The Nile River Valley
Though the verdant green course of the Nile Valley appears to be the very antithesis of the bleached Saharan sands through which it flows, these two contrasting features have together constituted a primary force in the development of agriculture and settled human society in Africa. The Sahara acted as a pump, drawing people from surrounding regions into its watered environments during the good times and driving them out again as conditions deteriorated (though not necessarily returning them to their point of origin). The Nile, for its part, was a refuge for people retreating from the desert and then a reservoir from which the desert region was repopulated as conditions improved.
1.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A The development of settled societies and agriculture in Africa was heavily influenced by the combination of two physically contrasting areas, the green Nile Valley and the surrounding Sahara desert.
B The green Nile Valley contributed more significantly to the development of agriculture and settled societies than the bleached Sahara desert did.
C Agriculture and settled societies were able to develop in the valley created by the Nile River, even though it cuts through the bleached sands of the Sahara desert.
D Although the Nile Valley appears completely different from the Sahara, the similarities that existed between these two regions led to the settlement and agricultural development of Africa.
The Nile is commonly believed to have been a conduit along which the principles of food-crop cultivation moved from Egypt into more southern regions of Africa along with the wheat, barley, peas, and lentils initially domesticated some 9,000 years ago in Southwest Asia. It is true that the ancient Egyptian civilizations founded on the Nile over 5,000 years ago were sustained by the exceptional productivity of those crops, but they were a comparatively recent introduction, arriving long after the cultivation of indigenous African plants had begun farther south.
2.Paragraph 2 supports the idea that the cultivation of food crops in Africa began
A in the Nile Valley
B long before food crops were domesticated in Southwest Asia
C with the arrival of domesticated wheat, barley, peas, and lentils from Southwest Asia
D with the domestication of indigenous African plants
Contrary to expectations, the earliest evidence of a shift toward a critical dependence on food production as opposed to food gathering comes not from the floodplain of the Nile but from sites in what is now the empty and waterless Sahara. The development was complex, involving the domestication of plants and livestock, technological innovation, the establishment of villages, and an increasing level of social interdependence.
3.According to paragraph 3, what is true about the shift from food gathering to
crop cultivation?
A It probably occurred during a period in which the Sahara was becoming drier.
B It probably occurred much earlier in the Nile Valley than people once believed.
C It probably occurred after the establishment of villages along the Nile.
D It probably occurred first in the Sahara and only later along the Nile
The Sahara Desert had been widely inhabited until the last glacial maximum, when conditions of increasing aridity drove people (and practically all animals) out of its previously productive wooded grassland and savanna environments. Essentially nomadic—though exhibiting a tendency to settle at lakesides and other sources of food and water —the groups moving to the north and south continued to follow their established hunting and gathering way of life. The groups that moved east into the Nile Valley, however, adopted a distinctly sedentary lifestyle. Indeed, they had no choice. The narrow strips of green floodplain flanking the Nile were bounded by waterless desert and movement along the riverside plains was restricted by the presence of competing groups.
4.According to paragraph 4, what was true about the Sahara during the period before the last glacial maximum
A It was almost completely covered with trees.
B It contained few sources of water.
C It contained no large animals.
D It was home to many hunter-gatherers.
5.Why does the author inform readers that the floodplains of the Nile were “bounded by waterless desert” and that movement along these riverside plains “was restricted”?
A To argue that the Nile Valley was as affected by increased aridity as the Sahara
B To help explain why some groups became sedentary
C To explain why nomadic groups tended to camp at lakesides
D To explain why some groups moved north and south rather than east
The Nile along which people congregated 18,000 years ago was a quite different river from that which flows through Egypt today. It was much smaller and flowed more slowly through a tangle of braided channels across a wide elevated floodplain rather than along a single massive stream. The river
carried a heavy sediment load, and the silts deposited along its length steadily raised the level of the river and its floodplain.
6.The word “congregated” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A traveled
B survived
C gathered
D farmed
7.According to paragraph 5, each of the following describes the Nile of 18,000
years ago EXCEPT:
A It was not as large as today’s Nile
B It flowed more slowly than today’s Nile.
C It flowed through a single stream.
D It contained a great deal of silt and other sediments.
In effect, the Nile Valley at that time was an elongated oasis: a sharply defined area of inhabitable territory beyond the boundaries of which human survival was impossible. The oasis extended all the way from the Sudan to what is now Cairo—a distance of over 800 kilometers—but it was nowhere more than a few kilometers wide. Its food resources were varied and nutritious. Quantities and availability, however, were always subject to seasonal variation and the vagaries of the Nile’s annual flood. During the critical two to four weeks when the flood was at its height each year, people and animals were driven out of the Nile Valley and crowded into the narrow band of inhabitable land that lay between the floodwaters and the arid desert beyond.
People hunted large mammals for meat and hides, but environmental and territorial constraints meant that only small numbers of a limited range of species were available. Indeed, large mammals constitute a very small proportion of the faunal remains found at archaeological sites, and only three species are represented: the hartebeest, the dorcas gazelle, and a type of wild cattle called the aurochs. Birds—particularly coots and migratory geese and ducks—were caught regularly. Fish, however, were by far the most important source of protein—primarily catfish. For carbohydrates, the Nile Valley offered its inhabitants a considerable variety and seasonal abundance. Twenty-five different seeds, fruits, and soft vegetable tissues have been distinguished among archaeological remains.
8.According to paragraph 7, what did the remains found at archaeological sites reveal about the food eaten by inhabitants of the Nile Valley?
A Small mammals were one of the most important food sources.
B Large mammals were not a major source of food.
C Birds were eaten more regularly than fish.
D Carbohydrates were eaten much less often than protein.
9.Look at the four squares that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage
People moved away from the desert in various directions.
Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square sentence to the passage.
The Sahara Desert had been widely inhabited until the last glacial maximum, when conditions of increasing aridity drove people (and practically all animals) out of its previously productive wooded grassland and savanna environments. ⬛Essentially nomadic—though exhibiting a tendency to settle at lakesides and other sources of food and water —the groups moving to the north and south continued to follow their established hunting and gathering way of life. ⬛The groups that moved east into the Nile Valley, however, adopted a distinctly sedentary lifestyle. ⬛ Indeed, they had no choice. ⬛The narrow strips of green floodplain flanking the Nile were bounded by waterless desert and movement along the riverside plains was restricted by the presence of competing groups.
10.
Together the Nile River and Sahara desert helped shape the development of agriculture and settled human society in Africa.
Select 3 answers
A The regular flooding of the Nile forced people into the deserts, where they survived by hunting and gathering until they could return to their sedentary lifestyle in the Nile Valley.
B The Nile Valley could not support agriculture until the last glacial maximum, at which time the slow, narrow Nile River became the wide, powerful river that we know today.
C Although the Nile Valley supported few large animals and space was limited, the
wildlife and seasonal foods available were sufficient to support populations established along the Nile.
D Long before the founding of ancient Nile civilizations that depended on crops of Southwest Asian origin, agriculture based on indigenous plants was practiced in the Sahara.
E Increasing aridity drove people out of the Sahara, and the more crowded conditions that this created in the Nile Valley forced people moving there to become sedentary.
F Recent archaeological evidence suggests that hunting and fishing played a very minor role in the Nile Valley in comparison with food cultivation.
