Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福听力原文：

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR: Sure, sometimes we do just stumble onto an important find when doing field research. But usually we've got at least a vague idea of where to look, And with new technology...uh...Okay.

Here's a story that illustrates what I mean.It's about the Mayans, who, as you remember, flourished in Central America and had a culture that was quite advanced in art, architecture, astronomy...We know that despite regular droughts and poor soil, their numbers grew into the millions over the centuries.... until about 1,200 years ago when their entire civilization just seemed to disappear, and we are not sure why.Okay.

So an archaeologist named William Saturno1 goes looking for ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala near a town called San Bartolo.And after several days of extremely difficult hiking through the thick rainforest, Saturno stops to rest in the shade...and finds himself sitting in what turns out to be an ancient Mayan temple—a pyramid twenty-five meters high! And inside, on the walls of this temple, Saturno finds some ancient writing and also this enormous mural with elegant figures depicting a Mayan myth of the creation of the world.And it's all painted on plaster that's over two thousand years old, which makes it the oldest Mayan artwork ever found, at least in good condition! And in fact, one of the most perfectly preserved. An extremely important find.Student: Wow...Do you have a picture of it?FEMALE PROFESSOR: Now...hang on. I don't...there's a point I wanna make here.It happens that someone at NASA, the United States space agency, reads about Saturno's discovery and gets very excited 'cause the space agency has just produced some images of this area using a technique called "remote sensing."That's when instruments on planes and satellites survey areas on the ground. And the newest twist on remote sensing—quite new—is "infrared imaging." Instead of taking regular photographs, the satellite cameras take pictures using infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, but computers can then process these images so our eyes can see them.

Using infrared imaging, the satellite-based remote sensing instruments revealed what turned out to be traces of water storage systems and canals, canals that the Mayans built to irrigate their parched soil, which helps explain how the Mayans could feed such a large population. The infrared images also revealed ancient roadways that had tied Mayan cities together.So people at the space agency figured Saturno would be interested and they sent him this infrared image of the area near San Bartolo where the pyramid temple was found.Now, this is a false color image based on an infrared photo. So the greens of the jungle are shown mostly as blue and red, but notice also the spots of greenish-yellow scattered here and there. These indicate significant discoloration in the vegetation, at least as it appears to infrared cameras. And Saturno notices that some of that discolorations located in exactly the spot where he found the pyramid temple. So he figures, hey, maybe some of those other yellow spots are worth investigating. Well, long story short, he checks out three different spots where the photo shows discoloration and finds an ancient Mayan site overgrown with vegetation at every single one. Further exploration shows a perfect correlation between yellow spots on the infrared image and Mayan ruins hidden in the jungle.Student: So what caused those spots to look different?

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Well, Saturno believes the limestone and lime plasters that the Mayans used to build their structures...Over time, uh, this limestone decayed and seeped into the soil and changed the soil's chemistry. Then calcium carbonate from the decaying lime plaster might've been taken up by the roots of the trees growing there—up into their leaves—and made them give off infrared light much more brightly than the surrounding vegetation.  And infrared sensing technology can detect this.

Student: So, like, is Guatemala the only place where archaeologists have used remote sensing?FEMALE PROFESSOR: No. This technique has been used in other parts of Central America too, and also in Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia. It can be used anywhere the rainforest has obscured ancient ruins.

And the results can be amazing! Like another Mayan temple that Saturno found, thanks to remote sensing, he had walked right by it every day for five years and had no idea it was there, until he saw an infrared image of the area!

二、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：在考古学课上听一节课的一部分。女教授：当然，有时候我们在进行实地研究时，会偶然发现一个重要的发现。但通常情况下，我们至少对去哪里找有一个模糊的想法，而且有了新技术。。。嗯可以

这里有一个故事可以说明我的意思。这是关于玛雅人的，正如你所记得的，玛雅人在中美洲繁荣发展，其文化在艺术、建筑、天文学方面相当先进。。。我们知道，尽管经常发生干旱和贫瘠的土壤，但在过去的几个世纪里，它们的数量增长到了数百万。。。。直到大约1200年前，他们的整个文明似乎都消失了，我们不知道为什么。可以

