The origins of Ancient Egypt represent some of the first stances of complex human societies. Indeed, the Nile Valley is the perfect place to start a state-level society. The annual flood brings fertile silts from the Ethiopian highlands to the plains along the Nile River Valley, allowing agriculture to continue indefinitely without overtaxing the soil. Evidence suggests that the inhabitants of the upper Nile region( that is the “upstream ” or southern regions of Egypt )were harvesting wild barley as early as 10,000 B.C.E. Perhaps as early as 5000 B.C.E., permanent agricultural settlements had been established both in the upper and lower Nile regions. These settlements Were similar in some ways to other sites found in what is now known as Egypt’s Western Desert. Pottery found at the early Nile sites is of a style also found across the West African Sahel and North African region. This evidence suggests that the early Nile settlers may have come to the river valley to escape a savanna (grassland )that was beginning to make the transition to desert. Still during the period up to the third millennium B CE, the region around the Nile Valley was well enough watered by rain to support some degree of agriculture, so it is probably more accurate to think of the drying of the Sahara as a series of gentle pushes rather than as a single dramatic shove out of the region.
During the period from 3600 to 3300 B.E, the settlements along the upper Nile appear to have begun the process of creating what anthropologists call complex societies by developing a specialization of labor and moving toward more hierarchical political and economic systems. Two of these early Nile states have been excavated and examined in some detail: Nagada and Hierakonpolis Nagada was located just north of where the city of Thebes would later be established, and Hierakonpolis lay just to the south. The inhabitants of both proto-states undertook a process o environmental modification. They cleared trees and heavy growth to expand the area of cultivated land and also built dykes and canals to control the flow of water. These efforts were successful enough that by around 3500 B.C.E. they had expanded the amount of arable land fourfold and led to a population explosion of up to 1,000 percent-perhaps reaching a population density o 1,000 persons per square kilometer. Such an increase is a simony both to their ingenuity and to the bounty of the Nile Further, the major towns of Nagada and Hierakonpolis were walled suggesting that the inhabitants were sometimes forced to defend their newly created wealth from their neighbors.
Both towns show increasing economic activity by the middle of the fourth millennium BCE Hierakonpolis seems to have developed an economic specialization in the manufacture of a fine ware pottery known to archaeologists as “Plum Red”, and examples of this pottery were exported throughout the Nile Valley. The town was also the home of one of the worlds first large-scale breweries producing an estimated 1, 200 liters of beer a day. Such economic specialization led to social differentiation. Rather than a relatively egalitarian society with very few differences in wealth from individual to individual or family to family, now some people were rich and others were not. Within the towns. a wide variation in the size of homes suggests growing social distance between the rich and poor. Cemeteries found in the Nagada region during this period show an increasing social stratification. Some tombs include luxury items such as gold jewelry, gems, and finely decorated pottery. The wealthy tombs tended to be clustered together in a certain part of the cemetery, maybe as family groups or maybe just to be separate from the poor, even in death.
Even in this period before the unification of the Nile, there was considerable contact with other regions. Although the archaeological record for the lower Nile is less complete, it is clear that there was some degree of exchange along the Nile Valley. This was no doubt aided by the fact that whereas the current runs north, the prevailing winds blow south, allowing for relatively easy round-trips.
题目：
1
The origins of Ancient Egypt represent some of the first stances of complex human societies. Indeed, the Nile Valley is the perfect place to start a state-level society. The annual flood brings fertile silts from the Ethiopian highlands to the plains along the Nile River Valley, allowing agriculture to continue indefinitely without overtaxing the soil. Evidence suggests that the inhabitants of the upper Nile region( that is the “upstream ” or southern regions of Egypt )were harvesting wild barley as early as 10,000 B.C.E. Perhaps as early as 5000 B.C.E., permanent agricultural settlements had been established both in the upper and lower Nile regions. These settlements Were similar in some ways to other sites found in what is now known as Egypt’s Western Desert. Pottery found at the early Nile sites is of a style also found across the West African Sahel and North African region. This evidence suggests that the early Nile settlers may have come to the river valley to escape a savanna (grassland )that was beginning to make the transition to desert. Still during the period up to the third millennium B CE, the region around the Nile Valley was well enough watered by rain to support some degree of agriculture, so it is probably more accurate to think of the drying of the Sahara as a series of gentle pushes rather than as a single dramatic shove out of the region.
