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
DOCUMENTING THE INCAS (1) The Incas ruled a vast empire in western South America when the Spaniards encountered them in the
DOCUMENTING THE INCAS (1) The Incas ruled a vast empire in western South America when the Spaniards encountered them in the
admin
2022-08-28
60
问题
DOCUMENTING THE INCAS
(1) The Incas ruled a vast empire in western South America when the Spaniards encountered them in the 16th century. [A] Although the Incas had no writing system of their own, historical information about Incas is available to researchers because early Spaniards wrote documents about them. [B] However, there are drawbacks to use the written records. [C] First, the Spanish writers were describing activities and institutions that were very different from their own, but they often described Inca culture in terms of their own society. [D] As an example, consider the list of kings given by the Incas. As presented in the historical chronology, Spanish sources indicate there were 13 kings who ruled
sequentially
. The names were given to them by Inca informants. However, one school of thought in Inca studies suggests that the names were not actual people, but, rather, titles filled by different individuals. Thus, the number of actual kings may have been fewer, and several titles may have been filled at the same time. The early Spanish writers, being unfamiliar with such a system of titles, simply translated it into something they were familiar with (a succession of kings). Given that the Inca empire expanded only during the time of the last four kings, or as a result of the actions of the individuals in those four positions, this question is not deemed significant for an understanding of the Incas. But the example shows that biases and inaccuracies may have been introduced inadvertently from the very beginning of the written Spanish reports about the Incas. Moreover, early writers often copied information from each other—so misinformation was likely to be passed on and accepted as true by later scholars.
(2) Second, both Spanish writers and Inca informants sometimes had motives for being deliberately deceitful. For example, in an effort to gain status in the Spaniards’ eyes, Incas might say that they formerly had been more important in the Inca empire than they actually were. Spanish officials as well were occasionally untruthful when it served their purposes. For example, Spaniards might deliberately underreport the productivity of a region under their authority so they could sell the additional products and keep the money, rather than hand it over to the Spanish Crown.
(3) Third, it should be noted that the Spaniards’ main sources of information were the Incas themselves, often members of the Inca ruling class. Therefore, what was recorded was the Incas’ point of view about their own history and empire. Some modern authorities question whether the history of Incas happened as they said it did. Although some of their history is certainly more myth than truth, many, if not most, scholars agree that the history of the last four Inca kings is probably accurate. The same is true of other things told to the Spanish writers: the more recently an event is said to have occurred, the more likely it is to have actually happened.
(4) A fourth problem relates to the nature of the Inca conquests of the other peoples in the Americas before the Spanish arrived and how accurate the accounts of those conquests are—whether related by the Spaniards or by the Incas on whom they relied. It was certainly in the Incas’ interest to describe themselves as invincible and
just
. However, lacking accounts by conquered people about their interactions with the Incas, it is unknown how much of the information of the Inca conquest as related by the ruling class is factual.
(5) Finally, there is a certain vagueness in the historical records regarding places and names. Many Spanish writers listed places they had visited within the empire, including both provinces and towns. However, other writers traveling along the same routes sometimes recounted different lists of places. In addition, it is difficult to identify the exact locations of towns and other geographic points of reference because of the widespread movements of people over the past five centuries.
(6) For all these reasons, the historical records must be carefully evaluated to determine whether they are accurate and to verify the locations of past events. One approach is to cross-check information from a number of authors. Another approach is to conduct archeological research. Regardless of the problems, historical documents review some important information about the Incas.
According to paragraph 4, why is there some doubt whether Spanish accounts of the Inca conquests of other peoples are accurate?
选项
A、The Spaniards included some information about which Inca informants disagreed.
B、The conquered peoples’ tales of the Inca conquests sometimes differed from the Incas’ tales of them.
C、The Spanish accounts of the Inca conquest were based on information from Inca informants only.
D、Some archeological evidence does not support the Spanish accounts.
答案
C
解析
本题为事实信息题,题干问根据第4段,为什么有人质疑西班牙人关于印加人征服其他民族的描述的真实性。根据第4段的论述,不难发现,产生怀疑的原因是信息都是印加统治阶级单方面提供的,缺少了被征服者的论述(lacking accounts by conquered people)。C项“西班牙人关于印加征服的记录只是基于印加信息提供者的论述”,与原文表述相符,故选。A项“西班牙人记录了一些与印加人提供的信息不符的内容”和D项“一些考古证明不能够支撑西班牙人的记录”无原文依据。B项“被征服者关于印加征服的陈述和印加人自己提供的不符”,原文说的是缺少被征服者提供的信息,故该项与原文不符。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/57fO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.MonarchButterfliesHibernationButterflyspeciesadoptdifferent
WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSAND/ORANUMBERforeachanswer.MonarchButterfliesHibernationButterflyspeciesadoptdifferent
AsystemwasdevelopedtocontroltrafficcongestionontheM25motorway.Expertsuse【L5】________informationfromthemotorw
CentralPark录音原文中的ontheEastSideof是题目的原词复现,据此可定位答案为CentralPark。
ChimpanzeebehavioursSpeciesWecanfindPanorPanTroglodytesinWestandCentralAfrica.TheBonoboorPanPaniscusare
ThepassagefocusesoncometsprimarilyintermsoftheirTheword"graphic"inline9isclosestinmeaningto
ThepassagefocusesoncometsprimarilyintermsoftheirTheword"identical"inlineIisclosestinmeaningto
Byfocusingontheinteresting,______thesignificant,thepennypressnewspapersofthe1830’shelpedtochangetheconceptof
A、Therateatwhichtheuniverseisexpanding.B、Howgravityaffectsaplanet’sorbit.C、Newton’sthreelawsofmotion.D、Early
PhilosophyofLogicalAnalysisModernphysicsandphysiologythrowanewlightupontheancientproblemofperception.Ifth
随机试题
随着土地改革的基本完成,我国社会主义主要矛盾逐步成为()
Thesenseofsoundisoneofourmostimportantmeansofknowingwhatisgoingonaroundus.Soundhasawasterproduct,too,in
下列疾病不是肠内营养禁忌证的是
对恒牙萌出的正确描述是
建筑高度大于()m的住宅建筑为一类高层民用建筑。
(),国家开始以中国工商银行为试点推广国家助学贷款。
理化检验中通常涉及的项目有()。
闭合性运动损伤的初期经常采用冷敷法,其作用是()。
将序号分别为1,2,3,4,5的5张参观券全部分给4人,每人至少1张,如果分给同一人的2张参观券连号,那么不同的分法种数是__________.
根据以下资料,回答下列问题。2017年全国二手车累计交易量为1240万辆,同比增长19.3%;二手车交易额为8092.7亿元,同比增长34%。2017年12月,全国二手车市场交易量为123万辆,交易量环比上升7.4%,上年同期交易量为108万辆。
最新回复
(
0
)