About 20,000 years ago,much of Europe,Asia,North and South America was covered by huge sheets (片) of ice,each many kilometres thick.Since then,the ice has gradually melted and the ice sheets have retreated.Today,the only ice sheets on Earth’s land masses are found in Antarctica and Greenland.Some ice also occurs as glaciers in mountainous regions and as floating ice floes (浮冰块) in the Arctic Ocean and around Antarctica.
At first sight,these remote left-overs from the last Ice Age seem of little importance for most of us today.However,nothing could be further from the truth.Many scientists believe that our planet is warming as a result of the greenhouse gases that we are pumping into the atmosphere.If the planet becomes warmer,the ice sheets will start to melt,causing sea level to rise perhaps several metres by the end of this century.Such a rise would cause widespread flooding of low-lying coastal areas and threaten many large cities.
Observations from space suggest that parts of the major ice sheets are beginning to melt more rapidly.Meanwhile,recent satellite images have also shown that unusually large areas of sea ice have been melting during the Arctic summer.Although sea level will not be affected by the melting of the floating ice,there will be other important environmental changes.For example,ice sheets act like a mirror,reflecting sunlight and cooling Earth.If the ice disappears,Earth is likely to become warmer and major climate changes could occur.Wildlife living in the polar regions may also be destroyed.
1. What does the underlined word “retreated” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Grown. | B．Reduced. |
| C．Formed. | D．Disappeared. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Critical. |
| C．Sincere. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Vast amounts of land will be flooded. |
| B．Large cities in the world will disappear. |
| C．The sea level will drop to its lowest level. |
| D．Global temperatures will see ups and downs. |
| A．Ice sheets melt faster than floating ice. |
| B．The melting of floating ice isn’t damaging. |
| C．Sea ice melting will have disastrous effects. |
| D．Space research contributes to climate changes. |
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【推荐1】The area around Taal Lake on Luzon Island in the Philippines is known for its natural beauty. Tourism is popular there as travelers go there to see the scenery that surrounds Taal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the country. It was quiet for years until January 12,2020 when the volcano erupted. Since then, the cities surrounding the volcano have been covered with ash and many people are forced to leave home.
But the ash didn’t stop the residents of Binan, a city that is 35 km south of Manilla, from finding a way to help their neighbors in the towns that suffered the most from Taal. Binan Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila ordered the city residents to collect the ash and to put it in sacks (麻袋) to be sent to the state-owned factory that can produce 5,000 bricks (砖) a day to turn it into bricks to use for rebuilding damaged communities.
“What we plan is to turn them into hollow blocks and bricks and sell them to interested companies,” Dimaguila said. But he noted, the money would be donated to the people directly affected by the volcano. “When Batangas (the region where Taal is located) is in recovery, the bricks can not only be used to build schools, community halls and livelihood centers but also help deal with ash pollution for the earth,” Dimaguila said. “The misfortune of our neighbors in Batangas is there. Let’s transform this into opportunity.”
The Philippines, located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire: zone of fire” and part of the typhoon belt, is a country that is known for natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and major storms. But the Filipino people show their strong will and community spirit.
1. What can be learned about Taal Volcano?| A．It attracts more and more settlers. | B．It becomes inactive. |
| C．It is covered with ash completely. | D．It causes damage to the locals. |
| A．To collect volcanic ash for recycling. | B．To save sacks for factories to use. |
| C．To set up a factory for making bricks. | D．To build communities for people from disasters. |
| A．Creative but expensive. | B．Environmentally and economically. |
| C．Helpful but challenging. | D．Interesting and practical. |
| A．Taal Lake is in danger. | B．Taal Volcano is popular. |
| C．Disasters hits Philippines. | D．People turn ash into treasure. |
【推荐2】Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea had the largest harbor on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonder of engineering for its time. Then disaster struck. Written records say a huge wave destroyed the harbor. What kind of wave caused it? Did it ally happen? No one had ever found the evidence of the wave... until now.
Dr Goodman is part of a team of scientists studying samples at Caesarea to figure out what happened in the past. A sample is taken by striking a tube into the seafloor. When the tube is pulled up, it contains sediments (沉淀物) that have collected on the seafloor for hundreds or thousands of years. Looking down through the mixture of sand, stones and other sediments is like looking back in time.
