The switch from water-powered to coal-powered factories in 19th-century Britain may be a result of droughts that made water power less reliable and coal more attractive.
Previously, it was thought that industrialists ran out of attractive places along rivers to build the waterwheels that powered many of their factories in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Past analyses of the water power available to early industrialists relied on 20th-century precipitation (降水) patterns, but these are unreliable for assessing historical water power, says Tara Jonell at the University of Glasgow in the UK.
Jonell used previous precipitation records combined with elevation (海拔) data to create a more accurate model of the flow in Britain’s rivers and streams at the time. She found that industrialists in England, Scotland and Wales had barely tapped potential water power when they made the change to coal. Concentrated development had completely filled a few places, such as regions along the River Spodden near Manchester, but overall “ there was still plenty of water power that existed”, says Jonell.
“This supports the argument that coal power was neither more plentiful nor more productive than water power at the time,” says Brett Christophers at Uppsala University in Sweden. “ It adds another nail to the coffin of the old belief. ”
One possibility is that a series of droughts may have made water power less reliable than coal, says Jonell. But Andreas Malm, who wasn’t involved with this work, says it is unclear whether actual droughts took place at the time. He says workers’ movements in the 1830s and 1840s may have prevented industrialists from relying on labour to make up production shortfalls that could have been driven by changing precipitation patterns. The mobility of coal was also a factor in this power change, he says. Relying on coal meant factories could be built near cheap labour or convenient transportation, instead of being limited to places along rivers.
1. What was the cause of the industrial revolution according to the previous belief?| A．The increased energy demand. |
| B．The insufficient water resources. |
| C．The lack of suitable areas for waterwheels. |
| D．The difficulty in building waterwheels. |
| A．By analyzing previous data. |
| B．By comparing water and coal power. |
| C．By referring to other studies. |
| D．By remodeling precipitation patterns. |
| A．It leads to a controversial conclusion. |
| B．It stresses the effect of droughts. |
| C．It agrees with the conventional thought. |
| D．It provides good evidence for the new finding. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Cautious. | D．Objective. |
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【推荐1】In 1885, the Republic of France, important friend during the American Revolution, donated the largest statue in the world, Liberty Enlightening the World, to the United States of America. The statue would celebrate its century of independence. To ship it, the statue was broken down into 350 pieces. And now, spread across Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbour, it sat in 214 wooden packing boxes. The problem was that New York had no money to re-assemble it. Six other cities, less affected by the recent economic decline, had the money and bid to build it.
But a Hungarian immigrant, Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of America’s biggest newspaper called the World, wouldn’t let “Liberty” go. When he heard that the Statue of Liberty was about to die from lack of funds, he saw his chance.
Pulitzer set the fund-raising goal of the World at $ 100,000. In its pages he laughed at the rich, thus increasing the paper’s appeal among working-class people, and firmly planted the idea that the statue was a monument not just for New York City but, indeed, for all of America.
Perhaps Pulitzer’s cleverest trick was the promise 10 publish the name of every single contributor in the pages of the World, no matter how small the contribution. The editorial that opened the fund-raising campaign set its tone. He wrote: “The World is the people’s paper and it now appeals to the people to come forward and raise the money for the statue’s base.” The statue, he said was paid for by “the masses of the French people. Let us respond in like manner.” The circulation of the World increased by almost 50,000 copies.
African American newspapers joined in the effort, encouraging their readers to contribute to a monument that would, in part, celebrate the end of slavery. So the money poured in, as single-dollar donations from grandmothers and pennies from the piggybanks of schoolchildren.
On August 11, 1885, the front page of the World announced, “ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!” The goal had been reached, even slightly beyond, thanks to more than 120,000 contributions.
1. What does the underlined word “re-assemble” (Para. 1) probably mean?| A．Put together. | B．Take apart. |
| C．Transport. | D．Repair. |
| A．Attacking the rich people. |
| B．Celebrating the end of slavery. |
| C．Printing every contributor’s name in the World. |
| D．Persuading children to donate their pocket money. |
| A．It was a symbol of independence. |
| B．It was a monument for the whole USA. |
| C．It was a wonder in the building history. |
| D．It was a favor from the rich French people. |
| A．To protect the Statue of Liberty. |
| B．To win working-class readers over. |
| C．To expand the circulation of his paper. |
| D．To raise money for the Statue of Liberty. |
A period of important agricultural development began in the early 1700s in Great Britain and the Low Countries(Belgium, Luxembourg. and the Netherlands, which lie below sea level).
