Will DECEMBER 21st , 2012 BE THE END OF THE WORLD?
| 字彙 Flashcards ：使用說明 |
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get out of N：停止 |
swallow (v) 吞噬 |
The Maya recorded time in a series of cycles, including 400-year chunks called baktuns. In one pillar, the ancient scribe even painstakingly etched out cycles of 17 baktuns, showing time will extend seven thousand years into future. This is in remarkable __ 5 __ with the previous Maya calendar that has resulted in rumors of an end-of-the-world catastrophe on Dec 21st, 2012. According to doomsayers' predictions, on that date, a cycle of 13 baktuns ( about five thousand years) will be __ 6 __ and the world will cease to exist; all humankind will then meet its end, drowned in apocalyptic floods, swallowed by a black hole, or got taken out by a collision with the imaginary planet Nibiru.
___ 7 __ the playing field on the doomsayers and media hype, this mind-blowing discovery is solid proof that the 2012 apocalypse is a misconception. The Mayans, ___ 8 __ culture is really about renewal and continuity, regard their calendar as a series of __ 9 __ cycles that begin and end with regularity, with nothing disastrous associated with the ending of a given cycle. It’s like the odometer of a car, with the Maya calendar rolling over from the 120, 000s to 130, 000. As the number turns over, the Maya just start over and keep going for numbers that we can’t even __ 10 __ our heads around.
Interestingly enough, while we go on looking for endings, the Maya were searching for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mind-set.
| A. notations | B. houses | C. whose | D. wrap | E. reversing |
| F. served | G. infinite | H. conjures | I. contradiction | J. complete |
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Those who plan to get out of Christmas shopping this year because the world is coming to an end on December 21st may have to think again. In the rainforest-covered ruins of a Mayan city, a team of US archaeologists has discovered a 6 by 6 foot chamber that houses the oldest-known version of the ancient wall calendar. Unlike any such notations seen before, the delicately painted hieroglyphs and numbers scrawled along the wall and over sections of a mural seem to have served as a handy reference chart for scribes in the year 800. The use of this wall as a writing surface conjures up images of Albert Einstein calculating higher math on a blackboard with chalk.
The Maya recorded time in a series of cycles, including 400-year chunks called baktuns. In one pillar, the ancient scribe even painstakingly etched out cycles of 17 baktuns, showing time will extend seven thousand years into future. This is in remarkable contradiction with the previous Maya calendar that has resulted in rumors of an end-of-the-world catastrophe on Dec 21st, 2012. According to doomsayers' predictions, on that date, a cycle of 13 baktuns ( about five thousand years) will be complete and the world will cease to exist; all humankind will then meet its end, drowned in apocalyptic floods, swallowed by a black hole, or got taken out by a collision with the imaginary planet Nibiru.
Reversing the playing field on the doomsayers and media hype, this mind-blowing discovery is solid proof that the 2012 apocalypse is a misconception. The Mayans, whose culture is really about renewal and continuity, regard their calendar as a series of infinite cycles that begin and end with regularity, with nothing catastrophic associated with the ending of a given cycle. It’s like the odometer of a car, with the Maya calendar rolling over from the 120,000s to 130,000. As the number turns over, the Maya just start over and keep going for numbers that we can’t even wrap our heads around.
Interestingly enough, while we go on looking for endings, the Maya were searching for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mind-set.
Q：It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is a true statement about the newly discovered Mayan calendar?
A. The new find reinforces the long-held myth that the Mayan calendar is a countdown to the end of the world.
B. The inscription found at the ruins offers no hint that the apocalypse is imminent — only that the world would begin a new baktun.
C. More people than ever dismiss that calamities will take place precisely the day they’re predicted to.
D. The oldest-known calendar spans some 5,000 years, heading much farther into the future than the supposed doomsday date.
