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Latihan TOEFL Listening 15: Lecture: The Collapse of Bronze Age Civilizations

Ini transkrip percakapan atau kuliah untuk latihan listening. Coba pahami isinya, lalu jawab 10 soal di bawah.

Around 1200 BCE, a number of powerful and interconnected civilizations across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East, including the Mycenaeans, Hittites, and several Egyptian-affiliated city-states, experienced a dramatic and largely simultaneous collapse within a span of only a few decades. Major cities were destroyed or abandoned, long-distance trade networks broke down, and literacy itself disappeared in some regions for centuries afterward.

Historians have proposed numerous, sometimes overlapping explanations, since no single cause appears sufficient to explain destruction on such a widespread scale. Invasions by groups referred to in Egyptian records as the 'Sea Peoples' are frequently cited, though their identity and origin remain uncertain. Other researchers point to a prolonged period of drought and crop failure, supported by climate data extracted from sediment cores, which would have strained agricultural systems and potentially triggered famine, migration, and internal unrest.

Increasingly, scholars favor a systems-collapse model, which emphasizes that these Bronze Age societies were so economically interdependent, particularly in their reliance on long-distance trade for essential materials such as tin needed to produce bronze, that a combination of stresses, rather than any single catastrophic event, could have triggered a cascading failure across the entire interconnected network of civilizations, much as a disruption in one part of a modern global supply chain can produce far-reaching effects elsewhere.

Soal

1. What is the main purpose of this lecture?

  1. Comparing modern and ancient supply chains in detail
  2. Describing daily life in Mycenaean civilization
  3. Arguing that the Sea Peoples definitely caused the collapse alone
  4. Explaining possible causes of the Bronze Age collapse and the current scholarly consensus
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: D. Explaining possible causes of the Bronze Age collapse and the current scholarly consensus

Lecture membahas berbagai penyebab keruntuhan Zaman Perunggu dan pandangan ilmiah yang berkembang saat ini.

2. According to the lecture, roughly when did this collapse occur?

  1. Around 100 CE
  2. Around 1200 BCE
  3. Around 500 CE
  4. Around 3000 BCE
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: B. Around 1200 BCE

Disebutkan eksplisit 'around 1200 BCE'.

3. According to the lecture, what happened to literacy in some regions after the collapse?

  1. It remained completely unchanged
  2. It spread to new regions for the first time
  3. It improved significantly
  4. It disappeared for centuries
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: D. It disappeared for centuries

Disebutkan eksplisit 'literacy itself disappeared in some regions for centuries afterward'.

4. It can be inferred that the identity of the 'Sea Peoples' is

  1. Still uncertain among historians
  2. Irrelevant to understanding the collapse
  3. Known to be a single, unified nation
  4. Definitively established with complete certainty
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: A. Still uncertain among historians

Disebutkan eksplisit 'their identity and origin remain uncertain'.

5. Why does the lecturer mention sediment core climate data?

  1. To argue that climate change is a modern phenomenon only
  2. To criticize archaeological methods generally
  3. To provide scientific support for the drought hypothesis
  4. To explain how pottery is dated
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: C. To provide scientific support for the drought hypothesis

Data ini disebut sebagai bukti pendukung hipotesis kekeringan.

6. The word 'interdependent' as used in the lecture is closest in meaning to

  1. Mutually reliant on each other
  2. Completely independent and self-sufficient
  3. Unaware of each other's existence
  4. Hostile toward one another
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: A. Mutually reliant on each other

'Economically interdependent' berarti saling bergantung secara ekonomi.

7. According to the lecture, what material did Bronze Age societies rely on long-distance trade to obtain?

  1. Oil for fuel
  2. Modern electronics
  3. Tin, needed to produce bronze
  4. Printed books
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: C. Tin, needed to produce bronze

Disebutkan eksplisit ketergantungan pada perdagangan timah untuk membuat perunggu.

8. It can be inferred that the systems-collapse model suggests the Bronze Age collapse resulted from

  1. A single natural disaster alone
  2. No identifiable cause whatsoever
  3. A single military invasion alone
  4. A combination of stresses rather than a single catastrophic event
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: D. A combination of stresses rather than a single catastrophic event

Disebutkan eksplisit model ini menekankan 'a combination of stresses, rather than any single catastrophic event'.

9. According to the lecture, why do historians favor multiple, sometimes overlapping explanations?

  1. Because ancient records are considered completely unreliable
  2. Because the collapse only affected a single small city
  3. Because no single cause appears sufficient to explain destruction on such a widespread scale
  4. Because there is no archaeological evidence at all
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: C. Because no single cause appears sufficient to explain destruction on such a widespread scale

Disebutkan eksplisit alasan ini di awal paragraf kedua.

10. Why does the lecturer compare the ancient trade network to a modern global supply chain?

  1. To explain how bronze is manufactured today
  2. To argue that ancient trade was more advanced than modern trade
  3. To illustrate how disruption in one interconnected part can produce far-reaching cascading effects
  4. To criticize modern supply chain management
Lihat jawaban dan pembahasan

Jawaban: C. To illustrate how disruption in one interconnected part can produce far-reaching cascading effects

Perbandingan ini membantu menjelaskan bagaimana gangguan di satu titik bisa menyebar ke seluruh jaringan yang saling terhubung.

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