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  3. Until recently, scrutiny of tree-ring records seemed to establish that a prolonged dry spell called the Great Drought drove

Until recently, scrutiny of tree-ring records seemed to establish that a prolonged dry spell called the Great Drought drove

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问题          Until recently, scrutiny of tree-ring records seemed to establish that a
     prolonged dry spell called the Great Drought drove the Anasazi Indians to
     abandon their magnificent stone villages on the Colorado  Plateau.
     Groundbreaking climatological studies have convinced many archaeologists,
(5)   however, that the Great Drought was not sufficiently austere to coerce the
     sudden evacuation of the Anasazi. Reviewing tree ring records, including
     moisture levels, Van West disputed the Great Drought theory by presenting
     evidence that enough corn could have been grown during the drought to support
     the population, that the Anasazi had weathered many severe droughts in the
(10)  past, and that the evacuation actually began before the dry spell set in.
         Belying the popular image of the Anasazi as a peaceable kingdom of farmers
     and potters, some new research puts the blame for the evacuation on a bloody
     internecine war. Noting that the Anasazi had been suffering from malnutrition,
     shorter life spans and increased infant mortality, Adler suggests that the
(15)  Anasazi were not able to move around freely to farm because their once open
     range was becoming balkanized into hostile fiefdoms. Perhaps as a reaction to
     drier weather, people in the Mesa Verde area began building dams and canals to
     trap and divert water, and the result may have been conflict and warfare.
     Unfortunately, other archeologists,  having trouble envisioning how even
(20)  drought, balkanization and warfare could make an entire civilization evacuate,
     are trying to combine archeological evidence with anthropological studies of the
     modern pueblo Indians to make the case that the Anasazi were roiled by a
     religious crisis as divisive as European medieval heresies. Analyzing the spread
     of religious symbols found on rocks or pottery and the distribution of ceremonial
(25)  structures, some argue that the Anasazi may have been pulled from their
     homeland by a new religion emerging to the south, whose egalitarian spirit
     would have had great appeal to a civilization, like the Anasazi’s, that was
     entering a dark age. Ware comes closest to a plausible synthesis of his
     predecessors’ theories in suggesting that the Anasazi world was rocked by a
(30)  spiritual crisis catastrophic enough to cause a collapse of a civilization, and that
     the uprooted Anasazi apparently embraced a variety of new beliefs on migration
     to their new homes.
         Ware further argues that the precipitating factor in the evacuation may
     have been a change in climate after all. Recent climatological studies suggest
(35)  that indeed, rainfall patterns were disrupted in a way that might have made the
     Anasazi disillusioned with their old religion: the customary pattern of heavy
     snows in the winter followed by summer monsoons had become unpredictable.
     Even if there was not a great drought, moisture may have been coming at the
     wrong times, and the summer rains, essential for nourishing the spring crops,
(40)  were no longer reliable—the rain dances were not working anymore. Thus,
     Ware’s theory accommodates the greatest variety of factors that may explain
     the Anasazi’s evacuation.
选项 A、A historical theory is sketched and a problem with the theory is cited.
B、Evidence for an objection to a theory is mentioned and a generalization from that evidence is advanced.
C、A paradox about the origins of a historical phenomenon is pointed out and the author’s explanation of the paradox is expounded.
D、A statement about a historical phenomenon is offered and a possible misinterpretation of that statement is addressed.
E、A new explanation for a historical phenomenon is given and evidence for that explanation is provided.
答案A
解析
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