One of the most important of these developments was an improved horse-drawn seed drill invented by Jethro Tull in England. Until that time，farmers sowed seeds by hand. Tull’s drill made rows of holes for the seeds. By the end of the 18th century, seed drilling was widely practiced in Europe. Many other machines were developed in the United States.
Along with new machines，there were several important advances in selective farming. By selectively breeding animals (breeding those with desirable traits), farmers increased the size and productivity of their livestock. Plants could also be selectively bred for certain qualities. In 1866, Gregor Mendel’s studies in heredity (遗传) were published in Austria.
New crop planting methods also evolved during this time. Many of these were adopted over the next century or so throughout Europe. For example，the Norfolk four-field system, developed in England，proved quite successful. It involved the yearly rotation (轮作) of several crops, including wheat, turnips, barley, clover, and ryegrass.
Not all parts of the world benefited from these developments instantly. However，farmers in other parts such as Australia and Africa continued to use old ways of agriculture for a long time.
| A．This could add desired nutrients to the soil thanks to the rich variety of crops. |
| B．Over centuries, the growth of agriculture contributed to the rise of civilizations. |
| C．In experiments with pea plants, he learned how traits were passed from one generation to another. |
| D．In the 1830s Cyrus McCormick’s harvesting machine helped modernize the grain-cutting process. |
| E．This helped to produce extra food to trade for other goods and allowed people to work at other tasks. |
| F．New agricultural inventions dramatically increased food production in Europe and European colonies. |
【推荐3】One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument. It takes the music and makes it larger than life.
Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction on Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5, 1891.
The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E. Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.
Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall’s concert history.
Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stern Hall, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.
Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall’s history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practise, practise, practise.”
1. It can be inferred that people wanted to save Carnegie Hall mainly because _____.| A．it made a lot of money | B．it was worth visiting |
| C．many important concerts were held in it | D．it made some musicians become famous |
| A．Through newspaper reports. | B．Through old concert programmes. |
| C．Through old photographs. | D．Through old joke. |
| A．9 years. | B．10 years. | C．11 years. | D．12 years. |
| A．The History of Carnegie Hall. | B．The Best Musician Having Played in Carnegie Hall. |
| C．A Joke about Carnegie Hall. | D．The Dream of Most Musicians. |
【推荐1】If you overheard a conversation on a bus, could you tell from the words that were used and the topics discussed the personality of the people who were chatting?Could you learn something about the character of the author from their language?
We are often reminded to “choose our words carefully.” Well,it turns out that the words may reveal more than what we are trying to say.There is evidence that our personality is written in the language that we use.
Introverts (内向的人)and extroverts use language differently.Researchers asked volunteers to look at photos of different social situations and describe what was going on. They found extroverts’ language tended to be more abstract and“loose”while introverts spoke in more concrete terms.
This makes psychological sense.Most extroverts enjoy a speedier lifestyle,as they are more likely to take chances than introverts.When they open their mouths,extroverts are prepared to take greater chances with the accuracy and reach of what they say.
Language also reveals other aspects of our personalities,including how open-minded and neurotic (神经质的)we are. Psychologists gave participants five words:plane crash, parlor maid,fireworks, Middle Ages and supermarket, and asked them to write a story that included these words. This time open-minded participants produced more creative stories, while agreeable (讨人喜欢的) participants wrote stories with a more pro-social (亲社会行为) feeling.
The idea that we reveal something fundamental about ourselves every time we speak and write is a little disturbing especially if you prefer to keep your character profile to yourself. But it also offers an opportunity to change the way you are seen by others.In a job interview, it should be possible to adopt a desirable personality just by changing the language you use.
I think I’d better stop writing now before you discover what mine is.
