The reading passage gives three possible explainations about what the “great houses” were used for, while the lecturer thinks none of the theories is convicing by providing contradictory reasons.
As for the residential theory, the professor says that although the outside appearance of “great houses” is simillar to that of “apartment buildings” at Taos, the inside of these two houses are really different. If the house holded hundreds of people, there should be many fire places for cooking, while the “great houses” just have several fire places, which cannot support hundreds of people. This evidence conflicts with the residential theory in the reading.
Additionally, the profssor thinks that the food storage theory is also not well supported, because of lack of evidence. However, he says that if the houses were used for maize storage, the evidences such as maize and maize conrainer should be found during the excavation. But in fact there is lack of evidence to support this theory.
The professor also opposes that the houses were used as ceremonial centers, by casting doubt on the example of Pueblo Alto. The writer takes Pueblo Alto as an evidence to support the theory because people found a lot of old materials in the houses, such as broken pots, which might be used in ceremonies according to the old local customs. The professor, however, says that the pots might be just regular trash, because not only pots were found there, but also building materials. So it is possible that the houses were a place to store building materials and trash, and pots were discarded by construction workers, which cannot be evidences to bolster the third theory in the reading material.作者: shiwei83 时间: 2009-12-10 10:08:29
The reading passage gives three possible explainations about what the “great houses” were used for, while the lecturer thinks none of the theories is convicing by providing contradictory reasons.
As for the residential theory, the professor says that although the outside appearance of “great houses” is simillar to that of “apartment buildings” at Taos, the inside of these two houses are really different. If the house holded hundreds of people, there should be many fire places for cooking, while the “great houses” just have several fire places, which cannot support hundreds of people. This evidence conflicts with the residential theory in the reading.（还有一点，就是great house没有足够的房间去容纳hundreds people）
Additionally, the profssor thinks that the food storage theory is also not well supported, because of lack of evidence. However, he says that if the houses were used for maize storage, the evidences such as maize and maize container should be found during the excavation. But in fact there is lack of evidence to support this theory.
The professor also opposes that the houses were used as ceremonial centers, by casting doubt on the example of Pueblo Alto. The writer takes Pueblo Alto as an evidence to support the theory because people found a lot of old materials in the houses, such as broken pots, which might be used in ceremonies according to the old local customs(最好能写清这些pots的用途，是用来装祭祀用的食物). The professor, however, says that the pots might be just regular trash, because not only pots were found there, but also building materials. So it is possible that the houses were a place to store building materials and trash, and pots were discarded by construction workers, which cannot be evidences to bolster the third theory in the reading material.
MM写得不错，注意个别细节和单词拼写。保持这个水平，你一定能考个好成绩，good luck!