托福TPO阅读55文本

Mesolithic Complexity in Scandinavia

The European Mesolithic(roughly the period from 8000 B.C.to 2700 B.C.)testifies to a continuity in human culture from the times of the lce Age.This continuity,however was based on continuous adjustment to environmental changes following the end of the last glacial period(about12,500 years ago).Three broad subdivisions within the northern Mesolithic are known in Scandinavia.The Maglemose Period(7500-5700 B.C)was a time of seasonal exploitation of rivers and lakes,combined with terrestrial hunting and foraging.The sites from the Kongemose Period(5700-4600 B.C.)are mainly on the Baltic Sea coasts,along bays and near lagoons,where the people exploited both marine and terrestrial resources.Many Kongemose sites are somewhat larger than Maglemose ones.The Ertebolle Period(4600-3200 B.C.)was the culmination of Mesolithic culture in southern Scandinavia.

By the Ertebolle Period,the Scandinavians were occupying coastal settlements year-round and subsisting off a very wide range of food sources.These included forest game and waterfowl,shellfish,sea mammals,and both shallow-water and deepwater fish.There were smaller seasonal coastal sites,too:for specific activities such as deepwater fishing,sealing,or hunting of migratory birds.One such site,the Aggersund site in Denmark,was occupied for short periods of time in the autumn,when the inhabitants collected oysters and hunted some game,especially migratory swans.Ertebolle technology was far more elaborate than that of its Mesolithic predecessors;a wide variety of antler,bone:and wood tools for specialized purposes such as fowling and sea-mammal hunting were developed.including dugout canoes up to ten meters long.

With sedentary settlement comes evidence of greater social complexity in the use of cemeteries for burials and changes in burial practices.The trend toward more sedentary settlement the cemeteries,and the occasional social differentiation revealed by elaborate burials are all reflections of an intensifieduse of resources among these relatively affluent hunter-gatherers of 3000 B.C.Mesolithic societies intensified the food quest by exploiting many more marinespecies, making productive use of migratory waterfowl and their breedinggrounds, and collecting shellfish in enormous numbers. This intensification isalso reflected in a much more elaborate and I diverse technology, moreexchange of goods and materials between neighbors. greater variety insettlement types, and a I slowly I rising l population I throughout southernScandinavia. These phenomena may, I in part; be I a reflection of rising sea levels throughout the Mesolithic that flooded many cherished territories. Thereare signs, too, of regional variations in artifact forms and styles, indicative ofcultural differences between people living in well- delineated territories andcompeting for resources.

Mesolithic cultures are much less well-defined elsewhere in Europe, partlybecause the climatic changes were less extreme than in southern Scandinaviaand because there were fewer opportunities for coastal adaptation. In much ofcentral Europe, settlement was confined to lakeside and riverside locations,widely separated from one another by dense forests. Many Mesolithic lakesidesites were located in transitional zones between different environments so thatthe inhabitants could return to a central base location, where for much of theyear they lived close to predictable resources such as lake fish. However, theywould exploit both forest game and other seasonal resources from satellitecamps. For example, the archaeologist Michael Jochim believes that somegroups lived during most of the year in camps along the Danube River incentral Europe, moving to summer encampments on the shores of neighboringlakes. In areas like Spain, there appears to have been intensified exploitationof marine and forest resources. There was a trend nearly everywhere towardgreater variety in the diet, with more attention being paid to less obvious foodsand to those that require more complex processing methods than do gameand other such resources.

Thus,in parts of Europe,there was a long-term trend among hunter-gatherersocieties toward a more extensive exploitation of food resources,often withinthe context of a strategy that sought ways to minimize the impact ofenvironmental uncertainty. In more favored southern Scandinavia,suchsocieties achieved a new level of social complexity that was to becomecommonplace among later farming peoples,and this preadaptation proved animportant catalyst for rapid economic and social change when farming didcome to Europe.

