首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Researching the origin of medieval manus
Complete the notes below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. Researching the origin of medieval manus
admin
2014-11-08
45
问题
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
Researching the origin of medieval manuscripts
Background
Medieval manuscripts—handwritten books produced between the fifth and fifteenth centuriee
Origin of many manuscripts unknown until 2009; scientists started using PNA testing
Animal hides—two types
Parchment
Sheep skin: white in colour and 【L31】______
Greasy—writing cant be erased so often used for 【L32】______
Vellum
Calf skin: most popular for prestigious work because you can get 【L33】______lettering.
Preparation of hides
Treated in barrels of lime—where this was not available, skins were 【L34】______(removed hair → more flexible)
Stretched tight on a frame
Scraped to create same 【L35】______
Vellum was 【L36】______.—for correct colour
Genetic testing—finding origins
Previously—analysed handwriting and 【L37】______used by the writer
Now—using genetic data from ’known manuscripts’ to create a【L38】’______’
Uses of new data
Gives information on individual books
Shows the 【L39】______of the book industry
Helps define 【L40】______in medieval period
【L38】
Narrator: You will hear a historian giving a presentation about techniques to identify the origin of hand-written books from the middle ages. First you have some time to look at Questions 31-40. Now listen, and answer Questions 31-40.
Historian: My presentation today is on how the science of genetics is being used to shed light on the origin of manuscripts—anything written by hand—produced in the medieval period ... that is ... the period between the fifth and fifteenth centuries AD.
As many of you know, thousands of medieval handwritten books still exist today. Some of them have a clear provenance, that is, we know exactly where and when they were written, but the origin of many manuscripts has been a complete mystery, that is, until two thousand and nine when geneticists started using DNA testing to shed light on their origins.
But before looking at the new research, I need to explain something about the way the manuscripts were produced—particularly what they were written on. Virtually all Were written on treated animal skins and there were essentially two types. The first was parchment, which is made of sheep skin. It has the quality of being very white but also being thin. It has a naturally greasy surface which meant it was hard to erase writing from it. This made it much sought after for court documents in medieval times.
The second type is vellum, which is calf skin. This was most often used for any very ’high-status’ documents because it provided the best writing surface so scribes could achieve lettering of high quality.
So, once the animal hides had been chosen, they had to be prepared. Where the right materials were on hand, the skins were put into large barrels or vats of lime, where they were agitated or stirred frequently. But if lime wasn’t available, then the hides were buried. Both these techniques were designed to cause the hair to slough off, and the skins to become gelatinous and therefore more flexible.
The next stage was to put the hides on stretcher frames and pull them very tight. While on the frame they were scraped with a moon-shaped knife in order to create a ’ uniform thickness. For parchment, that was the end of the process, but for vellum there was an additional stage where it was bleached, in order to achieve the desired colour.
Historian: So, what does all this preparation mean for the quest to identify the origins of ’mystery’ manuscripts? Well, until recently the only way historians and other academics were able to guess at origins was either through the analysis of the handwriting style, or from the dialect in which the piece was written. But these techniques have proven unreliable, for a number of reasons.
It was thus decided to try to look at the problem from a different angle ... to start from what is known, that is, the small number of manuscripts whose origins we do already know. Because these parchments and vellum are both made from animal hides, it was possible to subject them to DNA testing and to identify the genetic markers for the date and location of production. From this was created what is known as a ’baseline’. The next stage was to test the mystery manuscripts, finding their DNA characteristics and then making comparisons between the known and the mystery scripts. Genetic similarities and differences enabled the scientists to gain more information about the origins of the many manuscripts we had known virtually nothing about up to that point.
Now you might ask—what are the potential uses of this new information? Well, obviously, it can shed light on the origin of individual books and manuscripts. But that’s not all. It can also shed light on the evolution of the whole of the manuscripts production industry in medieval times. And because that was such a thriving business, involving very large-scale movements right across the globe, the new data, in turn, help historians establish which trade routes were in operation during the whole millennium.
Now if anyone has any questions...
选项
答案
baseline
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/4eAO777K
本试题收录于:
雅思听力题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思听力
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
Inearly-twentieth-centuryEngland,itwasfashionabletoclaimthatonlyacompletelynewstyleofwritingcouldaddressaworl
IntroductionandInterviewInterview(choose1)Let’stalkaboutwhereyoulive.Whatisyourtownfamousfor?
IntroductionandInterviewInterview(choose1)Let’stalkaboutwhereyoulive.Doyouliveinamodemcityoran
Educationinschool-Whatcanschoolsdotohelpstudentsprepareforthenextstageintheirlives?-Whatadvicewouldyougi
WRITINGTASK1Youshouldspendabout20minutesonthistask.Thechartshowsthepercentageofstudentsathighschool
Somepeoplebelievethatthebestwayoflearningaboutlifeislisteningtotheadviceoffamilyandfriends.Otherpeoplebeli
Therehavebeenmanytechnologicaldevelopmentsinthe20thcentury.Chooseoneofthem,describethechangesithasbrought
Youreadinanewspaperanadvertisementofferingscholarshipsforoverseasstudents.Writealettertothenewspaper.Inyo
SpotthedifferenceATaxonomichistoryhasbeenmadethisweek,atleastaccordingtotheWorldWildlifeFund(WWF),aconserv
SpotthedifferenceATaxonomichistoryhasbeenmadethisweek,atleastaccordingtotheWorldWildlifeFund(WWF),aconserv
随机试题
力乾公司与广采公司签订商标使用许可合同是否有效?为什么?力乾公司在2003年2月至2004年8月30日之间使用“泰丰”商标的行为应如何认定?
工程网络计划资源优化的目的之一是为了寻求( )。
室内疏水器一般选用()疏水器。
整理工程文件按要求应该采用的书写材料是()。
某公司与市政府机关共同使用一栋楼房,该楼房占地面积2000平方米,该公司与市政府的占用比例为4:1。当年年初,该公司购买房产价格为4100000元。企业拥有载货汽车10辆,每辆自重5吨。大客车4辆,均为45座(该地车船税的年税额:载重汽车为每吨20元
下列关于行政机关实施行政强制措施的说法,错误的是()。
中国特色社会主义进入新时代,我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。()
日本战后废除中央集权、实行地方分权,采用“六三三四”单轨学制,涉及的法案是()。
城市污染是工业化社会的一个突出问题。城市居民因污染而患病的比例一般高于农村。但奇怪的是,城市中心的树木反而比农村的树木长得更茂盛、更高大。以下各项,如果为真,哪项最无助于解释上述现象?
______infrontofsomanypeople,shedidnotknowwhattosay.
最新回复
(
0
)