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

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

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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.
Line    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 clams 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.
It can be inferred from the passage that Van West notes the severe droughts which affected the Anasazi prior to the Great Drought primarily in order to
选项 A、establish that enough food could have been grown to support the Anasazi’s survival
B、argue that the Anasazi’s past behavior would indicate their likely future behavior in the case of a Great Drought
C、suggest that the repetition of droughts was taking a cumulative toll on the fertility of the Plateau
D、argue that the evidence which points to the existence of a Great Drought may actually be related to earlier droughts
E、affirm the notion that the Great Drought may have been exponentially more severe than prior droughts
答案B
解析
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