If you want to tell the history of the whole world, a history that does not privilege one part of humanity, you cannot do it through texts alone, because only some of the world has ever had texts, while most of the world, for most of the time, has not. Writing is one of humanity’s later achievements, and until fairly recently even many literate (有文字的) societies recorded their concerns not only in writing but in things.
Ideally a history would bring together texts and objects, and some chapters of this book are able to do just that, but in many cases we simply can’t. The clearest example of this between literate and non-literate history is perhaps the first conflict, at Botany Bay, between Captain Cook’s voyage and the Australian Aboriginals. From the English side, we have scientific reports and the captain’s record of that terrible day. From the Australian side, we have only a wooden shield (盾) dropped by a man in fight after his first experience of gunshot. If we want to reconstruct what was actually going on that day, the shield must be questioned and interpreted as deeply and strictly as the written reports.
In addition to the problem of miscomprehension from both sides, there are victories accidentally or deliberately twisted, especially when only the victors know how to write. Those who are on the losing side often have only their things to tell their stories. The Caribbean Taino, the Australian Aboriginals, the African people of Benin and the Incas, all of whom appear in this book, can speak to us now of their past achievements most powerfully through the objects they made: a history told through things gives them back a voice. When we consider contact (联系) between literate and non-literate societies such as these, all our first-hand accounts are necessarily twisted, only one half of a dialogue. If we are to find the other half of that conversation, we have to read not just the texts, but the objects.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．How past events should be presented. |
| B．What humanity is concerned about. |
| C．Whether facts speak louder than words. |
| D．Why written language is trusted. |
| A．His report was scientific. | B．He represented the local people. |
| C．He ruled over Botany Bay. | D．His record was one-sided. |
| A．Problem. | B．History. | C．Voice. | D．Society. |
| A．How Maps Tell Stories of the World | B．A Short History of Australia |
| C．A History of the World in 100 Objects | D．How Art Works Tell Stories |
相似题推荐
China is a large country. The population is over 1.3 billion. It has a special culture with a very long history.
Chinese food plays an important role for Chinese families. Different foods have special meanings. The main difference is that Chinese people eat their meals with chopsticks. One of the main foods in Chinese culture is rice. Tea is a favorite drink and it is popular in the market.
Chinese calendar is different from the one used in western countries. New Year's Day is in late winter. It is also called the Spring Festival. It has a big celebration of ringing out the old and ringing in the new. It has special foods and traditions. For example, sweeping the floor before New Year's Day sweeps away all the old year's bad luck.
The Chinese zodiac( 生肖 ), known as Sheng Xiao, follows a twelve-year cycle. Each year is named for an animal. These animal signs are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. For example, the year that begins in 2016 is the year of the monkey.
Chinese is a complex (复杂的) language. Chinese writing developed almost 4,000 years ago and may even be older. Chinese writing has thousands of characters. A character stands for a word and also a meaning. Besides Putonghua, Chinese people speak six other forms of the language, and there are many kinds of
1. What's the population of China?
| A．Almost 4,000. | B．More than 1.3 billion. | C．12 million. |
| A．交际 | B．对话 | C．方言 |
| A．Tea. | B．Rice. | C．Meat. |
| A．Yes, it is. | B．No, it isn't. | C．I don't know. |
| A．Different foods have special meanings in Chinese culture. |
| B．Chinese is a popular language. |
| C．Chinese culture. |
【推荐2】Horses are useful animals to human beings. Domestic (驯养的) horses now pull ploughs (耕地), race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police. But early horses weren't tame (驯服的) enough to perform these kinds of tasks. Scientists think the first interactions humans had with horses were far different from those today.
Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food. Over time, people began to catch the animals and raise them. This was the first step in domestication.
As people began to tame and ride horses, they chose to keep those animals that had more desirable characteristics. For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily. People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals. Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals' genes. So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young. Each new generation of horses would show more of these chosen characteristics.
