雅思阅读真题（Part 2）
人类天生爱交易：从物物交换到消费主义
本篇也叫：天生爱交易、人类天生会交易、交易的本能、人类交易起源、物物交换的起源
Part 2 · 考频：中频 · 最近考试：2026.7.10江西财经大学
本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 2）《Born to trade》，共 13 题，2026.7.10江西财经大学雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。
文章探讨人类交易本能的起源：从远古狩猎采集者以物易物、互惠记账，到现代消费主义对奢侈品和艺术品的追捧。考古证据显示，南非Blombos洞穴出土的10万年前赭石需从30公里外运来，说明消费文化比原先认为的4万年前更早。
Long before our ancestors had any trappings of citation, they had a taste or material goods.
Kate Douglas discovers where this ancient obsession has led us.
A
Humans are born to trade and we don’t need shops or money to do it – the heart of commerce is an instinctive ability for what anthropologists call reciprocity. This is an ability to exchange goods of equal worth and it evolved as the brains of our ancient ancestors grew and societies became more complex, allowing individuals to keep a running tally of their interactions with others. Evidence from modem hunter – gatherers leaves little doubt that the exchange of food and favours is innate, as is the ability to keep track of the credits and debits that accrue as a result. Combine this skill for mental book-keeping with even the most basic material culture, and trade inevitably follows.
B
Once trade gets off the ground, the economic benefits quickly make it irresistible. But exchanging tools, food and other essentials of life in a barter economy is a far cry from the shopping mall. Modem consumerism goes way beyond subsistence and utilitarianism to encompass everything from Gucci handbags and BMW convertibles to valuable paintings dearly, the worth of such goods is not inherent but resides in certain intangible qualities that we invest in them. When did humans start holding these goods in such high esteem?
C
All the archaeological evidence for the flowering of consumer culture has up to now pointed to a date of around 40,000 years ago, that's when early modern humans started making increasingly intricate bone and stone tools, carving patterns into rocks and creating representational art such as carved figurines, jewellery and cave painting. However, discoveries in Africa are pushing the origins of consumerism much further back into human prehistory. A few years ago, reports began to emerge of discoveries made at the Blombos cave, a site of ancient human habitation in South Africa. Christopher Henshilwood and colleagues from the University of Bergen in Norway dated thousands of pieces of ochre from the cave and many of them proved to be more than 100,000 years old – before the time that early humans moved out of Africa. Ochre, a coloured clay that comes in various shades from red to black, does not occur naturally around Blombos and must have been imported from quarries at least 30 kilometres away, either directly by Blombos residents or through trade. Although ochre can be used to dry and preserver cure's animal hides, the researchers are convinced the Blombos ochre had a symbolic purpose. For a start, it is predominantly red – any of the other colours available would have done for curing – and the surfaces of the clay had been scraped in a way that indicates they were used to yield pigment for dyes.
D
An even more intriguing discovery from Blombos was of 41 beads dating from 76,000 years ago, found in clusters and made from the shells of a tiny mollusc. These cannot be natural deposits, argue the researchers, as each cluster contains shells of a similar size and colour with consistently placed holes. What's more, all the beads display a pattern of wear suggesting friction from rubbing against thread, clothes or other beads. The previous oldest find of beads in Africa dates back to just 45,000 years ago. And it seems the Blombos people's taste for beautiful items was not an isolated phenomenon. Jessica Thompson of Arizona State University in Tempe has described finding shell fragments from a site in Tanzania that she believes may represent debris from bead manufacture. They are at least 45,000- and possibly 280, 000-years old. Although there is no evidence of how the ancient beads were used, their modern counterparts are often traded. So it looks as though our taste for jewellery and art is much older than we thought.
E
But why did we come to value these objects in the first place? In many animal species, individuals signal their genetic fitness by showing off with attention-grabbing adornment. Some researchers think that in humans, consumer products play a similar role. Archaeologist Aimee Plourde, from the University of California, also argues that even in egalitarian societies, some people are more successful than others. Among our ancestors, superior skills in areas such as hunting, crafts, environmental knowledge and contact with neighbouring groups would have brought respect – in other words, prestige. And because prestige brings social benefits, people would want to show off their talents. The best way to do this would be through demonstrating possession of material items that are hard to fake "A good hunter, for instance, could advertise his skills by wearing the tooth of an animal that is elusive or dangerous," says Plourde. The benefits of prestige would also lead to competition to acquire it. As a result, the value and variety of prestige goods would spiral and there would be a parallel increase in the ranking of social systems.
