An important language development

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题目与答案

1. 1 Cuneiform tablets were produced in different shapes and sizes.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：TRUE

   原文定位：It was most often inscribed on palmsized, rectangular clay tablets measuring several centimetres across, although occasionally, larger tablets or cylinders were used

2. Complex, abstract symbols developed

   · at first, signs looked like what they indicated, e.g. 10_____ .

   答案：sheep

   原文定位：For example, an image which resembled the drawing of a sheep meant just that

3. · then signs became more abstract

   · eventually, cuneiform signs shaped like 11_____ were developed

   答案：triangles

   原文定位：At this last stage in the evolution of cuneiform, the signs took the form of tringles, which became common cuneiform signs

   同义替换：「eventually」↔「At this last stage」，「shaped like」↔「took the form of」

4. · according to experts, cuneiform was mainly used for 12_____ .

   答案：accounting

   原文定位：most linguists and historians agree cuneiform developed primarily as a tool for accounting

   同义替换：「mainly」↔「primarily」

5. 19th-century translation of cuneiform inscriptions by Henry Rawlinson

   · Rawlinson found cuneiform inscriptions in the Behistun mountains

   · Rawlinson copied inscriptions onto 13_____

   · Rawlinson realised that each word of the inscriptions appeared in different languages

   · When translated, Rawlinson found the writings were about a 5th-century BCE king

   答案：paper

   原文定位：Rawlinson made impressions of the marks on large pieces of paper

   同义替换：「copied inscriptions onto」↔「made impressions of the marks on」

6. 2 When Sumerian writers marked on the clay tablets, the tablets were dry.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：FALSE

   原文定位：Sumerian writers would impress these lines into the wet clay with a stylus

   同义替换：「dry」↔「wet」

7. 3 Cuneiform was often difficult to read because of its size.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：TRUE

   原文定位：Oddly, the signs were often almost too small to see with the naked eye

   同义替换：「difficult to read」↔「too small to see」

8. 4 A number of languages adopted cuneiform.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：TRUE

   原文定位：Cuneiform signs were used for the writing of at least a dozen languages

   同义替换：「a number of languages」↔「at least a dozen languages」，「adopted」↔「used for writing」

9. 5 Cuneiform signs, can be found in some modern alphabets.
   • TRUE
   • FALSE
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：NOT GIVEN

10. The development and translation of cuneiform

    Before cuneiform

    · tokens, for example, 6_____ were often used

    答案：stones

    原文定位：they might take small stones and use them as tokens or representations of something else, like a goat

    同义替换：「for example」↔「like」，「tokens」↔「stones」

11. · the first tokens were kept in containers made of 7_____ .

    答案：cloth

    原文定位：These tokens might then be placed in a cloth container and provided to a buyer as a receipt for a transaction

12. · tokens were used as a 8_____ to give when selling something.

    答案：receipt

    原文定位：placed in a cloth container and provided to a buyer as a receipt for a transaction

    同义替换：「give when selling something」↔「for a transaction」

13. By 4th century BCE

    · tokens were put in a container that looked like a clay 9_____ .

    答案：envelope

    原文定位：They began putting tokens in a container resembling an envelope, and now made of clay instead of cloth

    同义替换：「looked like」↔「resembling」