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| 1. B | 2. A | 3. F | 4. H | 5. I |
| 6. J | 7. E | 8. C | 9. G | 10. D |
| 1. | 「關係代名詞」 that 代替前面「先行詞」 chamber。句型分析如下：
that __ 1 __ the oldest-known version of … |
| 2. | such 後方需搭配「名詞」，故第 2 格為「名詞」。後方關鍵字「象形文字」( hieroglyphs) 和「數字」( numbers) 都是「符號」( notations )。 |
| 3. | 本題考點為「現在完成式」，由「助動詞」have/ has 加上「過去分詞」( p.p. )組成，故第 3 格為 p.p.。從文意可知，牆上的符號可當抄寫員計算曆法時的參考。片語「用來當作」：serve as N。關於「現在完成式」的詳細解說請見 大學堂文法講座 18 。 |
| 4. | 本題句型結構分析如下：
The use of this wall as a writing surface __ 4 __ up images … |
| 5. | 「形容詞」 remarkable 後須搭配「名詞」，故第5格為名詞。從文意可知，新發現的曆法中記載了 17 個 baktuns，「推翻」 ( contradiction ) 了之前 13 個 baktuns 的說法。 |
| 6. | be 動詞後方常搭配「形容詞」，故第 6 格為「形容詞」。從關鍵字「世界末日」( end-of-the-date )可知 12 月 21 日，第 13 個 baktun 周期「結束」( complete )。 |
| 7. | 從文意可知，新發現「推翻」( reverse ) 了世界末日的說法。兩句「主詞」相同，都是 this mind-blowing discovery，故可用「分詞構句」句型，又因主詞可主動執行動作，故用「Ving分詞構句」。關於「分詞構句」的詳細解說請見 大學堂文法講座 8 。 |
| 8. | 從句型結構可知，兩個動詞算兩句，連接兩個句子可用「關係代名詞」。從文意可知，「馬雅人的」文化精隨在於重生，故用「人所有格性質」的關代 whose。 |
| 9. | 「名詞」 cycles 前方需搭配「形容詞」，故第 9 格為形容詞。從第三段第6行可知馬雅人的時間觀是「無止盡的」( infinite ) 循環。 |
| 10. | 「助動詞」後方需搭配第 10 格「動詞原形」。從文意可知，數字一直增加，數目大到我們無法「理解」。片語「理解…」：wrap one’s head around N。 |
閱讀解答：B
那些因 12 月 21 日世界就要毀滅，而不打算採買耶誕禮物的人，可能要再考慮一下囉。一群美國考古學家，在雨林覆蓋的馬雅城市遺址裏發現了一個36平方英呎的房間，裏頭保存了最古老的，刻劃在牆上的曆法。不同於以往見過的符號系統，這些西元八百年時，龍飛鳳舞地橫跨牆面和部份壁畫的精緻象形文字和數字，似乎成了曆法抄寫員手邊最方便好用的参考圖表。抄寫員們在牆面上寫字，讓人想起愛因斯坦用粉筆在黑板上演算高等數學的模樣。
馬雅人用一系列週期來記錄時間，如一個 baktun 代表 400 年。曆法抄寫員甚至在房中柱子上精心刻畫出以 17 個 baktun 為單位的週期。這也意味著時間可往後推算七千年。這點明顯牴觸先前引爆 2012 年12月21日末日災難傳言的馬雅曆法。據末日預言家表示, 12 月 21 日這天, 第 13 個 baktun ( 相當於 5000 年 ) 的週期結束, 末日到來, 全世界的人類，或慘遭末日洪水淹没，或被黑洞吞噬，或因地球和虛構的 Nibiru 星球相撞而滅絕。
這令人眼界大開的新發現，逆轉了末日預言者的說詞和媒體的瘋狂炒作，也證實了「2012末日說」源自於對馬雅曆法的誤解。以重生和連續性為文化基底的馬雅人，將曆法視為一連串無限循環的週期。週期的開始和结束嚴遵定律，而特定週期結束時，災難也不會從天而降。當馬雅曆法從 120,000 多年朝 130,000 年邁進時，就像汽車里程表般，只要數字ㄧ翻轉進位，馬雅人便又從 0 開始計算，繼續記錄大到我們無法想像的數字。有趣的是，當我們尋覓「終點」時，馬雅人卻渴求「延續現狀」。他們的思維和我們真是截然不同啊。
問題：從文章推論，下列和新發現的馬雅曆法相關的敘述何者為真？
A. 新發現強化了長久以來的迷思：馬雅曆法一步步倒數逼近世界末日。
B. 遺址裏發現的碑文並沒暗示末日即將降臨，反而指出新 baktun 週期即將展開。
C. 越來越多人對災難將如末日預言般，精準地於 2012 年於 12 月 21 日準時降臨一事嗤之以鼻。
D. 最古老的馬雅曆法，橫跨 5,000 多年，遠超過原先設定的世界末日—2012 年 12 月 21 日。
