The Nile River is called the “Father of African Rivers”. The Nile is about 6 , 670 km long. It is the longest river in Africa and in the world. The river runs from south to north, beginning in the mountains of Burundi and ending in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nile played an important role in the development of ancient Egypt. It ran through ancient Egypt, bringing water to plants and a river to ships. The river was full of fish and the river banks were full of good things to eat.
Each spring, snow on the mountain tops would become water. That was a very good thing When the water passed by, it left behind good soil. Plants could grow very well in the black and rich soil. The ancient Egyptians called it “the gift of the Nile”
The Nile provided other gifts for the ancient Egyptians. Papyrus（纸莎草）, used for everything grew along its bank. It provided water for cooking and bathing. There were also many fish and water birds. Wild vegetables could be found, along with bird eggs. Egypt is in the middle of the desert. But life along the Nile was wonderful.
1. Where does the Nile River start?2. Why was the Nile important to ancient Egypt?
3. What was “the gift of the Nile” for the ancient Egyptians?
4. Where did papyrus grow?
5. Did the ancient Egyptians along the Nile live a hard life?
2 .
From tiny seeds, great discoveries grow. A mini-garden carried on China’s Chang’e 4 Moon Lander recently became home to the first plant to grow on another world.
This is yet another success for Chang’e 4. On January 2, the probe（探测器）became the first lander to touch down on the far side of the moon. This is the unknown face of the moon that is always looking away from us, so we never see it from down here on the earth. Although it is often regarded as the dark side of the moon, the far side actually gets as much sunshine as the near side. For example, when all we can see is a silver of a new moon, the far side of the moon is in full sunlight.
Part of Chang’e 4’s mission is to see how a moon base could be built for humans , including exploring（探索）whether humans could grow food and other plant products there, Chang’e 4 carried a mini-garden with air, water and soil with seeds planted in it. When plants shoot on the earth, their stems（茎）grow away from the gravity（the force that keeps your feet on the ground）, and so they always shoot upwards. The moon’s gravity is a sixth as strong as the earth’s, so Chang’e 4’s experiment was a test: would the earth plants know which way was up on the moon? Four days after landing, a tiny cotton shoot showed that they do.
Night has now fallen on the far side of the moon; sunlight will not return until the start of February. As a result, the cotton shoots died. Besides the darkness, the plants can’t stand the cold（it can drop to - 170℃ on the moon at night）. However, the experiment is a success, since it has proved that it is possible for plants to grow in space.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Chang’e 4?| A．It carried a mini-garden. | B．It landed on the near side of the moon. |
| C．It explored the moon base. | D．It found plants on the moon. |
| A．the far side of the moon gets less sunlight |
| B．we can see the far side of the moon from the earth |
| C．the stems fail to grow away from the earth’s gravity |
| D．the earth plants know the way to grow on the moon |
| A．direction | B．decision | C．plan | D．purpose |
| A．Plants can be grown on the moon soon. |
| B．It is perfect to do experiments on the moon. |
| C．The cotton shoots can last 4 days on the moon. |
| D．We can see a new moon at the start of February. |
| A．Another Success of Chang’e 4 | B．Chang’e 4 Moon Lander |
| C．Tiny Seeds in the Soil | D．The Steps of an Experiment |
3 . I ordered some snacks on my phone the other afternoon. Once I got home from work that evening, I saw they were already at my door. So fast!
Have you ever thought about how people in the past communicated and did things without mobile phones?
Take the post for example. Before phones, if you wanted to stay in touch with someone far away, you needed to send them a letter in the mail. When my mom was in primary school, she used to do this with her “pen pal”. A pen pal is a name for a person you keep in touch with mainly through postal mail. My mom would write to her pen pal every few months, and then, after a little while, her pen pal would write back. Later, once email became a common thing, sending letters in the post felt so slow to people. It became known as “snail mail”!
What if you were at an airport in the time before mobile phones? My dad said that in the 1970s there used to be message boards at some airports. If you needed to exit （离开） the airport and wanted to leave a message for a friend who would be arriving later, you could write them a message and stick it on the message board. Then, your friend could go, check the board later and see what you wrote to them!
1. When the writer went back home from work, he saw some snacks were ________.| A．in the room | B．at the door | C．at the airport | D．on the message board |
| A．By talking on phones. | B．By mailing letters. |
| C．By visiting every few months. | D．By writing diaries. |
| A．To make fun of people still sending letters. | B．To say that postal mail was famous. |
| C．To say that email was a common thing. | D．To say that postal mail was very slow. |
| A．On the message boards. | B．At the information desk. |
| C．On the door of the exit. | D．On the boarding gate of the plane. |
| A．How fast it is to buy things nowadays. | B．How people stayed in touch before. |
| C．The importance of communication. | D．Ways of making friends in the past. |
People use colour expressions to show their feelings and describe the world. Many colour-related phrases（词组）are common in our speech. Let’s see where they came from.
•The Blues
The phrase is a short form of “the blue devils（魔鬼）”, which also stands for sad feelings. This expression is also used to describe a type of jazz（爵士）music that became popular in the south of America in the 1940s.
