2012年職稱英語考試《綜合類》完形填空訓練題(7)

　　Water

　　From the beginning, water has furnished man with a source of food and a highway to travel upon. The first civilizations arose where Water was a dominant element in the environment, a challenge to man’s ingenuity. The Egyptians invented the 365-day calendar in response to the Nile’s annual flooding. The Babylonians, who were among the most famous law-makers in ancient times, invented laws regulating water usage. Water inspired the Chinese to build a 1,000- mile canal, a complex system which, after nearly 2,500 years, remains still practically in use and still commands the astonishment of engineers. But the ancients never found complete solutions to their water problems. The Yellow River is also known as “China’s Sorrow”; it is so unpredictable and dangerous that in a single flood it has caused a million deaths. Floods slowed the great civilization of the Indus River Valley, and inadequate drainage ruined much of its land. Today water dominates man as it always has done. Its presence continues to govern the location of his homes and cities; its violent variability can kill man or his herds or his crops; its routes links him to his fellows; its immense value may add to already dangerous political conflicts. There are many examples of this in our own time.