资源描述
Using LanguageDATING METHODSZhou Heping (ZH) has come to ask the archaeologist, Richard Leakey (RL), how he dates the bones he finds.Listen to Part 1.Listen again and fill in the blanks.ZH: How can you tell how old bones are when you find them?RL: There are two main ways: the first uses the layers in the ground and the second uses radiocarbon dating.ZH: I see. How does the layer method work?RL: Well, look at the diagram in your book. Think of a wastepaper basket. When you came into work, you ate an orange and threw the orange skin into it. Thats layer number 1. Later somebody threw some yogurt pots into it. Thats layer number 2.ZH: Oh yes, and then I threw some paper into it. So thats layer number 3.RL: Yes, and finally someone threw away some used envelopes. So how many layers are there in this wastepaper basket?ZH: There are four.RL: Which layer is the first and therefore the oldest? ZH: The orange skin.RL: And which is the last and therefore the most recent? ZH: Of course the used envelopes. I see how it works now. But how does it help?RL: Well, layers of soil are produced at different times like the layers in your wastepaper basket. Each time people live somewhere, they make a layer in the soil. If they live there for a long time, they make a lot of layers. Each layer has a different colour and texture which we use to find out how old it is. ZH: How splendid!Listen to Part 2.Listen again and fill in the blanks.ZH: Now what about radiocarbon dating?RL: This is more scientific. It uses radioactivity to measure the amount of carbon in living things. The carbon in a dead body disappears at a fixed rate. We know how long that takes, so we can measure the amount of carbon and work out how old a bone is.ZH: Thats very clever. Is it accurate too?RL: There are some problems with very old bones, so you are always given two dates.ZH: How does that work?RL: Well, the date for a bone may be between 9,900 years and 10,100 years old. ZH: I see! How old are the bones in the Zhoukoudian caves?RL: They are between 250,000 and 400,000 years old.ZH: Perhaps we could visit the site together sometime?RL: Of course. Whenever you like!Workbook-ListeningMORE NEWS ABOUT THE TERRACOTTA WARRIORSAmanda Peters (AP) wants to find out about how to preserve the terracotta warriors from her Chinese friend, Zhou Lei (ZL), an archaeologist.Listen again and fill in the blanks.AP: Where did you go for your holiday, Zhou Lei?ZL: I went to visit the terracotta warriors and found out more about the research to preserve the statues.AP: Youre so lucky! Id love to go and see them very much. Making figures that are 1.96 metres tall is amazing! They must be such an impressive sight. It makes you realize how powerful Emperor Qin Shihuang was.ZL: Yes, indeed. And each of them has an individual face so that archaeologists think they must have been a copy of Qin Shihuangs real army. But eight thousand statues are a lot of clay figures to protect and there have been problems.AP: Oh dear! What problems?ZL: Well, the first problem is how to keep their colours. Chinese archaeologists have discovered that the statues were painted before they were buried. But temperature changed and sunlight soon faded the colours after the statues were uncovered.AP: Why did that happen?ZL: First, some of them became a little bit smaller when they dried out after being excavated and that made their colour disappear quickly. Second, the damp in the tomb also affected the colours badly. But now luckily the scientists have discovered a new chemical protection, which will keep the colours shining brightly.AP: Thats wonderful news.ZL: Yes. Its a very thin layer of chemical jelly which will preserve the vivid colours of the soldiers as well as protect them from the damp.AP: Thats great. So the problems solved. But Im afraid that those statues that lost their colour cant get it back?ZL: Sadly, no. But this breakthrough has helped deal with another problem.AP: Whats that?ZL: Well, you know that the terracotta warriors were discovered in 1974. Since then the statues have suffered more than forty different kinds of mould all caused by damp.AP: That sounds really serious. I didnt know clay statues could suffer from mould! Did it happen before they were excavated or after?ZL: After they were excavated, damp entered the excavation area. The moulds developed quickly and need different kinds of treatment.AP: Oh, how terrible! Can we do something to clean the warriors and make them safe?ZL: Well, this jelly will help protect them against some moulds.AP: Oh! Is there anything else that ordinary people can do to help? . (fade out)Workbook-Listening TaskINTERVIEWING “THE FATHER OF ARCHAEOLOGY”Wang Wei (WW), a Chinese student, is interviewing Professor Flinders Petrie (FP) about his work in Egypt.Listen again and fill in the blanks.WW: Hello, Professor Petrie. Could you please tell me why you want to dig poor archaeological sites in Egypt instead of looking for new tombs of Egyptian pharaohs?FP: I suppose it was an accident really. When I went there most people were looking for new tombs of the pharaohs. I decided to investigate the life of poorer people as nobody else seemed interested in them!WW: What sorts of things did you find out?FP: What I found was that poorer people built their houses with mud bricks. They used pottery for their cooking and storing things. I also found that poor people as well as rich people believed in a life after death. They buried their dead family members in the sand with pots full of food ready to take on the journey to the afterlife.WW: They also wanted to preserve the bodies very well. Whys that?FP: Because they believed the spirit of ones body went on the journey to the afterlife. So it was important to look after the body carefully after one was dead.WW: Did you find out anything about this journey? FP: Not from the poorer peoples graves. But we found the journey painted on the walls of the pyramids of the pharaohs and the inside of the coffins of rich Egyptians. Later rich people described this journey in books they left in coffins. They are called “The Book of the Dead”, and although they were written in rolls of paper, you can still see them today. They tell you how to overcome evil gods and monsters on the journey to the afterlife and what to expect when you came to the Hall of Judgement.WW: Was there a test of some kind?FP: Yes, you had to prove the quality of your life by weighing your heart against a feather. If your heart was lighter, it meant you had led a good life, and so you could enter the afterlife and live forever. But if it was not, youd be eaten by the God Anubis and disappear forever.WW: My goodness. Im sure that made people behave themselves . (fade out)
展开阅读全文