That’s what Dr. Goodman was doing when she found something astonishing. It was a layer (层) of shells — all came from the time the harbor was destroyed. Dr. Goodman knew this shell layer had a story to tell.
Usually, shells are part of the mixture of sediments collected on the seafloor. A shell layer is as thin as your finger. Yet Dr. Goodman was staring at a layer nearly 1 meter thick! Almost all the shells were broken.
The thick layer of broken shells meant a sudden, powerful event swept these shells into the area. The broken shells were evidence that a huge wave really did destroy the harbor. Dr. Goodman could even tell the direction of the wave from the way the shells lined up.
Here’s what Dr. Goodman thinks happened. First, an earthquake struck north of Caesarea along the coast. Energy from the movement of rock during the earthquake caused a tsunami. This huge wave raced across the sand and kicked up shells along the way and broke them into pieces. Finally, the wave crashed into the harbor and destroyed it.
Dr. Goodman plans to gather evidence for other ancient tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast. This will help her predict what areas are likely to be struck by future tsunamis. Then people can avoid building in these areas.
1. What can be learned about the Caesarea harbor?| A．It was the largest in the world. |
| B．It was destroyed by a tsunami. |
| C．It is a mystery whether it existed. |
| D．It is studied by many engineers now. |
| A．By studying underwater. | B．By analyzing the mixture. |
| C．By digging for ancient shells. | D．By collecting sediments in a tube. |
| A．The direction of the wave. | B．The diversity of sediments. |
| C．The way the shells lined up. | D．The thick layer of broken shells. |
| A．Shells Tell the Story | B．Scientists Predict Disasters |
| C．Underwater Clues for Future | D．Sea Exploration of Mediterranean |
【推荐3】A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist high ruins, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was. “No charge,” she said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine, and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.
It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no plans to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance.
1. The garage employee’s attitude towards the author was that of .| A．unconcern | B．sympathy |
| C．doubt | D．tolerance |
| A．He was a writer of an online magazine. |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida. |
| C．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
| D．He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail. |
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
【推荐1】An indoor garden has a positive impact on your life if you take care of them properly. However, if you fail to plan before starting one on your own, you may end up with a few problems.
Sun Conditions
Plants need an ample amount of sunlight for them to grow properly.
Space Availability
Obviously, the sun conditions would be useless if you don’t have enough space for the garden. That said, consider where the sunlight lands. You must also determine whether you can place a garden there.
Budget
You will spend a few dollars if you want to start an indoor garden. That’s a fact. This shouldn’t bother you, though.
The world will always present us with many problems that can affect us physically, mentally, and emotionally. One great method for achieving a healthy lifestyle is by growing a garden.
| A．If not, you can try rearranging your home. |
| B．To avoid that, you need to consider a few things. |
| C．That means you should consider the availability of sunlight. |
| D．Without enough sunlight, all living things wouldn’t survive. |
| E．Besides, you must consider how to shelter your garden in the sun. |
| F．That’s because, in the long run, indoor gardens are actually money-savers. |
| G．Living in the city is not a problem for people with green fingers anymore. |
【推荐2】Have you ever wished you could snuggle down under your blankets and stay there for the whole winter? Well, it turns out that humans may be able to hibernate (冬眠) like bears and other animals after all — and it could be good for us.
Hibernation is when animals go into a cave, tree hollow, or other cozy location and turn down some of the functions in their body. This helps them save energy when it's cold and there isn't much food to be found. When an animal is hibernating, its heart becomes less active and its body temperature drops. Grizzly and black bears don't eat, drink, or go to the bathroom when they're hibernating, while animals like bats and hedgehogs sometimes wake up to find food or move to another spot.
Although humans don't hibernate, scientists think we might have the ability to. Sandy Martin of the University of Colorado, says it is likely that the common ancestor of all mammals, including humans, was a hibernator. This means our bodies could still have the tools to allow us to hibernate.
