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托福阅读澳大利亚土著岩石艺术解析
Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines
P1: Ever since European first explored Australia, people have been trying to understand the ancient rock drawings and carvings created by the Aborigines, the original inhabitants of the continent. Early in the nineteenth century, encounters with Aboriginal rock art tended to be infrequent and open to speculative interpretation, but since the late nineteenth century, awareness of the extent and variety of Australian rock art has been growing. In the latter decades of the twentieth century there were intensified efforts to understand and record the abundance of Australian rock art.
难词解析:
explore v. 探索、勘探
carve v. 雕刻
inhabitant n. 居民
encounter n.&v. 遭遇
infrequent adj. 很少发生的
speculative adj. 猜测性的、投机性的
Interpretation n. 解释
awareness n. 意识
intensify v. 加强、强化
难句解析:
Early in the nineteenth century, encounters with Aboriginal rock art tended to be infrequent and open to speculative interpretation, but since the late nineteenth century, awareness of the extent and variety of Australian rock art has been growing.
在十九世纪早期，遇到的岩石艺术品还比较少，大多是猜测性的解释，但是到了十九世纪晚期，人们意识到这些岩石艺术的范围和多样性一直在增加。
P2: The systematic study of this art is a relatively new discipline in Australia. Over the past four decades new discoveries have steadily added to the body of knowledge. The most significant data have come from a concentration on three major questions. First, what is the age of Australian rock art? Second, what is its stylistic organization and is it possible to discern a sequence or a pattern of development between styles? Third, is it possible to interpret accurately the subject matter of ancient rock art, bring to bear all available archaeological techniques and the knowledge of present-day Aboriginal informants?
难词解析：
systematic adj. 系统性的
discipline n. 学科
concentration n. 集中、聚集
discern v. 觉察、识别
sequence n. 顺序
pattern n. 模式、组合
subject n. 主题
bear v. 表明、展示
难句解析：
Third, is it possible to interpret accurately the subject matter of ancient rock art, bring to bear all available archaeological techniques and the knowledge of present-day Aboriginal informants?
第三，有没有可能在利用所有可能的考古技术和对现有土著居民中博学者的了解，准确地了解这些岩石艺术所要表达的主题?
P3: The age of Australia’s rock art is constantly being revised, and earlier datings have been proposed as the result of new discoveries. Currently, reliable scientific evidence dates the earliest creation of art on rock surfaces in Australia to somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 years ago. This in itself is an almost incomprehensible span of generations, and one that makes Australia’s rock art the oldest continuous art tradition in the world.
难词解析：
revise v. 修改、修正
propose v. 提出
as the result of 做为……的结果
reliable adj. 可靠的
Incomprehensive adj. 无法理解的
P4: Although the remarkable antiquity of Australia’s rock art is now established, the sequences and meanings of its images have been widely debated. Since the mid-1970s, a reasonably stable picture has formed of the organization of Australian rock art. In order to create a sense of structure to this picture, researchers have relied on a distinction that still underlies the forms of much indigenous visual culture-- a distinction between geometric and figurative elements. Simple geometric repeated patterns-circles, concentric circles, and lines-constitute the iconography (characteristic images) of the earliest rock-art sites found across Australia. The frequency with which certain simple motifs appear in these oldest sites has led rock-art researchers to adopt a descriptive term-the Panaramitee style-a label which takes its name from the extensive rock pavements at Panaramitee North in desert South Australia, which are covered with motifs pecked into the surface. Certain features of these engravings lead to the conclusion that they are of great age. Geological changes had clearly happened after the designs had been made and local Aboriginal informants, when first questioned about them, seemed to know nothing of their origins. Furthermore, the designs were covered with "desert varnish", a glaze that develops on rock surfaces over thousands of years of exposure to the elements. The simple motifs found at Panaramitee are common to many rock-art sites across Australia. Indeed, sites with engravings of geometric shapes are also to be found on the island of Tasmania, which was separated from the mainland of the continent some 10,000 years ago.
难词解析：
remarkable adj. 引人注目的
antiquity n. 古老、古物
sequence n. 顺序
debate: v. 辩论
stable adj. 稳定的
in order to 为了……
rely on: 依赖于……
distinction n. 区分
underlie v. 是……的原因;是……的基础
indigenous adj. 本土的、当地的
visual adj. 视觉的
geometric adj. 几何的
feature n. 特征
engraving n. 雕刻
难句解析：
The frequency (with which certain simple motifs appear in these oldest sites) has led rock-art researchers to adopt a descriptive term - the Panaramitee style - a label (which takes its name from the extensive rock pavements at Panaramitee North in desert South Australia), (which are covered with motifs pecked into the surface).
(某些简单主题在这些最老地方的出现的)频率导致岩石艺术研究者采用了一个描述性术语 - P style – (取名于澳大利亚南部沙漠的PN地区的广泛的(表面满覆盖着这些主题)岩石道路)的一个标签。
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P1 土著岩石艺术的研究情况： 19th早期研究的特征: _____________而且_____________ 20th研究的特征: ___________________________
P2 对岩石艺术的研究聚焦于三个主要问题： Q1: _________________________________________ Q2: _________________________________________ Q3: _________________________________________ P3 回答P2的第几个Question?_____________目前最早的日期是_____________
P4 回答P2的第几个Question?_____________ 现状：岩石艺术的_____________已经确定，但_____________争议很大。
Answers：
P1：infrequent, open to speculative interpretation; understand and record the abundance of Australian rock art
P2: What is the age of Australian rock art? What is its stylistic organization and is it possible to discern a sequence or a pattern of development between styles? Is it possible to interpret accurately the subject matter of ancient rock art?
P3: Q1; 30,000 and 50,000 years ago
P4: Q2; antiquity of Australia’s rock art; sequences and meanings of its images
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