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OFFICIAL51 Which of the following best describes how paragraph 1 is organized?

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Memphis: United Egypt's First Capital
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QQ20170920171137.pngThe city of Memphis, located on the Nile near the modern city of Cairo, was founded around 3100 B.C. as the first capital of a recently united Egypt. The choice of Memphis by Egypt's first kings reflects the site's strategic importance. First, and most obvious, the apex of the Nile River delta was a politically opportune location for the state's administrative center, standing between the united lands of Upper and Lower Egypt and offering ready access to both parts of the country. The older predynastic (pre-3100 B.C.) centers of power, This and Hierakonpolis, were too remote from the vast expanse of the delta, which had been incorporated into the unified state. Only a city within easy reach of both the Nile valley to the south and the more spread out, difficult terrain to the north could provide the necessary political control that the rulers of early dynastic Egypt (roughly 3000-2600 B.C.) required.

The region of Memphis must have also served as an important node for transport and communications, even before the unification of Egypt. The region probably acted as a conduit for much, if not all, of the river-based trade between northern and southern Egypt. Moreover, commodities (such as wine, precious oils, and metals) imported from the Near East by the royal courts of predynastic Upper Egypt would have been channeled through the Memphis region on their way south. In short, therefore, the site of Memphis offered the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period an ideal location for controlling internal trade within their realm, an essential requirement for a state-directed economy that depended on the movement of goods.

Equally important for the national administration was the ability to control communications within Egypt. The Nile provided the easiest and quickest artery of communication and the national capital was, again, ideally located in this respect. Recent geological surveys of the Memphis region have revealed much about its topography in ancient times. It appears that the location of Memphis may have been even more advantageous for controlling trade, transport, and communications than was previously appreciated. Surveys and drill cores have shown that the level of the Nile floodplain has steadily risen over the last five millenniums. When the floodplain was much lower, as it would have been in predynastic and early dynastic times, the outwash fans (fan-shaped deposits of sediments) of various wadis (stream-beds or channels that carry water only during rainy periods) would have been much more prominent features on the east bank. The fan associated with the Wadi Hof extended a significant way into the Nile floodplain, forming a constriction in the vicinity of Memphis. The valley may have narrowed at this point to a mere three kilometers, making it the ideal place for controlling river traffic.

Furthermore, the Memphis region seems to have been favorably located for the control not only of river-based trade but also of desert trade routes. The two outwash fans in the area gave access to the extensive wadi systems of the eastern desert. In predynastic times, the Wadi Digla may have served as a trade route between the Memphis region and the Near East, to judge from the unusual concentration of foreign artifacts found in the predynastic settlement of Maadi. Access to, and control of, trade routes between Egypt and the Near East seems to have been a preoccupation of Egypt’s rulers during the period of state formation. The desire to monopolize foreign trade may have been one of the primary factors behind the political unification of Egypt. The foundation of the national capital at the junction of an important trade route with the Nile valley is not likely to have been accidental. Moreover, the Wadis Hof and Digla provided the Memphis region with accessible desert pasturage. As was the case with the cities of Hierakonpolis and Elkab, the combination within the same area of both desert pasturage and alluvial arable land (land suitable for growing crops) was a particularly attractive one for early settlement; this combination no doubt contributed to the prosperity of the Memphis region from early predynastic times.

4.Which of the following best describes how paragraph 1 is organized?

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正确答案:D
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【题目翻译】下面哪一个最能描述段落1的组织? A:描述了两个同时发生的发展,以及为什么没有另一个,两者都不会发生。 B:提出了一个假设,然后讨论了支持该假设的点以及反对它的点。 C:描述了一个重大事件,然后给出了该事件最明显的影响。 D:描述了一个决策,然后给出了该决策的一个可能的动机。 【判定题型】:根据题目问法,题目询问段落的组成或构成方式/段落与段落的关系/某一段在全文中所起的作用,故判断本题为组织结构题。 【内容分析】通读第一段,寻找逻辑词,来剖析这一段文字的结构。第1句描述孟斐斯的地理位置和历史背景。第2句提出孟斐斯的选址体现出了战略重要性。第3句话给出了原因:孟斐斯处于国家上、下半部分之间,拥有国家行政中心的极佳位置。第4句话用“This”和“Hierakonpolis”两座城市遥远的地理位置作反比,衬托出孟斐斯的地理优越性。第5句做概括,说明孟斐斯距离南、北地区都很近,能够为早期埃及王朝的统治者们提供政治统治的必要条件。 【选项分析】 A选项:同时描写2种发展,以及2者缺一不可的原因。错误,因为文中没有描述2种发展,只描述了孟斐斯的战略重要性。故A排除。 B选项:提出一种假象,然后讨论支持该假设以及推翻该假设的内容。本段提出“孟斐斯的选址体现出了战略重要性”,并给出了支持的理由,但是并没有推翻假设。故B选项排除。 C选项:描述了一个主要事件,然后讨论了它所造成的影响。错误,因为第一段中并没有讨论选择孟斐斯作为首都的影响。 D选项:先描述一个结论,然后提出一个可能的原因。正确,第一段描述的结论是“The choice of Memphis by Egypt's first kings reflects the site's strategic importance.”而提出的1个原因是“First, and most obvious, the apex of the Nile River delta was a politically opportune location for the state's administrative center,……”故D选项符合第一段的组织结构。

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