One of those tools could be a natural chemical in our bodies called adenosine (腺苷), which sends messages to the brain to make mammals feel sleepy. Domenico Tupone from Oregon Health and Science University discovered that after boosting adenosine in rats' brains, their core body temperature fell — just like it falls in a hibernating animal. As Tupone pointed out, “Rats are similar to humans in terms of the internal circuitry（回路）of the brain. What we suspect is that this circuit is also present in humans, but we have lost the ability to trigger it.”
Researchers are trying to determine how to harness (利用) the power of hibernation to help humans. It's possible that hibernating could protect people from conditions such as heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and strokes. Doctors already deliberately lower people's body temperature to treat heart attacks. Hibernation could also help us lengthen life. A recent study of bats and marmots shows that when they hibernate, they age more slowly. Hibernation might even help astronauts travel further into space because they wouldn't need so much food on very long journeys.
1. What are animals like when they enter hibernation?| A．Their heartbeat slows down. | B．Their bodies function as normal. |
| C．Their body temperature rises. | D．Their breathing rate speeds up. |
| A．It stimulates the rat’s growth. | B．It helps mammals sleep. |
| C．It damages the circuitry of the brain. | D．It increases after a man gets sleepy. |
| A．Living a longer life. | B．Predicting heart disease. |
| C．Improving mental health. | D．Getting high-quality sleep. |
| A．Humans Were Hibernators Too | B．Adenosine: Secret of Hibernation |
| C．Hibernation: Solution to Human Diseases | D．Hibernating Could Be Good for Humans Too |
【推荐3】Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors(流星), but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on the earth. Light gets through, and this is necessary for plants to make the food which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment suitable to live. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.
Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called “rem”. Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed(畸形的) children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a large amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.
1. According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is necessary to man because of the following reason EXCEPT________| A．protecting him against the harmful rays from space | B．providing sufficient light for plant growth |
| C．suppling the heat necessary for human survival | D．screening off the falling meteors |
| A．exposure to even tiny amounts of radiation is fatal |
| B．the effect of exposure to radiation is slow in coming |
| C．radiation is avoidable in space exploration |
| D．astronauts in spacesuits needn’t worry about radiation damage |
| A．is insignificant | B．is enormous | C．seems overestimated | D．remains unknown |
| A．the Apollo mission was very successful |
| B．the protection from space radiation is no easy job |
| C．astronauts may possibly have deformed children or grandchildren |
| D．radiation is not a threat to well-protected space explorers |
| A．Space is dangerous only because of meteors. |
| B．Explorers in space have to avoid the damage from radiation |
| C．We have got effective ways to treat illnesses caused by radiation. |
| D．The atmosphere doesn’t screen off radiation |
【推荐1】There are many online and in-person courses that promise to teach a “native accent”. But is it really necessary to sound exactly like a native speaker? Some experts say it is not. Eusebia V. Mont leads the Accent Modification (修正) Program at the University of Maryland's Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences. Mont talked about it to reporters.
Students come to the program for one or two school terms. They meet in a group for 90 minutes a week. Each student meets with one other student and a “doctor” for more individual work. Altogether the program amounts to about 60 hours of learning in class. Mont says the rate of progress absolutely depends on the type of accent it is, how long they've been speaking English and how often they speak English.
Mont says, “I view accent as the spread of culture; the spread of a person's individual identity - and I don't work to remove any part of the culture from an individual.”
Students will most probably work in English-speaking environments when they leave school. The program teaches them tools for this. For example, they learn how to give an “elevator pitch”— a short description of an idea—and how to discuss their research. They also practice interviewing and giving presentations at work.
Mont says that there are a few methods for modifying accent, but most have the same basis. One method is called the Compton Method. Arthur J. Compton developed the method for English learners who know English vocabulary and grammar fairly well. It begins with a test to find out how the student's native language affects different areas of pronunciation. Then learners use practice materials to record their own voice and compare their pronunciation attempts to recordings of a native speaker.
Another method is the Tomatis Method, which uses special headphones and includes listening to electronically modified voices and asks students to find the difference between their pronunciation and the voices they hear. This method is also used to cure children who have mental conditions that can cause difficulty in language learning.
Mont's final advice to English learners is not to expect to sound exactly like a native speaker. And remember: Even native English speakers do not all speak alike!
