Crafts in the Ancient near East古代近東的手工藝

本文為最新的托福真題TPO第27套閱讀第一篇，文章反映了托福“古代社會文明”類型的閱讀的特點，閱讀中的學科詞匯很典型，對我們準備托福的閱讀有很重要的參考意義，備戰托福的同學不可錯過。

學科詞匯總結words

craft手工藝

urban城市的

civilization 文明

settlement定居點

agriculture農業

pottery實用陶器

textile紡織品

mold模具

carve雕刻

relief浮雕

clay粘土

utilitarian實用的

elaborate精心制作的

refined精制的

文章翻譯translation

一、 人類歷史上的第一個城市烏魯克興起。

Some of the earliest human civilizations arose in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now southern Iraq, in the fourth millennium B.C.E. In the second half of that millennium, in the south around the city of Uruk, there was an enormous escalation in the area occupied by permanent settlements. A large part of that increase took place in Uruk itself, which became a real urban center surrounded by a set of secondary settlements. While population estimates are notoriously unreliable, scholars assume that Uruk inhabitants were able to support themselves from the agricultural production of the field surrounding the city, which could be reached with a daily commute. But Uruk’s dominant size in the entire region, far surpassing that of other settlements, indicates that it was a regional center and a true city. Indeed, it was the first city in human history.一些人類最早的文明崛起于公元前四千年的米索達比亞的南部（如今的伊拉克南部）。在公元前四千年的后半期，在烏魯克城的南部附近被永久定居點占據的區域急劇的增加, 大部分的增長都發生在烏魯克城內，使其成為了一個真正的城市中心并被一些次要的定居點包圍著。雖然眾所周知人口估計數是不可靠的，學者們認為烏魯克居民每天往返城市和城市周邊的田地,可以通過周邊田地的農業生產來養活自己。但是烏魯克在整個區域擁有壓倒性的面積優勢，遠遠超過了其他的定居點，這說明它是這個地區的中心，是一個真正的城市。事實上，它是人類歷史上的第一個城市。

二、 烏魯克中專門從事非農業的工作的人及其考古證據

The vast majority of its population remained active in agriculture, even those people living within the city itself. But a small segment of the urban society started to specialize in nonagricultural tasks as a result of the city’s role as a regional center. Within the productive sector, there was a growth of a variety of specialist craftspeople. Early in the Uruk period, the use of undecorated utilitarian pottery was probably the result of specialized mass production. In an early fourth-millennium level of the Eanna archaeological site at Uruk, a pottery style appears that is most characteristic of this process, the so-called beveled-rim bowl. It is a rather shallow bowl that was crudely made in a mold; hence, in only a limited number of standard sizes. For some unknown reason, many were discarded, often still intact, and thousands have been found all over the Near East. The beveled-rim bowl is one of the most telling diagnostic finds for identifying an Uruk-period site. Of importance is the fact that it was produced rapidly in large amounts, most likely by specialists in a central location.烏魯克的絕大部分的人口甚至包括住在城市里面的人仍然從事農業活動。但是由于這個城市是地區的中心，城市社會中的小部分人開始專門從事非農業的工作。在生產部門內部，專業工匠的類型有了增加。在烏魯克時期早期，未裝飾的實用陶器的使用可能就是大量專業化生產的結果。在公元前四千年早期的烏魯克的考古遺址Eanna中，有一種陶器風格出現了，它是這個時期的最大特點，這種陶器被叫做“斜面邊碗”。這種在模具中粗糙的制作而成的碗相當的淺，因此只有有限的幾種尺寸。 由于一些未知的原因，很多碗都被丟棄，通常這些碗都是完整的，在近東已近發現了數千只。斜面邊碗是鑒別是否屬于烏魯克時期遺址的最具標志性的發現之一。一個重要的事實是斜面邊碗是被大規模生產出來的，極有可能是專業工匠在集中在一個區域進行生產。

