Archeology, the branch of anthropology that is devoted to the study of the human past, often focuses on the period before people began to keep written records. Archeologists study the origin, spread, and evolution of culture by examining the remains of past societies. They share the task of other kinds of anthropologists in that they are trying to understand human behavior. The difference is that their materials are generally the unwritten records of past societies. They cannot sit down with living members of those societies and talk about what they have found. They cannot even observe living people, but must interpret the material evidence left by people long dead. Many archeologists distinguish between prehistoric archeology, which is the study of extinct cultures that left no written records, and historic archeology, which is the investigation of those groups for whom there are written materials to accompany the archeological evidence.
What, then, can archeology contribute to our understanding of human culture and social behavior? First, we can learn much about the technology of early peoples through their material remains, as well as through analysis of such aspects of their life style as what they ate. We can tell, for example, whether a particular group lived mainly by hunting or fishing or by farming.
A second aspect of the life of early peoples that is revealed to us through archeology is their economic practices. For example, sometimes we find pottery or jewelry made from materials that are known to have been available only in distant places. This usually means that these items were not made at the site but were obtained through some other means—either by traveling to the place where they are available or by trading with other groups. If we put together a picture of the distribution of such items over time, we can get an idea of the interactions among neighboring groups, and this in turn gives us clues about other aspects of culture that might have been borrowed or traded as well.
Less evident than economics or technology, but still recognizable, is the political and social structure of past cultures. We can assume a great deal about the way a city was organized from the layout of the buildings and the types of housing found there. For example, if we find a large temple in the center of an ancient city and it is surrounded by fairly large dwelling sites, while the buildings on the outskirts of the settlement are smaller, we know that there were probably at least two classes of people and that the temple was at the center of the city not only in a physical sense but socially as well.
Finally, archeological evidence can reveal a great deal about certain aspects of the religious and spiritual life of ancient societies. A. [■] When we are fortunate enough to find temples or other religious structures, we can determine their importance and their influence on the society.B. [■]But in other areas, it is very hard to interpret the evidence.C. [■] Thus we know little about ancient peoples' belief systems, or their values and morals, their feelings about spirits, and so forth.D. [■] Even when we find material objects that might suggest such beliefs, we cannot ask anyone to explain their meaning but must go on what we know about other aspects of that society and later societies that seem to be similar to it. In sum, archeology gives us a chance to look into the past of the human species. But it is like doing a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing, and without a picture of the finished puzzle on the box to work from. We have a few things that fit together: we can guess about many others; but we really don't have enough to put it all together with complete confidence. Every new piece we find fits somewhere, though, and we never know when the next piece will give us the key to a whole new section of the puzzle of life in prehistoric times. That is the challenge and the excitement of archeology.

单选题 The word extinct in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to______.
A. still living
B. very strange
C. no longer existing
D. extremely dangerous

单选题 The word their in Paragraph 1 refers to
A. archeologists B. human beings
C. anthropologists D. past societies

单选题 According to Paragraph 1, which of the following statements about archeology and other branches of anthropology is true?
A. Archeology and other branches of anthropology are totally different.
B. Archeology is more closely related to human behavior research.
C. Their difference mainly lies in their different research materials.
D. They have the same research areas about human behavior.

单选题 We can benefit from archeological research in all the following ways EXCEPT that______.
A. archeology can tell us what religion early peoples believed in
B. we can know some aspects of primitive peoples' technology
C. archeology can show us the exchanges between different groups
D. archeology can help us know the social structure of past societies

单选题 If we find materials available only in faraway places, it can be inferred that
A. these materials were very popular at that time and sold in many places
B. these materials were very easy to produce and were made locally
C. people in this place were hunting tribes and traveled to distant places
D. these materials were probably got by the means of traveling or trading

单选题 The word layout in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to
A. act B. arrangement
C. material D. appearance

单选题 The author mentioned building and housing in Paragraph 4 in order to______.
A. show that early peoples mastered the technology of building houses
B. tell us that primitive peoples had religious belief at a very early time
C. show that archeology can explain social aspects of past cultures
D. explain how archeology can benefit from today's architecture research

单选题 The word reveal in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to______.
A. determine B. interpret
C. define D. expose

单选题 According to Paragraph 5, if we find some evidence of religious aspects of ancient societies,______.
A. the evidence can help us know the beliefs of past societies
B. it will still be fairly difficult for us to understand the evidence
C. we will be able to interpret the values and morals of early people
D. we can explain beliefs with the help of some material objects

单选题 Why does the author compare archeology to doing a jigsaw puzzle?
A. To indicate what archeology contributes to us.
B. To show how difficult doing archeology is.
C. To explain the challenge and charm of archeology.
D. To display how people do archeology research.

单选题 Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
We can recognize sacred objects by their location in centers of religious activity or in burial sites.
Where would the sentence best fit?
A. Square Ａ.
B. Square Ｂ.
C. Square Ｃ.
D. Square Ｄ.

问答题 Directions: Complete the table by matching the phrases below. Select the appropriate phrases from the answer choices and match them to the aspect of archeology to which they relate. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 4 points.

Archeology's contributions 　　　　　　Archeology's limits

·　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　· ·　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　· ·　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　· ·

A. Failing to observe living people.
B. Finding the lifestyle of early peoples.
C. Discovering the economic practices of ancient societies.
D. Having no written records.
E. Understanding the spiritual life of past societies.
F. Resembling the mystery of a jigsaw puzzle.
G. Interpreting material evidence.
H. Understanding the political and social structure.
I. Contributing to architecture.