Modern day horse breeds (血统) come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This variety didn't exist in the horse population before domestication. The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds—typically reaching only one meter tall. With short, strong legs, the animals were bred (养育) to pull coal out of mine shafts (矿井) with low ceilings. Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700. People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.
The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies. For example, horses were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture. Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm more efficiently. Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot. Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distance in much less time. That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another. The new form of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.
1. Before domestications horses were ________.| A．caught for sports | B．hunted for food | C．made to pull ploughs | D．used to carry people |
| A．it is smaller than the Clydesdale horse |
| B．horse used to have gentle personalities |
| C．some horses have better shaped than others |
| D．horses were of less variety before domestication |
| A．carrying heavy loads | B．changing farming methods |
| C．serving as a means of transport | D．advancing agriculture in different areas |
| A．why humans domesticated horses |
| B．how humans and horses needed each other |
| C．why horses came in different shapes and sizes |
| D．how human societies and horses influenced each other |
【推荐3】For most of human history, people thought the world was flat (平的). That is, they thought that if you traveled far enough in one direction, you would come to the edge of the world in the end. Then, about two thousand years ago, people started to come up with the idea that the earth was round. This meant that by traveling far enough in a straight line, you would finally come back to where you started.
It wasn’t until the sixteenth century that Ferdinand Magellan’s exploring team became the first to travel around the world. The exploring team first moved west from Portugal, around South America, across the Pacific, before returning around South Africa back to Portugal. Although Magellan died during the journey, one of his captains, Sebastian del Cano, made it all the way.
In 1872, the French science novel writer Jules Verne wrote a book called Around the World in 80 Days. The novel was about a man who traveled around the world, starting from London, to win a game.
In 1889, an American journalist, Nellie Bly, was sent by her newspaper to follow the journey taken by the characters in Verne’s book. She traveled around the world, sending letters back to her newspaper about her journey. She finally arrived back home after her trip, taking 72 days, six hours, eleven minutes, and fourteen seconds to go around the world.
Even though traveling around the world these days is very easy, and can be done in one or two days by plane, people are still interested in breaking records. From 1970 to 1974, an American, Dave Kunst, was the first person to walk all the way around the world. He wore out twenty one pairs of shoes on his trip! The first airplane flight round the world took place in 1924, done by Lt. Lowell H. Smith and five other Americans, and the first solo helicopter (直升机) flight around the world was done by an Australian explorer, Dick Smith, in 1982-1983.
As for a nonstop balloon flight all the way around the world, this wasn’t done until 2002, when Steve Fossett from the US finally succeeded after many tries.
1. Who first said that the world was NOT flat?| A．Ferdinand Magellan. | B．Nellie Bly. | C．Jules Verne. | D．The passage doesn’t say. |
| A．Ferdinand Magellan first tried to reach the world’s edge |
| B．it took the first exploring team 80 days to come back to Portugal |
| C．a captain named Sebastian del Cano traveled around the world |
| D．the first exploring team had to pass through five countries during the journey |
| A．Lowell H. Smith. | B．Jules Verne. | C．Dick Smith. | D．Steve Fossett. |
| A．an exploring team had been to the edge of the world about 2,000 years ago |
| B．today people can travel around the world in two days by plane if they want to |
| C．during the first airplane flight around the world only one American succeeded |
| D．since 1872 ten Americans have traveled around the world according to the passage |
| A．Both Jules Verne and Nellie Bly wrote about traveling around the world. |
| B．About one hundred years ago, a Frenchman traveled around the world in 80 days. |
| C．It took Dave Kunst more than 6 years to travel around the world on foot. |
| D．In 2002 an Australian flew all the way around the world by ballooning. |
【推荐1】Some children cannot wait to grow up. Because once you become an adult, you are free to make your own decisions. More importantly, you can do all those things that you cannot do now because you are too young. So, the question is, “At what age do you really become an adult?” Well, people become adults at different ages in different places.