1. People should be careful with the choice of words because they may| A．be imitated by others | B．be overheard by others |
| C．reveal more than what they want to say | D．make mistakes while talking to others |
| A．They pursue a quicker lifestyle and usually take risks with their words. |
| B．There are some psychological problems with them. |
| C．They are more willing to describe the photos of different situations. |
| D．They are eager to impress the researchers. |
| A．to prove everyone can produce creative stories |
| B．to prove people of different personalities write in different styles |
| C．to inspire people to make friends with those agreeable |
| D．to show how open-minded and neurotic they are |
| A．interviewers prefer those keeping their character profiles to themselves |
| B．interviewees can make use of their language to better present themselves |
| C．an interview is a good opportunity for people to change how others view them |
| D．people tend to reveal something fundamental about themselves in an interview |
The number of gunners, however, grows rapidly. Children too young to develop proper judgments through independent thought are led a long way away by their gunning parents. They are subjected to advertisements of gun producers who describe shooting as good for their health and guncarrying as a way of putting redder blood in the veins (血管). They are persuaded by gunner magazines with stories honoring the chase and the kill. In school they view motion pictures which are supposedly meant to teach them how to deal with arms safely but which are actually designed to stimulate (刺激) a desire to own a gun. Wildlife is disappearing because of shooting and because of the loss of wildland habitat (栖息地). Habitat loss will continue with our increasing population, but can we slow the loss of wildlife caused by shooting? There doesn’t seem to be any chance if the serious condition of our birds is not improved.
Wildlife belongs to everyone and not to the gunners alone. Although most people do not shoot, they seem to forgive shooting for sport because they know little or nothing about it. The only answer, then, is to bring the truth about sport shooting to the great majority of people.
Now, it is time to realize that animals have the same right to life as we do and that there is nothing fair or right about a person with a gun shooting the harmless and beautiful creatures. The gunners like to describe what they do as character-building, but we know that to wound an animal and watch it go through the agony of dying can make nobody happy. If, as they would have you believe, gun-carrying and killing improve human-character, then perhaps we should encourage war.
1. According to the text, most people do not seem to be against hunting because ________.
| A．they have little knowledge of it |
| B．it helps to build human character |
| C．it is too costly to stop killing wildlife |
| D．they want to keep wildlife under control |
| A．form | B．condition | C．pain | D．sadness |
| A．teach them how to deal with guns safely |
| B．praise hunting as character-building |
| C．describe hunting as an exercise |
| D．encourage them to have guns of their own |
| A．blame the majority of people |
| B．worry about the existence of wildlife |
| C．be in favour of war |
| D．be in support of character-building |
【推荐3】Imagine that you’ve just experienced something unpleasant-your friend has forgotten your birthday, you’ve been rejected for a new job, or you’ve just woken up after a long holiday and remembered you need to go to work. How would you typically respond to those feelings?
You might try to tell yourself that it doesn’t matter, and not to let it get to you. This tendency could be described as “mood shame”: The belief that having bad feelings is a personal failing.
Continually looking on the bright side of life might seem strong, even courageous. While it’s natural that we might prefer to avoid uncomfortable feelings like disappointment, worry, anger, or sadness, a recent psychological research supports the idea that they serve useful purposes in our lives. By learning to see that value and accept those feelings without judgment, we may enjoy better physical and mental health.
Consider anxiety. We may assume that anxious feelings destroy our concentration and reduce our performance on difficult tasks—that we can only succeed in an exam or an interview if we learn to relax. Alternatively, we can see the feeling as a source of energy. Besides, disappointment may make us feel unpleasant-but you could recognize that the emotion helps us to learn from our mistakes. And by assigning a more positive meaning to the feeling and acknowledging its potential uses—rather than feeling it is somehow unhealthy—you might change the brain and the body’s responses to an upset.
Rather than judging yourself toughly for bad feelings, you might lean into that bad mood, and allow yourself the self-care you need to get through it. Without fighting the emotions themselves, you could start to question whether those feelings have value. Perhaps they’ll help you to identify an important change in your life.
1. What do the underlined words “get to” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Bother. | B．Cheat. | C．Scare. | D．Inspire. |
| A．Being negative leads to bad health. | B．Being positive means having courage. |
| C．Positive feelings improve working efficiency. | D．Negative feelings may have positive effects. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By presenting research results. | D．By making definitions. |
| A．The causes of bad feelings. | B．The evaluation of bad feelings. |
| C．The consequences of bad feelings. | D．The suggestions for handling bad feelings. |