Paragraph 1 suggests that Ancient Egypt was able to support one of the first complex human societies because the Nile River Valley
Anaturally contained a variety of wild ants that provided reliable sources of food
Bexperienced yearly flooding that kept the soil fertile. making it well suited to agriculture
Cwas protected from invasion because the river provided a natural barrier from the Western Desert
Dwas one of the few areas that had transitioned from a desert to a grassland
2
The origins of Ancient Egypt represent some of the first stances of complex human societies. Indeed, the Nile Valley is the perfect place to start a state-level society. The annual flood brings fertile silts from the Ethiopian highlands to the plains along the Nile River Valley, allowing agriculture to continue indefinitely without overtaxing the soil. Evidence suggests that the inhabitants of the upper Nile region( that is the “upstream ” or southern regions of Egypt )were harvesting wild barley as early as 10,000 B.C.E. Perhaps as early as 5000 B.C.E., permanent agricultural settlements had been established both in the upper and lower Nile regions. These settlements Were similar in some ways to other sites found in what is now known as Egypt’s Western Desert. Pottery found at the early Nile sites is of a style also found across the West African Sahel and North African region. This evidence suggests that the early Nile settlers may have come to the river valley to escape a savanna (grassland )that was beginning to make the transition to desert. Still during the period up to the third millennium B CE, the region around the Nile Valley was well enough watered by rain to support some degree of agriculture, so it is probably more accurate to think of the drying of the Sahara as a series of gentle pushes rather than as a single dramatic shove out of the region.
Select the two answer choices that, according to paragraph 1, are potential evidence that the people who established early agricultural settlements in the Nile regions had previously lived in other regions. To receive full credit, you must select TWO answers.
APeople living in the region now known as Egypt’s Western Desert began growing barley 5000 years before people in the Nile region did.
BSettlements in the upper and lower Nile regions resembled settlements in Egypt’s Western Desert.
CPottery found in early Nile settlements was of the same style as pottery found in the West African Sahel and North African region.
DLand in the Nile River Valley began rapidly changing from savanna to desert following many centuries of agriculture.
3
During the period from 3600 to 3300 B.E, the settlements along the upper Nile appear to have begun the process of creating what anthropologists call complex societies by developing a specialization of labor and moving toward more hierarchical political and economic systems. Two of these early Nile states have been excavated and examined in some detail: Nagada and Hierakonpolis Nagada was located just north of where the city of Thebes would later be established, and Hierakonpolis lay just to the south. The inhabitants of both proto-states undertook a process o environmental modification. They cleared trees and heavy growth to expand the area of cultivated land and also built dykes and canals to control the flow of water. These efforts were successful enough that by around 3500 B.C.E. they had expanded the amount of arable land fourfold and led to a population explosion of up to 1,000 percent-perhaps reaching a population density o 1,000 persons per square kilometer. Such an increase is a simony both to their ingenuity and to the bounty of the Nile Further, the major towns of Nagada and Hierakonpolis were walled suggesting that the inhabitants were sometimes forced to defend their newly created wealth from their neighbors.
The word “undertook” in the passage is closest in meaning to
Alearned
Bplanned
Cinvented
Dbegan
4
During the period from 3600 to 3300 B.E, the settlements along the upper Nile appear to have begun the process of creating what anthropologists call complex societies by developing a specialization of labor and moving toward more hierarchical political and economic systems. Two of these early Nile states have been excavated and examined in some detail: Nagada and Hierakonpolis Nagada was located just north of where the city of Thebes would later be established, and Hierakonpolis lay just to the south. The inhabitants of both proto-states undertook a process o environmental modification. They cleared trees and heavy growth to expand the area of cultivated land and also built dykes and canals to control the flow of water. These efforts were successful enough that by around 3500 B.C.E. they had expanded the amount of arable land fourfold and led to a population explosion of up to 1,000 percent-perhaps reaching a population density o 1,000 persons per square kilometer. Such an increase is a simony both to their ingenuity and to the bounty of the Nile Further, the major towns of Nagada and Hierakonpolis were walled suggesting that the inhabitants were sometimes forced to defend their newly created wealth from their neighbors.
According to paragraph 2, which of the following happened along the upper Nile during the period from 3600 to 3300 B.CE.?
APermanent settlements were developed in the region for the first time.
BNatural environmental changes occurred in the region, making the land more suitable for farming.
CChanges in the organization of labor and in political and economic systems began to transform the early Nile settlements into states.