1. According to the passage, what is true about the Accent Modification Program?| A．It is aimed at helping students get rid of their accent. |
| B．It divides students into different classes according to their abilities. |
| C．It teaches students how to communicate in English-speaking environments. |
| D．It offers students a total of 90 minutes’ study over one or two school terms. |
| A．Discussing one’s research in brief. |
| B．Giving presentations in an effective way. |
| C．Practicing interviewing skills in an elevator. |
| D．Making others understand an idea in a short time. |
| A．They both use the method of comparison. |
| B．They both require students to take a test first. |
| C．They both serve students who have mastered English well. |
| D．They both require students to record their voices with equipment. |
| A．The development of the accent modification industry. |
| B．Keeping your identity while changing your accent. |
| C．The situation of the accent modification program. |
| D．Ways to sound like a native speaker. |
【推荐2】In the American workplace, all the machines are no longer monitored by human labor. High-powered computers and robots are increasingly taking over more complicated tasks--from bookkeeping to research--with surprising efficiency. Over the next 15 years, machines will be likely to take the place of truck drivers as self-driving vehicles become the norm, putting millions of people around the world out of a job. Already, about 5.5 million jobs which are connected with manufacturing have been lost to automation (自动化) since the year 1990. And the trend shows no signs of stopping: In the first quarter of 2017, American companies bought 32 percent more robots than they did in the same period last year.
But human work is far from obsolete . A 2013 study found just 5 percent of all jobs can be completely done by high-powered computers and robots. And while automation takes the place of certain kinds of jobs, particularly in manufacturing, it generates others as well.
As robots are growing in numbers, more and more human labor is needed to operate and repair these machines. What’s more, the higher productivity of mechanized work can cut down the cost and make the prices low and increase demand in some industries, creating the need for more robots to increase output and thus more human labor to man them.
In the last seven years, American manufacturers have created almost a million new factory jobs, according to a recent report in Associated Press. As of this year, still 390000 of these jobs are still remaining open. And experts have estimated that factories will add another two million jobs in the next decade, many of which will make human workers work together with robots. The challenge will be equipping American workers with the more advanced skillsets needed for this new cyborgian (生控体系的) partnership.
1. What does the author want to tell in Paragraph 1?| A．The unemployment rate is raising in America. |
| B．More tasks will be done by robots in America. |
| C．Robots can work more efficiently than humans. |
| D．Robots are becoming more important than human labor. |
| A．Useless. | B．Powerful. |
| C．Popular | D．Challenging. |
| A．Learning to live together with robot. |
| B．Being skilled in designing a new robots. |
| C．Having more advanced skills for new robot. |
| D．Learning more skills to cooperate with robots. |
| A．The advantages of robot workers. |
| B．The development of robot workers. |
| C．The influence of robots on human workers. |
| D．The comparison between robots and human workers. |
【推荐3】As the underwater robot OceanOneK carefully navigated toward the upper deck railing of the sunken Italian steamship Le Francesco Crispi about 500 m below the Mediterranean’s surface this month, roboticist Oussama Khatib felt as though he himself were there.
OceanOneK looks like a human diver from the front, with eight multi-directional thrusters (推进器) that allow careful operation underwater. The robot’s touch-based feedback system and 3D vision produced incredibly realistic sensations that equaled what he would have experienced were he down below, rather than above onboard the control ship. Observing through OceanOneK robot’s eyes and feeling through its hands, Khatib perceived a new dimension of colorful life — pink and green and orange — layered on and around the ship. He felt the resistance of the water and could recognize the shapes of the historic relic around him.
The mission of OceanOneK to these depths had two purposes: to explore places no one has gone to before and to show that human touch, vision, and interactivity can be brought to the sites far-removed from where people can operate.
While OceanOneK had many noteworthy adventures and successes during two multi-stop trips around the Mediterranean, the accomplishment of the team and the ship’s crew was demonstrating functional autonomy at nearly 1,000 m down. It was this advance that earned OceanOne’s renaming to OceanOneK.
“This is the first time that a robot has been capable of going to such a depth, interacting with the environment, and permitting the human operator to feel that environment,” said Khatib. “It has been an incredible journey.”
