Joy English · Level C2 · Archaeologyjoy-english.com
Reading time from the ground
Name:Date:
Follow a lecture explaining a method, its problem and its safeguard.
Listen to each sentence and write what you hear.
Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/reading-time-from-the-ground
Words to know
- deposit
- A layer of material left in a place over time.
- undisturbed
- Not moved or changed.
- foundation
- The solid base of a building.
- context
- The situation in which something is found.
Answer key
- Archaeologists rarely find a date written on anything, so they have learned to read time from the way the ground is layered.“Rarely” is negative in meaning, so the verb is positive. “Layered” is LAY-erd, two syllables.
- In an undisturbed site, the deepest layer is normally the oldest, because each generation builds on top of the last.“Undisturbed” means not moved or changed. “The last” means the previous one, with the noun left out.
- Complications arise when later builders dig pits or foundations, carrying newer material down into older deposits.“Complications arise” is a formal collocation. “Deposits” has stress on the second syllable.
- To untangle such confusion, a researcher records exactly where every object lay before it is lifted from the soil.“To untangle” expresses purpose. “Lay” is the past of “lie”, not “laid”.
- A pot is therefore worth far less in a box than in its original position, since context is half of its meaning.“Worth far less” uses “far” to strengthen a comparative. “Since” means because.