Today’s lecture will center on prehistoric people of the Nevada desert. Now, most of these prehistoric desert people moved across the countryside throughout the year. You might think that they were wandering aimlessly—far from it! They actually followed a series of carefully planned moves. Where they moved depended on where food was available—places where plants were ripening or fish were spawning. Now often when these people moved, they carried all their possessions on their backs, but if the journey was long, extra food and tools were sometimes stored in caves or beneath rocks. One of these caves is now an exciting archaeological site. Beyond its small opening is a huge underground grotto. Even though the cave’s very large, it was certainly too dark and dusty for the travelers to live in, but it was a great place to hide things, and tremendous amounts of food supplies and artifacts have been found there. The food includes dried fish, seeds, and nuts. The artifacts include stone spear points and knives; the spear points are actually rather small. Here’s a picture of some that were found. You can see their size in relation to the hands holding them.

【生词摘录】

1. prehistoric: adj. connected with the time in history before anything was written down 史前的,有历史记载以前的

2. Nevada: a state in the western United States 内华达州(美国西部内陆州)

3. ripen: v. to become ripe or to make something ripe(使)成熟

4. spawn: v. if a fish or frog spawns it produces eggs in large quantities
   
   together(鱼、蛙等)大量产(卵)

5. possession:n.[Cusuallyplural]somethingthatsomeoneownsandkeeps
   
   or uses themselves 所有物;财产

6. archaeological site: 考古遗址

7. grotto: n. [C]a small natural cave, or one that someone has made in their
   
   garden 天然小洞穴;(花园中的)人造洞室

8. dusty: adj. covered with dust 布满灰尘的

9. artifact: n. [C]an object such as a tool, weapon etc that was made in the
   
   past and is historically important 人工制品(有史学价值的武器、工具等);手工
   
   艺品

  10.nut: n. [C]a dry brown fruit inside a hard shell, that grows on a tree 坚果;坚果仁
  11.spear: a pole with a sharp pointed blade at one end, used as a weapon in the past 矛,梭镖,标枪
  12.in relation to: used to talk about something that is connected with or compared with the thing you are talking about 关于;与相比