“Distancing humans physically from dangerous and unreachable spaces while connecting their skills and experience to the task promises to fundamentally alter remote work,” said Khatib. “Robotic avatars (化身) will search for and acquire materials, build structures, and perform disaster prevention and recovery operations — be it deep in oceans and mines, at mountain tops, or in space.”
1. How does OceanOneK work?| A．By sending operators deep down the ocean. |
| B．By enhancing divers’ vision underwater. |
| C．By creating an at-the-scene experience. |
| D．By measuring the resistance of water. |
| A．The origin of OceanOneK’s name. |
| B．The demonstration of the ship’s crew. |
| C．The noteworthy successes of the team. |
| D．The adventures around the Mediterranean. |
| A．Their promising future. | B．Their technical advances. |
| C．Their present applications. | D．Their scientific significance. |
| A．OceanOneK: Taking on a New Dimension of Colorful Life |
| B．OceanOneK: Connecting Human Sensations to Deep Sea |
| C．Robotic Avatars: Saving Human from Disasters |
| D．Robotic Avatars: Altering Human Work Patterns |
【推荐1】Cooking programs and classes for children seem to positively influence children's food preferences and behaviors，according to a recent review. And，although the review didn't look at long-term effects of such programs，the findings suggest that such programs might help children develop long-lasting healthy habits.
This research comes at a time when childhood obesity( 肥 胖 ) rates have been rising rapidly. More than one-third of adolescents in the United States were obese in 2012 ， according to the U．S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)．This trend has been caused，at least in part，by a significant decrease in the amount of meals that people consume at home since the 1980s， according to background information in the study.
Cooking education programs，such as Food Explorers，teach children about new healthy foods and how to prepare them. They also stress the importance of eating five fruits and vegetables every day. A volunteer parent explains a new food to the group，and the kids make something based on the lesson，such as fruit or vegetable salad. Depending on the program，kids may be sent home with information about healthy foods to bring to their parents，the review explained.
The study team reviewed eight other studies that tested different types of cooking education programs. Children in these classes were between 5 and 12 years old，according to the review. The goal of the study team was to learn more about developing an efficient program to encourage healthy food choices that last a lifetime. The study found that it is particularly important to expose kids to healthy foods on a number of occasions. This makes them feel comfortable with the new foods，which helps them build healthy habits.
The study stressed the importance of getting parents involved in(参与) their children's eating habits. Parents who are unable to enroll their kids in a cooking class can achieve similar benefits by having their kids help them while they prepare meals at home. Children are more comfortable at home，which makes them more receptive to new foods because they will make the connection to a positive experience.
1. What can we infer from the second paragraph?| A．Eating out frequently causes obesity. |
| B．Childhood obesity is totally caused by eating habit. |
| C．Childhood obesity rates have been rising rapidly since 2012. |
| D．Food consumption has decreased significantly since the 1980s. |
| A．children learn how to prepare foods from their parents |
| B．children will learn how to cook in the company of their parents |
| C．children may learn information unknown to their parents |
| D．children focus more on cooking skills than on information about healthy foods |
| A．Education Systems. | B．Science and Technology. |
| C．Parent-child Relationship. | D．Public Health Research. |
| A．to inform the reader | B．to entertain the reader |
| C．to discuss with the reader | D．to warn the reader |
【推荐2】Buttons are found on all sorts of clothing. They are usually small and round and made of metal or plastic. They fasten, or connect, one piece of clothing to another. They make sure your clothes don’t fall off. Some buttons can be beautiful and even have very fine details. But are they cute? Babies are often described as cute as a button. Language experts don’t know why. But we do know more about two other button expressions: button-down and buttoned-up.
Men or women often wear button-down means being conservative（保守的）or traditional. People described as buttoned-down stay as close as possible to the normal way of dressing and behaving. People and events can both be described as buttoned-down. We should note here that as an adjective you can either say “buttoned-down” or “button-down”.
However, the adjective buttoned-up is a little different. If someone is buttoned-up, he seems very businesslike. In personal relationships, a buttoned-up person is cold and indifferent, meaning they physically and emotionally keep away from others.
There are many other ways “button” is used as a verb. When you fasten a button, you can also just say “button a button”. So, you can say to a friend, “Hey, your top button is unbuttoned. You should button it.”
