每一年的公共英語考試儘管相對於英語專業的考試簡單許多，還是有不少人無法順利通過。說到底一個重要的原因就是平時練習還不夠。下面，小編爲大家送上兩篇公共英語的閱讀文章，希望對大家有所幫助。
Archaeology
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 Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts.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
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，因爲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爲所造成的物質變化。更簡潔地說，是石化了的人類行爲。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爲都留下化石。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"改變歷史的進程"，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爲石頭、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。
公共英語的閱讀文章二Museums
From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.
In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.
The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhere -- space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.
Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.
Deaccessing -- or selling off -- works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.
Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however, "the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.
博物館
從波士頓到洛杉機，從紐約到芝加哥、到達拉斯，所有的博物館或者正在籌劃、建造或者正在完成大規模的擴建計劃。這些計劃或者已經根本性地改變了博物館門面與展廳的設計，或者預期在不久的'將來會這樣做。
單單在紐約市，六個主要機構或者已經向空中和周圍擴展，或者正準備這樣做。
大家一致行動的原因是複雜多樣的，但其中的一個因素是普遍考慮的空間問題。隨着收藏品的增多，也隨着博物館的需要和功能的變化，空間已經變成了一項非常珍貴的商品。
在我國，也許沒有任何其他地方比費城藝術博物館更符合這個事實。這個博物館幾十年來一直需要額外的空間，十年前進行了最後一次重大的翻新。由於空間緊缺，該藝術博物館在考慮購買與受贈藝術品已越來越謹慎，有時甚至放棄增強藝術收藏的機會。由於博物館的空間問題，將藝術品脫手或者說賣掉已經有了新的重要意義。 博物館館長們被迫巧妙輪換利用陳列館的空間，輪流着把一些藝術傑作向公衆展出，而把另一些送入存儲室中。
雖然對額外的陳列室和存儲室空間需要很明顯，但據費城藝術博物館經理講：“博物館還沒有在未來十五年打破這個束縛的計劃。”
