New research published this week by University of New Mexico archaeologist Keith Prufer shows that a site in Belize(伯利兹) was the origins of the ancient Maya people and the spread of maize(玉米) as a staple food.

Prufer and his colleagues excavated(挖掘) 25 burial sites dating from 10,000 to 3,700 years ago from two cave or rock shelter sites located in the remote Maya Mountains of Belize, Central America. These sites were located below the cliffs that sheltered the people living below and protected the deposits of the everyday debris and burials of the dead for over 7,000 years.

“We see the migration of these people as fundamentally important for the development of farming and, eventually, large Maya speaking communities,” Prufer said, noting that maize provided essential protein and sugar energy, and could be stored in a dry place. Once people had a reliable source of food in maize, they tended to farm and stay in one place, leading to larger, established communities.

Maize wasn’t always an important part of the diet of these people, Prufer said. The earliest migrants likely gathered and ate the tiny cobs(玉米棒) of a grass known as teosinte, as well as the earliest domesticated maize, along with other plants, shellfish, and games(野味). By selecting the biggest and best seeds, they began to domesticate the plant, increasingly changing the landscape and biodiversity, a process that likely occurred largely in South America.

Eventually the consumption of maize grew until it became a diet staple, much like the Europeans used wheat, Prufer said. The dispersal of maize grew, moving from the south, northward to the Maya population, and eventually across both continents so that when the Spanish arrived around 1500 AD, maize, or corn, was a staple of every Native American group’s diet.

本时文内容由奇速英语国际教育研究院原创编写，未经书面授权，禁止复制和任何商业用途，版权所有，侵权必究！（作者投稿及时文阅读定制请联系微信：18980471698）

1.Why weren’t the burials discovered for a long time?

A It had a very long history.

B It was hard to be discovered.

C It owned everyday debris.

D It was a shelter for the dead.

解析：选B。B推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句的“These sites were located below the cliffs”可知，该遗址位于一个悬崖下面，因此很难被发现。故选B。

2.What happened to Maya when they lived on maize?

A They migrated very easily.

B They began speaking more.

C They settled in one place.

D They lived in communities.

解析：选C。C细节理解题。根据第三段的“Once people had a reliable source of food in maize, they tended to farm and stay in one place”可知，人们有了玉米这种可靠的食物来源，他们就倾向于在一个地方耕作并定居。故选C。

3.How did Maya domesticate the plant?

A They chose the right seeds.

B They changed the landscape.

C They gathered the cobs.

D They improved the process.

解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据第四段的“By selecting the biggest and best seeds, they began to domesticate the plant”可知，玛雅人通过选择最大最好的的种子来培育玉米这种植物。故选A。

4.The underlined word “dispersal” may mean ____.

A consumption

B life

C direction

D spread

解析：选D。D词义猜测题。根据该词所在句的后面部分“moving from the south, northward to the Maya population, and eventually across both continents”可知，玉米从南到北传到玛雅人那里，最终跨越了两大洲，由此可见此处描述玉米的“传播”。故选D。