Ireland剑桥雅思6-听力原文翻译及答案解析

一、Ireland听力原文：

Good morning everyone.

Last week we were looking at the hunter-gatherers in Ireland,across the Irish Sea from England.

Today,we're going to move on to the period between four and six thousand years ago,known as the Neolithic period,which is when a total farming economy was introduced in Ireland.

Now,there are several hypotheses about the origins of the first Neolithic settlers in Ireland,but most of these contain problems.

For instance,there are considerable archaeological difficulties about the theory that they came from England.

The evidence doesn't really add up.

But there are even greater practical problems about the theory that they came directly from continental Europe.

For one thing,it's not clear just how sufficient numbers of men and women could have been transported to Ireland to establish a viable population.

As you know,the hunter-gatherer economy which existed beforehand was based on small scattered groups.

The farming economy would almost certainly have required much larger communities to do all the work needed to plant and tend sufficient crops to sustain them through the year.

The early farmers kept various animals,including cattle and sheep.

There's also evidence of pigs,but it is possible that these could have been descended from the native wild species.

Now,we know from modem fanning that if the level of breeding stock falls below about three hundred females,the future of the species locally is at risk.

So we must assume that from the beginnings of Neolithic farming the number of breeding sheep would have considerably exceeded three hundred,and the national cattle herd must have been similar size.

The question is how these were brought to the area and where they came from.

It’s usually suggested that the Neolithic settlers used skin-covered boats to transport livestock.

But this method would have severely restricted the range of the colonising fleets.

The sheer volume of animal transport necessary means it’s unlikely that this livestock could have been brought from anywhere further than England.

What about crops?

Well,two main cereal crops were introduced to Ireland during this time:wheat and barley,both in several varieties.

The main evidence for their presence consists of impressions on pottery,where a cereal grain accidentally became enbedded in the surface of a pot before it was fired.

The grain itself was destroyed by the firing,but it left an impression on the pot which could be studied and identified by botanists.

Let's turn our attention now to the farming technology available at that time.

Before the cereal crops could be planted,it would have been necessary to clear the forest and to break the ground by ploughing.

The stone blade of a plough has beeiscovered during excavation in County Mayo in western Ireland.

The body of the plough would have been of wood and could have been drawn by people,but it’s also likely that cattle were used.

Now,the cultivation of crops and the husbandry of livestock brought about changes in people's lifestyle such as the type of shelters they made.

For one thing,instead of moving from place to place they needed permanent dwellings.

The stone axes used to chop down trees to make these dwellings were far superior to any that the Stone Age hunter-gatherers used.

To make the axes,sources of suitable stone had to be found and systematically exploited.

These so-called‘axe factories’were really quarries rather than factories,as the manufacture of the axes wasn't regularly performed on the quarry site.

However,after the axe had been chipped into shape,they needed water and sand for grinding and polishing,so a high mountainside wouldn't have been an appropriate place for this.

So this final stage of the manufacture must have been carried out close to water and sure enough,there's ample evidence of this at coastal sites.

Now it’s clear that these Neolithic axes were transported all over Ireland,as well as to Scotland and the south of England.

It's not really surprising that axes from‘axe factories’in England have also been found in Ireland.

At the very least,this indicates that there was a link between the two islands during that period.

One of the most useful innovations of the colonisers was pottery making,which was quite unknown to Irish hunter-gatherers.

The pottery was probably made by shaping day into a ball with the hand,and then hollowing it until the walls were the right thickness.

After firing,the outside was often polished.

This would have helped the pots to retain water,as they weren't glazed.

Now we know that the clay used usually came from local sources,which suggests that manufacture was on a fairly small scale,even though thousands of fragments are usually found at Neolithic sites.

In the course of time decoration began to appear.

At first this looked like a series of stitches and was just around the tops of the pots.

This could have been an imitation of earlier vessels which were made of leather sewn onto wood.

