【正文】 dy, to clay utensils, and to baskets, clothing, and other objects. In their search for pigments, early peoples discovered the green mineral malachite and the blue mineral azurite. When these coppercontaining ores were hammered they did not turn to powder but bent instead, and they could be polished but not chipped. Because of these qualities, small bits of copper were soon made into jewelry. Early peoples also learned that if this material was repeatedly hammered and put into a fire, it would not split or crack. This process of relieving metal stress, called annealing, eventually brought human civilizations out of the Stone Age—particularly when, about 3000 ., people also found that alloying tin with copper produces bronze. Bronze is not only more malleable than copper but also holds a better edge, a quality necessary for such objects as swords and sickles.copperEuphratesseaworthywealthyAlthough copper deposits existed in the foothills of Syria and Turkey, at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, the largest deposits of copper in the ancient world were found on the island of Crete (Kr237。ti). With the development of seaworthy ships that could reach this extremely valuable resource, Knossos (Knos243。s) on Crete became a wealthy mining center during the Bronze Age.Finish Time: ______________Scanning Practice TwoInstructions: you are going to read an article on Rise of Agriculture. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from each 2 paragraphs of the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luckStart Time: ______________Rise of AgriculturebronzetechnologicalneedlesshiftagricultureemergedtracesoccursoilabundanceavailableBy the time of the Bronze Age, the human societies that dotted every continent had long since made a number of other technological advances. They had developed barbed spears, the bow and arrow, animaloil lamps, and bone needles for making containers and clothing. They had also embarked on a major cultural revolution。 the shift from nomadic hunting and herding societies to the more settled practice of agriculture.Farming munities first emerged following the end of the most recent ice age, about 10,000 . Their traces can be found in widely scattered areas, from southeastern Asia to Mexico. The most famous ones occur in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) near the temperate and fertile river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. The loose soil in this region, known as the Fertile Crescent, was easily scratched for planting, and an abundance of trees was available for firewood.5000JordansickleplowspreadEuropeeastwardNileirrigationcropssurveyingpropertyseasonmasterBy 5000 ., farming munities were established in areas known today as Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Greece, and the islands of Crete and Cyprus. Agricultural societies in these places constructed stone buildings, used the sickle to harvest grain, developed a primitive plow stick, and advanced their skills in metalworking. Trade in flint also began. By 4000 ., farming had spread westward from these centers to the Danube River in central Europe, southward to the Mediterranean shores of Africa (including the Nile River), and eastward to the Indus Valley.Development of the Nile River valley led to other technological advances. In that valley, the river floods in the early spring. A system of irrigation and canals had to be developed to water the crops during the growing seasons, when insufficient rain falls. Land ownership had to be predetermined each year by a system of surveying, because property markers often were lost during the floods. The Tigris and Euphrates valleys presented other technological problems. Floods came later in the growing season, so that people had to master the craft of building dikes and flood barriers.Finish Time: ______________Scanning Practice ThreeInstructions: you are going to read an article on Urbanization. You should spend as little time as possible to scan for some words in box below from the reading passage below. The maximum time is 2 minutes. Good luckStart Time: ______________UrbanizationhumankindadvancementsnetworkssurpluscitadelsurbanmagnitudeworshipedcuttingmanagementshekelstimulateddivisionengineersAfter about 3000 , one of the most plex creations of humankind appeared: the city. From this point forward, technology cannot be described only in terms of simple tools, agricultural advancements, and technical processes such as metallurgy, because the city itself is a technological system. This is evident even in the first written symbols used to represent a city。 the symbol is a circle containing networks of lines that indicate transportation and munication systems. The emergence of the city made possible a surplus of food and an abundance of material wealth, which in turn made possible the institution of holy kingship and the construction of temples, tombs, and citadels. The accumulation of precious metals, the acquisition of the power to build defensive walls, and the control of armies and priests ensured the ascendancy of the king, who may be called the first urban technologist.The ziggurats of Mesopotamia and the pyramids of Egypt symbolize the organizational power and the technological magnitude of the first urban settlements. The pyramid of King Djoser (reigned 26302611 .) of Egypt was built at ?aqqārah by Imhotep around 2620 . The first engineer known by name, Imhotep was worshiped as one of the gods of wisdom. The Great Pyramid of King Khufu involved the organization of more than 100,000 workers and the cutting of million blocks of stone, each weighing 2 to 4 metric tons. The construction of such massive buildings and monuments, the growth of trade in metalwork, and the development of waterresource management also brought about a standardiza