F
If Plourde is correct, prestige goods form a direct link between our innate drive for trade and the development of structured, hierarchical societies. They are arguably the first step on the road to modern civilisation, paving the way for agriculture and urbanisation. We may not be impressed by beads any more, but their modern equivalents have the same fascination. Nobody believes the guy who spends €670,000 on a Bugatti Veyron car does so because he needs to travel at 250mph. We all know in today’s consumer society he’s buying an exclusive status symbol.
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答案：a natural human talent
原文定位：Humans are born to trade and we don’t need shops or money to do it – the heart of commerce is an instinctive ability for what anthropologists call reciprocity;the exchange of food and favours is innate
同义替换：「natural human talent」↔「instinctive ability」
答案：querying the changes in the value of traded items
原文定位：But exchanging tools, food and other essentials of life in a barter economy is a far cry from the shopping mall. Modem consumerism goes way beyond subsistence and utilitarianism to encompass everything from Gucci handbags and BMW convertibles to valuable paintings dearly, the worth of such goods is not inherent but resides in certain intangible qualities that we invest in them. When did humans start holding these goods in such high esteem
答案：recent finds alter theories about when consumerism started
原文定位：All the archaeological evidence for the flowering of consumer culture has up to now pointed to a date of around 40,000 years ago;However, discoveries in Africa are pushing the origins of consumerism much further back into human prehistory. A few years ago, reports began to emerge of discoveries made at the Blombos cave;many of them proved to be more than 100,000 years old
同义替换：「finds」↔「discoveries」，「started」↔「origins」
答案：the clues that indicate ancient items were decorative
原文定位：These cannot be natural deposits, argue the researchers, as each cluster contains shells of a similar size and colour with consistently placed holes. What's more, all the beads display a pattern of wear suggesting friction from rubbing against thread, clothes or other beads
同义替换：「clues」↔「pattern of wear」，「items」↔「fragments」
答案：how status can be gained from ownership of goods
原文定位：Among our ancestors, superior skills;would have brought respect – in other words, prestige. And because prestige brings social benefits, people would want to show off their talents. The best way to do this would be through demonstrating possession of material items that are hard to fake
同义替换：「status」↔「prestige」，「be gained from ownership of goods」↔「possession of material items」
答案：monitor the balance between goods given and received
原文定位：This is an ability to exchange goods of equal worth and it evolved as the brains of our ancient ancestors grew and societies became more complex, allowing individuals to keep a running tally of their interactions with others. Evidence from modem hunter – gatherers leaves little doubt that the exchange of food and favours is innate, as is the ability to keep track of the credits and debits that accrue as a result
同义替换：「reciprocity」↔「exchange of goods of equal worth」，「ancestors」↔「innate」，「monitor the balance between goods given and received」↔「keep track of the credits and debits」
答案：It appears it was selected for its colour
原文定位：Although ochre can be used to dry and preserver cure's animal hides, the researchers are convinced the Blombos ochre had a symbolic purpose. For a start, it is predominantly red – any of the other colours available would have done for curing – and the surfaces of the clay had been scraped in a way that indicates they were used to yield pigment for dyes
答案：They have holes and markings suggesting they were joined together
原文定位：What's more, all the beads display a pattern of wear suggesting friction from rubbing against thread, clothes or other beads;each cluster contains shells of a similar size and colour with consistently placed holes
同义替换：「made researchers realise the purpose」↔「evidence proving they were worn as ornaments」
答案：species
原文定位：In many animal species, individuals signal their genetic fitness by showing off with attention-grabbing adornment. Some researchers think that in humans, consumer products play a similar role
同义替换：「use ownership of desirable goods to demonstrate our strength and fitness」↔「signal their genetic fitness by showing off with attention-grabbing adornment」
答案：prestige
原文定位：Among our ancestors, superior skills in areas such as hunting, crafts, environmental knowledge and contact with neighbouring groups would have brought respect – in other words, prestige. And because prestige brings social benefits, people would want to show off their talents
同义替换：「successful people would have gained」↔「brought respect」
答案：competition
原文定位：The benefits of prestige would also lead to competition to acquire it. As a result, the value and variety of prestige goods would spiral and there would be a parallel increase in the ranking of social systems
同义替换：「desire for status」↔「benefits of prestige」，「increase in worth of prestige goods」↔「value of prestige goods would spiral」，「competition among people」↔「lead to competition to acquire it」
答案：urbanisation
原文定位：They are arguably the first step on the road to modern civilisation, paving the way for agriculture and urbanisation
同义替换：「provided a basis for」↔「paving the way for」，「farming」↔「agriculture」
答案：status
原文定位：We may not be impressed by beads any more, but their modern equivalents have the same fascination. Nobody believes the guy who spends €670,000 on a Bugatti Veyron car does so because he needs to travel at 250mph. We all know in today’s consumer society he’s buying an exclusive status symbol
同义替换：「in the same way」↔「the same fascination」