试题如下：

1. What can be inferred from paragraph about human life in MesolithicScandinavia?

A. People tended to live in smaller groups during the Ertebolle Period thanduring earlier Mesolithic periods.

B. The areas where it was advantageous to live changed over time as a resultof environmental changes.

C. Human groups were less affected by environmental change during theMaglemose Period than during the Kongemose Period.

D. During most of the Mesolithic, people were more dependent on terrestrialfood sources than other food sources.

2. Why does the author mention the Aggersund site in Denmark and its briefperiods of occupation?

A. To suggest that the supply of year- round food sources near earliersettlement sites had nearly disappeared

B. To give an example of a small, temporary coastal site that took advantageof seasonal food sources

C. To illstrate how small coastal settlements could not last as long as largeforest settlements

D. To highlight the fact that none of the Denmark camps were able to beoccupied year-roundParagraph 2

3. Paragraph 2 suggests that before the Ertebolle Period, hunting tools andother Mesolithic technologies

A. were available only in small coastal sites

B. were developed mainly in Denmark

C. were made mainly from animal bones

D. were somewhat simpleParagraph 2

4. The word exploiting in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. calling attention to

B. tocusing on

C. taking advantage of

D. searching for

5. The phrase Indicative of in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. suggesting

B. leading to

C. resulting from

D. decreasingParagraph 3

6. According to paragraph 3, the existence of cemeteries in MesolithicScandinavia is associated with

A. increased social complexity

B. problems in obtaining sufticient food

C. a dramatically increasing population

D.a trend toward reduced dependence on the food sources provided byhunter-gatherers

7. According to paragraph 3, each of the following is linked to the intensitieduse of resources that occurred in southern Scandinavia EXCEPT

A. greater complexity and diversity of technology

B. greater similarity between artifacts from different regions

C. more exchanges of goods between groups

D. more diversity in types of settlementsparagraph 3

8. The phrase confined to in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. adapted to

B limited to

C. expanded to

D. located next to

9. Select the TWO answer choices that are discussed in paragraph 4 asfactors that explain why Mesolithic culture in Scandinavia developeddifterently from Mesolithic cultures in other parts of Europe.To receivecredit,you must choose TWO answers from the answer choices.

A. Climate

B. Population numbers

C. The size of satellite camps

D. The location of sites of human habitationParagraph 4

10. According to paragraph 4, how were Mesolithic societies in central Europeable to meet their food needs for much of the year?

A. By finding new opportunities for coastal adaptations wherever they could

B. By keeping their base camps in dense forests with plenty of forest game

C. By settling in areas that provided both predictable food resources andaccess to different kinds of environments

D. By hunting farther and father from their central base camps each dayParagraph 4

11. The author includes the views of Micheal Jochim for which the followingreasons?

A. To show that Mesolithic cultures in other parts of Europe were less well-defined than Mesolithic cultures in southern Scandinavia

B. To help explain why it became necessary for Mesolithic populations to paymore attention to less obvious foods and foods requiring more complexprocessing

C. To provide evidence that opportunities for coastal development weregenerally much greater in Central Europe than elsewhere in Europe

D. To support the idea that populations in Central Europe stayed in a centrallocation much of the year but relocated to be closer to seasonal resourcesP aragraph 4

12. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information inthe highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change themeaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Because of favorable conditions in southern Scandinavia and the socialcomplexity of their societies, hunter-gatherer societies did not adapt to farminguntil economic change required it.

B. When farming came to Europe and became common, hunter-gatherersocieties finally achieved high levels of social complexity.

C. Social complexity was common in the societies of southern Scandinavia butwas less common in other areas where farming came later.

D. Hunter-gatherer societies in southern Scandinavia achieved a new level ofsocial complexity, and this allowed them to quickly achieve economic andsocial change when farming was introduced.Paragraph 5

   13. Look at the four squarest that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.

Such adaptation involved changes in hunting and food gathering that make itpossible to identify distinct Mesolithic periods and cultures in some regions.

Where would the sentence best fit?Click ona square to insert the sentence in the passage

   14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage isprovided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answerchoices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answerchoices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are notpresented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This questions isworth 2 points.

Throughout the European Mesolithic, the trend was toward greater socialcomplexity and greater exploitation of food resources.

索取“答案+解析”，请加新航道上海老师微信(shnc_2018)