陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Archaeology)

Archaeology

Archaeology is a sourceof history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline.

Archaeological data arehistorical documents in their own right,not mere

illustrations to writtentexts. Just as much as any other historian,  an      

archaeologist studies andtries to reconstitute the process that has

created the human worldin which we live --     and us ourselvesin so far as

we are each creatures ofour age  and social environment.  Archaeological  

data are all     changes in the  material world resulting from human actionor,

more succinctly, thefossilized results of human           behavior.The sum total of

these constitutes whatmay be called the archaeological record. This record

exhibits certain  peculiarities and  deficiencies  the consequences  of

which  produce a  rather  superficial contrast between   archaeological

history and the morefamiliar kind based upon written records.

Not all human behavior fossilizes.The words I utter and you hear as

vibrations in the air arecertainly human             changes in thematerial world

and may be of greathistorical significance. Yet they leave no sort of

trace in the    archaeological records unless they arecaptured by a

dictaphone or writtendown by a clerk. The movement of troops      onthe

battlefield may"change the course of history," but this is equally

ephemeral from thearchaeologist's          standpoint. Whatis perhaps worse, most

organic materials areperishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool,    

linen, grass, hair, andsimilar materials will decay and vanish in dust in

a few years or centuries,save under very exceptional  conditions.In a

relatively brief periodthe archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps

of       stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modernarchaeology, by

applying appropriatetechniques and       comparative  methods, aided  by a few

lucky finds frompeat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a      

good deal of the gap.

考古學

考古學是歷史學的一個來源，而不是地位卑微的輔助學科。  考古學資料本身也是一種 歷史文獻，而不僅僅是文字資料的例證。  

正象任何一位歷史學家那樣，考古學家研究調查 並盡力去重構一個過程。  這個過程創造了我們生活的人類世界，也創造了我們自身，因為

我們都是我們所處的時代和社會環境的產物。  考古學的資料就是人類行為所造成的物質變 化。  更簡潔地說，是石化了的人類行為。  

這些變化的總和構成了我們所說的考古學記錄。 這些記錄自有其獨特和不足之處，因而導致人們對考古歷史和更熟悉的文字記載歷史進行相

當膚淺的對比。並不是所有的人類行為都留下化石。  我說的話，你通過空氣振動聽見，這

當然是人類造成的物質變化，也可能有重大的歷史意義，但這些話在考古學中未留下絲毫痕 跡，除非有人用答錄機錄下來或文書把這些話寫了下來。

戰場上軍隊的行動可能"改變歷史 的進程"，但從考古學的觀點來看，這同樣是難以捕捉的；可能更糟的是，多數有機物質會 腐爛。  

任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛髮以及相似物質做成的東西除非在一些非 常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個世紀以後，會在塵土中腐爛並消失。  

在短時期內，能留下考 古記錄的東西也都會退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。  然而，現代考古學通

過運用適當的技術和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運發現的輔助下， 能夠填充這個空缺的很大部分。