Soal TOEFL dan Kunci Jawaban -Reading: written records of Old European culture

Soal TOEFL dan Kunci Jawaban -Reading: written records of Old European culture

Soal TOEFL dan Kunci Jawaban -Reading

The languages spoken by early Europeans are still shrouded in mystery. There is no linguistic continuity between the languages of Old Europe (a term sometimes used for Europe between 7000 and 3000 B.C.) and the languages of the modem world, and we cannot yet translate the Old European script, Scholars have deciphered other ancient languages, such as Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian, which used the cuneiform script, because of the fortuitous discovery of bilingual inscriptions, When cuneiform tablets were first discovered in the eighteenth century, scholars could not decipher them. Then inscriptions found in baa at the end of the eighteenth century provided a link: these inscriptions were written in cuneiform and in two other ancient languages, Old Persian and New Elamite--languages that had already been deciphered. It took several decades, but scholars eventually translated the ancient cuneiform script via the more familiar Old Persian language.

Similarly, the hieroglyphic writing of the Egyptians remained a mystery until French troops unearthed the famous Rosetta stone in the late eighteenth century. The stone carried the same message written in ancient Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Egyptian hieratic, a simplified form of hieroglyphs. The Rosetta stone thwarted scholars' efforts for several decades until the early nineteenth century when several key hieroglyphic phrases were decoded using the Greek inscriptions. Unfortunately, we have no Old European Rosetta stone to chart correspondences between Old European script and the languages that replaced it.

Tim incursions of Indo-European tribes into Old Europe from the late fifth to the early third millennia B.C. caused a linguistic and cultural discontinuity. These incursions disrupted the Old European sedentary farming lifestyle that had existed for 3,000 years As the Indo-Europeans encroached on Old Europe from the east, the continent underwent upheavals. These severely affected the Balkans, where the Old European cultures abundantly employed script. The Old European way of life deteriorated rapidly, although pockets of Old European culture remained for several millennia, ~ new peoples spoke completely different languages belonging to the Indo-European linguistic family. The Old European language or languages, and the script used to write them, declined and eventually vanished.

22. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) Reasons for the failure to understand the written records of Old European culture
(B) Influences on the development of Old European script
(C) Similarities between Old European script and other ancient writing systems
(D) Events leading to the discovery of Old European script

23. According to the passage, New Elamite is
(A) a language that was written in the cuneiform script
(B) a modem language that came from Old Persian
(C) one of the languages spoken by the Old Europeans
(D) a language that was understood by the late eighteenth century

24. According to the passage, scholarswere able to decipher cuneiform script with the help of
(A) the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian languages
(B) Old Persian
(C) tablets written in Old European
(D) a language spoken in eighteenth century Iran

25. The word “fortuitous” in line 5 is closet in meaning to
(A) important
(B) sudden
(C) early
(D) lucky

26. The word "them" in line 6 refers to
(A) Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
(B) bilingual inscriptions
(C) cuneiform tablets
(D) scholars

27. When does the passage suggest that ancient Egyptian hieroglypttic script was finally deciphered?
(A) At around the same time as cuneiform script was deciphered
(B) Shortly before the Rosetta stone was unearthed
(C) As soon as additional bilingual inscriptions became available to scholars
(D) A few decades after the hieratic script was decoded

28. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the Rosetta stone?
(A) It was found by scholars trying to decode ancient languages.
(B) It contains two versions of hieroglyphic script.
(C) Several of its inscriptions were decoded within a few months of its discovery.
(D) Most of its inscriptions have still not been decoded.

29. The word "thwarted" in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) continued
(B) influenced
(C) encouraged
(D) frustrated

30. According to the passage, Indo-European incursions caused Old European populations to
(A) separate into different tribes
(B) move eastward
(C) change their ways of living obtaining food
(D) start recording historical events in Writing

31. The author mentions the Balkans in the passage in order to explain why
(A) Indo-European languages were slow to spread in Old Europe
(B) the inhabitants of Old Europe were not able to prevent Indo-European incursions
(C) the use of the Old European script declined
(D) the Old European culture survived for a time after the Indo-European incursions

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