The British live on a small island. They are surrounded by the sea, so it is not surprising that the sea has always played an important role in their lives. After the development of large, oceangoing sailing ships in the fifteenth century, the sea became even more important to the country’s development. Ships setting sail from England determined to extend Britain’s territories, its wealth and its knowledge of the world. Ships returned to England bringing goods, people and new ideas from foreign places. By the nineteenth century, Britain had the largest, most powerful navy in the world.
The great sailing ships were so much a part of British life that they even affected the language. Many English expressions we use today were originally nautical (航海的) terms, although most people no longer realize this. For example, people commonly describe an honest and fair business deal as being “above board”. This expression was originally used in sailing ship times when secretive, dishonest ship’s business would be carried out below decks (below the boards) out of public view. On the other hand, honest business was always conducted on deck (above the boards), in the open where everyone could see what was going on.
“Pipe down!”, meaning “Be quiet!”, is another common expression that has nautical origins. The ship’s boatswain (水手长) would blow a whistle, or pipe, at the end of the day to indicate (表明) to the sailors it was time to quieten down and go to sleep.
Most native English speakers have heard the expression “not enough room to swing a cat”, but few know that the “cat” does not refer to a small furry animal with four legs and a tail. The “cat” is actually a short form of “cat of nine tails” — a whip with nine, knotted (打结的) tails. A boatswain needed a lot of space in order to swing the whip properly when lashing (鞭打) a poor sailor under his control!
1. The British have been strongly influenced by the sea because ________.| A．they occupied more land around the world |
| B．they got more wealth from the sea |
| C．they live on an island surrounded by the sea |
| D．they had the largest navy ever |
| A．secretive | B．honest |
| C．cheerful | D．dishonest |
| A．Sailors need to go to sleep when they hear a whistle. |
| B．Sailors will be whipped if they do business below decks. |
| C．A poor sailor may be whipped nine times a day. |
| D．There is no spare room to raise cats on ships. |
| A．The business on British sailing ships. |
| B．The influence of British sailors’ language on English. |
| C．The sailing history of England. |
| D．The sailing story of British sailors. |
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【推荐1】What is erosion(腐蚀)? Erosion is simply when soil is transported on the earth's surface from one location to another by a natural cause.
This is easy to imagine. Picture a sandcastle on a beach. This sandcastle is particularly beautiful, the work of a whole long, hot summer afternoon. It has three towers, with a great wall running all around. Small square houses sit in an open area in the center. From the tallest tower flies a Pop-sicle-wrapper flag from a small twig flagpole. Its builder sits back, proudly admiring her work. But it is late, and the tide is coming in, bringing the water closer. Finally, the castle is hit with a giant wave. As it pulls out, the builder sees there is nothing left but bits of the towers and a small broken twig. Where has the sand gone? Not very far, really. It’s moving around the water that will wash back and forth across the beach all day. It’s spread around the beach next to the castle. However, to our eyes, it has disappeared. This is also the way with erosion. Parts of the earth seem to disappear but have really just been moved around.
A common example of water changing the landscape is sinkholes. Sinkholes are formed when underground water wears away the dirt and rock that surrounds it. Eventually, the hole underneath the ground is so big, and the earth above it so thin that the surface collapses into the hole, taking with it anything unlucky enough to be on the surface at the time. Sinkholes occur naturally and have been around a very long time. Today, though, many sinkholes are caused by the action of human beings.
In fact, today, human beings are one of the things helping to speed up erosion of the earth. Scientists believe that by pumping water from underground, moving sand dunes and other naturally-occurring anti-erosion measures, humans have allowed erosion of the earth to speed up by as much as 40 times. This means that beaches around the world are disappearing, more sinkholes are opening up, and farmland is rapidly becoming desert.
1. What’s the author’s purpose of describing a sandcastle in Paragraph 2?| A．To show the destructive force of nature. |
| B．To recall his happy childhood. |
| C．To catch the reader’s attention. |
| D．To explain what erosion is. |
| A．The hole. |
| B．The ground. |
| C．The earth. |
| D．The surface. |
| A．A lot of high-rises have been built. |
| B．People pump water from underground. |
| C．Too many mines have been opened up. |
| D．Underground water takes away dirt and rock around it. |
| A．Desertification will speed up. |
| B．Sinkholes will be everywhere. |
| C．Many plant species will disappear. |
| D．Earthquakes will happen more often. |
【推荐2】The Nazca Lines are a series of large ancient geoglyphs (地画) in the Nazca Desert, in southern Peru. It is ranging from geometric patterns to drawings of different animals and stylized human-like forms. The ancient lines can only be truly taken in from high in the air, leaving generations puzzled as to how these precise works could have been completed long before the documented invention of human flight.
