Writing Record (文字记录)
版本一：
文章主旨是文字对于考古的重要性。
第一段说考考古学家可以通过文字知道一个社会的情况。
第二段说在希腊和罗马考古学家从刻在Clay(粘土)的文字上可以知道当时当地发生的Trade(贸易)和政府的construction(建筑物)的情况。有一题就是关于Trade 的信息，答案是从刻出来的字里知道到底是谁跟谁进行，贸易。
然后还说了用这种原始的记录方法记下的文字不容易保存，很多都由于自然的腐蚀作用(包括被火山灰掩埋)而丢失了，所以发现的很多文字的形式都存在埃及比较干燥的地方。
然后还说文字也有不好的地方，说文字记录也会误导考古学家。举了一个例子，在Angela(安哥拉)有一个文字记录，一开始大家以为记录的是king(国王)，以后那时候就有国王了，但是后来发现这个king不是国王的意思，而是别的东西。
版本二：
讲考古学家和语言学家研究古时候的笔记。有的写在羊皮卷上的，有的写在marble(大理石)上面的。然后说这些record的功能，有的体现了一个国家的政府是谁，神是谁，然后从上面可以探索一些history。还有一段讲的是不光把record刻在羊皮卷上，还有的会刻在coins上面，比如希腊就会记录英格兰政府的变化。
新东方张俊聪解析：
解析： 本文讲文字记录及其各种载体对于考古学以及语言学的贡献。这类历史考证类文章的主旨明确，结构清晰，每段首句为topic sentence的可能性较高。大家在阅读文章之前可以先跳到最后一题(文章总结题)的位置看看那句对于文章总结的句子。对于大家从整体上把握文章的结构非常有帮助。从文章结构与内容上，都非常接近TPO4的文章Art in Europe 。
相关背景学习：
Lascaux Cave Paintings
In Southwest France in the 1940’s, playing children discovered Lascaux Grotto, a series of narrow cave chambers that contain huge prehistoric paintings of animals. Many of these beasts are as large as 16 feet (almost 5 meters). Some follow each other in solemn parades, but others swirl about, sideways and upside down. The animals are bulls, wild horses, reindeer, bison, and mammoths outlined with charcoal and painted mostly in reds, yellow, and browns. Scientific analysis reveals that the colors were derived from ocher and other iron oxides ground into a fine powder. Methods of applying color varied: some colors were brushed or smeared on rock surfaces and others were blown or sprayed. It is possible that tubes made from animal bones were used for spraying because hollow bones, some stained with pigment, have been found nearby.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the paintings is their location. Other rock paintings—for example, those of Bushmen in South Africa—are either located near cave entrances or completely in the open. Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses and caverns far removed from original cave entrances. This means that artists were forced to work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. It also implies that whoever made them did not want them to be easily found. Since cave dwellers normally lived close to entrances, there must have been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cave dwellers hid their art.
Scholars offer three related but different opinions about the mysterious origin and significance of these paintings. One opinion is that the paintings were a record of seasonal migrations made by herds. Because some paintings were made directly over others, obliterating them, it is probable that a painting’s value ended with the migration it pictured. Unfortunately, this explanation fails to explain the hidden locations, unless the migrations were celebrated with secret ceremonies.
Another opinion is that the paintings were directly related to hunting and were an essential part of a special preparation ceremony. This opinion holds that the pictures and whatever ceremony they accompanied were an ancient method of psychologically motivating hunters. It is conceivable that before going hunting the hunters would draw or study pictures of animals and imagine a successful hunt. Considerable support exists for this opinion because several animals in the pictures are wounded by arrows and spears. This opinion also attempts to solve the overpainting by explaining that an animal’s picture had no further use after the hunt.
A third opinion takes psychological motivation much further into the realm of tribal ceremonies and mystery: the belief that certain animals assumed mythical significance as ancient ancestors or protectors of a given tribe or clan. Two types of images substantiate this theory: the strange, indecipherable geometric shapes that appear near some animals, and the few drawings of men. Wherever men appear they are crudely drawn and their bodies are elongated and rigid. Some men are in a prone position and some have bird or animal heads. Advocates for this opinion point to reports from people who have experienced a trance state, a highly suggestive state of low consciousness between waking and sleeping. Uniformly, these people experienced weightlessness and the sensation that their bodies were being stretched lengthwise. Advocates also point to people who believe that the forces of nature are inhabited by spirits, particularly shamans* who believe that an animal’s spirit and energy is transferred to them while in a trance. One Lascaux narrative picture, which shows a man with a birdlike head and a wounded animal, would seem to lend credence to this third opinion, but there is still much that remains unexplained. For example, where is the proof that the man in the picture is a shaman? He could as easily be a hunter wearing a headmask. Many tribal hunters, including some Native Americans, camouflaged themselves by wearing animal heads and hides.
Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists, and by its existence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, and sensitivity.
Shamans: holy people who act as healers and diviners