2007北京太奇培訓學�？佳杏⒄Z強化班授課講義 (八)

III. English-Chinese Translation

    Archaeology has long been an accepted tool for studying prehistoric cultures.  1) Relatively recently the same techniques have been systematically applied to the study of the more immediate past, which has been called “historical archaeology,” a term that is used in the United States to refer to any archaeological investigation into North American sites that postdate the arrival of Europeans.

    Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s, when building restoration was popular, historical archaeology was primarily a tool of architectural reconstruction. The role of archaeologists was to find the foundations of historic buildings and then take a back seat to architects.

    2) The extreme enthusiasm for reconstruction had largely died down by the 1950’s and 1960’s. Most people entering historical archaeology during this period came out of university anthropology departments where they had studied prehistoric cultures. They were, by training, scientists, not historians, and their work tended to reflect this bias. The questions they framed and the techniques they used were designed to help them understand, as scientists, how people behaved. 3) But because they were embarking on the historical ground for which there was often extensive written documentation and because their knowledge of these periods was usually limited, their contributions to American history remained confined. Their reports, highly technical and sometimes poorly written, went unread.

    More recently, professional archaeologists have taken over.  4) These researchers have sought to demonstrate that their work can be a valuable tool not only of science but also of history, providing fresh insights into the daily lives of ordinary people whose existences might not otherwise be so well documented. This newer emphasis on archaeology as social history has shown great promise, and indeed work done in this area has led to a reinterpretation of the United States past.

    5) In Kingston, New York, for example, evidence has been uncovered that indicates that English goods were being smuggled into that city at a time when the Dutch supposedly controlled trading in the area. And in Sacramento an excavation at the site of a fashionable nineteenth-century hotel revealed that garbage had been stashed in the building’s basement despite sanitation laws to the contrary.  (356 words)

Notes: archaeology考古學； take a back seat 退居次要地位；die down 逐漸減弱；embark on從事，著手，開始工作； take over接收，接辦，接任；seek to do sth. 試圖做某事；promise n. 有希望，有前途；stash vt. 隱藏；to the contrary （作表語或后置定語）相反的。supposedly 按照推定，想象上，恐怕。

IV. Writing

Directions: Your best friend Tom is going to Vancouver on business. Write a letter to your Canadian friend Henry to:

1) introduce your friend to this Canadian friend,
2) state your friend’s interests,
3) contact your friend if possible.

Letter of Introduction

Dear Henry,

    My best friend Tom will be in Vancouver on business the week of April 10. He is director of marketing for a large carton manufacturer. 我認為，如果日程安排允許的話，你們會很高興見面的。

    I told Tom you are doing research for a textbook on the use of graphics designs in advertising. 湯姆對你研究的項目很感興趣而且想知道它怎樣用于包裝盒，which his company makes and prints.

    If you have the time, give him a call at 241-0310, Room 601. 我告訴他你可能那一周抽不出空，所以如果沒有你的消息他也會理解的。

Yours sincerely,

 Li Ming

作業(yè)：1. 認真復(fù)習本單元內(nèi)容。 2. 從四個搭配的角度分析本單元完形填空練習。  3. 認真翻譯“考古學”全文。

贈言：工作雖苦，貧窮更苦。（It may be hard to work, but it must be harder to want.）