The Lines were first spotted when commercial airlines began flying across the Peruvian desert in the 1920,s. Who built them and what was their purpose? Are they roads, star pointers, maybe even a gigantic map? If the people who lived here 2,000 years ago had only a simple technology, how did they manage to construct such precise figures? Did they have a plan? These markings are like a vast puzzle.
The Nazca Lines are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs in the world. There are also huge geoglyphs in Egypt, Malta, United States (Mississippi and California), Chile, Bolivia and in other countries. But the Nazca geoglyphs, because of their numbers, characteristics, dimensions and cultural continuity as they were made and remade throughout a certain history period, form the most impressive archeological (考古学的) group.
The Nazca plain is unique for its ability to preserve the markings upon it, due to the combination of the climate (one of the driest on Earth, with only twenty minutes of rainfall per year) and the flat, stony ground which minimizes the effect of the wind at ground level. With no dust or sand to cover the plain and little rain or wind to erode (腐蚀) it, lines drawn here tend to stay drawn. These factors, combined with the existence of lighter-colored subsoil beneath the desert surface, provide a vast writing pad that is suited to the artist who wants to leave his mark eternal.
1. What can we know about the Nazca Lines from the first two paragraphs?| A．They were built as a big map. |
| B．They were formed by nature. |
| C．They are ancient lines in caves. |
| D．They are huge markings in a desert. |
| A．One. | B．Two. |
| C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Because of the wind at ground level. |
| B．Because of the existence of soft soil. |
| C．Because of the climate and geography. |
| D．Because of the thick sand on the top. |
| A．Non-stop. | B．Ever-lasting. |
| C．Real-life. | D．High-end. |
【推荐3】What’s the capital of Australia? If you answer Sydney, you’re wrong, with travel website VirtualTourist.com (www.virtualtourist.com) coming up with a list of the six most surprising non-capital cities in the world.
1) New York City, New York
It may be king of the hill and the top of the heap (堆), but only figuratively (比喻地). NYC is not the country’s capital, which is Washington DC. Nor is it the state capital, an honor given to the upstate(北部地区的) town of Albany, which is also the birthplace of perforated (穿孔的)toilet paper.
2) Sydney, Australia
Although it is famous for its harbor and opera house, Sydney is not the capital. Canberra, which is just less than its one-hundred-year celebration, is actually the capital of Australia.
3) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
It’s fun, exciting and has something for everyone, but that still doesn’t make it Brazil’s capital. While the city which is famous for the festival used to be the capital, Brasilia now takes that position.
4) Johannesburg, South Africa
Interestingly, South Africa has more than one capital city, none of which are Johannesburg. Divided by branch of government the capitals are: Bloemfontein, the capital of the judiciary (司法的), Pretoria, the capital of the administrative branch and Cape Town acting as the country’s legislative (立法的) capital.
5) Geneva, Switzerland
Neither this nor Zurich serves as the country’s capital. The attractive, quiet, UNESCO-recognized town of Bern holds this honor.
6) Timbuktu, Mali
Mysterious, exotic (异国情调的), and perhaps the country’s most recognizable name, it takes second place to the city of Bamako. Bamako considered the fastest growing city in Africa. It is also a world-famous center for music. Bamako is attracting famous singers to its local pubs where hometown artists play through the night.
1. Perforated toilet paper comes from _______.
| A．Geneva |
| B．Johannesburg |
| C．New York City |
| D．Albany |
| A．Cape Town is South Africa’s legislative capital |
| B．Canberra is also called the land "Down Under" |
| C．Pretoria is South Africa’s judiciary capital |
| D．Bamako is the fastest growing city in the world |
| A．Charming and peaceful. |
| B．Fun and exciting. |
| C．Mysterious. |
| D．Exotic. |
| A．Bamako is famous for its industry. |
| B．Canberra is well-known for its opera. |
| C．Each country has only one capital. |
| D．Canberra has a history of less than 100 years. |
| A．some famous big cities in the world |
| B．some famous mistaken capital cities in the world |
| C．features of some capitals in the world |
| D．traveling in some big cities in the world |
