TPO23 托福阅读Passage3 Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines文本+题目原文+答案解析

Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines 

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.

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? ■

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. ■

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.

In the 1970s when the study of Australian archaeology was in an exciting phase of development, with the great antiquity of rock art becoming clear. Lesley Maynard, the archaeologist who coined the phrase “Panaramitee style,” suggested that a sequence could be determined for Australian rock art, in which a geometric style gave way to a simple figurative style (outlines of figures and animals), followed by a range of complex figurative styles that, unlike the pan-Australian geometric tradition tended to much greater regional diversity. While accepting that this sequence fits the archaeological profile of those sites, which were occupied continuously over many thousands of years a number of writers have warned that the underlying assumption of such a sequence—a development from the simple and the geometric to the complex and naturalistic—obscures the cultural continuities in Aboriginal Australia, in which geometric symbolism remains fundamentally important. In this context the simplicity of a geometric motif may be more apparent than real. Motifs of seeming simplicity can encode complex meanings in Aboriginal Australia. And has not twentieth-century art shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermine sequence?

TPO23托福阅读 Passage3 Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines 题目

Question 1 of 14:  The word “infrequent” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. puzzling

B. uncommon

C. questionable

D. undocumented

Question 2 of 14: According to paragraph 1, the twentieth-century approach to studying Australian rock art was different from earlier approaches because the twentieth-century approach

A. recognized that many different groups of Aborigines created Australian rock art

B. concentrated on a limited range of Aboriginal rock art

C. examined Aboriginal art from an Aboriginal rather than from a European perspective

D. focused more intensely on understanding and documenting rock art

Question 3 of 14: The word “relatively” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. completely

B. comparatively

C. apparently

D. particularly

Question 4 of 14: The word “discern” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. indicate

B. apply

C. identify

D. repeat

Question 5 of 14:  The word “revised” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. discussed

B. raised

C. challenged

D. changed

Question 6 of 14: Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave ways or leave out essential information

A. The oldest rock art sites have simpler motifs than the best known sites of Panaramitee North.

B. Because motifs primarily associated with the Panaramitee region are common in the oldest sites the term Panaramitee style has become the general term for rock art of this type.

C. Because the Panaramitee style is so common in the older sites, researchers have described it most extensively.

D. The motifs carved in the rocky surface of the Panaramitee region make up the oldest form of rock art discovered in Australia.

Question 7 of 14: According to paragraph 4, researchers have organized and structured Australian rock art by distinguishing between which of the following?

A. Images found at Panaramitee North and images found in other parts of Australia

B. Images found in a particular type of rock layer and images found in other types of rock layers

C. Images that have geometric elements and images that have figurative elements

D. Images that are typically found and image that are rarely found

Question 8 of 14: According to paragraph 4, all of the following are signs of the great age of the Panaramitee engravings EXCEPT:

A. The engravings consisted of simple animal drawings.

B. The engravings were covered with a layer of a substance known as “desert varnish”.

C. Local Aborigines who were asked knew nothing about the origin of the engravings.

D. Geologic changes had occurred after the engravings were made.

Question9 of 14 ：Why does the author include information about Tasmania in paragraph 4?

A. To provide evidence that the Panaramitee style is widespread and of great age

B. To prove that Aboriginal Australians could not have made the carvings in Tasmania

C. To indicate how researchers have determined how long ago Tasmania separated from the mainland

D. To illustrate the importance of geometric rock art to tourism in Tasmania

Question10 of 14: According to paragraph 5, the complex figurative style differs from the geometric style in that the complex figurative style

A. varies significantly from region to region

B. is more meaningful

C. appears on only a few types of rocks

D. has changed little overtime

Question11 of 14: According to paragraph 5, Lesley Maynard made which of the following suggestions about Australian rock art?

A. There were a pattern of human figures being represented in a more complex style than animal figures.

B. Australian archaeology should concentrate on determining the sequence of styles that led up to the Panaramitee style.

C. The great antiquity of Australian rock art would probably make it impossible to determine the ages of the various styles found in rock art.

D. The geometric style of Australian rock art was replaced by increasingly complex figurative styles.

Question 12 of 14: In paragraph 5, the author indicates that twentieth century art has shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermined sequence in order to

A. emphasize that it may not be possible to determine what the figures in ancient rock art represent

B. suggest a reply to those who have questioned Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art

C. provide a counterexample to Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art

D. indicate that twentieth century art is more advanced than ancient rock art

Question13 of 14:  Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage

While a great deal of information exists, the answers to these questions are not yet definitive.

Where would the sentence best fit?

A. The age of Australia’s rock art is constantly being revised, and earlier datings have been proposed as the result of new discoveries. B. 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. 

C. 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. 

D. /

Question14 of 14: Interest in the rock art of the original inhabitants of Australia has grown over the last two centuries.

A. Late nineteenth century studies of Aboriginal rock art railed to recognize that a variety of styles existed.

B. The extreme age of the earliest Aboriginal rock art has been established but the interpretation of rock art images is still debated.

