1 . 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 |
History is important to study because it is essential for all of us in understanding ourselves and the world around us. And in my opinion, studying history benefits beyond history itself, because it helps develop and improve our skills through studying history.
We can improve our reading skills by reading texts from different periods. Language has changed and developed over time and so has the way people write and express themselves. We can also improve our writing skills through learning not to just repeat what someone else said, but to analyze information from multiple sources and come up with our own conclusions. It’s two birds with one stone—better writing and critical thinking!
There are so many sources of information out in the world. Finding a decisive truth for many topics just doesn’t exist. What was a victory for one group was a great loss for another—we get to create our own opinions of these events.
History gives us the opportunity to learn from others’ past mistakes. It helps us understand many reasons why people may behave the way they do. As a result, it helps us become smarter as decision-makers.
In the study of history we will need to conduct research. This gives us the opportunity to look at two kinds of sources—primary (written at the time) and secondary sources (written about a time period, after the fact). This practice can teach us how to decipher between reliable and unreliable sources.
There are numbers and data to be learned from history. In terms of patterns: patterns in population, disappearances during times of war, and even in environmental factors. These patterns that are found help clarify why things happened as they did.
It’s incredibly important to learn to question the quality of the information and “history” we are learning. Keep these two questions in mind as we read through information: How do I know what I’m reading are facts and accurate information? Could they be the writer’s opinions?
1. The author thinks history helps make good decisions because ________.| A．we can learn from others’ past mistakes |
| B．we can meet many sources of information |
| C．we can look at primary and secondary sources |
| D．we can create our own opinions of the past events |
| A．put out | B．break out | C．make out | D．try out |
| A．To remind readers to read historical novels carefully. |
| B．To warn readers not to read too many history books. |
| C．To emphasize the quality of the information on history. |
| D．To make readers doubt about the reality of history. |
| A．How to study history | B．Why is history important |
| C．Reliable data of history | D．Value of studying history |
A castle was the fortress (堡垒) and home of a king or nobleman.
Most of the castles we think of today were built in Europe. They were built from about 1, 000 AD to about 1, 500 AD, during a period known as the Middle Ages.
Castles played an important role after the fall of the Roman Empire. When a king granted land to nobles, the nobles promised in return to serve the king and provide him with soldiers. Nobles built castles on the lands given to them. But some nobles simply claimed land as their own and built a castle on it. That was asking for trouble. There were many power struggles between nobles and kings, and among the nobles themselves.
A typical stone castle had several main parts. At the centre of the castle was a tall and very strong building called the keep. This is where people in the castle made their last stand if the outer defences (防御) failed. The keep was set in a courtyard, where there were workshops, stables, and a kitchen.
High, thick walls surrounded the keep and the courtyard. Strong, round defensive towers stood at the corners of the walls. Guards walked along the tops of the walls and towers.
Many stone castles were surrounded by a wide ditch called a moat (护城河). Some moats were filled with water, but many were not. The only way into the castle was across a wooden drawbridge over the moat. If enemies attacked, the defenders raised the bridge. Then they lowered a heavy iron-and-wood barrier called a portcullis to block the entrance to the castle.
A well-built castle was a pretty safe place to be. Attackers had a hard time getting in. But they still had some options. They could go over the walls using ladders. They could smash (撞碎) through the walls or doors. Or they could dig under the walls and try to get part of the wall to fall down. If none of those things worked, they could just camp outside until the defenders ran out of food.
Attackers sometimes brought large machines called siege engines with them to break through castle doors or walls. This was a heavy wooden beam with a metal cap. In the early 1500s, cannons entered wide use in warfare. Cannonballs could dig into the base of stone walls and weaken them. The walls then fell under their own weight. As a result, castles were no longer needed.
