Exercises
A. Choose the best answer. Do not refer to the text.
The main idea of the article is that ________. ( B )
(a) the location of Pylos remains a mystery
(b) a legendary site in antiquity was uncovered without a shovel
(c) PRAP made the greatest contribution to archaeology
(d) four waves of environmental change mark the major changes in history
B. Comprehending the text.
Choose the best answer.
1.On April 4, 1939, Carl W. Blegen had a great discovery, ________. ( B )
(a) which earned him a great fortune in the later days
(b) which was thought to be the finance office of the palace
(c) which was full of valuable Bronze Age artifacts
(d) which was the storage of olive oil jars
2. The discovery revealed that ________. ( A )
(a) the Mycenaeans had created the first highly centralized civilization in Europe
(b) the ancient tablets had been used to carve poetry
(c) modern nations all came from ancient city-states
(d) the wanax had lived a very luxurious life
3. Surveys are an archaeological practice well-established in ________. ( D )
(a) Greece
(b) France
(c) Britain
(d) America
4. The work that is not related to Jack L. Davis is ________. ( C )
(a) PRAP
(b) Sandy Pylos
(c) Excavation
(d) Survey
5. It seemed that the real Pylos ________. ( D )
(a) had never existed
(b) was a town called Ottoman Navarino
(c) was near Koryfasio
(d) was 14 kilometers north of Ottoman Navarino
6. What is under the cover of a huge, open-sided sheet-metal hangar? ( A )
(a) The remains of the late Bronze Age palace.
(b) The beak of a sharp ridge, Ano Englianos.
(c) The reconstruction of the palace.
(d) The tomb of the wanax.
7. Archaeologists are interested in collecting ________. ( B )
(a) precious metals
(b) pottery fragments
(c) building materials
(d) roof tiles
8. The human population increased greatly in the period ________. ( C )
(a) 15000 B.C.—4000 B.C.
(b) 4000 B.C.—3000 B.C.
(c) 3000 B.C.—2000 B.C.
(d) 1400 B.C.—500 B.C.
C. Understanding vocabulary.
Choose the correct definition according to the context.
1. On that morning Carl W. Blegen, the preeminent American archaeologist of the time, opened a trench through an olive grove. ( A )
(a) great
(b) ancient
(c) traditional
(d) inexperienced
2. A cataclysmic fire had destroyed the palace 3,200 years earlier, but storage jars of olive oil had exploded near clay tablets on which the palace financial records were kept, fired then into a crude ceramic. ( C )
(a) accidental
(b) lasting
(c) disastrous
(d) industrial
3. The Bronze Age Greeks, or Mycenaeans, such lists show, had created the first highly centralized civilization in Europe —a precursor to city-states, empires and nations from Athens to the Soviet Union. ( B )
(a) ancestor
(b) forerunner
(c) foundation
(d) similarity
4. Davis assembled a consortium of archaeologists, historians, physical scientists and students into the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, or PRAP. ( A )
(a) group
(b) conference
(c) organization
(d) series
5. In archaeological parlance, PRAP is "survey." ( C )
(a) language
(b) view
(c) jargon
(d) idiom
6. Later, British archaeologists picked up the New World habit, wedded it to French modernist theories on the history of "ordinary" life and brought it to bear on Old World problems. ( D )
(a) married
(b) devoted
(c) gave
(d) united
7. The subversive stuff, however, is in Davis's mild-mannered book titled Sandy Pylos, which will be published by University of Texas Press next year. ( A )
(a) revolutionary
(b) radical
(c) conservative
(d) significant
8. Sandy Pylos quietly undermines many conventional assumptions about archaeology and history. ( B )
(a) contradicts
(b) weakens
(c) underlies
(d) opposes
9. When I decided to retrace Blegen's footsteps and talk with Davis, I had to take an all-day bus ride from smog-bound Athens across the rocky Peloponnesus to Pylos in western Messenia. ( C )
(a) keep up with
(b) follow up
(c) go back over
(d) catch up with
10. Blegen's dig is now covered by a huge, open-sided sheet-metal hangar, erected by the Greek government to protect the low, rubble footprint of the late Bronze Age palace. ( A )
(a) shed
(b) hook
(c) roof
(d) tent
11. The day after my arrival, I wandered through the ankle-high maze of the palace remains in search of the great central megaron, or throne room, where the wanax presided. ( C )
(a) took the lodging
(b) took a rest
(c) took the chair
(d) took a seat
12. Every morning between fifteen and twenty PRAP students fan out in teams across the rugged hills and coastline around the old palace. ( A )
(a) spread out
(b) break up
(c) set out
(d) move around
13. Invaders may loot precious metals and survivors may scavenge building materials, but no one ever carries off the broken pottery. ( B )
(a) collect
(b) hunt for
(c) like
(d) snatch
14. Over time the surface of the soil has become a historical hodgepodge. ( C )
(a) remains
(b) site
(c) mixture
(d) work
15. The book synthesizes new data, old documents and novel analyses, and it draws perspectives from at least a dozen disciplines. ( A )
(a) integrates
(b) provides
(c) involves
(d) publishes
16. Here the environmental and archaeological survey data come together in intriguing ways. ( C )
(a) harmonious
(b) coherent
(c) fascinating
(d) stimulating
17. The Spartans had little interest in recording their own history, much less the history of the subjugated people of Messenia. ( D )
(a) ruled
(b) ignorant
(c) aboriginal
(d) conquered
18. Only through the curiosity of other Greeks, particularly such nosy Athenians as Thucydides, can contemporary scholars glimpse the fate of Spartan vassals, who were reduced to the status of perioikoi (literally "dwellers around"), with no political rights, or to helots, who were state-owned slaves. ( B )
(a) rulers
(b) slaves
(c) citizens
(d) knights
19. Instead the population was crowded into large villages and small towns—so that their Spartan overlords could control or overawe them, presumably—and the olive groves were tended by helots. ( A )
(a) looked after
(b) present
(c) inclined
(d) controlled
D. Discussing the following topics.
1. What is so important about the discovery of Pylos?
答案： The discovery of Pylos revealed more than 1000 tablets, which recorded in the early Greek script almost everything from bath attendants, bronze-shod chariot wheels, perfumed oil to postings of shepherds and coastguards. The script shows that the Bronze Age Greeks, or Mycenaeans, created the first highly centralized civilization in Europe.
2. What is the special way that PRAP works?
答案： PARP avoids the traditional method of archaeology such as digging or excavation. It works through a new archaeological practice called survey. PARP surveys by walking. Groups of students walk out in teams in all directions around the old palace. At intervals they pace off precise quadrants, collecting surface artifacts and environmental data. Through analysis, the collected sherds will show peaks of human activity and population.
3. Describe the four waves of dramatic environmental change?
答案： The first wave shows the explosion of both the human population and the number of grazing livestock between 3000 B. C. and 2000 B. C. The second wave indicates the rise of Mycenaean culture around 1400 B. C. The third wave results from the new intensive agricultural practices of the Classic Period around 500 B. C. The last wave corresponds with the ongoing human activity in modern time.
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