When buttoning a button you slip it into a buttonhole. The buttonhole traps the button. So, to buttonhole someone means you have trapped him into a spoken conversation. Now, let’s say you find yourself buttonholed in a conversation at a party. The person just keeps talking and talking and talking! Finally, you can’t stand it any longer. You tell the person to button it! “Button your lip” is another equally rude but effective way to stop a person who talks too much.
Another kind of difficult person is someone who pushes your buttons. To push someone’s buttons means you know exactly how to get that person angry or upset. People who push the panic button are not as dislikable as button-pushers. However, they can be tiring to others. In a crisis, it is important to remain calm. Pushing the panic button can make an already tense situation worse.
1. What can be learned from the passage?| A．Office clerks usually behave and dress normally. |
| B．The word buttoned-down is similar to the word buttoned-up. |
| C．The word button-down has the same meaning as the word buttoned-down. |
| D．Button-down shirt wearers behave and dress strangely. |
| A．They may not be warm or friendly. |
| B．They are active in business activities. |
| C．They wear crazy clothing at times. |
| D．They share their inner thoughts and feelings. |
| A．Be careful. | B．Don’t trick others. |
| C．Be polite. | D．Stop talking. |
| A．Polite. | B．Serious. |
| C．Disgusting. | D．Easily annoyed. |
【推荐3】Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities is set in the years before and during the French Revolution (1789 - 1799). During its course, French revolutionaries brought down the empire and established a republic of free and equal citizens.
In reading the work, one sees that Dickens distorted some details of the French Revolution. At the beginning, Dickens notes that, in 1775, France was busy spending money. This mention of France’s spending touches briefly on what is perhaps the major cause of the French Revolution. Before the revolution, the government often borrowed money because it spent more than it raised in taxes. The increased spending and borrowing made many people’s blood boil, yet Dickens focused instead on the nobility’s oppression and exploitation of the working class, including peasants, as the causes of the revolution.
The Marquis, one of the book’s characters, ill-treats and kills many people. Thus, he represents the nobles who mistreat the lower classes. One reviewer criticized this picture as an unfair representation of French society in the mid-1700s. The reviewer pointed out that the government would have punished nobles who mistreated or murdered. Nobles may have been guilty of other evils, however, such as not feeding the starving masses after bad weather ruined crops in 1789.
Dickens’ account of the storming of the Bastille fails to mention that the gang that stormed the prison was looking for bullets and bombs to use in defense against a possible attack by the king’s troops. Dickens does include some accurate details, however, such as the crowd’s finding only seven prisoners and freeing them and the pack’s executing (处决) the prison administrator and sticking his head on a post. The scene that the women knit (编织) as they watch the executions may seem to be an odd detail, but actually many women did knit stockings for the war effort as they watched the killing machine at work.
Dickens’ descriptions of the steady stream of sentenced people into prison and the carts taking them to their deaths give readers some idea of the frequency with which officials jailed and executed people during the Rule of Terror, which lasted about a year. During the Terror, the government jailed about 250 thousand people, tried (审判) and killed about 17 thousand, and executed about 12 thousand without a trial. Those executed included people who opposed the revolution, people who offended the revolutionaries, and even some revolutionaries. About 15 percent were members of the ministry or nobility.
1. What does the word “distorted” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．Discussed. | B．Revealed. |
| C．Provided. | D．Twisted. |
| A．A wild crowd rushed into the Bastille to fight with the royal soldiers. |
| B．The nobles’ mistreating and killing people is the main cause of the revolution. |
| C．About thirty thousand people lost their lives in the course of the Rule of Terror. |
| D．Women were forced to work for the war supplies while watching people killed. |
| A．Dickens was once among the revolutionaries storming the Bastille. |
| B．There was an extreme disorder and horror during the revolution. |
| C．Nobles of those days in France were loaded with heavy social responsibilities. |
| D．Classic literary works may serve as history textbooks to a great degree. |
| A．The Collapse of the French Empire |
| B．Unknown Facts during the Rule of Terror |
| C．Dickens’ Description of the French Revolution |
| D．A Critical View on A Tale of Two Cities |
