Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR: Sure, sometimes we do just stumble onto an important find when doing field research. But usually we've got at least a vague idea of where to look, And with new technology...uh...Okay.

Here's a story that illustrates what I mean.It's about the Mayans, who, as you remember, flourished in Central America and had a culture that was quite advanced in art, architecture, astronomy...We know that despite regular droughts and poor soil, their numbers grew into the millions over the centuries.... until about 1,200 years ago when their entire civilization just seemed to disappear, and we are not sure why.Okay.

So an archaeologist named William Saturno1 goes looking for ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala near a town called San Bartolo.And after several days of extremely difficult hiking through the thick rainforest, Saturno stops to rest in the shade...and finds himself sitting in what turns out to be an ancient Mayan temple—a pyramid twenty-five meters high! And inside, on the walls of this temple, Saturno finds some ancient writing and also this enormous mural with elegant figures depicting a Mayan myth of the creation of the world.And it's all painted on plaster that's over two thousand years old, which makes it the oldest Mayan artwork ever found, at least in good condition! And in fact, one of the most perfectly preserved. An extremely important find.Student: Wow...Do you have a picture of it?FEMALE PROFESSOR: Now...hang on. I don't...there's a point I wanna make here.It happens that someone at NASA, the United States space agency, reads about Saturno's discovery and gets very excited 'cause the space agency has just produced some images of this area using a technique called "remote sensing."That's when instruments on planes and satellites survey areas on the ground. And the newest twist on remote sensing—quite new—is "infrared imaging." Instead of taking regular photographs, the satellite cameras take pictures using infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, but computers can then process these images so our eyes can see them.

Using infrared imaging, the satellite-based remote sensing instruments revealed what turned out to be traces of water storage systems and canals, canals that the Mayans built to irrigate their parched soil, which helps explain how the Mayans could feed such a large population. The infrared images also revealed ancient roadways that had tied Mayan cities together.So people at the space agency figured Saturno would be interested and they sent him this infrared image of the area near San Bartolo where the pyramid temple was found.Now, this is a false color image based on an infrared photo. So the greens of the jungle are shown mostly as blue and red, but notice also the spots of greenish-yellow scattered here and there. These indicate significant discoloration in the vegetation, at least as it appears to infrared cameras. And Saturno notices that some of that discolorations located in exactly the spot where he found the pyramid temple. So he figures, hey, maybe some of those other yellow spots are worth investigating. Well, long story short, he checks out three different spots where the photo shows discoloration and finds an ancient Mayan site overgrown with vegetation at every single one. Further exploration shows a perfect correlation between yellow spots on the infrared image and Mayan ruins hidden in the jungle.Student: So what caused those spots to look different?

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Well, Saturno believes the limestone and lime plasters that the Mayans used to build their structures...Over time, uh, this limestone decayed and seeped into the soil and changed the soil's chemistry. Then calcium carbonate from the decaying lime plaster might've been taken up by the roots of the trees growing there—up into their leaves—and made them give off infrared light much more brightly than the surrounding vegetation.  And infrared sensing technology can detect this.

Student: So, like, is Guatemala the only place where archaeologists have used remote sensing?FEMALE PROFESSOR: No. This technique has been used in other parts of Central America too, and also in Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia. It can be used anywhere the rainforest has obscured ancient ruins.

And the results can be amazing! Like another Mayan temple that Saturno found, thanks to remote sensing, he had walked right by it every day for five years and had no idea it was there, until he saw an infrared image of the area!

二、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：在考古學課上聽一節課的一部分。女教授：當然，有時候我們在進行實地研究時，會偶然發現一個重要的發現。但通常情況下，我們至少對去哪里找有一個模糊的想法，而且有了新技術。。。嗯可以

這里有一個故事可以說明我的意思。這是關于瑪雅人的，正如你所記得的，瑪雅人在中美洲繁榮發展，其文化在藝術、建筑、天文學方面相當先進。。。我們知道，盡管經常發生干旱和貧瘠的土壤，但在過去的幾個世紀里，它們的數量增長到了數百萬。。。。直到大約1200年前，他們的整個文明似乎都消失了，我們不知道為什么。可以

