Local officials in Beijing promised to further protect the city’s cultural heritage, in particular the narrow streets known as hutongs.
Hutongs are commonly found in the cities of North China, but they are at risk. Beijing is currently believed to have fewer than 1,000 hutongs, most of which are near the Imperial Palaces. Only 60 years ago, the number was 3,250. In the old districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng, which cover 62 square kilometers, some people will be asked to move from hutong houses to avoid further damage to the ancient architecture.
“On average more than 100,000 people visit the Imperial Palaces during the National Day holidays. The visitors put pressure on the protection of cultural relics,” said the director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, adding that hutongs should be protected from human damage.
The government focused on how the protection plans were carried out and how the management of cultural heritages worked. Wang Shaofeng, head of the Xicheng district government, said the area has 182 cultural relics, many of which were built as far back as the Yuan Dynasty (1271—1368). The district of Xicheng has 1.28 million residents(居民) in its 57 square kilometers of land. “The most efficient way is to cut down the local population to reduce the possibility of causing harm to the heritage,” Wang said.
“Each community has been required to report the status of its cultural heritage, especially hutongs, and any actions to damage the heritage will be punished,” Wang said.
No one knows for sure how many hutongs will be left in the coming 100 years.
1. How many hutongs have disappeared in the past sixty years in Beijing?A.Fewer than 1,000. | B.About 2,000. |
C.More than 3, 000. | D.Over 4, 000. |
A.Visitors’ activity. | B.Residents’ attitude. |
C.Communities’ behaviour. | D.The government’s policy. |
A.To punish anyone damaging them. | B.To attract more visitors to come. |
C.To increase the local population. | D.To stop anyone from entering them. |
A.No one will remember them. | B.The number will be growing. |
C.Only time will tell. | D.Hutongs will disappear completely. |
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【推荐1】A vague image shows a nearly naked man in a vast field of rainforest, spear held up to the sky and pointed at the helicopter circling above him—a man defending his homeland and people from outside influence.
This very scene made front-page news some years ago in the UK. It instantly highlighted the loss of ancestral homelands some tribal communities face as a result of ever-expanding plantations. However, bad news has a way of hitting the headlines, so we’re of the opinion that all aboriginal communities are in decline-and that’s not true.
During my travels through India, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early nineties, I spent some time living with the Kalash, a tribe that inhabits three valleys in the Hindu Kush mountain range. I became firm friends with Saifullah, the chief spokesperson, and we’re still in touch to this day.
Back then I remember talking to a very serious aid worker in the American Club in Peshawar who told me straightly that the Kalash, surrounded by conservative Islam, had no chance of survival and would be gone in 10 years. That was 25 years ago. When I caught up with Saifullah recently, asked what his response was to those who believe Kalash culture is dying.
“It’s not true,” he declared. “The Kalash culture and community is as strong today as it was when you first came. We still have our festivals. We still have a shaman and bow shakers. an Oazis who are holding the culture. the religion. Our younger people are becoming prouder of the culture they know they are different and they like it. Many are learning the old ways from the fathers,” he added.
Will Millard, a TV presenter who spent a year living with the Korawai of West Papua, agree “Perhaps tribal communities aren’t in decline, but just in transition (转型),” he told me.. “As human society, we are in a constant state of change. We accuse them of losing their culture because they’re wearing clothes, or using a gun instead of arrows, but a T-shirt doesn’t make them any of a Korawai man. Culture lives below the surface,” added Millard.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?A.To introduce the topic of the text. | B.To call on people to protect forests. |
C.To show conflicts between humans. | D.To describe tribal communities’ condition. |
A.Skeptical. | B.Disapproving. | C.Uncaring. | D.Ambiguous. |
A.The Kalash culture has been declining. |
B.The younger generation have lost their traditions. |
C.Original culture has made the Kalash richer |
D.The younger generation have become more aware of their culture’s uniqueness. |
A.Tribal culture is worth preserving. |
B.Tribal communities have been damaged. |
C.Tribal communities are not in decline but in transition. |
D.Traditional communities’ lives are changing. |
【推荐2】Wherever we go, we are surrounded by history. Across the globe, cultural heritage (遗产) is passed down through the generations. Yet, we fight a never-ending and very expensive war to preserve it for the future. And today, it is under attack as never before. Technology is often seen as something that destroys the past.
Creating copies via 2D images is extremely laborious and time-consuming. AI technologies are being used to do all the required sourcing, allowing lots of images to be cross-referenced and stored in hours.
Airborne technology (机载技术) is being increasingly used in the fight to preserve our cultural heritage.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) has already been used to reveal over 60, 000 Mayan structures that were lying undiscovered in the jungles of Guatemala, without needing a single boot on the ground. Drones (无人机) are also being used to document and monitor huge areas and remove the need for all that costly manpower.
Human interaction with the most important sites and architecture is doing a great deal of harm. Virtual Reality (VR) technology will play a leading role in preserving our cultural heritage in the coming years.
A.It is being used to save and find it |
B.Technology has shaped conflict in several ways |
C.But it is now the most essential weapon in the battle |
D.Our cultural heritage will be protected via technology |
E.This will enable even better and more accurate copies to be created |
F.As more cultural heritage sites and objects are digitally mapped and recorded |
G.When it measures distances by hitting a target and analyzing the reflected light |
【推荐3】Peking Opera is being introduced to primary and middle school students in an effort to promote the traditional art to the younger generation.
The country's first set of textbooks about Peking Opera was compiled and published by the Beijing Association of Promoting Quintessence of Chinese Culture and People's Education Press in 2015.
The textbooks for optional courses have been put on trial use in middle schools in Fengtai district and will be used in middle schools across the city. The textbooks for primary schools will also be rolled_out.
Since 2008, Beijing has promoted a program to provide opera training at dozens of primary schools. Schools apply for funds from the city's education department to hire professional actors and actresses to work with students as young as 6 or 7.
Peking Opera arose during the rule of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). It flourished for decades in China and as its fame spread, it drew audiences in other countries, including the United States and Japan.
Yet over the years, its popularity diminished. While a significant number of people listened to radio productions of Peking Opera before the 1980s, generations born after that pursued pop culture over the traditional arts.
1. What is the purpose of introducing Peking Opera to primary and middle school students?A.To make their horizons broader. | B.To increase their knowledge. |
C.To find their interest. | D.To make Peking Opera inherited. |
A.sold out | B.printed out | C.released | D.delivered |
A.The introduction process can't be completed very soon. |
B.Since 2008, dozens of primary schools have started to provide opera training. |
C.Peking Opera dates from Emperor Qianlong. |
D.Peking Opera was popular with audiences from the United States and Japan. |
A.Like. | B.Dislike. | C.Hate. | D.Don't care. |
【推荐1】A European Union program is letting blind people experience famous paintings for the first time. It uses three dimensional (3-D) printing to re-create famous paintings so they can be touched.
One painting printed with the new technology is Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”. It is a popular attraction at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria. The painting shows a man and a woman standing in a field filled with flowers. They are wearing gold robes and have their arms around each other. The man leans down to kiss the woman.
Klimt finished the painting in 1908. Until now, people who had trouble seeing could not appreciate the artwork. But thanks to the reproduction they can touch the piece and feel the ridges and depressions. Andreas Reichinger started making 3-D versions of artwork in 2010. He said this reproduction was his most difficult project because the couple’s robes are so detailed.
Dominika Raditsch is a blind museum visitor. She touched the reproduction. As she moved her hands around it she said,“ Exactly, can you see these? There are so many details.” Raditsch said she can imagine what the original painting looks like when she touches the reproduction. “It’s somehow round. You can feel it. It comes with it. And in many places it’s so smooth. And then I think to myself: it probably shines too!” Raditsch said.
The Belvedere is not the only museum to have 3-D versions of its artwork. Some of the pieces at the Prado, in Madrid, Spain, have reproductions that can be touched. But the piece in Vienna has one special part: it is made with widely available 3-D printing technology. That means one day, blind art fans anywhere in the world could download the source files and print the reproductions themselves.
1. What does the second paragraph intend to do?A.To introduce the content of “The Kiss”. | B.To attract readers to admire the painting. |
C.To tell the background of the painting. | D.To introduce the secret of the painting. |
A.The great reputation of the painting. | B.The very details of the couple’s robes. |
C.The different versions of the art work. | D.The pose of the characters in the painting. |
A.It lets blind people see the famous painting. |
B.The robes in the painting are more detailed. |
C.It can be appreciated by blind art lovers. |
D.It is painted by three dimensional printer. |
A.A European Union Program is quickly developed for the blind. |
B.3-D printing technology lets the blind experience famous paintings. |
C.A special museum is newly built for visitors in Vienna, Austria. |
D.How to reproduce the world-famous paintings for the art fans. |
【推荐2】Why do men live a shorter life than women? The latest research indicates that men’s hearts going into a rapid decline when they reach middle age could be the cause.
The research of ageing on the heart has shown that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose much pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 20 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, Samantha of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells which make it beat.Between the ages of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men ,” said Samantha.“This is part of the ageing process.”
What amazes scientists is that the female heart suffers very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could work almost as perfectly as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender (性别) difference might give the reason why men live shorter than women,”said Samantha.They studied over 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 17 and 80, who are mainly healthy persons so as to reduce the influence of disease.“The team has yet to think about why ageing suffers a greater loss on the male heart,” said Samantha.
But there is also good news — men can enjoy the health of their hearts with regular exercise.Samantha stressed that women should also take regular exercise to stop their leg muscles getting weaker as they age.
1. The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph means “________”.A.health | B.long life | C.ageing | D.effect |
A.men’s heart cells | B.women’s ageing process |
C.the gender difference | D.hearts and long life |
A.men have fewer cells than women when they are born |
B.women can produce the cells that make the heart beat |
C.the female heart suffers less loss of the cells with age |
D.women will never suffer the loss of pumping power with age |
A.enable your heart to beat much faster |
B.think about the reason for ageing |
C.take regular exercise to keep your heart healthy |
D.stop your cells from being lost |
【推荐3】Are you single or married? Are you a cat or a dog owner? Do you exercise, or are you a “couch potato” (a person who sits on the sofa all day watching TV, eating and basically doing nothing)? These questions and many others are about your lifestyle.
People in the United States feel that they can choose their lifestyles and even shape their own identities. The great variety of lifestyles leads to constant national discussion of choices that people make. This freedom of choice is fun and exciting, but it also creates stress and uncertainty. In newspapers, lifestyle issues are discussed in the features or style section. In The Chicago Tribune this section is called “Tempo”. People turn to this section for lively discussion on lifestyle choices they face with regard to their personal identities, their families, and their social lives.
Many American people believe that they can make their lives happy and satisfying despite their problems. If they lack confidence or tend to feel anxious, shy, angry, or depressed, they believe that they can change themselves. Self-help books, magazines, and feature articles are filled with advice from experts about steps to take to become a happier or more satisfied person and to improve one’s self-respect. Part of this research for self-improvement is a belief that even one’s own appearance can be controlled. This is why there are so many articles in the newspaper about looking young, wearing the latest fashions, and becoming physically fit.
Lifestyle choices also involve moral and social issues. How should children be raised? How should people behave on a date? How should elderly people be treated? How can people stay happily married? All these kinds of issues are constantly discussed and are constantly changing. Not only are experts such as psychologists consulted, but stars from the political and entertainment worlds are held up as lifestyle leaders as well. In the newspaper, feature articles called profiles discuss in detail the personal lives or public work of movie stars, authors, artists, and exceptional individuals who are not stars. The lifestyle choices these people make contribute to the public discussion of all the issues that people think about.
A well-known advertising slogan is “Just do it. ” In the culture of the United States, people believe that they can take action and become the kind of people they want to be and live the way they want to live.
1. The section “Tempo” in The Chicago Tribune mainly discusses ______.A.lifestyle choices |
B.current affairs |
C.experts’ opinions on life |
D.how to improve one’s self-respect |
A.control their own appearance |
B.solve all the problems in their life |
C.live a happy life in spite of their problems |
D.improve their life by following the elders’ advice |
A.their superiors |
B.family members |
C.friends and colleagues |
D.experts and famous people |
A.Just Do It |
B.Make Our Lives Happy |
C.Lifestyles in the United States |
D.Choosing the Way We Live |