六级考试阅读考前练习5

　　2 The origin of language is also obscure. No doubt it began very gradually Animals have a few cries that serve as signals, but even the highest apes have not been found able to pronounce words, even with the most intensive professional instruction. The superior brain of man is apparently a necessity for the mastering of speech. When man became suffiviently intelligent, we must suppose that he fradually increased the number of cries for different purposes. It was a great day when he discovered hat speech could be used for narrative. There are those who think in this respect picture language preceded oral language. A man could draw a picture on the wall of his cave to show in which direction he had gone, or what prey he hoped to catch. Probably picture language and oral language developed side by side. I am inclined to think that language has been the most important single factor in the development of man.

　　3 Two important stages came not so long before the dawn of written history. The first was the domestication of animals; the second was agriculture. Agriculture was a step in human progress to which subsequently there was nothing comparable until our own machine age. Agriculture made possible an immense increase in the number of the human species in the regions where it could be successfully practiced. These were, at first, only those in which nature fertilized the soil after each harvest. Agriculture met with violent resistance from the pastoral nomads, but the agricultural way of life prevailed in the end because of the physical comforts it provided.

　　4 Another fundamental technical advance was writing, which, like spoken language, developed out of pictures, but as soon as it had reached a certain stage, it was possible to keep records and transmit information to people who were not present when the information was given.

　　5 These inventions and discoveriesfire, speech, weapons, domestic animals, agriculture, and writingmade the existence of civilized communities possible. From about 3000 B. C. until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution less than two hundred years ago there was no technical advance comparable to these. During this long period man had time to become accustomed to his technique, and to deveop the beliefs and political organizations appropriate to it There was, of course, an immense extension in the area of civilized life. At first it had been confined to the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Indus, but at the end of the period in question it covered much the greater part of the inhabitable globe. I do not mean to suggest that there was no technical progress during this long time; there was progressthere were even two inventions of very great importance, namely gunpowder and the mariners compassbut neither of these can be compared in their power to such things as speech and writing and agriculture.

　　Notes

　　1 ape: any monkey

　　2 narrative: a story or description of actual or fictional events; to narrate is to give an account or commentary

　　3 prey: an animal hunted or caught for food

　　4 pastoral: of or pertaining to shepherds, herdsmen, etc.

　　5 nomad: one of a group of people who have no permanent home and move about from place to place

　　6 the Nile: the longest river in the world flowing through East Africa,尼罗河

　　7 the Tigris: river of Southwest Asia, joining the Euphrates in South Iraq

　　8 the Euphrates: river of Southwest Asia,幼发拉底河

　　9 the Indus: river of South Central Asia, rising from Southwest Tibet, flowing through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea