TPO 14-3 Pastoralism in Ancient Inner Eurasia（社会科学--游牧）

字数：683

建议做题时间20分钟

Pastoralism is a lifestyle in which economic activity is based primarily on livestock. Archaeological evidence suggests that by 3000 B.C., and perhaps even earlier, there had emerged on the steppes of Inner Eurasia the distinctive types of pastoralism that were to dominate the region's history for several millennia. Here, the horse was already becoming the animal of prestige in many regions, though sheep, goats, and cattle could also play a vital role. It is the use of horses for transportation and warfare that explains why Inner Eurasian pastoralism proved the most mobile and the most militaristic of all major forms of pastoralism. The emergence and spread of pastoralism had a profound impact on the history of Inner Eurasia, and also, indirectly, on the parts of Asia and Europe just outside this area. In particular, pastoralism favors a mobile lifestyle, and this mobility helps to explain the impact of pastoralist societies on this part of the world.

The mobility of pastoralist societies reflects their dependence on animal-based foods. While agriculturalists rely on domesticated plants, pastoralists rely on domesticated animals. As a result, pastoralists, like carnivores in general, occupy a higher position on the food chain. All else being equal, this means they must exploit larger areas of land than do agriculturalists to secure the same amount of food, clothing, and other necessities. So pastoralism is a more extensive lifeway than farming is. However, the larger the terrain used to support a group, the harder it is to exploit that terrain while remaining in one place. So, basic ecological principles imply a strong tendency within pastoralist lifeways toward nomadism (a mobile lifestyle). As the archaeologist Roger Cribb puts it, “The greater the degree of pastoralism, the stronger the tendency toward nomadism.” A modern Turkic nomad interviewed by Cribb commented: "The more animals you have, the farther you have to move."

Nomadism has further consequences. It means that pastoralist societies occupy and can influence very large territories. This is particularly true of the horse pastoralism that emerged in the Inner Eurasian steppes, for this was the most mobile of all major forms of pastoralism. So, it is no accident that with the appearance of pastoralist societies there appear large areas that share similar cultural, ecological, and even linguistic features. By the late fourth millennium B.C., there is already evidence of large culture zones reaching from Eastern Europe to the western borders of Mongolia. Perhaps the most striking sign of mobility is the fact that by the third millennium B.C., most pastoralists in this huge region spoke related languages ancestral to the modern Indo-European languages. The remarkable mobility and range of pastoral societies explain, in part, why so many linguists have argued that the Indo-European languages began their astonishing expansionist career not among farmers in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), but among early pastoralists from Inner Eurasia. Such theories imply that the Indo-European languages evolved not in Neolithic (10,000 to 3,000 B.C.) Anatolia, but among the foraging communities of the cultures in the region of the Don and Dnieper rivers, which took up stock breeding and began to exploit the neighboring steppes.

Nomadism also subjects pastoralist communities to strict rules of portability. If you are constantly on the move, you cannot afford to accumulate large material surpluses. Such rules limit variations in accumulated material goods between pastoralist households (though they may also encourage a taste for portable goods of high value such as silks or jewelry). So, by and large, nomadism implies a high degree of self-sufficiency and inhibits the appearance of an extensive division of labor. Inequalities of wealth and rank certainly exist, and have probably existed in most pastoralist societies, but except in periods of military conquest, they are normally too slight to generate the stable, hereditary hierarchies that are usually implied by the use of the term class. Inequalities of gender have also existed in pastoralist societies, but they seem to have been softened by the absence of steep hierarchies of wealth in most communities, and also by the requirement that women acquire most of the skills of men, including, often, their military skills.

题目

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答案解析

1. 词汇题

解析：prestige威望、声誉，B身份、地位最接近

2. 事实信息题

解析：根据Inner Eurasia定位到第2句，但这句没有说到most mobile的内容，继续往后看，It is the use...这句说明是马的使用使这个地区的畜牧most mobile，选B

3. 词汇题

解析：pro=forth, 往前发现，说明是深入的，选D

4. 修辞目的题

解析：根据pastoralist, agriculturalist定位到1-4句，3-4句为结论，而4句this means p需要更多土地来保障同样的食物等是最终要解释的东西，所以选A。B原文没有比较优劣，CD没说

5. 事实信息题

解析：A没说。B原文说同样的食物和衣物，游牧民族需要更大的土地，与B的内容不一致。C没说。根据段首句可知游牧民族有mobility游动性，选D

6. 修辞目的题

解析：根据大写单词定位到第5句（By the late fourth millennium...），这只是一个具体的例子来说明前句游牧社会有相似的文化、生态和语言特征，而结合第2句可知这种影响是对很大区域的影响，选D

7. 词汇题

解析：striking突出的，选B

8. 词汇题

解析：exploit开采、利用，选A。

9. 事实信息题

解析：第1句说明这个事实，继续往下看，第2句也没有说明会促使这些群体怎样，第3句说这些规则限制了游牧家庭的物质变化，即财富差别，选B。AD没说，C原文说到了self-sufficiency但没说在丝和珠宝商自足。

10. 事实信息否定题

解析：根据inequality定位到第5句（Inequalities...）及之后。A在第5句，正确。B在第5句后半部分，说除了military conquest这个时期，其他时期的inequalities不能产生稳定的、世袭等级，说明military这个时期的inequality最明显，B对。C同样在刚才定位的内容，说在其他时期不能产生世袭等级，C不对。D原句说too slight对应选项too insignificant，正确。

11. 句子简化题

解析：原句结构为性别不平等也存在，但是被两个方面的因素削弱了。A后面的原因反了。B中until部分原文没有。C只说了原因。D对

12. 句子插入题

解析：插入句很短，说这是有原因的。说明插入点前后是有因果关系的，插入句是过渡。A前说明游牧民族遵守规则，A后说明遵守的原因，选A

13. 段落小结题

解析：A对应第1段，正确
B没说，不选
C对应第3段1-2句，C正确
D对应第4段，D正确
E是第3段的一个细节，不选
F没说，不选

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