Unit Twenty-two The Ancient Civilizations

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Unit Twenty-twoThe Ancient Civilizations
Wu Gorge
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• General Introduction
• Passage OneWushan Man
• Passage Two Changyang Man
• Passage Three The Relics of Daxi Culture

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Compared with the human history, the
Yangtze Three Gorges is really very old.
According to the experts, the Three Gorges was
formed by the orogenic movement (????)about 70
million years ago. Having been lashed (??)by the
river water for thousands of years, the rift
valley(??) was changed into the Yangtze Three
Gorges. The Three Gorges region used to be a vast
expanse of water(????), which has been confirmed
(??)by the fossil (??)shell on the Huangniu
Mountain top of Xiling Gorge.
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Compared with the earth, the Yangtze Three
Gorges is rather young. Vitality can be felt
among each valley, each mountain peak and each
rock. The Three Gorges has the grand Kuimen Gate
as its start, the beautiful natural scenery of
200 miles as its body, the precipitous(???)Nanjing
guan Path as its end. It is our great nature that
can create such a long and wonderful painting
The Three Gorges.
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????????
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The Three Gorges was also born for pleasing
the human. Its proper altitude, its mild climate,
its plentiful rainfall and its thick forest
combined to make it an ideal habitat (???)for the
ancient people. In the Three Gorges region,
Wushan man, Changyang man, Daxi Culture and
Zhongbaodao Islet Relics were dug out of the
earth one after another, These unearthed cultural
relics are seeming to tell us that there were
splendid(???)ancient civilizations in the
changing grand canyon(??).
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Translation
????

• ???????,?????????????,??????????7000???
  ?????????,????????????????????????????????????????
  ????,??????????????????????

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?????,?????????????,?????,?????,??????????
??????????,??????200??????????,?????????????????
????????,???????????? ??,????????????????
????,??????,????,????,??????,??????????????
????????,??????????????????,??????????????????
????
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Passage 1
Wushan Man

• Where can we find the earliest man in China
  ? In the late 1980s,the great discovery of Wushan
  man relics caused a sensation throughout the
  world. Is mysterious Wushan man the first
  standing man in China so far?

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• This has been a puzzle in international
  academic circles. Through the efforts of the
  scholars at home and abroad, it has been
  confirmed that unearthed fossil man in Wu gorge ,
  one of the Yangtze Three Gorges with monkeys
  crying on the river banks, lived 2, 000 ,000
  years ago and is indeed the first standing man in
  China. We have a reason to believe that the
  ancestors of the Chinese nation and the yellow
  race came from the highlands of the Three Gorges.

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• The past two million years is certainly
  distant from us. If we could penetrate the time
  tunnel, and go back to the time during which
  Wushan Man lived, let's imagine how our ancestors
  lived At that time (the early 4th century ) the
  Yangtze River was just in an embryonic form and
  the Three Gorges didn't come into being . The
  Bashan mountain, Wushan mountain and neighbouring
  Shenlongjia mountain were joined as a continuous
  range of mountains. The mountains were not high,
  the hills were rolling, grass and trees grew
  thickly,

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• the climate of Wushan mountain was much more
  humid and hotter than it is today. Many tropical
  animals lived in the thick forest. Tough Wushan
  Man survived by struggling with the beasts,
  hunting and collecting wild fruits.
• In recent years, the renowned Professor
  Huang Wanbo has drawn a bold conclusion in
  accordance with his many years' archaeological
  experiences The Yangtze region is an important
  birthplace of ancient Chinese culture. Besides,
  early human activities might be discovered in the
  Three Gorges region.

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????????
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New words

• academic circles??? confirm v. ??
• come into being ?? unearth v. ??
• the yellow race ??? ancestor n. ??
• embryonic form ??
• cause a sensation ???? fossil n. ??
• archaeological adj.????

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I. Answer the questions1. Where was
Wushan Man unearthed?2. Was the Three Gorges
formed 2 million years ago?3. Who might be the
ancestor of the Chinese Nation and the yellow
race?4. Was Wushan Man strong or weak?5. What's
Professor Huang's conclusion based on?
Exercises
Key
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Translation
???

• ?????????,?????????????????80???????????
  ?????,????????????????????????????????????????????
  ???????????????,????,??????????????????????????,
  ????????????????????????

