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  3. DOCUMENTING THE INCAS (1) The In

DOCUMENTING THE INCAS (1) The In

游客2024-01-02  7
问题                                             DOCUMENTING THE INCAS
    (1) The Incas ruled a vast empire in western South America when the Spaniards encountered them in the 16th century. [A] Although the Incas had no writing system of their own, historical information about Incas is available to researchers because early Spaniards wrote documents about them. [B] However, there are drawbacks to use the written records. [C] First, the Spanish writers were describing activities and institutions that were very different from their own, but they often described Inca culture in terms of their own society. [D] As an example, consider the list of kings given by the Incas. As presented in the historical chronology, Spanish sources indicate there were 13 kings who ruled sequentially. The names were given to them by Inca informants. However, one school of thought in Inca studies suggests that the names were not actual people, but, rather, titles filled by different individuals. Thus, the number of actual kings may have been fewer, and several titles may have been filled at the same time. The early Spanish writers, being unfamiliar with such a system of titles, simply translated it into something they were familiar with (a succession of kings). Given that the Inca empire expanded only during the time of the last four kings, or as a result of the actions of the individuals in those four positions, this question is not deemed significant for an understanding of the Incas. But the example shows that biases and inaccuracies may have been introduced inadvertently from the very beginning of the written Spanish reports about the Incas. Moreover, early writers often copied information from each other—so misinformation was likely to be passed on and accepted as true by later scholars.
    (2) Second, both Spanish writers and Inca informants sometimes had motives for being deliberately deceitful. For example, in an effort to gain status in the Spaniards’ eyes, Incas might say that they formerly had been more important in the Inca empire than they actually were. Spanish officials as well were occasionally untruthful when it served their purposes. For example, Spaniards might deliberately underreport the productivity of a region under their authority so they could sell the additional products and keep the money, rather than hand it over to the Spanish Crown.
    (3) Third, it should be noted that the Spaniards’ main sources of information were the Incas themselves, often members of the Inca ruling class. Therefore, what was recorded was the Incas’ point of view about their own history and empire. Some modern authorities question whether the history of Incas happened as they said it did. Although some of their history is certainly more myth than truth, many, if not most, scholars agree that the history of the last four Inca kings is probably accurate. The same is true of other things told to the Spanish writers: the more recently an event is said to have occurred, the more likely it is to have actually happened.
    (4) A fourth problem relates to the nature of the Inca conquests of the other peoples in the Americas before the Spanish arrived and how accurate the accounts of those conquests are—whether related by the Spaniards or by the Incas on whom they relied. It was certainly in the Incas’ interest to describe themselves as invincible and just. However, lacking accounts by conquered people about their interactions with the Incas, it is unknown how much of the information of the Inca conquest as related by the ruling class is factual.
    (5) Finally, there is a certain vagueness in the historical records regarding places and names. Many Spanish writers listed places they had visited within the empire, including both provinces and towns. However, other writers traveling along the same routes sometimes recounted different lists of places. In addition, it is difficult to identify the exact locations of towns and other geographic points of reference because of the widespread movements of people over the past five centuries.
    (6) For all these reasons, the historical records must be carefully evaluated to determine whether they are accurate and to verify the locations of past events. One approach is to cross-check information from a number of authors. Another approach is to conduct archeological research. Regardless of the problems, historical documents review some important information about the Incas. [br] An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
The accuracy of the historical records concerning the Incas is problematic.
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Answer Choices
(A) Numerous aspects of Inca life were recorded in the 16th century but many historical documents created at this time were lost or destroyed.
(B) Many Spaniards were interested primarily in the expansion of the Inca empire and therefore ignored other periods of Inca history.
(C) The fact that the Inca informants remained sources of information about themselves as well as inconsistencies in place names call the sound aspects of the accounts into question.
(D) Descriptions of Inca society may often be influenced by the cultural biases of people writing about Incas.
(E) Incorrect information may sometimes have been knowingly included in historical records because it was advantageous to the person including such information.
(F) The movement of people due to the Inca conquest and the settlement of the Spanish has caused much confusion about place names in the historical records.
选项
答案 C,D,E
解析 本题属于文章总结题。这篇文章主要讲述的是西班牙记录者关于印加的历史记录的五个缺点。C项“印加人自己是资料记载信息的信息提供者，以及地名记录前后不一致是这些记录文件理所当然受到质疑的方面”，对应第3段和第5段所指出的缺点。D项“关于印加社会的描写经常受到记录者持有的文化偏见影响”，这句话的出处在原文第1段倒数第2句，是五个缺点里的第一个。E项“历史记录有时包含一些有意违背事实的信息，因为这样做，收集信息的人可以从中获利”，该项对应的是第2段，即第二个缺点。C、D、E三项涵盖了原文的主体信息。A项“16世纪的历史文献记载了印加人生活的方方面面，但是很多都丢失了或被毁坏了”无依据。B项“许多西班牙人主要对印加帝国的扩张很感兴趣，所以忽略了印加其他时期的历史”，文中没有提到他们对印加帝国的扩张感兴趣，或忽略了印加其他时期的历史。F项“印加征服和西班牙侵略者的到来导致了人口流动，进而使得历史记录中的地名混乱”对应第5段指出的缺点，但是文章只说地名混乱是人口大规模流动引起的，并没有说是印加征服和西班牙侵略导致了人口流动，因果关系不成立。
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