Spheres appeared 1.4 million years ago140万年前的石头球体

胡延美

1 Around 1.4 million years ago， early human rela?tives crafted mysterious stone spheroids （球体） in theMiddle East in attempts to make perfect spheres， anew study found. The finding showed the intention ofearly humans to impose a symmetry （对称） on thestones， the researchers suggested. “It's possible these deliberately spherical stones hadsome sort of functional advantage over naturally rounded stones available in the land?scape，” study lead author Antoine Muller， an archaeologist at the Hebrew University ofJerusalem， said.“ And their tendency to become more spherical as they were made sug?gested a preference for symmetry and an appreciation of geometry （几何）.”

2 Hundreds of stone spheroids， typically made from sandstone， have been unearthed atarchaeological sites in Africa， Asia and Europe. The smallest one is just one inch across.The earliest spheroids are up to 2 million years old. But they span the entire era of stonetool?making， and some have been found at the New Stone Age and later sites that are only afew thousand years old.

3 The researchers used mathematical analysis to determine that the spherical shape ofsome of the objects—which range from rough polyhedrons （多面体） to near spheres—wasdeliberate， likely worked on in stages and not accidental. Muller said，“ The ones that weremore‘ finished were more spherical， suggesting that this was one task they were aimingfor.”

4 They noted that earlier studies had seen symmetry in Acheulean bifaces， a type ofstone tool dating from 1.7 million years ago， and this was thought to be the earliest evi?dence of“ early humans imposing a geometric shape and symmetry on their stonetools”. But it now seems that the spheroids， which are older， may have had the same purpose—and perhaps other purposes as well.

5 Muller said the study suggested that early humans may have been more cognitively（认知） advanced than previously suspected.“ Our findings suggest that the people whomade these spheroids could imagine something as abstract as a sphere and impose thatconcept in reality by shaping a stone，” he said.“ That likely takes a great deal of fore?thought and flexibility， speaking to their remarkable cognitive and skilful abilities.”

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1. Why did early humans add symmetries according to Muller？

A. They had advantages over other living things.

B. They tended to use round items in daily life.

C. They appreciated rounded stones in nature.

D. They desired more abstract knowledge.

2. What does the underlined part“ more‘ finished” refer to in paragraph 3？

A. Those near spheres next to perfection.

B. Those accidentally rounded stone tools.

C. Those rough stones waiting to be rounded.

D. Those completed spheres far from perfection.

3. What can Acheulean bifaces be used to prove？

A. Stone tools needed no improvement.

B. Early humans pursued a sense of beauty.

C. Geometric shapes were everywhere then.

D. Spheres were the same as Acheulean bifaces.

4. What does Muller mean according to paragraph 5？

A. Shaping a stone was easy for early humans.

B. Early humans were frequently questioned.

C. Present humans underestimated early ones.

D. Early people skillfully made spheroids.

语篇解码

本文是一篇关于早期人类在中东制作神秘的石头球体的文章。研究表明，早期人类可能比以前认为的认知能力更为先进。

语言学习

Ⅰ. 语料荟萃

Ⅱ. 语句分析

1. They noted that earlier studies had seen symmetry in Acheulean bifaces， a type ofstone tool dating from 1.7 million years ago， and that this was thought to be the earliest evi?dence of “ early humans imposing a geometric shape and symmetry on their stone tools”. 他们指出，早期的研究已经在阿舍利双面器中发现了对称，这是一种可追溯到170万年前的石器，这被认为是“早期人类在石器上施加几何形状和对称”的最早证据。

【點石成金】本句是一个主从复合句，两个that引导的都是宾语从句。第一个宾语从句中的dating from 1.7 million years ago是现在分词作后置定语。

2. “Our findings suggest that the people who made these spheroids could imaginesomething as abstract as a sphere and impose that concept in reality by shaping a stone，”he said. 他说：“我们的研究结果表明，制造这些球体的人可以想象出像球体这样抽象的东西，并通过塑造石头将这个概念融入现实。”

【点石成金】本句中的第一个that引导的是宾语从句，从句中含有一个who引导的定语从句，先行词是the people，who在从句中作主语。

语言运用

Ⅰ. 例句仿写

1. 演讲者用一个箴言结束会议，给出了几个讨论题。

The speaker ended the meeting with a motto， ______________.

2. 但是，现在很受欢迎的节目似乎已经失去了一些老年的观众。

But it seems that the program，_________________ ， may have lost some elderly audiences.

Ⅱ. 写作实践

你校举办了主题为“How to protect cultural heritage”的演讲比赛。请你为校英文报的“英语天地”栏目写一篇新闻报道，内容包括：

1. 比赛的目的；

2. 比赛的过程；

3. 比赛的反响。

注意：

1. 词数80左右；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

How to protect cultural heritage

________________________