胡延美

1 Around 1.4 million years ago， early human rela?tives crafted mysterious stone spheroids （球體） in theMiddle East in attempts to make perfect spheres， anew study found. The finding showed the intention ofearly humans to impose a symmetry （對(duì)稱） on thestones， the researchers suggested. “It's possible these deliberately spherical stones hadsome sort of functional advantage over naturally rounded stones available in the land?scape，” study lead author Antoine Muller， an archaeologist at the Hebrew University ofJerusalem， said.“ And their tendency to become more spherical as they were made sug?gested a preference for symmetry and an appreciation of geometry （幾何）.”

2 Hundreds of stone spheroids， typically made from sandstone， have been unearthed atarchaeological sites in Africa， Asia and Europe. The smallest one is just one inch across.The earliest spheroids are up to 2 million years old. But they span the entire era of stonetool?making， and some have been found at the New Stone Age and later sites that are only afew thousand years old.

3 The researchers used mathematical analysis to determine that the spherical shape ofsome of the objects—which range from rough polyhedrons （多面體） to near spheres—wasdeliberate， likely worked on in stages and not accidental. Muller said，“ The ones that weremore‘ finished were more spherical， suggesting that this was one task they were aimingfor.”

4 They noted that earlier studies had seen symmetry in Acheulean bifaces， a type ofstone tool dating from 1.7 million years ago， and this was thought to be the earliest evi?dence of“ early humans imposing a geometric shape and symmetry on their stonetools”. But it now seems that the spheroids， which are older， may have had the same?purpose—and perhaps other purposes as well.

5 Muller said the study suggested that early humans may have been more cognitively（認(rèn)知） advanced than previously suspected.“ Our findings suggest that the people whomade these spheroids could imagine something as abstract as a sphere and impose thatconcept in reality by shaping a stone，” he said.“ That likely takes a great deal of fore?thought and flexibility， speaking to their remarkable cognitive and skilful abilities.”

Reading

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1. Why did early humans add symmetries according to Muller？

A. They had advantages over other living things.

B. They tended to use round items in daily life.

C. They appreciated rounded stones in nature.

D. They desired more abstract knowledge.

2. What does the underlined part“ more‘ finished” refer to in paragraph 3？

A. Those near spheres next to perfection.

B. Those accidentally rounded stone tools.

C. Those rough stones waiting to be rounded.

D. Those completed spheres far from perfection.

3. What can Acheulean bifaces be used to prove？

A. Stone tools needed no improvement.

B. Early humans pursued a sense of beauty.

C. Geometric shapes were everywhere then.

D. Spheres were the same as Acheulean bifaces.

4. What does Muller mean according to paragraph 5？

A. Shaping a stone was easy for early humans.

B. Early humans were frequently questioned.

C. Present humans underestimated early ones.

D. Early people skillfully made spheroids.

語(yǔ)篇解碼

本文是一篇關(guān)于早期人類在中東制作神秘的石頭球體的文章。研究表明，早期人類可能比以前認(rèn)為的認(rèn)知能力更為先進(jìn)。

語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)

Ⅰ. 語(yǔ)料薈萃

Ⅱ. 語(yǔ)句分析

1. They noted that earlier studies had seen symmetry in Acheulean bifaces， a type ofstone tool dating from 1.7 million years ago， and that this was thought to be the earliest evi?dence of “ early humans imposing a geometric shape and symmetry on their stone tools”. 他們指出，早期的研究已經(jīng)在阿舍利雙面器中發(fā)現(xiàn)了對(duì)稱，這是一種可追溯到170萬(wàn)年前的石器，這被認(rèn)為是“早期人類在石器上施加幾何形狀和對(duì)稱”的最早證據(jù)。

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句是一個(gè)主從復(fù)合句，兩個(gè)that引導(dǎo)的都是賓語(yǔ)從句。第一個(gè)賓語(yǔ)從句中的dating from 1.7 million years ago是現(xiàn)在分詞作后置定語(yǔ)。

2. “Our findings suggest that the people who made these spheroids could imaginesomething as abstract as a sphere and impose that concept in reality by shaping a stone，”he said. 他說(shuō)：“我們的研究結(jié)果表明，制造這些球體的人可以想象出像球體這樣抽象的東西，并通過(guò)塑造石頭將這個(gè)概念融入現(xiàn)實(shí)?！?/p>

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句中的第一個(gè)that引導(dǎo)的是賓語(yǔ)從句，從句中含有一個(gè)who引導(dǎo)的定語(yǔ)從句，先行詞是the people，who在從句中作主語(yǔ)。

語(yǔ)言運(yùn)用

Ⅰ. 例句仿寫(xiě)

1. 演講者用一個(gè)箴言結(jié)束會(huì)議，給出了幾個(gè)討論題。

The speaker ended the meeting with a motto， ______________.

2. 但是，現(xiàn)在很受歡迎的節(jié)目似乎已經(jīng)失去了一些老年的觀眾。

But it seems that the program，_________________ ， may have lost some elderly audiences.

Ⅱ. 寫(xiě)作實(shí)踐

你校舉辦了主題為“How to protect cultural heritage”的演講比賽。請(qǐng)你為校英文報(bào)的“英語(yǔ)天地”欄目寫(xiě)一篇新聞報(bào)道，內(nèi)容包括：

1. 比賽的目的；

2. 比賽的過(guò)程；

3. 比賽的反響。

注意：

1. 詞數(shù)80左右；

2. 可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以使行文連貫。

How to protect cultural heritage

________________________