author mention a cuneiform text that documents "an early sighting of Halley's Comet, from September 22 to September 28, 164 B.C.E." ?

A. To explain how important Babylonian events were recorded.

B. To support the idea that some cuneiform texts provide precise scientific information.

C. To explain how particular Babylonian customs arose concerning sick persons.

D. To identify a particularly valuable text from the library of King Ashurbanipal.

► Paragraph 4：The foremost cuneiform text, the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, deals with humankind's attempts to conquer time. In it, Gilgamesh, king and warrior, is crushed by the death of his best friend and so sets out on adventures that prefigure mythical heroes of ancient Greek legends such as Hercules. His goal is not just to survive his ordeals but to make sense of this life. Remarkably, versions of Gilgamesh span 1,500 years, between 2100 B.C.E and 600 B.C.E., making the story the epic of an entire civilization.

8.The word "foremost" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. earliest

B. largest

C. most important

D. best understood