字神帝國英語天地

今天托福考試閱讀三篇文章分別是：
Disappearing Fungi (消失的真菌)
Centralized Societies: Archaeological Evidence (中央集權的社會：考古證據)
Overkill of the North American Megafauna (北美巨型動物群的大屠殺)

從題材看，考到了從未涉及的「真菌」，比較抽象的「古代人類社會」，和常見的「生物物種滅絕」。其中，第二篇Centralized Societies: Archaeological Evidence最難，長難句遍佈，語言極其抽象，句間關係不明顯，導致作者的思路走向極其隱晦。下面給大家講解這篇文章裡的一道詞彙題和一個長難句。

一道詞彙題
The word 「traces」 in the passage is closest in meaning to
tools
construction material
waste products
evidence

【解析】：trace作名詞，最常見的意思是「留下的痕跡」，按照這個本義，瀏覽選項無一倖存，結合語境「The increased importance of craft specialists is an other indicator of a centralized society that can be identified archaeologically. Full-time craft specialists leave traces: each craft has its own particular technology and is generally practiced in a different location within the urban area.」 指全職的手工藝專家留下的痕跡：他們留下所使用的不同技術和工藝場地。這些痕跡在這裡也就是考古證據，最佳答案選D。

一個長難句
長難句的理解，也就是對應考句的理解。考句理解準確，答案直接選出；考句理解稍有偏差，似懂非懂，就會被選項干擾，以致於考場上不斷甩頭，將一個句子來回讀了N遍。例如，第26題，對應第七段最後一句

According to paragraph 7, what was architecturally distinctive about the compound that Morris studied?

【對應考句】：Morris was able to show from his study that the distinctive architecture of the compound—enclosed by a surrounding wall with a single entrance thus restricting access—and the density of occupational waste suggested the presence of permanently segregated craft specialists, strong evidence of a centrally organized society.

【意為】：Morris能夠從他的研究中表明，這些綜合大樓的建築特點（被圍牆關閉，牆上只有一個入口限制人員流入）和此處居住者所產生的垃圾密度都表明了被永久分隔開的手工藝專家的存在，這正是中央集權社會的有力證據。