•Black Sheep of the Family
The phrase refers to（指的是）a member of a family or a group who is unacceptable. In the old days, the black sheep were sold at a lower price than the white ones at the market, because their fleece（羊毛）could not be coloured. This made the black sheep an unwelcome member of the group.
•A Red-letter Day
A Red-letter Day is a day when something really exciting and memorable（难忘的）happens. It came from the practice of marking special western days, holidays, or other festivals in red on the calendar. Today, some calendars still use red numbers for special holidays, even weekends.
Colour Expressions to Show Feelings and Describe the World | |
The Blues | This phrase is used to describe both a kind of feeling and a kind of |
Black sheep of the family | If a person is not |
| A red-letter day is often a memorable and | |
5 . When Xiong Chuanfa, 34, blows a lifelike tiger out of sugar in just minutes, kids look at him in surprise thinking he is a magician.
Xiong has been blowing sugar figurines（吹糖人）for over twenty years. Blowing sugar figurines is a Chinese traditional folk art with a history of over 600 years and has been listed（列为）as a state-level intangible cultural heritage（国家级非物质文化遗产）.
Every morning, Xiong prepares the sugar and drives to different markets in Nanchang to start his magic show. He heats the sugar, pulls off（拔出）a little to make a ball and blows it into different shapes—a rabbit, a monkey, and even Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot（吉祥物）of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
People, especially little kids, are interested in his skills. To draw young people closer to the art, he also stops by colleges. Many college students, even the foreign students, have been drawn to the art, waiting in line for hands-on experience.
This art has been passed down for four generations（代）in Xiong’s family. His 6-year-old son often blows sugar balloons, just like what he used to do as a child. “We will pass on the intangible heritage,” said Xiong.
1. From the passage we know that Xion g is a ________.| A．street magician | B．college student | C．su gar seller | D．folk artist |
| A．how Xiong blows sugar figurines |
| B．what “blowing sugar figurines” is |
| C．when people began to blow sugar figurines |
| D．why Xiong likes blowing sugar figurines |
| A．绘画 | B．拉动 | C．吸引 | D．推断 |
| A．rabbits | B．monkeys | C．balloons | D．tigers |
| A．The sugar needs to be heated to blow sugar figurines. |
| B．Blowing sugar figurines appeared in Qin Dynasty（秦朝）. |
| C．Only college students like blowing sugar figurines. |
| D．Xiong’s children don’t like blowing sugar figurines. |
| Teens help students in remote areas Luo, a Chinese university student, only turned 18 in January, but he’s already made a big difference to the lives of many poor young people living in China’s remote (偏远的) areas. His online English lessons have offered them a chance to know a world they could only imagine before. Many have achieved university dreams. |
| Luban Lock: magic Chinese puzzle 2,000 years ago, a famous Chinese carpenter (木匠) named Luban created a magic Chinese puzzle (智力玩具) called “Luban Lock (锁)”, which he used to test his son’s intelligence (智力). Watch as Rachel learns to make this Chinese puzzle and tries to solve it! Do you want to have a try? |
| First picture of the black hole The first picture of the huge black hole at the heart of the Milky Way was shown on Thursday, thanks to the efforts (努力) of astronomers (天文学家) from, around the world, including 17 from China. Shen Zhiqiang says that the future purpose (目标) of the Event Horizon Telescope (视界望远镜) is to get video pictures of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. |
| China’s healthcare China has made progress in public health over the past years. In 1949, average life expectancy (平均寿命) was 35. It reached nearly 77 in 2019, much higher than the world average of 72. In 1949, there were just 3,670 medical and health organizations (组织) in the whole country. The number increased to nearly l million at the end of 2018. Health insurance (保险) has also benefited (使受益) over 95 percent of the population. |
| A．He helped them choose dream universities. |
| B．He improved their living condition. |
| C．He gave them online English lessons. |
| D．He showed them around the world. |
| A．how smart his son was | B．if his son could be a carpenter |
| C．who was as smart as him | D．if he could make the best lock |
| A．An American astronomer team. |
| B．A Chinese astronomer team. |
| C．An international astronomer team. |
| D．A European astronomer team. |
| A．35 | B．49 | C．72 | D．77 |
| A．Traditional arts never die. | B．Great Chinese, great China. |
| C．Volunteers are taking actions. | D．Good present, better future. |
7 . The Chinese fan(扇子) is a tool for cooling as well as an artwork. Here are some common types(种类) of Chinese fans.
The palm-leaf fan is the cheapest and the most commonly used fan in China. It’s made of Chinese fan palm(蒲葵) leaves which smells very good.
The silk round fan is often made of silk. And it’s decorated(装饰) with paintings of beautiful women, flowers or birds. It’s one of the earliest types of Chinese fans and popular with women of all ages.
The feather(羽毛) fan is a well-known type of Chinese fan. It’s made of the feathers of several different kinds of birds. Among all the feathers, the geese’s are the most used. The fan handle(柄) is usually made of wood(木头).
