公共英語五級的難度比較大，考生比較難通過，也比較難取得理想的成績。因此，備考一定要認真，下面是小編為大家整理的公共英語五級閱讀文章，歡迎閱讀。
Archaeology is a source of history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts. Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live —— and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changes in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The sum total of these constitutes what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits certain peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contrast between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.
Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they leave no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a dictaphone or written down by a clerk. The movement of troops on the battlefield may "change the course of history," but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist's standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic materials are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar materials will decay and vanish in dust in a few years or centuries, save under very exceptional conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduced to mere scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat-bogs, deserts, and frozen soils, is able to fill up a good deal of the gap.
考古學是歷史學的一個來源，而不是地位卑微的輔助學科。考古學資料本身也是一種 歷史文獻，而不僅僅是文字資料的例證。正象任何一位歷史學家那樣，考古學家研究調查並盡力去重構一個過程。這個過程創造了我們生活的人類世界，也創造了我們自身，因為我們都是我們所處的時代和社會環境的產物。考古學的資料就是人類行為所造成的物質變化。更簡潔地說，是石化了的人類行為。這些變化的總和構成了我們所說的考古學記錄。這些記錄自有其獨特和不足之處，因而導致人們對考古歷史和更熟悉的文字記載歷史進行相當膚淺的對比。
並不是所有的人類行為都留下化石。我說的話，你通過空氣振動聽見，這當然是人類造成的物質變化，也可能有重大的歷史意義，但這些話在考古學中未留下絲毫痕跡，除非有人用錄音機錄下來或文書把這些話寫了下來。戰場上軍隊的行動可能"改變歷史的程序"，但從考古學的觀點來看，這同樣是難以捕捉的;可能更糟的是，多數有機物質會腐爛。任何由木頭、生皮、絨線、亞麻、草、毛髮以及相似物質做成的東西除非在一些非常特殊的條件下，幾年或幾個世紀以後，會在塵土中腐爛並消失。在短時期內，能留下考古記錄的東西也都會退化為石頭、骨頭、玻璃、金屬和陶器的碎片。然而，現代的 考古學通過運用適當的技術和比較的方法，在從泥炭、沙漠和凍土中所獲得的一些幸運發現的輔助下，能夠填充這個空缺的很大部分。
公共英語五級閱讀文章二For the last 82 years, Sweden's Nobel Academy has decided who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, thereby determining who will be elevated from the great and the near great to the immortal. But today the Academy is coming under heavy criticism both from the without and from within. Critics contend that the selection of the winners often has less to do with true writing ability than with the peculiar internal politics of the Academy and of Sweden itself. According to Ingmar , the cultural editor for one of the country's two major newspapers, the prize continues to represent "what people call a very Swedish exercise: reflecting Swedish tastes." The Academy has defended itself against such charges of provincialism in its selection by asserting that its physical distance from the great literary capitals of the world actually serves to protect the Academy from outside influences. This may well be true, but critics respond that this very distance may also be responsible for the Academy's inability to perceive accurately authentic trends in the literary rdless of concerns over the selection process, however, it seems that the prize will continue to survive both as an indicator of the literature that we most highly praise, and as an elusive goal that writers seek. If for no other reason, the prize will continue to be desirable for the financial rewards that accompany it; not only is the cash prize itself considerable, but it also dramatically increases sales of an author's books.
過去的 82 年裡，瑞典的諾貝爾委員會決定了誰將獲得諾貝爾文學獎，因此也就決定了 誰將從偉大或近乎偉大榮升為不朽。 但在今天，該委員會卻遭到了評選委員會內外的猛烈 批評。 批評者們爭論說："評選獲獎者時，起作用更大的不是真實的寫作能力，而是該委員 會以及瑞典特有的內部政治。 按照瑞典兩家主要報紙之一的文化版編輯 Ingmar 的說法，該文學獎仍然是"人們所說的一種非常瑞典式的做為：反映瑞典口味".對於其評選 過程中目光短淺的指責，該委員會辯護說，該委員會與世界幾大文學之都相距遙遠，實際上 使該委員會免受外來的干擾。 這也許是對的，但批評者們反駁說，也正因為相距如此遙遠， 該委員會才不能準確地把握文學界的真正趨勢。儘管對評選程式存在著關注，該文學獎將繼 續作為世人最為推崇的文學的標誌而存在，並將繼續是作家們難以達到卻又會不斷追逐的目 標。 如果不考慮其他因素，而僅僅考慮與之俱來的經濟利益，該獎也將繼續為人所渴求： 這不僅因為該獎本身就是一筆可觀的現金收入，而且該獎還將極大地增加一個作家的著作的 銷量。
公共英語五級閱讀文章三In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.
Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts —— enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.
Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain) through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.
Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year —— as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109, 000.
60 年代後期，許多北美人把注意力轉向了環境問題，那些嶄新的玻璃鋼摩天大樓受到了廣泛的批評。生態學家指出，城市中密集的高層建築經常給公共交通與停車場的承載能力造成過重的負擔。
摩天大樓還是電能的`過度消費者與浪費者。最近的某一年，紐約市摩天寫字樓 1，700 萬英尺辦公面積的增加使電能的最高日需求量提高了120，000 千瓦。這些電能足以供紐約的整個奧爾巴尼市使用一天。
玻璃表面的摩天大樓特別地浪費。 通過半英寸的平板玻璃牆壁損失(或增加)的熱量是典型的加入絕緣板的石牆所允許的熱量損失(或 增加)的十倍以上。為了減輕取暖裝置或空調裝置的壓力，摩天大樓的建造者們已經開始使用雙面上釉的玻璃鑲板和塗上了金色或銀色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，來減少強光照射和熱量的增加;但是，鏡面的摩天大樓會提高周圍空氣的溫度並會對附近的建築物產生影響。
摩天大樓也對城市的衛生設施造成了沉重的壓力。單單紐約市的二個世界貿易中心大樓如果完全被佔滿的話，每年就會產生2，250，000 加侖的汙水。這相當於康涅狄格州的斯坦福市這 樣大的城市一年所產生的汙水量，而康州的斯坦福市擁有109，000 人口。
