托福听力短文 II-14-2

(MA) I understand your professor has been discussing several Eastern Woodland Indian tribes in your study of Native American cultures. As you have probably learned, the Eastern Woodland Indians get their name from the forest-covered areas of the Eastern United States where they lived. The earliest Woodland cultures date back 9,000 years, but the group we'll focus on dates back only to about 700 A.D. We now call these Native Americans the Mississippian culture, because they settled in the Mississippi River valley.

This civilization is known for its flat-topped monuments called temple mounds¹. They were made of earth and used as temples and official residences. The temple mounds were located in the central square of the city, with the huts of the townspeople built in rows around the plaza².

The Mississippian people were city dwellers³. But some city residents earned their living as farmers, tending the fields of corn, beans, and squash that surrounded the city. The city's artisans made arrowheads, leather goods, pottery⁴, and jewelry⁵. Traders came from far away to exchange raw materials for these items.

In the slides I'm about to show, you will see models of a Mississippian city.

1 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

2 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

3 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

5 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。