因此，一位名叫威廉·萨图诺（WilliamSaturno1）的考古学家前往危地马拉一个叫圣巴托洛（SanBartolo）的小镇附近寻找古代玛雅遗址。经过几天艰难的徒步穿越茂密的雨林后，萨图诺停下来在树荫下休息。。。发现自己坐在一座古老的玛雅神庙里——一座25米高的金字塔！在这座神庙的墙壁上，萨图诺发现了一些古老的文字，还有这幅巨大的壁画，上面有优雅的人物，描绘了玛雅人创造世界的神话。而且都是在两千多年前的灰泥上绘制的，这使它成为迄今为止发现的最古老的玛雅艺术品，至少保存完好！事实上，其中一个保存最完好。一个极其重要的发现。学生：哇。。。你有它的照片吗？女教授：现在。。。坚持我不。。。我想说一点。碰巧，美国宇航局（NASA）的某个人读到了土星的发现，非常激动，因为宇航局刚刚利用一种称为“遥感”的技术制作了一些该区域的图像这时，飞机和卫星上的仪器测量地面区域。遥感技术的最新进展是“红外成像”卫星相机使用人眼看不见的红外光拍照，而不是常规拍照，但计算机可以处理这些图像，以便我们的眼睛可以看到它们。

利用红外成像，卫星遥感仪器揭示了蓄水系统和运河的痕迹，这些运河是玛雅人为了灌溉其干燥的土壤而修建的，这有助于解释玛雅人如何养活如此众多的人口。红外图像还显示了将玛雅城市连接在一起的古老道路。因此，航天局的人认为萨图诺会感兴趣，他们给他发送了这张圣巴托洛附近金字塔神庙所在地区的红外图像。这是一张基于红外照片的假彩色图像。因此，丛林中的绿色大多显示为蓝色和红色，但请注意散布在各处的黄绿色斑点。这些表明植被有明显变色，至少在红外摄像机看来是这样。萨图诺注意到，其中一些变色正好位于他发现金字塔神庙的地方。所以他想，嘿，也许其他一些黄点值得调查。长话短说，他检查了照片上三个不同的变色点，发现了一个古老的玛雅遗址，每个地方都长满了植被。进一步的探索表明，红外图像上的黄色斑点与丛林中隐藏的玛雅遗址之间存在着完美的关联。学生：那么是什么导致这些斑点看起来不同呢？

女教授：嗯，萨图诺相信玛雅人用来建造建筑的石灰石和石灰灰泥。。。随着时间的推移，呃，石灰石腐烂并渗入土壤，改变了土壤的化学成分。然后，腐朽石灰膏中的碳酸钙可能被生长在那里的树木的根吸收到叶子中，使它们发出的红外光比周围的植被要明亮得多。红外传感技术可以检测到这一点。

学生：那么，危地马拉是考古学家唯一使用遥感的地方吗？女教授：没有。这种技术也在中美洲其他地区使用过，在巴西、玻利维亚和柬埔寨也有使用。它可以在热带雨林遮蔽古代遗迹的任何地方使用。

结果会很惊人！就像萨图诺（Saturno）发现的另一座玛雅神庙一样，多亏了遥感技术，他五年来每天都在它旁边行走，直到看到该地区的红外图像，他才知道它就在那里！

三、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A. The history of Mayan culture in Central America

B. A new study comparing field-research methods used in Guatemala

C. A new approach to archaeological research

D. Sites where important ancient Mayan art had been discovered

Q2:2.According to the professor, what is the most significant aspect of the mural that William Saturno found near San Bartolo, Guatemala?

A. It includes writing as well as human figures.

B. It is very old but still in excellent condition.

C. It was painted on limestone.

D. It corrects a mistaken belief about Mayan culture.

Q3:3.Why does the professor mention roads and canals?

A. To describe the difficulties of hiking in the rain forest

B. To indicate the kind of ruins initially revealed by the infrared images

C. To point out what Saturno was initially searching for

D. To emphasize recent improvement in transportation near San Bartolo

Q4:4.After Saturno found the pyramid temple near San Bartolo, what guided his search for other ancient Mayan sites?

A. His theory about why the ancient Mayan civilization disappeared

B. Clues found in the ancient writing at the pyramid temple

C. Information from people who live in the region

D. The location of light-colored spots in satellite photos

Q5:5.Why does the professor mention limestone?

A. To support a theory about why most Mayan structure are well preserved

B. To point out a difference between Mayan structure in Guatemala and those in other areas

C. To suggest a reason why certain vegetation stands out in infrared images

D. To explain why it is difficult to locate ancient buildings in jungles.

Q6:6.Why does the professor say this:

A. She does not want the student to distract her from telling a story

B. She is trying to recall if she has a picture of the artwork.

C. She wants the student to be patient while she looks for a picture.

D. She cannot remember the point she was about to make.

四、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：C

A2:正确答案：B

A3:正确答案：B

A4:正确答案：D

A5:正确答案：C

A6:正确答案：A