Reading Comprehension Questions:


1.  What collapsed in Central America?


2.  How many theories are there that talk about the disappearance of the Mayan civilization?


3.  Name one theory that describes the collapse of the Mayan civilization.


4.  What is the speaker's major theory on why the Mayan civilization collapsed?  


5.  Were the Mayans conquered by Spanish invaders?


[Lesson Credits:  Listening Building MP3 TOEFL, Track 12]

09 History

W1: Today, we’ll talk about the collapse of the Mayan civilization in Central America. The . . . um . . . the Mayans were able to flourish during the years that Europe was going through the Dark Ages. While the disappearance of the Mayan civilization remains a mystery, there are many theories behind the cause of their collapse. One convincing theory suggests that the Mayan people were victims of climate change. Yes, believe it or not, climate change. A series of droughts that could’ve lasted over a period of 150 years may have destroyed this great civilization.

M: So the Mayans weren’t conquered by Spanish invaders? 

W1: Well, there were some Mayans around at the time of the Spanish invasion. So they did have an impact on the Mayans that were left. But their civilization had already fallen by then. I believe it was the serious lack of rainfall that was the main reason for the civilization’s

collapse.
W2: How do we know that there were droughts? Didn’t this

happen hundreds of years ago?
W1: That’s a good question. It’s interesting, but ocean

researchers have actually made some amazing discoveries that prove these droughts occurred. They’ve used new technology to analyze segments of the ocean floors off the coast of northern Venezuela. These cores have layers of dark and light sediment that show the annual wet and dry seasons. So within these layers, scientists can determine the amount of yearly rainfall from hundreds of years ago. Within the dry period, there were three major droughts where there was virtually no rainfall for a total of 18 years. That’s incredible! The dates of these extreme droughts correspond with the three phases of collapse of the Mayan society.

M: I understand that water is necessary to survival, but I don’t understand how a drought could destroy such an important civilization. Couldn’t they use their resources to hire people to find alternative water sources?

W1: Well, this lack of rainfall is significant because the Mayans were largely an agricultural society whose economy depended on the production of corn. Without rainfall, the crops would’ve perished. Their major food and economic source would have eventually disappeared. That’s why I think it’s the major theory behind their disappearance. 


1.  What animal has a sophisticated form of communicating similar to whales or dolphins?


2.  What does their complex language consist of?


3.  How is their language learned?


4.  Are their different dialects of their language?


5.  What would happen to the animal if it didn't have this type of sophisticated language?  


[Lesson Credits:  Listening Building MP3 TOEFL, Track 13]

10 Zoology

M1: You’ve probably heard of whales or dolphins communicating with each other through song, or of scientists teaching apes sign language. But prairie dogs might have the most sophisticated form of

language among the animal world. A researcher at an Arizona university has been conducting studies that may prove that prairie dogs communicate with a complex language that contains nouns, verbs, and adjectives.


M1:  Well, the prairie dogs may sound like they’re just making a series of barks and yips, but this researcher and his team digitally recorded these sounds and analyzed them. They found specific repeated patterns in the sounds. They continued to do further research and found that the prairie dogs had distinct terms for specific animals and people. These scientists even found sounds distinguishing different colors or different rates of speeds for their predators.

M2:  So then, do prairie dogs know this language from birth?

W: How do they know that the prairie dogs aren’t just making a bunch of noise?

M1: Not exactly. This prairie dog language is learned through experience. Scientists know this because their language isn’t universal. In fact, there are different dialects, that is, varieties of this language ranging between areas of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Also, it appears that the prairie dogs have the ability to make up new words. The researcher displayed black cardboard cutouts of coyotes, skunks, and oval shapes. While the prairie dogs had never come across anything oval shaped in the wild, they were still all able to learn the same sound when they were presented with the oval shape.

W: Why would prairie dogs need their own language? 

M2: Yeah. They aren’t very advanced animals.
M1: The fact that they aren’t very advanced actually has a

lot to do with it. How can I explain this? Let’s see. [pause] Just about every animal in the desert is trying to eat them, and they don’t have any way of defending themselves. So they need to be able to tell each other stuff like, “Look out! That red hawk is coming fast!” Without such a complicated language, the prairie dog would probably be extinct.

 

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