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?????,200???????????????????????,????????
?????????????????,??????,???????,????????(??)????
???????????????????????,????,????,??????????????
??????????,??????????,????,???????????????????????
?,?????,???????????????? ???,?????????????????,???
?????????????????????????,???????????????????????
?

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Passage 2
Changyang Man

• There is a cave about 1300 metres above the
  sea level in Zhongjiawan, a village in Changyang
  county. The entrance of the cave is about two
  metres high and six metres wide with an irregular
  plane .

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Since 1956 the fossils of the human upper
jawbone, teeth and coexistent ancient vertebrates
have been found successively. After the
appraisal, the human upper jawbone and the teeth
are distinctively more advanced than those of
Peking Man, but they keep primitive features.
The fossil remains were named Changyang Man.
Changyang Man lived 185 000 years ago. The
discovery has filled in a gap in the prehistoric
civilization research for archaeology circles.
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In 1957, a middle school teacher from
Changyang, Hubei province, reported to the
provincial museum that local farmers had dug out
the skull fossil of ancient mankind in a cave.
Very soon, Jiaanpo, a paleoanthropologist rode a
Sichuan horse to Zhongjiawan village. It was this
very unattractive cave that attracted him to
come. In more than one month, the work team
led by JiaLanpo dug out more than 40 kinds of
ancient vertebra zoolite from this cave. During
their last day's clearing, a member called Gong
Fada dug out a tooth fossil by accident.

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This ancient tooth fossil is more than 100,000
years old. It is also the first discovery of
Ancient mankind who lived to the south of Yangtze
river. JiaLanpo named it Changyang Man. In the
probation report he wrote The dicovery of
Changyang Man provided new research materials to
the distribution and evolution of the human
itself. It proves that Yangtze valley as well as
Huanghe basin is the origin of our country's
ancient culture and the cradle of the Chinese
nation .
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New words

• irregular plane ??????
• upper jawbone ???
• coexistent a. ???
• successively ad ???
• appraisal n. ??
• feature n. ??
• archaeology n. ???
• ancient vertebra zoolite ???????
• probation report ????
• Peking Man ????

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Exercises

• I. Decide the statements true or false
• 1. Zhongjiawan village doesn't have any caves. (
  )
• 2. Changyang Man was less developed than Peking
  Man ( )
• 3. Changyang Man had some characteristics of the
  earliest mankind . ( )
• 4. Mr Jian Lanpo was a scientist who dealt with
  physics. ( )
• 5. The Yangtze valley was also the birthplace of
  the Chinese nation. ( )
• 
  

Key
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Translation
? ? ?
????????????????????1300???????????,????,????
????1956 ????????????????????????????????,????????
???????????????,?????????,?????????????18.5?????
??????????????????????
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1957?,???????????????????????????????????
???,??????????????????????????????????????????????
???????? ????????,???????????????????40??
???????,??????????,???????????????????????????????
10???????????,???????????????,????????????????????
???????,????????????????????,????????????????????
,???????????,???????????
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Passage 3
The Relics of Daxi Culture
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Traveling further east out of Qutang Gorge
and into the Daning River Broad Valley, one will
find a small river flowing into the Yangtze River
on its south bank. On a platform land in the
mountains at the mouth of the small river is a
town half hidden behind green trees. This is the
Daxi Town of Wushan County, where the famous Daxi
Culture was uncovered. The Relics of Daxi
Culture are located on the third tier of platform
land at the junction of the Daxi River and the
Yangtze River. Since 1959 archaeologists have
undertaken three large-scale excavations at the
western bank of the small river.
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• 208 ancient tombs and 671 articles were
  excavated, including pottery, stone, bone and
  jade wares, many fish bones as well as animal
  horns. Among the pottery articles, red pottery
  was pre-dominant. Next came grey and black
  pottery. There were only a few colored pottery
  objects. All the pottery articles are decorated
  with impressed designs, including rope
  impressions, horizontal V designs, net and
  feather designs. There were also a great number
  of bone articles and most of them are well
  preserved.

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These bone articles of fine craftsmanship
included shovels, needles,chisels, knives and
rings. Some of them are decorated with teeth-like
patterns. As to the graves, they were densely
arranged and sometimes one upon another, but all
of them were single burials. Pottery, stone, bone
articles were buried with the dead. As the life
style of mankind was strongly affected by
geographical environment, archaeologists thought
the discovery of thick piles of fish bones in
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• the Relics of Daxi Culture indicates that
  fishing was already the principal productive
  activity in the area of the Three Gorges. The
  large quantity of artifacts unearthed from these
  graves show that the spot was a Neolithic site
  where people lived about 5000 years ago in
  matriarchal clan communes during the late period
  of primitive society. The archaeologists formally
  named the civilization the Daxi culture. The Daxi
  Culture filled in the gap of pre-historical
  culture in the Three Gorges area.

