Cave Art in Europe
歐洲洞穴藝術(shù)
P1: The earliest discovered traces of art are beads and carvings, and then paintings, from sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period. We might expect that early artistic efforts would be crude, but the cave paintings of Spain and southern France show a marked degree of skill. So do the naturalistic paintings on slabs of stone excavated in southern Africa. Some of those slabs appear to have been painted as much as 28,000 years ago, which suggests that painting in Africa is as old as painting in Europe. But painting may be even older than that. The early Australians may have painted on the walls of rock shelters and cliff faces at least 30,000 years ago, and maybe as much as 60,000 years ago.
難詞解析：
bead n. 珠鏈;水珠，露珠 v. 用珠子裝飾
site n. 遺跡，遺址
date back 回溯至
Paleolithic adj. 舊石器時(shí)代的
marked adj. 明顯的(注：考詞匯題等于considerable)
artistic adj. 藝術(shù)的
crude adj. 粗略的
naturalistic adj. (藝術(shù)或?qū)懽?自然主義的; 寫實(shí)主義的
slab n. 厚板
excavate v. 挖掘 (古物)
rock shelter 巖石遮蔽的墻上
cliff face 懸崖斷面
難句翻譯：
We might expect that early artistic efforts would be crude, but the cave paintings of Spain and southern France show a marked degree of skill. So do the naturalistic paintings on slabs of stone excavated in southern Africa.
雖然，我們可能會(huì)認(rèn)為早期的藝術(shù)成就都是不成熟的，但西班牙與法國(guó)南部的巖洞畫顯示出了高超的技藝，在非洲南部發(fā)掘出的自然石板畫也是如此。
P2: The researchers Peter Ucko and Andree Rosenfeld identified three principal locations of paintings in the caves of western Europe: (1) in obviously inhabited rock shelters and cave entrances; (2) in galleries immediately off the inhabited areas of caves; and (3) in the inner reaches of caves, whose difficulty of access has been interpreted by some as a sign that magical-religious activities were performed there.
難詞解析：
identify v. 識(shí)別
principal adj. 最重要的
注：考詞匯題等于 major
inhabited adj. 有人居住的
gallery n.走廊
注：考詞匯題等于corridor
interpret v. 解釋，說明
magical adv. 魔法般的
難句翻譯：
In the inner reaches of caves, whose difficulty of access has been interpreted by some as a sign that magical-religious activities were performed there.
在洞穴所能及的最深處，有人認(rèn)為之所以在最深處作畫是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)的人們?cè)谶@里進(jìn)行神秘的宗教活動(dòng)。
P3: The subjects of the paintings are mostly animals. The paintings rest on bare walls, with no backdrops or environmental trappings. Perhaps, like many contemporary peoples, Upper Paleolithic men and women believed that the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury, and if that were indeed their belief, it might explain why human figures are rarely depicted in cave art. Another explanation for the focus on animals might be that these people sought to improve their luck at hunting. This theory is suggested by evidence of chips in the painted figures, perhaps made by spears thrown at the drawings. But if improving their hunting luck was the chief motivation for the paintings, it is difficult to explain why only a few show signs of having been speared. Perhaps the paintings were inspired by the need to increase the supply of animals. Cave art seems to have reached a peak toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period, when the herds of game were decreasing.
難詞解析：
rest on 停留在;依靠
bare adj. 無(wú)遮蓋的，無(wú)裝飾的
backdrop n. 背景
trapping n. 裝飾
注：考詞匯題等于decoration
contemporary adj. 同時(shí)代的
depict v. 描繪
explanation n. 解釋(原因)
theory n. 理論
chip n. 缺口;一小片碎片;
spear n. 矛
chief adj. 首要的
motivation n. 動(dòng)機(jī)，動(dòng)力
peak n. (過程、活動(dòng)的) 頂峰
herds of 成群
game n. 獵物
難句解析：
Perhaps, like many contemporary peoples, Upper Paleolithic men and women believed that the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury, and if that were indeed their belief, it might explain why human figures are rarely depicted in cave art.
也許像很多現(xiàn)代人一樣，舊石器時(shí)代末期的男人和女人相信畫人類畫像可能會(huì)招致死亡和受傷，并且如果這確實(shí)是他們的想法，那么可能就可以解釋為什么人類畫像很少在巖洞藝術(shù)中被表現(xiàn)出來。
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TEST
P1 繪畫藝術(shù)悠久的歷史：
迄今為止，發(fā)現(xiàn)的最早的并且有跡可尋的工藝品是______________________________。
P2 西歐洞畫的三個(gè)主要地點(diǎn)：
1)_______________________________________;
2)_______________________________________;
3)_______________________________________。
P3 繪畫的主題大部分都是動(dòng)物的可能的原因：
1)同許多當(dāng)代人一樣，后石器時(shí)代的人們也相信_(tái)_________________________;
2)人們?cè)谔剿鱛________________________。
參考答案
P1:
beads and carvings, and then paintings
P2:
in obviously inhabited rock shelters and cave entrances;
in galleries immediately off the inhabited areas of caves;
in the inner reaches of caves
P3:
the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury;
improve their luck at hunting