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托福备考阅读之农业起源
The Origins of Agriculture
农业起源
P1: 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.
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force
v. 迫使
abandon
v. 放弃
nomad
adj. 游牧的
sedentary
adj. 定居的，久坐的
storage
n. 存储
irrigation
n. 灌溉
exhausted
adj. 精疲力尽的
contemporary
adj. 当代的
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.
首先，它会迫使人们放弃游牧生活并定居下来，发明贮存方法和通常所需的灌溉系统。采集狩猎者往往可以选择在资源耗尽的时候迁到他处，对于耕作者来说就没这么容易。
P2: Traditionally, it was believed that the transition to agriculture was the result of a worldwide population crisis. It was argued that once hunter-gatherers had occupied the whole world, the population started to grow everywhere and food became scarce; agriculture would have been a solution to this problem. We know, however, that contemporary hunter-gatherer societies control their population in a variety of ways. The idea of a world population crisis is therefore unlikely, although population pressure might have arisen in some areas.
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crisis
n. 危机
scarce
adj. 缺乏的
arise
v. 出现
It was argued that once hunter-gatherers had occupied the whole world, the population started to grow everywhere and food became scarce; agriculture would have been a solution to this problem.
有人认为一旦采集狩猎者遍及全世界，人口开始增长，食物变得匮乏，农业便是解决这个问题的一个方法。
P3: Climatic changes at the end of the glacial period 13,000 years ago have been proposed to account for the emergence of farming. The temperature increased dramatically in a short period of time (years rather than centuries), allowing for a growth of the hunting-gathering population due to the abundance of resources. There were, however, fluctuations in the climatic conditions, with the consequences that wet conditions were followed by dry ones, so that the availability of plants and animals oscillated brusquely.
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glacial
adj. 冰的
emergence
n. 出现
dramatically
adv. 戏剧性地
fluctuation
n. 波动
oscillate
v. 摆动
brusquely
adj. 唐突地
The temperature increased dramatically in a short period of time (years rather than centuries), allowing for a growth of the hunting-gathering population due to the abundance of resources.
短时期内(以年而不是以世纪为单位)温度急剧上升使得食物资源丰富，采集狩猎者人口增加。
There were, however, fluctuations in the climatic conditions, with the consequences [that wet conditions were followed by dry ones], [so that the availability of plants and animals oscillated brusquely].
但是，气候条件存在波动，造成干湿交替，以致可以获取的动植物数量忽高忽低。
测试篇
P1 提出问题：农业为什么发展
从狩猎和采集转变为农耕并没有显而易见的好处:
(1) _____________________________________
(2) _____________________________________
(3) _____________________________________
P2 农业发展的原因1: _____________
P3 农业发展的原因2: _____________
气候条件存在波动，造成_____________
Answers：
P1：it forced the population to abandon the nomad's life and become sedentary;when the resources were exhausted, this became more difficult with farming ;the state of health of agriculturalists was worse than that of their contemporary hunter-gatherers
P2：Worldwide population crisis
P3：Climatic changes，availability of plants and animals oscillated brusquely
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