In Australia, the 18th birthday is a very important event for young Australians because it means they can do almost anything they want. They can vote, learn to drive a car, get married, join the army and even buy their own houses. However, even if they can do all these things, most Australians have to wait until their 21st birthday to really celebrate becoming an adult. This is the traditional adult age not only in Australia, but also in the USA and the UK. It is their first year of true independence. Traditionally, people were given a key to their houses by their parents when they turned 21, meaning they could come and go as they like.
Even though 21 is the traditional adult age in many English-speaking countries, the law nowadays is different in each country. In the UK, you can join the army at 16 and even get married at 16 if your parents allow. Young people in the UK can learn to drive a car at 17 as in Australia, although they have to wait until they are 18 to vote.
In China, there is a different age for each of the stages of becoming an adult. You can vote and learn to drive a car when you are 18, but if you want to get married, women have to wait until they are 20 and men until they are 22. Chinese people celebrate important birthdays every 10 years—so when young people turn 20, they can expect a big party!
No matter what age you are, becoming an adult is really about learning how to be independent and responsible. Once you are finally able to take care of yourself and make your own decisions, then you can say that you are truly all grown-ups.
1. Which of the following are truly adults according to the passage?| A．Independent grown-ups. | B．Married people. |
| C．People who can drive. | D．People in the army. |
| A．17. | B．18. | C．20. | D．21. |
| A．The age people become adults depends on whether they can vote or not. |
| B．The age people become adults depends on their own independence and responsibility. |
| C．The age people become adults depends on if they are eighteen years old. |
| D．The age people become adults depends on when they get the key to their houses. |
| A．Because the law decides it. |
| B．Because they can leave when they want. |
| C．Because they can come home when they want. |
| D．Because it is a tradition. |
| A．Independent grown-ups |
| B．Kids and adults in different countries |
| C．What makes one a real adult |
| D．Cannot wait to grow up |
【推荐2】If you have a smartphone（智能手机）,the Internet is always with you. You can use the Internet for shopping, learning and chatting with your friends and so on. But the Internet can also be a dangerous place. So, you must be careful.
Keep your personal（个人的）information. First, don' t share too much your personal information on the Internet. For example, don't send your phone number or number of a bank account （账号）.Be careful what you say on the Internet. Second, you can't let everyone see your everything. Finally, be careful of new people. Don't believe them exactly （完全地）. Some of them are dishonest（不诚实的）. They usually use the Internet to try to get money by cheating. The Internet is a good way to meet new people, but be careful. It is important for us to control information.
It is very important for us to be honest. Don't post other people's pictures. Don't hurt others. It's also smart to keep away from fights on the Internet. Don't answer rude（无理的）messages and so on. In this way we can have a better Internet place.
1. When you have a ______ , you can use the Internet at any time.| A．card | B．computer | C．television | D．smartphone |
| A．share too much | B．use your smartphone often |
| C．believe new people | D．close your computer often |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．send some pictures | B．answer all messages |
| C．ask everyone for advice | D．be an honest person |
【推荐3】Throughout the history of arts, the nature of creativity is important to artists. No matter what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change— to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
Landscape (风景) is another unchanging element of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17th-century Dutch painters to the 19th-century romanticists and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie, one of the new American realists (现实主义者), continued this practice. Leslie found the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees. In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotion, and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography to help both the eye and the memory when he improves his painting back to his workroom.
Besides, all art begs the age-old question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the Cro-Magnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is necessary struggle for artists of all periods.
Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present, Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.
1. The underlined word “poetry” most probably means _________.| A．an object for artistic creation | B．a collection of poems |
| C．an unusual quality | D．a natural scene |
| A．they are close in style to works in ancient times |
| B．they look like works by 19th-century painters |
| C．they draw attention to common things in life |
| D．they depend heavily on color photography |
| A．It will not be found in future works of art. |
| B．It does not have a long-lasting standard. |
| C．It is expressed in a fixed artistic form. |
| D．It is lacking in modern works of art. |
| A．History of the arts | B．Basic questions of the arts |
| C．New developments in the arts | D．Use of modern technology in the arts |
