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
Sumerian Contributions P1: Before about 4500 B.C., lower Mesopotamia, the whole plain between and on either side of the Tigris a
Sumerian Contributions P1: Before about 4500 B.C., lower Mesopotamia, the whole plain between and on either side of the Tigris a
admin
2018-10-18
51
问题
Sumerian Contributions
P1: Before about 4500 B.C., lower Mesopotamia, the whole plain between and on either side of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was much less densely populated than other inhabited regions of the Near and Middle East. Each year the two great rivers were swollen with the winter snows of the northern mountains, and each year at flood stage they spread a thick layer of immensely fertile silt across the flood plain where they approached the Persian Gulf. But without domestic animals and beasts, this swampy delta was not suited to the primitive hoe-centric tilling culture of early agriculture. Besides, the Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals and trees. However, it was in this unpromising area, between 3500 and 3000 B. C, that agricultural settlers created a wealth of city-states that constituted Sumer, of which the best known is Ur. The Sumerians appeared at the dawn of history as a fully developed society with a technology and organization that was distinct from and superior to other societies of the time. Even civilization itself seems to have stemmed from this alien and mysterious people.
P2: This delta, a land of swamps rich in fish, wildlife, and date palms, was the most challenging and rewarding of the three natural units into which the river valleys were divided. Reasons for their being challenging lie in that the rivers not only sustained life, but they also destroyed it with frequent floods that ravaged entire cities. Although land nearer to the rivers was fertile and good for crops, portions of land farther from the water were dry and largely uninhabitable. Therefore, the development of drainage and irrigation systems was essential for Sumerians to harness the full productivity of this land,which in turn required a large and well-disciplined workforce, as well as skilled management and supervision—the latter were supplied by a class of priests and warriors who ruled a large population of peasants and artisans.
P3: The economy that sustained the people of Sumer relied on agriculture and trade. To support agriculture, Sumerians created sophisticated water transport systems that would both irrigate crops during dry periods and control flooding during the spring. This water management enabled them to build up a food surplus for trading. They exchanged barley and wheat to supplement a scarcity of stone and lumber, as well as copper and bronze, thereby contributing to the diffusion of Sumerian civilization. In Sumerian cities, stone imported by sea through the Persian Gulf from Oman and downriver from the mountains of Anatolia and the Caucasus had to complete with imported copper, and the latter proved more economical and effective for a variety of uses. Sumerians would have plowed with stone and cut with clay sickles, and went on to using metal plows with the development of metal-working skills.
P4: One of the greatest accomplishments of the Sumerian people was the invention of a writing system, likely growing out of commercial record keeping. Each Sumerian city rose up around the shrine of a local god. As a reflection of a city’s wealth, its temple became an elaborate structure. Both economic and religious organizations centered on the temple of the local patron deity, represented by a priestly hierarchy, in which a corporation run by priests became the greatest landowners among the Sumerians. Common Sumerians remained illiterate and without power, while kings, once elected by common people, became monarchs. Common people were obliged to pay taxes to the government in the form of a percentage of their crops, which the city could either sell or use to feed its soldiers and others it supported. In order to keep records of the sources and uses of this tribute, simple pictographs on clay tablets appeared sometime before 3000 B.C. By about 2800 B.C., the pictographs had been stylized into the system of writing known as cuneiform, a distinctive characteristic of Mesopotamian civilization. It is one of the few examples in history of a significant innovation from a bureaucratic organization.
P5: Whether the Sumerians were the first to develop writing is uncertain, but theirs is the oldest known system of writing. The clay tablets on which they wrote were very durable when baked. Archaeologists have dug up many thousands of them—some dated earlier than 3000 B.C. The cuneiform texts recorded messages and historical events as well as commercial transactions. They evolved into producing written sagas such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest surviving literary work.
P4: One of the greatest accomplishments of the Sumerian people was the invention of a writing system, likely growing out of commercial record keeping. Each Sumerian city rose up around the shrine of a local god. As a reflection of a city’s wealth, its temple became an elaborate structure. ■ Both economic and religious organizations centered on the temple of the local patron deity, represented by a priestly hierarchy, in which a corporation run by priests became the greatest landowners among the Sumerians. ■ Common Sumerians remained illiterate and without power, while kings, once elected by common people, became monarchs. ■ Common people were obliged to pay taxes to the government in the form of a percentage of their crops, which the city could either sell or use to feed its soldiers and others it supported. ■ In order to keep records of the sources and uses of this tribute, simple pictographs on clay tablets appeared sometime before 3000 B.C. By about 2800 B.C., the pictographs had been stylized into the system of writing known as cuneiform, a distinctive characteristic of Mesopotamian civilization. It is one of the few examples in history of a significant innovation from a bureaucratic organization.
The word "diffusion" in the passage is closest in meaning to
选项
A、stability
B、spread
C、prosperity
D、productivity
答案
B
解析
【词汇题】diffusion意为“传播”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/twfO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.HowtoChooseFlooringMaterialsSourceBeforeusing,m
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.LabelsgivingnutritionalinformationonfoodpackagingAlicesaysthatbeforedoingthis
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOsubjectsdidMartinalikebestbeforegoingtouniversity?AArtBHistoryCFrenchDEnglish
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOsubjectsdidMartinalikebestbeforegoingtouniversity?AArtBHistoryCFrenchDEnglish
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOsubjectsdidMartinalikebestbeforegoingtouniversity?AArtBHistoryCFrenchDEnglish
ChooseTWOletters,A-E.WhichTWOsubjectsdidMartinalikebestbeforegoingtouniversity?AArtBHistoryCFrenchDEnglish
Whothinksthefollowing?AKatyaBPeterCbothKatyaandPeterTheInternetcreatesnewgapsbetweenrichandpoor.
随机试题
油冷离心式压缩机中的润滑油在被喷入气缸压缩完之后,直至在油分离器中与压缩空气分离之前,基本上均以()状存在。
妊娠合并肝炎,下述处理哪项正确
我国目前最常见的缩窄性心包炎病因是
退休养老规划是理财规划中至关重要的部分,()是对退休养老规划中所持原则的错误描述。
甲企业与20×7年1月1日支付银行存款1925340元(包括甲企业支付的手续费2740元),在交易所购买了20000张乙企业发行的5年期公司债券(市值96.13元),该公司债券每张票面金额100元,票面利率4%,实际利率4.86%。乙企业于每年年底支付利息
下列有关中国近代史上不平等条约对应关系不正确的是()。
某高层楼宇巡楼员在例行的巡检过程中,发现了某户业主未经申报擅自违章更换了一套铝合金门窗。于是巡楼员马上开出违章整改单,要求其进行整改。【问题】本案例从表面上看是在巡查中发现了问题,但仔细分析,此案例中存在的哪些问题需要引起注意?
《中华人民共和国义务教育法》的基本属性有_______、免费性、平等性。
MyprofessorbrotherandIhaveanargumentaboutheadandheart,aboutwhetherheovervaluesIQwhileIleanmoretowardEQ.We
Nogovernmentisperfect.Oneofthechiefvirtusofademocracy,however,S1.______isthatitsdefectsarealwaysvisib
最新回复
(
0
)