C. A sequence from geometric to more representative art fits many sites but does not necessarily indicate a progression from simple to complex meaning.

D. In determining the way in which Australian rock art was organized, archaeologists have made little distinction between geometric and figurative elements.

E. Older examples of rock art consist of simple, repeated geometric patterns while later rock art includes figures and animals.

F. Aboriginal informants were able to explain the meanings of ancient rock art symbols.

TPO23托福阅读Passage3Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines 真题解析

Question 1 of 14

答案：B

解析：infrequent“不常见的”，所以正确答案是uncommon，单词是frequent加否定前缀构成的。原文提到最初encounter   ，从十九世纪晚期，awareness变多了，也就是原来很少，所以正确答案是B，其他选项都与多或者少不相关。

Question 2 of 14

答案：D

解析：以二十世纪做关键词定位至最后一句，提到二十世纪的后几十年人们更多花功夫在理解和记录rock art的abundance上，所以正确答案是D，understanding and documenting。其他选项都未提及。

Question 3 of 14

答案：B

解析：relatively“相对地，相关地”，所以正确答案是comparatively。原文提到对这种art的研究是一个   新的学科在澳洲。接着说在过去的四十年中，也就是说已经研究了四十年了，也不能算很新，只是时间相对短罢了，所以正确答案是B。A“全新”C“明显新”和D“特别新”都不正确。

Question 4 of 14

答案：C

解析：discern“辨别，察觉”，所以正确答案是identity。从单词本身看，dis有“分开”之意，cern有“确定，弄清”之意，两者合在一起是“区分、辨别”之意。原文提到Australian rock art的stylistic organization究竟是什么，是否有可能   一个sequence或者一种pattern，所以答案是C。repeat和apply不合文意，indicate有“暗示，指明”之意，而原文没有，不选。

Question 5 of 14

答案：D

解析：revise“修改”，所以正确答案是change。原文提到rock art的年龄一直在   ，接着又说因为有新发现，所以更早的定年出现了，所以年龄是被改变了，D正确。raise错误，年龄不能一直被提出；challenge和discuss都没提出结果，而且也跟再次没关系，不选。

Question 6 of 14

答案：B

解析：原句的结构是frequency导致专家采用了一个term，lead to说明存在因果关系，正确答案是B。A比较关系错误，不选；C的结果与原文不同，不选；D的结构跟原文完全不相关，不选。

Question 7 of 14

答案：C

解析：以structure和distinguish双关键词定位至第三句和第四句，注意原文的distinction和distinguish是一回事儿，而且破折号和between也能帮我们定位，所以正确答案是C，区分开geometric和figurative，别的都没提到。

Question 8 of 14

答案：A

解析：此题可采用排除法。A的simple animal drawing原文未提及，错误，选；B的desert varnish做关键词定位至倒数第三句，“covered with desert varnish”，正确，不选；C的know nothing about the origins做关键词定位至倒数第四句，know nothing about their origins，正确，不选；另外这句话也说到了D的geologic changes，所以D也正确，不选。

Question 9 of 14

答案：A

解析：先以Tasmania做关键词定位至最后一句，但整个句子都是例子，因此往前看，前一句说在Panaramitee处出现的motif在整个澳洲都很普遍，紧接着提到塔斯马尼亚的例子，所以答案是A，其他都未提及。

Question 10 of 14

答案：A

解析：找两个style的不同，第二句不仅提到了两个style，而且用unlike说了两者的不同，所以是信息所在。这句说跟geometric不同，figurative有更大的区域性特征，也就是说不同区域有区别，所以正确答案是A的from region to region，剩下三个选项都未提及。

Question 11 of 14

答案：D

解析：以人名做关键词定位至第二句，提到澳洲rock art有顺序，先是geometric，再到简单的figurative，后来是复杂figurative，只有D说到了被复杂的取代，是正确答案。A和C都没说，B说到了sequence，但这个顺序已经确定了，而不是B说的should concentrate on determining，所以B也不正确。

Question 12 of 14

答案：C

解析：作者提到的修辞点在最后一句，在倒数第四句，作者提到这个从简单到复杂的顺序模糊了cultural continuity，也就是说作者说naturalism不一定跟着abstraction是为了说明这个顺序不正确，之前Maynard说有这个顺序，所以答案是C，提供一个反例给Maynard的interpretation。A和D未提及，B与原文相反。

Question 13 of 14

答案：A

解析：此题相对简单，一个过渡点就够了，是代词词组these questions，四个插入点中只有A之前有问题，所以正确答案是A。

Question 14 of 14

答案：BCE

解析：A选项与原文第一段倒数第二句相反，原文说的是“awareness of the extent and variety of Australian rock art has been growing.”不选；B选项对应原文第四段中心句，正确；C选项对应原文第四段和第五段的结尾的内容，正确；D选项与原文第五段第二句相反，不选；E选项对应原文第五段第二句，正确；F选项与原文第四段倒数第四句说反，原文说的是“seemed to know nothing of their origins”不选。所以正确答案是BCE。

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