Early Food Production in Africa
Farming appeared in Africa by 5000 B.c.E. Eventually, several different styles of food production developed. These variations were caused by the crops that were used and by the nature of the environment. In North Africa and Ethiopia the plow was used to grow grain. In the rest of the continent the plow was not used, either because the tsetse fly precluded the use of large animals for traction or the soils were not well suited to the use of plows. In the southern tip of the continent, where there were good soils and no tsetse flies, isolation meant few people and thus no farming. In those regions where the plow was not used, the hand-held hoe was the standard agricultural implement. Hoe-wielding farmers grew a wide range of crops from yams in the forest to sorghum and millet in the savannahs (grasslands).
In much of the continent, especially those areas where hoe-based farming was employed, the environment posed challenges for farmers. The responses that African farmers devised to those challenges shaped African societies in interesting ways. In most of the continent, soils are too poor to be farmed continuously. Instead, farmers practice what is called shifting cultivation. They clear the trees and brush from a field and then burn them. The burning serves several purposes. It gets the trees out of the way; it releases the nutrients stored in the trees, increasing the fertility of the soil; and the heat of the fire kills most of the weed seeds that would otherwise compete with the crop. After a few years-two or three where the soils are really poor or as many as ten where the soils are better-the field is abandoned and the process is repeated in a new field while the old field is allowed to recover. This is a labor-intensive way to farm. The human labor requirements of farming with hoes and clearing new land on a regular basis created unique social structures.
For most of African history, land has been abundant and labor scarce. The challenge faced by farming societies and ambitious individuals was usually that of getting access to labor rather than to land. A wealthy people or a wealthy person controlled the labor needed to clear and farm land. There were several ways different African societies went about organizing labor. The most common of these was the kinship group. Various types of familial groups, from the simple extended family to larger groups such as clans, could be called on to do agricultural labor. Women were central to these kinship groups. Because most (though certainly not all) farmwork is done by women in hoe- farming societies, the number of women in a family or kinship group was critical to its success. The number of women in a kinship group is also a critical determinant of the group’s reproductive potential. The more women, the more potential children, and the bigger and stronger the group. Thus, polygyny, which is the practice of men having multiple wives, became widespread in Africa.
If women perform much of the agricultural labor in Africa, the clearing of new land has traditionally been men’s work. Social institutions that mobilize men’s labor for this purpose are many, but a notable one is the age set. In many African societies, groups of young men of approximately the same age are initiated into groups, called age sets or age grades by anthropologists, to which they will belong for life. The age sets serve several purposes, one of which is to provide social solidarity across kinship lines. But another purpose they serve is that they allow the mobilization of labor for really big jobs. Some tasks, notably war and the clearing of land, often require more labor than kinship groups can muster. The age set can be called on for these purposes. As the members of an age set get older and new age sets are initiated, their rights and duties change. Younger age sets are typically expected to do more vigorous work whereas older age sets do things that require experience and judgment, such as governance and attending to judicial matters.
1
Farming appeared in Africa by 5000 B.c.E. Eventually, several different styles of food production developed. These variations were caused by the crops that were used and by the nature of the environment. In North Africa and Ethiopia the plow was used to grow grain. In the rest of the continent the plow was not used, either because the tsetse fly precluded the use of large animals for traction or the soils were not well suited to the use of plows. In the southern tip of the continent, where there were good soils and no tsetse flies, isolation meant few people and thus no farming. In those regions where the plow was not used, the hand-held hoe was the standard agricultural implement. Hoe-wielding farmers grew a wide range of crops from yams in the forest to sorghum and millet in the savannahs (grasslands).
According to paragraph 1, what made farming in North Africa and Ethiopia different from farming in the rest of the continent?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
AFarming appeared much earlier in North Africa and Ethiopia.
BPlows were only used in North Africa and Ethiopia.
CA larger variety of crops were grown in North Africa and Ethiopia.
DNorth Africa and Ethiopia had greater problems with the tsetse fly.