因此，一位名叫威廉·薩圖諾（WilliamSaturno1）的考古學家前往危地馬拉一個叫圣巴托洛（SanBartolo）的小鎮附近尋找古代瑪雅遺址。經過幾天艱難的徒步穿越茂密的雨林后，薩圖諾停下來在樹蔭下休息。。。發現自己坐在一座古老的瑪雅神廟里——一座25米高的金字塔！在這座神廟的墻壁上，薩圖諾發現了一些古老的文字，還有這幅巨大的壁畫，上面有優雅的人物，描繪了瑪雅人創造世界的神話。而且都是在兩千多年前的灰泥上繪制的，這使它成為迄今為止發現的最古老的瑪雅藝術品，至少保存完好！事實上，其中一個保存最完好。一個極其重要的發現。學生：哇。。。你有它的照片嗎？女教授：現在。。。堅持我不。。。我想說一點。碰巧，美國宇航局（NASA）的某個人讀到了土星的發現，非常激動，因為宇航局剛剛利用一種稱為“遙感”的技術制作了一些該區域的圖像這時，飛機和衛星上的儀器測量地面區域。遙感技術的最新進展是“紅外成像”衛星相機使用人眼看不見的紅外光拍照，而不是常規拍照，但計算機可以處理這些圖像，以便我們的眼睛可以看到它們。

利用紅外成像，衛星遙感儀器揭示了蓄水系統和運河的痕跡，這些運河是瑪雅人為了灌溉其干燥的土壤而修建的，這有助于解釋瑪雅人如何養活如此眾多的人口。紅外圖像還顯示了將瑪雅城市連接在一起的古老道路。因此，航天局的人認為薩圖諾會感興趣，他們給他發送了這張圣巴托洛附近金字塔神廟所在地區的紅外圖像。這是一張基于紅外照片的假彩色圖像。因此，叢林中的綠色大多顯示為藍色和紅色，但請注意散布在各處的黃綠色斑點。這些表明植被有明顯變色，至少在紅外攝像機看來是這樣。薩圖諾注意到，其中一些變色正好位于他發現金字塔神廟的地方。所以他想，嘿，也許其他一些黃點值得調查。長話短說，他檢查了照片上三個不同的變色點，發現了一個古老的瑪雅遺址，每個地方都長滿了植被。進一步的探索表明，紅外圖像上的黃色斑點與叢林中隱藏的瑪雅遺址之間存在著完美的關聯。學生：那么是什么導致這些斑點看起來不同呢？

女教授：嗯，薩圖諾相信瑪雅人用來建造建筑的石灰石和石灰灰泥。。。隨著時間的推移，呃，石灰石腐爛并滲入土壤，改變了土壤的化學成分。然后，腐朽石灰膏中的碳酸鈣可能被生長在那里的樹木的根吸收到葉子中，使它們發出的紅外光比周圍的植被要明亮得多。紅外傳感技術可以檢測到這一點。

學生：那么，危地馬拉是考古學家唯一使用遙感的地方嗎？女教授：沒有。這種技術也在中美洲其他地區使用過，在巴西、玻利維亞和柬埔寨也有使用。它可以在熱帶雨林遮蔽古代遺跡的任何地方使用。

結果會很驚人！就像薩圖諾（Saturno）發現的另一座瑪雅神廟一樣，多虧了遙感技術，他五年來每天都在它旁邊行走，直到看到該地區的紅外圖像，他才知道它就在那里！

三、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A. The history of Mayan culture in Central America

B. A new study comparing field-research methods used in Guatemala

C. A new approach to archaeological research

D. Sites where important ancient Mayan art had been discovered

Q2:2.According to the professor, what is the most significant aspect of the mural that William Saturno found near San Bartolo, Guatemala?

A. It includes writing as well as human figures.

B. It is very old but still in excellent condition.

C. It was painted on limestone.

D. It corrects a mistaken belief about Mayan culture.

Q3:3.Why does the professor mention roads and canals?

A. To describe the difficulties of hiking in the rain forest

B. To indicate the kind of ruins initially revealed by the infrared images

C. To point out what Saturno was initially searching for

D. To emphasize recent improvement in transportation near San Bartolo

Q4:4.After Saturno found the pyramid temple near San Bartolo, what guided his search for other ancient Mayan sites?

A. His theory about why the ancient Mayan civilization disappeared

B. Clues found in the ancient writing at the pyramid temple

C. Information from people who live in the region

D. The location of light-colored spots in satellite photos

Q5:5.Why does the professor mention limestone?

A. To support a theory about why most Mayan structure are well preserved

B. To point out a difference between Mayan structure in Guatemala and those in other areas

C. To suggest a reason why certain vegetation stands out in infrared images

D. To explain why it is difficult to locate ancient buildings in jungles.

Q6:6.Why does the professor say this:

A. She does not want the student to distract her from telling a story

B. She is trying to recall if she has a picture of the artwork.

C. She wants the student to be patient while she looks for a picture.

D. She cannot remember the point she was about to make.

四、Vegetation Discoloration And Mayan Ruins 托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：C

A2:正確答案：B

A3:正確答案：B

A4:正確答案：D

A5:正確答案：C

A6:正確答案：A

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