托福阅读真题Official 53 Passage 1（二）

托福阅读真题Official 53 Passage 1（二）

Evidence of the Earliest Writing

Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world,the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia,which,archaeological detective work has revealed,had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity.Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people,to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged,created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products.Over many thousands of years,the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped(cuneiform)signs on clay tablets,recognizable as writing.

The original tokens(circa 8500 B.C.E.)were three-dimensional solid shapes—tiny spheres,cones,disks,and cylinders.A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock,for example,might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens.To keep batches of tokens together,an innovation was introduced(circa 3250 B.C.E.)whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid.But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten,two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed.Eventually,having two sets of equivalent symbols—the internal tokens and external markings—came to seem redundant,so the tokens were eliminated(circa 3250–3100 B.C.E.),and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained.Over time,the symbols became more numerous,varied,and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities,evolving eventually into cuneiform writing.

The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves.The earliest tokens,dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago,were of only the simplest geometric shapes.But about 3500 B.C.E.,more complex tokens came into common usage,including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools,furniture,fruit,and humans.The earlier,plain tokens were counters for agricultural products,whereas the complex ones stood for finished products,such as bread,oil,perfume,wool,and rope,and for items produced in workshops,such as metal,bracelets,types of cloth,garments,mats,pieces of furniture,tools,and a variety of stone and pottery vessels.The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges,circles,ovals,and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens.

Before this evidence came to light,the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite.Some,for example,hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs.But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisans—and the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactions—testifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing.

And not only of literacy,but numeracy(the representation of quantitative concepts)as well.The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people’s desire to keep records of flocks and other goods.Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B.C.E.,when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals.Previously,units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondence—by repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times.The accountants,however,devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs,so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting“18.”Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics.

What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough.The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class,with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities.We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy,but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery it eased.

Question 3 of 14

According to paragraph 2,the first two-dimensional symbols were

A.pictures of commodities drawn on clay tablets

B.images sealed inside conical or cylindrical containers

C.numbers used for keeping track of clay envelopes

D.images of tokens pressed into the clay of envelopes

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：事实信息题

原文定位：根据two-dimensional定位到第二段第四句But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten,two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed.因为信封里的内容容易被遗忘，所以用平面符号在信封表面做标记。

选项分析：

D选项正确，二维符号是用来标记信封里的代币的。

A选项说是泥板上画的商品图像，原文没提商品图像。

B选项说是被封入圆锥或圆柱的图像，原文没提。

C选项说是数字，原文没提数字。

Question 4 of 14

According to paragraph 2,why were tokens eliminated?

A.They were not numerous or varied enough to represent all of the trade commodities.

B.They were easily broken and then hard to count.

C.They were difficult to keep together in batches.

D.They were unnecessary when symbols were used on the surface of envelopes.

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：事实信息题

原文定位：根据eliminated定位到第二段倒数第二句Eventually,having two sets of equivalent symbols—the internal tokens and external markings—came to seem redundant,so the tokens were eliminated(circa 3250–3100 B.C.E.),and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained.因为内部的代币和外部的符号功能相同，代币就被省略了，最后只保留了记载二维符号的泥板。

选项分析：

D选项正确，由于信封外面符号的出现，代币没有用了。

A选项说代币不够多，不足以记录所有的商品，原文没提代币不够多。

B选项说代币容易坏，且不易查，原文没提。

C选项说代币很难聚成堆，原文说To keep batches of tokens together,an innovation was introduced…与原文内容相反。

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