2
In much of the continent, especially those areas where hoe-based farming was employed, the environment posed challenges for farmers. The responses that African farmers devised to those challenges shaped African societies in interesting ways. In most of the continent, soils are too poor to be farmed continuously. Instead, farmers practice what is called shifting cultivation. They clear the trees and brush from a field and then burn them. The burning serves several purposes. It gets the trees out of the way; it releases the nutrients stored in the trees, increasing the fertility of the soil; and the heat of the fire kills most of the weed seeds that would otherwise compete with the crop. After a few years-two or three where the soils are really poor or as many as ten where the soils are better-the field is abandoned and the process is repeated in a new field while the old field is allowed to recover. This is a labor-intensive way to farm. The human labor requirements of farming with hoes and clearing new land on a regular basis created unique social structures.
The word”devised” in the passage is closest in meaning to
Vocabulary Questions词汇题
Aconsidered
Battempted
Cdeveloped
Dpreferred
3
In much of the continent, especially those areas where hoe-based farming was employed, the environment posed challenges for farmers. The responses that African farmers devised to those challenges shaped African societies in interesting ways. In most of the continent, soils are too poor to be farmed continuously. Instead, farmers practice what is called shifting cultivation. They clear the trees and brush from a field and then burn them. The burning serves several purposes. It gets the trees out of the way; it releases the nutrients stored in the trees, increasing the fertility of the soil; and the heat of the fire kills most of the weed seeds that would otherwise compete with the crop. After a few years-two or three where the soils are really poor or as many as ten where the soils are better-the field is abandoned and the process is repeated in a new field while the old field is allowed to recover. This is a labor-intensive way to farm. The human labor requirements of farming with hoes and clearing new land on a regular basis created unique social structures.
According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT one of the purposes served by burning areas of land?
Negative Factual Information Questions否定事实信息题
ATo reduce the amount of labor needed to cultivate the land
BTo prevent weeds from sprouting up later and competing with crops
CTo add nutrients to the soil
DTo clear away trees and brush so crops can be planted
4
For most of African history, land has been abundant and labor scarce. The challenge faced by farming societies and ambitious individuals was usually that of getting access to labor rather than to land. A wealthy people or a wealthy person controlled the labor needed to clear and farm land. There were several ways different African societies went about organizing labor. The most common of these was the kinship group. Various types of familial groups, from the simple extended family to larger groups such as clans, could be called on to do agricultural labor. Women were central to these kinship groups. Because most (though certainly not all) farmwork is done by women in hoe- farming societies, the number of women in a family or kinship group was critical to its success. The number of women in a kinship group is also a critical determinant of the group’s reproductive potential. The more women, the more potential children, and the bigger and stronger the group. Thus, polygyny, which is the practice of men having multiple wives, became widespread in Africa.
Why does the author provide the information that “The number of women in a kinship group is also a critical determinant of the group’s reproductive potential”?
Rhetorical Purpose Questions修辞目的题
ATo help explain why the practice of polygyny became common in much of Africa
BTo support the argument that there were several different ways that African societies went about organizing labor
CTo account for the change in kinship systems from simple extended family to larger groups such as clans
DTo suggest that wealth in African societies was often concentrated in the hands of women
5
For most of African history, land has been abundant and labor scarce. The challenge faced by farming societies and ambitious individuals was usually that of getting access to labor rather than to land. A wealthy people or a wealthy person controlled the labor needed to clear and farm land. There were several ways different African societies went about organizing labor. The most common of these was the kinship group. Various types of familial groups, from the simple extended family to larger groups such as clans, could be called on to do agricultural labor. Women were central to these kinship groups. Because most (though certainly not all) farmwork is done by women in hoe- farming societies, the number of women in a family or kinship group was critical to its success. The number of women in a kinship group is also a critical determinant of the group’s reproductive potential. The more women, the more potential children, and the bigger and stronger the group. Thus, polygyny, which is the practice of men having multiple wives, became widespread in Africa.
According to paragraph 3, what had made certain people wealthy throughout most of African history?
Factual Information Questions事实信息题
AHaving a large amount of land
BDiscovering better ways to clear and farm land
CGetting access to the best land
DBeing able to provide a lot of people to work the land
6
If women perform much of the agricultural labor in Africa, the clearing of new land has traditionally been men’s work. Social institutions that mobilize men’s labor for this purpose are many, but a notable one is the age set. In many African societies, groups of young men of approximately the same age are initiated into groups, called age sets or age grades by anthropologists, to which they will belong for life. The age sets serve several purposes, one of which is to provide social solidarity across kinship lines. But another purpose they serve is that they allow the mobilization of labor for really big jobs. Some tasks, notably war and the clearing of land, often require more labor than kinship groups can muster. The age set can be called on for these purposes. As the members of an age set get older and new age sets are initiated, their rights and duties change. Younger age sets are typically expected to do more vigorous work whereas older age sets do things that require experience and judgment, such as governance and attending to judicial matters.
