Paragraph 6：The fact that some societies domesticated animals and plants, discovered the use of metal tools, became literate, and developed a state should not make us forget that others developed pastoralism or horticulture (vegetable gardening) but remained illiterate and at low levels of productivity; a few entered the modern period as hunting and gathering societies. It is anthropologically important to inquire into the conditions that made some societies adopt agriculture while others remained hunter-gatherers or horticulturalists. However, it should be kept in mind that many societies that knew of agriculture more or less consciously avoided it. Whether Mithen's explanation is satisfactory is open to contention, and some authors have recently emphasized the importance of other factors.
12. According to paragraph 6, which of the following is a weakness of Mithen's explanation?
O It does not clearly distinguish agriculture from pastoralism and horticulture.
O It fails to explain why some societies adopted agriculture while others did not.
O It explains the domestication of plants and animals but not the development of metal tools.
O It overlooks the fact that illiteracy and low productivity remain problems even today
题型：细节题
定位词： a weakness of Mithen's explanation
解题思路：文中 should not make us forget 提示了一个值得人思考的现象：有些社会采用了农业生产模式而有些社会仍维持捕猎模式，所以B项正确。
重点句子翻译：
It is anthropologically important to inquire into the conditions that made some societies adopt agriculture while others remained hunter-gatherers or horticulturalists.
从人类学上说调查导致有些社会采用了农业生产模式而有些社会仍维持捕猎模式的条件很重要。
How did it come about that farming developed independently in a number of world centers (the Southeast Asian mainland, Southwest Asia, Central America, lowland and highland South America, and equatorial Africa) at more or less the same time? Agriculture developed slowly among populations that had an extensive knowledge of plants and animals. ■Changing from hunting and gathering to agriculture had no immediate advantages. ■ To start with, it forced the population to abandon the nomad's life and become sedentary, to develop methods of storage and, often, systems of irrigation. ■While hunter-gatherers always had the option of moving elsewhere when the resources were exhausted, this became more difficult with farming. ■ Furthermore, as the archaeological record shows, the state of health of agriculturalists was worse than that of their contemporary hunter-gatherers.
13. Look at the four squares ■that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
Because humans had built up this knowledge as hunter-gatherers, it is logical to conclude that over time they would have become extremely efficient.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage.
题型：句子插入题
解题思路：所给句子是一个原因，并且描述了人们捕猎的高效率，第二个方框前的句子对农业和捕猎的好处下了一个论点性的结论，后面三句话举了三个原因，由于后面的原因有一个较为紧密的逻辑联系，所以排除后两个方框，应把句子插入第二个框。
重点句子翻译：
Because humans had built up this knowledge as hunter-gatherers, it is logical to conclude that over time they would have become extremely efficient.
因为人类所建立的这个狩猎者的知识，这是合乎逻辑的结论：随着时间的推移，他们会变得非常有效。
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
It is unclear why hunter-gatherers in different parts of the world independently developed agriculture at roughly the same time.
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Answer choices:
A. One obstacle to the transition from nomadic lifestyle to the sedentary lifestyle required by agriculture was that hunter-gathers had not developed storage techniques.
B. The origins of agriculture may be linked to climate change at the end of the last ice age, but this does explain why earlier climatic instability had not led to agriculture.
C. One recent theory suggests that the invention of agriculture was made possible by the integration of various mental capacities in the human mind.
D. It seems unlikely that agriculture emerged in response to a food shortage brought on by a worldwide population crisis that developed once the whole world was occupied.
E. The only available means of understanding the social organization and technical abilities of ancient hunter-gatherer societies is the study of contemporary hunter-gatherers.
F. Little is known about why only some societies that adopted agriculture rapidly progressed to using metal tools, becoming literate, and developing a state.
题型：总结题
解题思路：选项A属于细节内容，非文章主要论述的内容；选项B是原文第三、四段主要内容的概括； 选项C是原文第五段主要内容的概括；选项D是原文第一、二段主要内容的概括；选项E是一个细节内容，与文章主旨无关；选项F原文未提及。综上，正确答案为B、D、E。
本文核心词汇：
extensive: adj. 广阔的，深刻的
abandon: v. 抛弃
sedentary: adj. 定居的，不迁徙的
exhaust: v. 用尽，耗尽；使疲惫
contemporary: adj. 当代的；同时代的
crisis: n. 危机
scarce: adj. 缺乏的，罕见的
emergence: n. 出现；曝露
oscillate: v. 使摆动
brusquely: adv. 唐突地；粗率地
nomadic: adj. 游牧的；流浪的
cognitive: adj. 认知的
linguistic: adj. 语言的
manipulate: v. 操纵
literate: adj. 有读写能力的；有文化修养的
