托福辅导：英国考古学的发展

　　新托福考试阅读材料：

　　The United Kingdom (sometimes referred to as Britain) has a long and rich history of human settlement. Traces of buildings, tools, and art can be found from periods going back many thousands of years: from the Stone Age, through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the time of the Roman colonization, the Middle Ages, up to the beginnings of the industrial age. Yet from most of the twentieth century, the science of archaeology – dedicated to uncovering and studying old cultural artifacts – was faced with serious problems and limitations in Britain.

　　英国(有的时候被称为不列颠)在人类居住建筑方面有久远丰富的历史。建筑、建筑工具以及建筑艺术的遗迹的历史可以追溯到数千年。从石器时代开始，历经青铜时代、铁器时代、罗马殖民时代、中世纪，一直到工业时代的初期。但是在20世纪的大部分时间里的英国，致力于挖掘和研究古代文化遗迹的考古学面临着严峻的问题和局限性。

　　First, many valuable artifacts were lost to construction projects. The growth of Britain’s population, especially from the 1950s on, spurred a lot of new construction in British cities, towns, and villages. While digging foundations for new buildings, the builders often uncovered archaeologically valuable sites. Usually, however, they proceeded with the construction and did not preserve the artifacts. Many archaeologically precious artifacts were therefore destroyed.

　　首先，建筑工程破坏了很多有价值的估计。从1950年以来愈加明显的人口增加导致了英国建筑业的迅猛发展，无论是在城市、乡镇还是村庄。在给新建筑打地基的时候，建筑者常常会挖掘到一些有价值的文物遗迹。然而，常常建筑工人会继续进行工作，而不是保护这些文物。很多很多珍贵的考古文物就因此遭到了破坏。

　　Second, many archaeologists felt that the financial support for archaeological research are inadequate. For most of the twentieth century, archaeology was funded mostly through government funds and grants, which allowed archaeologists to investigate a handful of the most important sites but which left hundreds of other interesting projects without support. Furthermore, changing government priorities brought about periodic reductions in funding.

　　第二，很多考古学家都感觉到考古学研究的经费不足。在二十世纪的大部分时间里，考古的经费大多来自于政府的基金和拨款。经费的不足导致考古学家只能研究很少了的最重要的遗迹，而数以千计的其他有意义的项目都缺乏经费。而且，政府预算优先权的改变也导致了经费的周期性减少。

　　Third, it was difficult to have a career in archaeology. Archaeology jobs were to be found at universities or with a few government agencies, but there were never many positions available. Many people who wanted to become archaeologists ended up pursuing other careers and contributing to archaeological research only as unpaid amateurs.

　　第三，考古事业难以为继。只有在大学和很少数的政府部门才能找到考古学相关的工作。但是职位总是供不应求。很多想成为考古学家的人都放弃了，选择了其他的领域，仅仅把考古学研究当做一个没有收益的业余爱好。

　　新托福考试阅读部分需要提取的观点是：

　　- Main point: 英国考古学的发展面临着严峻的问题和局限性