Alexander the Great’s conquests in the Eastern Mediterranean initiated a series of profound cultural transformations in the ancient centers of urban civilization of the Fertile Crescent. The final destruction of native rule and the imposition of an alien elite culture instigated a cultural discourse—Hellenism—which irrevocably marked all participants, both conquerors and the conquered. This discourse was particularly characterized by a transformation of indigenous cultural traditions, necessitated by their need to negotiate their place in a new social order. As Bowerstock has argued，the process of Hellenization did not accomplish the wholesale replacement of indigenous cultural traditions with Greek civilization. Instead, it provided a new cultural vocabulary through which much pre-existing cultural tradition was often able to find new expression. This phenomenon is especially intriguing as it relates to language and literacy. The ancient civilizations of the Syro-Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultural spheres were, of course, literate, possessing indigenous literary traditions already of great antiquity at the time of the Macedonian conquests. The disenfranchisement of traditional elites by the imposition of Greek rule had the related effect of displacing many of the traditional social structures where in indigenous literacy functioned and was taught—in particular，the institutions of the palace and the temple. A new language of power, Greek, replaced the traditional language of these institutions. This had the unavoidable effect of displacing the traditional writing systems associated with these indigenous languages. Traditional literacy’s longstanding association with the centers of social and political authority began to be eroded.
Naturally, the eclipse of traditional, indigenous literacy did not occur overnight. The decline of Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic literacies was a lengthy process. Nor was the nature of their respective declines identical. Akkadian, the ancient language of Mesopotamian court and temple culture, vanished forever, along with cuneiform writing, in the first century CE. Egyptian lived on beyond the disappearance of hieroglyphic in the fourth century CE in the guise of Coptic, to succumb as a living, spoken language of daily social intercourse only after the Islamic conquest of Egypt. Even then, Coptic survives to this day as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This latter point draws attention to an aspect of the decline of these indigenous literacies worthy of note: it is in the sphere of religion that these literacies are often preserved longest, after they have been superseded in palace circles—the last dated cuneiform text we have is an astrological text; the last dated hieroglyphic text is a votive graffito. This should cause little surprise. The sphere of religion is generally one of the most conservative of cultural subsystems. The local need to negotiate the necessities of daily life and individual and collective identity embodied in traditional religious structures is slow to change and exists in ongoing dialogue with the more readily changeable royal and /or state ideologies that bind various locales together in an institutional framework.The process of “Hellenization” of the ancient cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean provides us, then, with an opportunity to observe the on-going effect on traditional, indigenous literacy of the imposition of a new status language possessed of its own distinct writing system. The cultural politics of written and spoken language-use in such contexts has been much discussed and it is clear that the processes leading to the adoption of a new language—in written form, or spoken form, or both—in some cultural spheres and the retention of traditional languages in others are complex. Factors including the imposition of a new language from above,adoption of a new language of social prestige from below，as well as preservation of older idioms of traditional status in core cultural institutions, must have affected different sectors of a co
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He is （ ）of a musician.
A.anybody B.anyone C.somebody D.something
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A.disposition B.deliberation C.diversion D.deterioration
Last year, the government asked the University of Nottingham to carry out research on the skills of university students. The findings confirm the disquiet of employers at the lack of basic skills they observe in some graduates. British universities have usually admitted only the best students, so it is surprising to read about these findings.The research showed that less than one university student in five achieves the levels expected of bright 18-year-olds in all three of the key skills of communication, the application of number, and information technology.Some have argued that there are two other key skill areas where students might be expected to show some ability—improving their own learning, and working with others. If we add in these skill areas, the research show that only about a dozen students among nearly two hundred tested across ten universities scored top marks.Not many universities focus on these general, basic skills. Indeed, many universities assume that their highly-qualified incoming students have all these skills. But are they right to assume that? If they are not, then university educators may have to start paying more attention to develop such skills than they have in the past.It is of course possible to get a good degree, even form a top-class university, and not necessarily have all-round skills necessary for operating in employment and everyday situations. Some graduates are not at IT; others have difficulty in the application of number skills. Many are poor in communication skills in speech, or writing, or both. For example, many employers note that even highly-qualified graduates have difficulty in giving a clear explanation of something they understand to a group of people listening.Achievement of these skills is not normally requires in high school; however, one might expect students to be better in these skills than they are.The results from the University of Nottingham survey need to be treated with some care; the sample was small, and we only assessed students who could be present at certain times of the day; we were not able to asses every aspect of every skill. But even if we double the number of students tested who achieved level 3 on our tests—just below the minimum level required by employer—two-thirds of first-year students would not achieve these minimum levels.Each of the students took part in a two-and-a-half hour assessment session. During this session they completed pencil-and-paper tests. They also did a group exercise and presentation during which they had to work with others, and then each in turn present an oral report In addition, they were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire covering their knowledge and experience of IT.Many would argue that being brilliant in any one or two of these skills is not enough; students should really have an all-around ability in all these skill areas. The story is much less encouraging when we look at success in a combination of skills. Only about five percent of those sampled achieved acceptable levels in all five skill areas.The fact is that university courses vary a great deal. In some instances, they allow students to do very well at certain things that are highly valued within their academic field. However, these qualities may not transfer easily to other situations.Many employers go to particular institutions, and particular degree subjects, hoping to fin
As we have seen, propaganda can appeal to us by arousing our emotions or （ ）our attention from the real issues at hand.
A.retaining B.sustaining C.distracting D.obscuring
According to the Koran, it was on a Tuesday that Allah created darkness. Last September 11, when suicide pilots were crashing commercial airliners into crowded American buildings, I did not have to look to the calendar to see what day it was: Dark Tuesday was casting its long shadow across Manhattan and along the Potomac River. I was also not surprised that despite the seven or so trillion dollars that we have spent since 1950 on what is euphemistically called “defense,” there would have been no advance warning from the FBI or CIA or Defense Intelligence Agency.While the Bushites have been eagerly preparing for the last war but two—missiles from North Korea, clearly marked with flags, would rain down on Portland, Oregon, only to be intercepted by our missile-shield balloons—the foxy Osama bin Laden knew that all he needed for his holy war on the infidel were fliers willing to kill themselves along with those random passengers who happened to be aboard hijacked airliners.For several decades there has been an unrelenting demonization of the Muslim world in the American media. Since I am a loyal American, I am not supposed to tell you why this has taken place, but then it is not usual for us to examine why anything happens; we simply accuse others of motiveless malignity. “We are good,” G.W. proclaims, “They are evil,” which wraps that one up in a neat package. Later, Bush himself put, as it were, the bow on the package in an address to a joint session of Congress where he shared with them—as well as with the rest of us some-where over the Beltway—h