Why does the author mention that“Some tasks, notably war and the clearing of land, often require more labor than kinship groups can muster”?
Rhetorical Purpose Questions修辞目的题
ATo refute the claim that women do most of the agricultural work in Africa.
BTo account for the decline in the kinship group as an important social structure in Africa.
CTo help explain why age sets are used to obtain workers for very large projects.
DTo support the claim that the rights and duties of age sets change as the members get older.
7
If women perform much of the agricultural labor in Africa, the clearing of new land has traditionally been men’s work. Social institutions that mobilize men’s labor for this purpose are many, but a notable one is the age set. In many African societies, groups of young men of approximately the same age are initiated into groups, called age sets or age grades by anthropologists, to which they will belong for life. The age sets serve several purposes, one of which is to provide social solidarity across kinship lines. But another purpose they serve is that they allow the mobilization of labor for really big jobs. Some tasks, notably war and the clearing of land, often require more labor than kinship groups can muster. The age set can be called on for these purposes. As the members of an age set get older and new age sets are initiated, their rights and duties change. Younger age sets are typically expected to do more vigorous work whereas older age sets do things that require experience and judgment, such as governance and attending to judicial matters.
The word“vigorous”in the passage is closest in meaning to
Vocabulary Questions词汇题
Aenergetic
Bunpopular
Croutine
Dgeneral
8
If women perform much of the agricultural labor in Africa, the clearing of new land has traditionally been men’s work. Social institutions that mobilize men’s labor for this purpose are many, but a notable one is the age set. In many African societies, groups of young men of approximately the same age are initiated into groups, called age sets or age grades by anthropologists, to which they will belong for life. The age sets serve several purposes, one of which is to provide social solidarity across kinship lines. But another purpose they serve is that they allow the mobilization of labor for really big jobs. Some tasks, notably war and the clearing of land, often require more labor than kinship groups can muster. The age set can be called on for these purposes. As the members of an age set get older and new age sets are initiated, their rights and duties change. Younger age sets are typically expected to do more vigorous work whereas older age sets do things that require experience and judgment, such as governance and attending to judicial matters.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the members of an individual age set?
Inference Questions推理题
AThey sometimes leave one age set to join another.
BThey come from multiple kinship groups.
CThey sometimes join women in doing agricultural work.
DThey vary significantly in age from young to old.
9
Farming appeared in Africa by 5000 B.c.E. Eventually, several different styles of food production developed. These variations were caused by the crops that were used and by the nature of the environment. ⬛In North Africa and Ethiopia the plow was used to grow grain. ⬛In the rest of the continent the plow was not used, either because the tsetse fly precluded the use of large animals for traction or the soils were not well suited to the use of plows. ⬛In the southern tip of the continent, where there were good soils and no tsetse flies, isolation meant few people and thus no farming. ⬛In those regions where the plow was not used, the hand-held hoe was the standard agricultural implement. Hoe-wielding farmers grew a wide range of crops from yams in the forest to sorghum and millet in the savannahs (grasslands).
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the members of an individual age set?
Inference Questions推理题
AThey sometimes leave one age set to join another.
BThey come from multiple kinship groups.
CThey sometimes join women in doing agricultural work.
DThey vary significantly in age from young to old.
10
The farming techniques used in Africa varied by region and were mostly determined by the demands of the environment.
Prose Summary Questions概要小结题
Select 3 answers
AUse of the plow instead of the hoe allowed farmers to grow crops in areas that formerly were not very productive for farming.
BBecause of the type of soil or the impossibility of using large animals to pull a plow, farmers in most of the continent used hoes to farm, which created a huge demand for labor.
CWomen were in demand because they did much of the farmwork and also produced children, and so in many places kinship groups were formed in which men had multiple wives.
DPoor soils meant that new fields had to be cleared and burned every few years, so young men were organized into special social structures to provide labor for this and other large tasks.
EAs population increased due to improved food production, it became increasingly difficult to find suitable farmland, thus requiring the development of better farming methods.
FThe rise of social groups to organize local farm labor eventually led to larger, centralized institutions capable of governing large areas and conducting wars against rival groups.
答案：