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• From the special features of Daxi Culture,
  archaeologists found that it is of the same
  importance as Qujialing Culture in Hubei
  Province, Qingliangang Culture in Jiangsu
  Province, Hemudu Culture and Liangzu Culture in
  Zhejiang Province in the Yangtze River Valley .
  Daxi Culture existed earlier than them and had
  close connections with Yangshao Culture in the
  Yellow River Valley and flourished side by side
  with it, matching their brilliance in the history
  of civilization of the Chinese nation.

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New Words
platform land n. ??junction n.
?????excavation n. ????pottery n.
???? (?)??predominant
a.??????chisel n.
??craftsmanship n.????artifact n.
????unearth v. ????
Neolithic a ?????? Matriarchal a ???? clan
n. ???? commune n.
????? primitive a ??? archaeologist n.
???? pre-historical a ???
???? flourish v. ????
??
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Exercises
I. Answer the questions1. Where are the Relics
of Daxi Culture located ?2. How many cultural
articles were discovered ?3. What is the
significance of the discovery of thick piles of
fish bones ?4. When did the archaeologists begin
the first excavation in the Relics of Daxi
Culture ?5. Why is the Daxi Culture so important
?
Key
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II. Decide the statements true or false1. The
Daxi Town of Wushan County is on the south bank
of the Yangtze River. ( )2. The Relics of
Daxi Culture are located on the first step of
platform land in the mountains. ( )3. Many
pottery, bronze , jade wares had been unearthed
in the Relics of Daxi Culture. ( )4. 208
ancient tombs had been unearthed. ( )5. Daxi
Culture belonged to the civilization of the
Neolithic Age. ( )III. Multiple Choices
Key
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1. Since 1959 the archaeologists have undertaken
large-scale excavations there. A. one
B. two C. three
D. four2. The artifacts unearthed from those
graves show that the spot was a Neolithic site
where people lived about ago. A.
5000 years B. 4000 years C. 3000
years D. 2000 years 3. The Daxi Culture
exsited earlier than and had close
connections with Yangshao culture in the Yellow
River.
Key
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A. Qujialing Culture in Hubei Province B.
Qingliangang Culture in Jiangsu Province C.
Hemudu Culture and Liangzu Culture in Zhejiang
Province D. All of the above4. The Daxi
Culture belonged to the civilization during the
late period of ______ society. A. primitive
B. slave C. feudal D.
capitalist 5. The students of summer camp will
go climbing the Great wall ______. A. from
side to side B. side by side C.
on all sides D. on the side
Key
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Translation
??????

• ??????????????????,????????????????????
  ??????????????????,?????????,?????????????
• ?????????????????????????????????1959??
  ?,?????????????????????,????208?,?????????671?????
  ????????????,??????????????

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• ?????,???????,????????,?????????????????????,?
  ????V?????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????????????????,??????????????,????????????
  ?????????????????????????????????????????,????????
  ???????????????????????????????

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• ?????????,??????????????????????????,????5000?
  ???????????????????,????????????????
• ???????????????,??????????,??????????????
  ????????,???????????????,????????????,????????????
  ???????????,??????,??????????????,???????.

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Key (Unit Twenty-two)
Passage 1I. 1. It was unearthed in Wu gorge .2.
No, it wasn't.3. Wushan Man.4. He was strong
.5. It's based on his many years' archaeological
experiences.Passage 2I. 1.F 2.F 3.T 4.F 5.T
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Passage 3 I. 1. The Relics of Daxi Culture
are located on the third step of platform land at
the junction of the Daxi River and the Yangtze
River.2. 671 cultural articles were
discovered.3. It indicates that fishing was
already the principal productive activity in the
area of the Three Gorges.4. In 1959.5. Because
the Daxi Culture filled in the blank of
pre-historical culture in the Three Gorges
area.II. 1.T 2.F 3.F 4.T 5.TIII.
1.C 2.A 3.D 4.A 5.B
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The Three Gorges
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Daxi
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????????
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??????
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Daxi River
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Thank you
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