三、在烏魯克時期存在著工匠進行專業化大規模生產

A variety of documentation indicates that other goods, once made by a family member as one of many duties, were later made by skilled artisans. Certain images depict groups of people, most likely women, involved in weaving textiles, an activity we know from later third-millennium texts to have been vital in the economy and to have been centrally administered. Also, a specialized metal-producing workshop may have been excavated in a small area at Uruk. It contained a number of channels lined by a sequence of holes, about 50 centimeters deep, all showing burn marks and filled with ashes. This has been interpreted as the remains of a workshop where molten metal was scooped up from the channel and poured into molds in the holes. Some type of mass production by specialists was involved here.各種文件材料說明，曾經作為家庭義務而制作的其他商品后來被有技術的工匠的生產替代。一些圖片描繪了數群人，很有可能是女人，在從事于紡織的活動，從公元前三世紀的資料中我們得知這一活在經濟中起著重要的作用并且在管理中處于中心的地位。同樣，一個專門生產金屬的作坊在烏魯克被挖掘出來，它包含許多水渠，一系列洞穴成線狀排列在水渠邊。這些洞大約有50厘米深，都有燃燒的痕跡，里面填滿了灰燼。這些遺跡被解釋為作坊的遺跡，融化的金屬從水渠中舀出來倒入洞中的模具，專業工匠的大規模生產被用到了這里

四、 烏魯克的滾筒印章及其藝術品

Objects themselves suggest that they were the work of skilled professionals. In the late Uruk period (3500-3100 B.C.E.), there first appeared a type of object that remained characteristic for Mesopotamia throughout its entire history: the cylinder seal. This was a small cylinder, usually no more than 3 centimeters high and 2 centimeters in diameter, of shell, bone, faience ( a glassy type of stoneware), or various types of stones, on which a scene was carved into the surface. When rolled over a soft material---primarily the clay of bullae (round seals), tablets, or clay lumps attached to boxes, jars, or door bolts---the scene would appear in relief, easily legible. The technological knowledge needed to carve it was far superior to that for stamp seals, which had happened in the early Neolithic period (approximately 10,000-5000 B.C.E.). From the first appearance of cylinder seals, the carved scenes could be highly elaborate and refined, indicating the work of specialist stone-cutters. Similarly, the late Uruk period shows the first monumental art, relief, and statuary in the round, made with a degree of mastery that only a professional could have produced.這些物品說明這些是熟練的專業人員的作品。在后烏魯克時期（公元前3500—3100年），第一次出現了一種在整個美索不達米亞歷史時期都是很有特色的物品—滾筒印章。它是個小的圓筒，通常不到3厘米長，直徑2厘米，材料為貝殼，骨頭，彩陶（一種玻璃質的粗陶器）或是各種石頭，在其表面刻著一個場景。當滾筒印章滾過柔軟的材料（主要是被系在箱子、罐子或是門栓上的圓璽黏土，石碑，粘土板）時，這個場景就會簡單清晰的以浮雕的形式出現在上面了。雕刻滾筒印章所需的技術知識遠高于雕刻在新石器時代早期（大約公元前1萬 到5千年）出現的圖章封印的技術知識。首次出現的滾筒印章，雕刻的場景圖像非常的細巧精致，顯示出這是專業的石頭雕刻者的作品。同樣的，在烏魯克時期晚期出現的第一個石碑藝術品，浮雕，和圓形雕塑藝術，只有專業人士用較高程度的熟練技術才能制作出來。

文章生詞列表

civilizationn.文明

millenniumn.一千年

escalationn.擴大, 增加

settlementn.定居點

notoriouslya.眾所周知的，臭名昭著的

inhabitantn.居民, 居住者

commutevi.通勤,往返

dominanta.占優勢的, 支配的

surpassvt.超越, 勝過

indicatevt.顯示, 象征, 指示,

segmentn.片段, 部分

urbana.城市的, 都市的

specializevt.專門從事; 專攻

craftspeoplen.手藝人

potteryn.陶器

characteristicn.特性, 特征, 特色; a.特性的, 特有的

crudea.粗糙的

discardvt.丟棄, 拋棄

intactadj.尚未被人碰過的, 完整的,

tellinga. 顯著的,

identifyv.識別, 鑒定

artisann.工匠, 技工

textilen.紡織品

vitala.生命的, 重要的,

excavatevt.挖空, 挖出

interpretvt.解釋

scoopvt.舀取

cylindern.圓筒, 圓筒狀物

sealn.印章

tabletn.平板,碑, 匾

diametern.直徑

carvevt.雕刻

lumpn.團, 塊; 小方塊

reliefn.浮雕

legiblea.清晰的, 易讀的

superiora.優良的; 優秀的

stampn.圖章

monumentn.紀念碑, 紀念物, 石碑