2004年1月的一道阅读题,本人觉得有难度,大家帮我看看

flywood

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

Line 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.

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         

大家看看,答案是A,可是我选不出来,希望高手指点

melodybb1224

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:

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.

flywood

哦,明白了,at around是大约的意思吗?

melodybb1224

yes.

flywood

谢谢美女