Reading ：
The United Kingdom (sometimes referred to as Britain) has a long and rich
history of human settlement. Traces of buildings, tools, and art can be found
from periods going back many thousands of years: from the Stone Age,
through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the time of the Roman colonization, the
Middle Ages, up to the beginnings of the industrial age. Yet for most of the
twentieth century, the science of archaeology, dedicated to uncovering and
studying old cultural artifacts, was faced with serious problems and
limitations in Britain.
First, many valuable artifacts were lost to construction projects. The growth of
Britain’s population, especially from the 1950s on, spurred a lot of new
construction in British cities, towns, and villages. While digging foundations
for new buildings, the builders often uncovered archaeologically valuable sites.
Usually, however, they proceeded with the construction and did not preserve
the artifacts. Many archaeologically precious artifacts were therefore
destroyed.
Second, many archaeologists felt that the financial support for archaeological
research was inadequate. For most of the twentieth century, archaeology was
funded mostly through government funds and grants, which allowed
archaeologists to investigate a handful of the most important sites but which
left hundreds of other interesting projects without support. Furthermore,
changing government priorities brought about periodic reductions in funding.
Third, it was difficult to have a career in archaeology. Archaeology jobs were to
be found at universities or with a few government agencies, but there were
never many positions available. Many people who wanted to become
archaeologists ended up pursuing other careers and contributing to
archaeological research only as unpaid amateurs.
Listening :
In 1990, new rules and guidelines were adopted in United Kingdom and that
had changed the whole feel of Archaeology in that country. The new guidelines
improved the situation in all 3 areas discussed in the passage.
First, the new guidelines state that before any construction project can start,
the construction site has to be examined by archaeologists to see whether the
site is of archaeological interest or value. If the site is of archaeological interest,
the next step is for the builders, archaeologists and local government officials
to get together and make a plan for preserving the archaeological artifacts,
either by building around them or by excavating a document in them properly
before the construction is allowed to proceed.
Second, an important part of new guidelines is the rule that any archaeological
work done on the construction site will be paid for by the construction
company not by the government. The construction company has to pay for the
initial examination of the site, and then for all the work carried out under the
preservation plan. This is whole new source of financial support. The funding
from the construction company has allowed researchers to study a far great
range of archaeological sites than they could in past.
Last, the new guidelines provide a lot of paid work for archaeologists, work
that didn’t exist before. Expert archaeologists are now hired all stage of the
process to examine the site for archaeological value, then have to drop the
preservation plan to do the researcher and professional scientific manner and
finally to process the data and write reports and articles. The increased job
career opportunities in Archaeology have increased the number professional
archaeologists in Britain which is now the highest it’s ever been.
essay:
The read passage states that there are some limitation and problems which science of archaeology had in twentieth century in United kingdom and provides three reasons of support. However, the lecturer explains that new guidelines has solved these problems that reading passage had mentioned in the reading passage.
First, the reading passage claims that a number of new buildings has been constructed in the cities or villages since 1950s because of increasing population in Britain. Some artifact can be lost or destroyed when the construction was built near the cites. Based on the new guidelines, the lecturer states that any construction cite has to be examined whether it has valuable artifacts in the construction cites. If there are artifacts in the cites, the archaeologist and builders should make a plan for preserving the artifacts.
Second, the reading passage posits that the government budget in investigating critical sites of artifacts and supporting interesting projects for research of artifacts is not enough for archaeologists. However, the lecturer says that the rule indicates that construction builders have to support archaeologists whole funds to finish the research and investigating plan of artifacts until all artifacts have been preserved.
Third, the reading passage states that archaeology jobs were not many positions in the universities and government agencies, so many people give up finding career and are amateurs in the archaeology. According to the new guidelines, the lecturer claims that the government provide a lot of job opportunities in archaeology. Many archaeologists are hired to all stages in the examining cites.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between two students (2)