DNile states like Nagada and Hierankonpolis developed more complex relations with each other in political and economic matters
5
During the period from 3600 to 3300 B.E, the settlements along the upper Nile appear to have begun the process of creating what anthropologists call complex societies by developing a specialization of labor and moving toward more hierarchical political and economic systems. Two of these early Nile states have been excavated and examined in some detail: Nagada and Hierakonpolis Nagada was located just north of where the city of Thebes would later be established, and Hierakonpolis lay just to the south. The inhabitants of both proto-states undertook a process o environmental modification. They cleared trees and heavy growth to expand the area of cultivated land and also built dykes and canals to control the flow of water. These efforts were successful enough that by around 3500 B.C.E. they had expanded the amount of arable land fourfold and led to a population explosion of up to 1,000 percent-perhaps reaching a population density o 1,000 persons per square kilometer. Such an increase is a simony both to their ingenuity and to the bounty of the Nile Further, the major towns of Nagada and Hierakonpolis were walled suggesting that the inhabitants were sometimes forced to defend their newly created wealth from their neighbors.
According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT true of Nagada and Hierakonpolis?
ATheir populations rose sharply around 3500 B.C.E.
BThey were originally established by people who came from Thebes
CThey had walls around them for protection.
DTheir inhabitants greatly increased the amount of land in the area that could be used for farming.
6
Both towns show increasing economic activity by the middle of the fourth millennium BCE Hierakonpolis seems to have developed an economic specialization in the manufacture of a fine ware pottery known to archaeologists as “Plum Red”, and examples of this pottery were exported throughout the Nile Valley. The town was also the home of one of the worlds first large-scale breweries producing an estimated 1, 200 liters of beer a day. Such economic specialization led to social differentiation. Rather than a relatively egalitarian society with very few differences in wealth from individual to individual or family to family, now some people were rich and others were not. Within the towns. a wide variation in the size of homes suggests growing social distance between the rich and poor. Cemeteries found in the Nagada region during this period show an increasing social stratification. Some tombs include luxury items such as gold jewelry, gems, and finely decorated pottery. The wealthy tombs tended to be clustered together in a certain part of the cemetery, maybe as family groups or maybe just to be separate from the poor, even in death.
Why does the author provide the information that “Some tombs include luxury items such as gold jewelry, gems, and finely decorated pottery.”?
ATo indicate that the Nagada region specialized in production of jewelry and other decorative items
BTo support the claim that Hierakonpolis began producing more luxury goods due to increased economic specialization
CTo provide evidence of the growing difference between rich and poor in the Nagada region during the fourth millennium B.C.E
DTo provide examples of the kinds of items used to identify family groups within archaeological sites
7
Both towns show increasing economic activity by the middle of the fourth millennium BCE Hierakonpolis seems to have developed an economic specialization in the manufacture of a fine ware pottery known to archaeologists as “Plum Red”, and examples of this pottery were exported throughout the Nile Valley. The town was also the home of one of the worlds first large-scale breweries producing an estimated 1, 200 liters of beer a day. Such economic specialization led to social differentiation. Rather than a relatively egalitarian society with very few differences in wealth from individual to individual or family to family, now some people were rich and others were not. Within the towns. a wide variation in the size of homes suggests growing social distance between the rich and poor. Cemeteries found in the Nagada region during this period show an increasing social stratification. Some tombs include luxury items such as gold jewelry, gems, and finely decorated pottery. The wealthy tombs tended to be clustered together in a certain part of the cemetery, maybe as family groups or maybe just to be separate from the poor, even in death.
According to paragraph 3, which of the following is true of Plum Red pottery?
AIt was traded throughout the Nile Valley.
BIt was primarily manufactured in the town of Nagada.
CIt was the second biggest industry of the Nile Valley, after breweries.
DIt was used primarily by wealthy families in the Nile Valley.
8
Even in this period before the unification of the Nile, there was considerable contact with other regions. Although the archaeological record for the lower Nile is less complete, it is clear that there was some degree of exchange along the Nile Valley. This was no doubt aided by the fact that whereas the current runs north, the prevailing winds blow south, allowing for relatively easy round-trips.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the archaeological work that has been done in the Nile Valley?
AIt has not provided much information about societies that existed before the unification of the Nile
BIt has primarily focused on how people in the lower Nile interacted with people in other regions.
CIt has been more comprehensive in the upper Nile region than the lower Nile region.
DIt has sometimes been impeded by strong winds and river currents.