A folding fan is often made of paper or silk. And the handles and ribs(扇骨) are usually made of bamboo or wood. The material of the fan is very important which decides the value(价值) of the fan. There are always beautiful paintings or handwriting on the fan.
________ In ancient China, fans were a sign of beauty and knowledge. Ladies would use fans to show their kindness. Learned men would fan themselves to show their deep thoughts, too.
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?| A．People make the Chinese fan in order to admire it. |
| B．People like the Chinese fan because it can make people cool. |
| C．The Chinese fan is a tool instead of an artwork. |
| D．The Chinese fan is not only a tool but also an artwork. |
| A．the silk round fan | B．the feather fan |
| C．the folding fan | D．the palm-leaf fan |
| A．bird | B．wood | C．fan | D．feather |
| A．the painting | B．the handwriting | C．the material | D．the owner |
| A．How did Chinese people make fans in the past? |
| B．Why did Chinese people love fans in the past? |
| C．Who loved fans best in the past? |
| D．When did Chinese people begin to use the fans? |
8 . When using the New York(纽约NY) subway, tourists may get confused(困惑的). In fact, it’s quite simple if you’ve known how to use it. Each NY subway station has a subway map. It shows all the NY subway routes(路线) and schedules(时刻表). Also, NY subway stations are easy to find. Here’s some advice for you.
Get familiar with(熟悉) the NY subway map: We suggest you use our simple NY subway map online to know the different NY subway routes.
Buy a subway card: There are a few different types of subway cards. The first is a Single Ride Card. It is good for just one subway ride and costs $2.25. The second is a Pay-Per-Ride Card. NY subway passengers(乘客) can get anywhere from $4.50 to $100 on one card of this type. Finally, there’s a card which is good for one month. It is only suggested for tourists who stay in New York City for a long time. The subway card can also be used on NY buses.
1. What does a subway map of New York show?2. Are NY subway stations easy to find?
3. How can we get familiar with the NY subway map?
4. How much is a Single Ride Card?
5. How many types of subway cards are mentioned in the passage?
Zhang Qian(张骞) was an early traveler. He was probably the first man to bring back good information about the central Asian lands to China.
In 138 BC, Han Wudi sent Zhang Qian to the Yue-chi(大月氏) to ask for their help against the Xiongnu(匈奴). Unfortunately, on the way to West Regions, he was caught by the Xiongnu people. Zhang had to stay with them for about 10 years before he got away. When Zhang at last reached the Yue-chi in about 128 BC, he was disappointed to find that they didn’t want to fight against the Xiongnu people.
On his return journey(旅程), Zhang Qian and his men were again caught. It was not until 125 BC that they returned to China. Zhang didn’t finish his job, but he learned a lot about the places, people, customs and cultures of the 36 kingdoms(王国) of Western Regions.
Han Wudi then sent Zhang to the west again. Zhang’s journey to the west helped with international trade, especially in silk between China and the West.
1. Zhang Qian was sent to the Yue-chi because ________.| A．Han Wudi wanted to make friends with the Xiongnu people | B．he liked travelling all over the world too much |
| C．Han Wudi needed the help from the Yue-chi people | D．he hoped to learn the cultures of other countries |
| A．西欧 | B．西域 | C．西亚 | D．西方 |
| A．In 138 BC. | B．In about 148 BC. | C．In about 128 BC. | D．In 125 BC. |
| A．Zhang finished his job successfully in the end. | B．Zhang did not return at last because he was caught. |
| C．Zhang returned to China in about 125 AD. | D．Zhang learned a lot about the West Region. |
| A．Only once. | B．Twice. | C．Three times. | D．Four times. |
10 . Inventions usually make a big difference to people’s lives. Do you have any great inventions at home? Do they help you a lot in your life or bring you much fun? Here are some of the most useful inventions in families according to a survey.
 | The most helpful and creative invention for kids is the reading pen（点读笔）. With the specially-designed pen, kids find it convenient and fun to learn. Little kids can learn a lot including story-telling, poems and music. They start learning by touching the contents in the books with the pen. This way kids can learn by themselves. They are also great helpers for primary school students after school. |
 | Mopping robots（扫地机器人）are popular with people who are too busy to do housework. They are more popular with office ladies. They can help people clean dirt, dust and hair easily. With the help of them, people don’t need to spend much time on housework. They can enjoy a more relaxing life after work. |
 | As for old people, an electric foot basin（电动洗脚盆）is the best invention. It’s a good choice to buy one for your grandparents. It can help keep their blood pressure（压力）normal and improve blood circulation（循环）. The special basin can keep the water warm. So washing feet with it will help old people become healthier and more relaxed. |
| A．boring | B．convenient | C．difficult | D．wrong |
| A．at school | B．in the office | C．at home | D．in the factory |
| A．kids | B．office ladies | C．old people | D．young teenagers |
| A．using the electric foot basin | B．listening to music with the reading pen |
| C．the great inventions invented by people | D．enjoying the mopping machine working |
| A．Family Life. | B．Shopping Center. | C．Sports World. | D．Science Research. |
