公共英语四级日常阅读文章

　　每一年的公共英语考试尽管相对于英语专业的考试简单许多，还是有不少人无法顺利通过。说到底一个重要的原因就是平时练习还不够。下面，小编为大家送上两篇公共英语的阅读文章，希望对大家有所帮助。

公共英语四级日常阅读文章

　　公共英语的阅读文章一

　　Archaeology

　　Archaeology is a source of history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts. Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live —— and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of these constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.

　　Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk. The movement of troops on the battlefield may "change the course of history," but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist's standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap.

　　考古学

　　考古学是历史学的一个来源，而不是地位卑微的辅助学科。考古学资料本身也是一种历史文献，而不仅仅是文字资料的例证。正象任何一位历史学家那样，考古学家研究调查并尽力去重构一个过程。这个过程创造了我们生活的人类世界，也创造了我们自身，因为我们都是我们所处的时代和社会环境的产物。考古学的资料就是人类行为所造成的物质变化。更简洁地说，是石化了的人类行为。这些变化的总和构成了我们所说的考古学记录。这些记录自有其独特和不足之处，因而导致人们对考古历史和更熟悉的`文字记载历史进行相当肤浅的对比。

　　并不是所有的人类行为都留下化石。我说的话，你通过空气振动听见，这当然是人类造成的物质变化，也可能有重大的历史意义，但这些话在考古学中未留下丝毫痕迹，除非有人用录音机录下来或文书把这些话写了下来。战场上军队的行动可能"改变历史的进程"，但从考古学的观点来看，这同样是难以捕捉的;可能更糟的是，多数有机物质会腐烂。任何由木头、生皮、绒线、亚麻、草、毛发以及相似物质做成的东西除非在一些非常特殊的条件下，几年或几个世纪以后，会在尘土中腐烂并消失。在短时期内，能留下考古记录的东西也都会退化为石头、骨头、玻璃、金属和陶器的碎片。然而，现代的考古学通过运用适当的技术和比较的方法，在从泥炭、沙漠和冻土中所获得的一些幸运发现的辅助下，能够填充这个空缺的很大部分。

　　公共英语的阅读文章二

　　Museums

　　From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.

　　In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.

　　The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhere -- space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.

　　Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.

　　Deaccessing -- or selling off -- works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.

　　Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however, "the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.

　　博物馆

　　从波士顿到洛杉机，从纽约到芝加哥、到达拉斯，所有的博物馆或者正在筹划、建造或者正在完成大规模的扩建计划。这些计划或者已经根本性地改变了博物馆门面与展厅的设计，或者预期在不久的将来会这样做。

　　单单在纽约市，六个主要机构或者已经向空中和周围扩展，或者正准备这样做。

　　大家一致行动的原因是复杂多样的，但其中的一个因素是普遍考虑的空间问题。随着收藏品的增多，也随着博物馆的需要和功能的变化，空间已经变成了一项非常珍贵的商品。

　　在我国，也许没有任何其他地方比费城艺术博物馆更符合这个事实。这个博物馆几十年来一直需要额外的空间，十年前进行了最后一次重大的翻新。由于空间紧缺，该艺术博物馆在考虑购买与受赠艺术品已越来越谨慎，有时甚至放弃增强艺术收藏的机会。由于博物馆的空间问题，将艺术品脱手或者说卖掉已经有了新的重要意义。博物馆馆长们被迫巧妙轮换利用陈列馆的空间，轮流着把一些艺术杰作向公众展出，而把另一些送入存储室中。

　　虽然对额外的陈列室和存储室空间需要很明显，但据费城艺术博物馆经理讲：“博物馆还没有在未来十五年打破这个束缚的计划。”

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