英语听力精选进阶版 11401

 

015 Early writing tablet 5 Feb 2010

Fri, 5 Feb 10

A small clay tablet made in Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago. It is covered with sums but also some of the world’s earliest writing – about beer rationing¹. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at how humans invented writing to cope with the increasing sophistication of trade and commerce. Including contributions from philosopher John Searle, on what the invention of writing does for the human mind, and Britain's top civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, on the beginnings of bureaucracy.

1 rationing   

n.定量供应

参考例句：

• Wartime austerities included food rationing and shortage of fuel. 战时的艰苦包括食物配给和燃料短缺。
• Food rationing was abolished in that country long ago. 那个国家早就取消了粮食配给制。