Then eventually pots with decoration all over…

二、Ireland听力中文翻译：

大家早上好。

上周，我们在爱尔兰观察狩猎采集者，他们与英国隔着爱尔兰海。

今天，我们将进入四至六千年前的时期，即新石器时代，也就是爱尔兰引入全面农业经济的时期。

现在，关于爱尔兰第一批新石器时代定居者的起源，有几种假说，但大多数都有问题。

例如，关于他们来自英国的理论存在着相当大的考古困难。

证据并不完全正确。

但是，关于他们直接来自欧洲大陆的理论，还有更大的实际问题。

一方面，目前尚不清楚有多少男性和女性被运送到爱尔兰，以建立一个有生存能力的人口。

正如你所知，之前存在的狩猎-采集经济是以分散的小群体为基础的。

几乎可以肯定的是，农业经济需要更大的社区来完成种植所需的所有工作，并照料足够的作物以维持全年。

早期的农民饲养各种动物，包括牛羊。

也有猪的证据，但这些猪可能是本地野生物种的后代。

现在，我们从现代养殖中了解到，如果种畜数量低于大约300只雌性，当地物种的未来将面临风险。

因此，我们必须假设，从新石器时代农业开始，繁殖绵羊的数量将大大超过300只，而全国牛群的规模一定相当。

问题是这些是如何被带到该地区的，以及它们来自哪里。

人们通常认为，新石器时代的定居者使用带皮的船来运输牲畜。

但这种方法会严重限制殖民舰队的活动范围。

所需的动物运输量之大，意味着这些牲畜不太可能从英国以外的任何地方运来。

农作物呢？

在这段时间里，爱尔兰引进了两种主要的谷物作物：小麦和大麦，都有几个品种。

它们存在的主要证据是陶器上的印痕，在烧制之前，一种谷物意外地嵌入到锅的表面。

谷物本身被烧坏了，但它在罐子上留下了痕迹，植物学家可以对其进行研究和鉴定。

现在让我们关注一下当时可用的农业技术。

在种植谷类作物之前，必须清除森林，并通过犁耕开垦土地。

在西爱尔兰梅奥县的挖掘过程中发现了犁的石刃。

犁体可能是木头，也可能是人拉的，但也可能是用牛拉的。

现在，农作物的种植和牲畜的饲养带来了人们生活方式的改变，例如他们建造的庇护所的类型。

首先，他们需要的不是从一个地方搬到另一个地方，而是永久性的住所。

用于砍伐树木以建造这些住所的石斧远远优于石器时代狩猎采集者使用的任何石斧。

为了制作斧头，必须找到合适的石头来源，并进行系统开发。

这些所谓的“斧头工厂”实际上是采石场，而不是工厂，因为斧头的制造并没有定期在采石场进行。

然而，在斧头被削成形状后，他们需要水和沙子来打磨和抛光，所以高山腰不是合适的地方。

所以，制造的最后阶段必须在靠近水的地方进行，毫无疑问，在沿海地区有充分的证据证明这一点。

现在很明显，这些新石器时代的轴线被运到了整个爱尔兰，以及苏格兰和英格兰南部。

在爱尔兰也发现了英国“斧头工厂”的斧头，这并不奇怪。

至少，这表明这两个岛屿在这一时期有联系。

殖民者最有用的创新之一是陶器制作，爱尔兰狩猎采集者对此一无所知。

陶器的制作方法可能是用手将day塑造成一个球，然后将其挖空，直到墙壁达到合适的厚度。

开火后，外部经常被打磨。

这将有助于这些罐子保持水分，因为它们没有上釉。

现在我们知道，使用的粘土通常来自当地，这表明制造规模相当小，尽管新石器时代遗址通常发现数千块碎片。

随着时间的推移，装饰开始出现。

起初，这看起来像是一系列的缝线，就在罐子的顶部。

这可能是早期用皮革缝制而成的船只的仿制品

最后，所有的花盆都装饰好了

三、Ireland听力问题：

Question 31-34

Choose the correct letters A,B or C.

31.

According to the speaker,it is not clear

A.when the farming economy was introduced to Ireland.

B.why people began to farm in Ireland.

C.where the early Irish farmers came from.

32.What point does the speaker make about breeding animals in Neolithic Ireland?

A.Their numbers must have been above a certain level

B.They were under threat from wild animals.

C.Some species died out during this period.

33.What does the speaker say about the transportation of animals?

A.Livestock would have limited the distance the farmers could sail.

B.Neolithic boats were too primitive to have been used.

C.Probably only a few breeding animals were imported.

34.What is the main evidence for cereal crops in Neolithic Ireland?

A.the remains of burnt grain in pots

B.the marks left on pots by grains

C.the patterns painted on the surface of pots

Question 35-40

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.STONE TOOLS

35.Ploughs could either have been pulled byor by cattle.

•The farmers needed homes which were permanent dwellings.

36.In the final stages of axe-making,andwere for grinding and polishing.

37.Irish axes were exported from Ireland toand England.

POTTERY MAKING

•The colonisers used clay to make pots.

38.Theof the pots was often polished to make them watertight.

39.Clay fromareas was generally used.

40.Decoration was only put around theof the earliest pots.

四、Ireland听力答案：

31.C

32.A

33.A

34.B

35.people

36.water;sand;

37.Scotland

38.outside

39.local

40.tops

五、Ireland听力答案解析

Question 31 C.题干中唯一的路标词是“not clear”，但是原文替换为同义词“hypotheses”，不容易辨认。因此，到听到“now”时，应意识到进入话题，通常第一题的答案应该不远。之后一句原文强调“origins”（起源），并且没有提到A选项的economy，应该指定居者的起源，因此选择C项。

Question 32 A.题干路标词为“breeding animals”原文提到“breeding stock”时应为答案，并且听到数字300。只有A项与数字有关，因此选A。

Question 33 A.题干路标词为“transportation”，原文提到“to transport livestock”，并且强调“severely restricted”，与选项A中livestock...limited...对应。

Question 34 B.题干中evidence，cereal crops为路标词。三个选项提到不同的“印记”———burnt,grains,patterns，原文说“cereal grain”，应选B。注意排除干扰项C，虽然有“on the surface”，但原文没有提到是“pattern”（图案）。

Question 35 people.ploughs是路标词，考生通过分析空格前的词，pulled by...，空格中填写逻辑主语，应为名词。

Question 36 water,sand.axe-making是路标词，考生通过上下文判断得知空格中填写物质名词，for grinding and polishing在原文也出现，之前的名词应为答案。

Question 37 Scotland.Irish axes为路标词。通过and之后的England判断空格中填写地点名词。

Question 38 outside.之前的小标题pottery making作为定位词，空格中应填写名词，某个位置被打磨，原文中听到was polished时，应迅速记录前一个词。

Question 39 local.clay为路标词，空格中填写形容词。

Question 40 tops.decoration为路标词，之前的介词around帮助定位，之后的名词为答案。