1. The underlined word “That” refers to the fact that ________.| A．nobles built castles on the lands given to them | B．the nobles promised to serve the king in return |
| C．some nobles simply claimed land as their own | D．the nobles provided the king with soldiers |
| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
| A．Some castles were built to attract more visitors. |
| B．Kings in ancient Europe were more generous. |
| C．Portcullises were used to break through castle doors. |
| D．Warfare must be common from 1, 000 AD to about 1, 500 AD. |
| A．Attacking a castle | B．Visiting a castle | C．A pretty safe place | D．Weakness of a castle |
4 . 以史为镜可以明得失。历史是一面镜子，学习历史，可以提高我们对世界的认识，提升我们的思维品质。
某英文网站正在开展以“学历史”为主题的征文活动。假如你是李华，请用英语写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你在历史学习方面做了些什么，有什么收获。
提示词语：connect, mind maps, remember, improve
提示问题: What did you do to learn history?
What benefits have you got from doing so?
Just as an old saying goes, history is a bright mirror.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5 . 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. |
6 . 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 |
7 . George Devol who came from the USA designed the first programmable robot in 1969. It meant that the robot age had started from then on. However, in about 989 BC, during western Zhou Dynasty, a Chinese man whose name was Yan Shi made a wood robot. It looked like a real man and it was able to do many actions. It was good at dancing and it has a heart, a stomach and other things in its body. It also had teeth and hair. It could express its feelings by using its eyes. Its eyes could move and could show love to women, but it couldn't laugh. It was probably the earliest robot in the world.
Not all robots always look like humans. They have various shapes. They are clever and they can do all kinds of jobs, especially difficult and dangerous jobs. They are widely used in factories, banks, hospitals and other places. In the future, robots will make fewer mistakes, even can correct themselves and they will be smarter. It's possible that we will have a robot in our own home. They will do more things for us. We will have more free time to have a rest, to relax ourselves with the help of robots. I believe that we can have a better life.
1. What started the robot age?| A．The first programmable robot. | B．The Chinese robot. |
| C．The wood robot. | D．The small robot. |
| A．Dance. | B．Tempt women with eyes. |
| C．Express its feelings with eyes. | D．laugh. |
| A．About 50 years old. | B．About 100 years old. |
| C．About 2,000 years old. | D．About 3,000 years old. |
| A．Now robots are in all kinds of shapes. |
| B．Now robots can do kind of difficult jobs. |
| C．Now robots can help people do most of jobs. |
| D．Now robots can help doctors in some ways. |
| A．Robots. | B．The history of robots. |
| C．The robots' usage and start. | D．People and robots. |
8 . A jigsaw is a power-driven saw (锯) used to cut sharp curves (急弯曲线) in pieces of wood.
A jigsaw is also a puzzle. It is made up of a large number of small, interlocking pieces. Each piece has a small part of a picture on it. A completed puzzle produces a picture or design.
Jigsaw puzzles were first created by producing a picture on a flat, rectangular (矩形) piece of wood, then cutting that picture into small pieces with a jigsaw – that’s where the name comes from!
Pictures found on jigsaw puzzles mainly include scenes from nature, city life and similar designs. Castles, mountains and water scenes are traditional subjects. However, any kind of picture can be used to make a jigsaw puzzle. Cartoon-styles are popular. There are companies that create puzzles from personal photographs. Completed puzzles can also be glued onto a piece of wood to make a wall hanging.
The first jigsaw puzzles were designed as geography teaching tools by John Spilsbury in 1767. His “jigsaw” was a map puzzle. It was a hand-painted map of England on a piece of wood. It was a successful teaching method. He went on to make over thirty other map puzzles. The pieces were not interlocking.
With the invention of power tools more than a century later, jigsaw puzzles with fully interlocking pieces came into being. The jigsaw machine could cut sharp curves. Then the name jigsaw puzzles came into being. Jigsaw puzzles became very popular in the United States in the early 1930s, when people had difficulty in finding jobs and making money.
Today puzzles of all sizes are a standard item in toy shops and supermarkets. However, they usually come in 300-piece, 500-piece, 750-piece, and 1,000-piece sizes. The largest one even has 24,000 pieces.
Some jigsaws are quite tricky. Try doing one with all pieces without pictures on it. A few puzzles are made double-sided, so they can be solved from either side. This increases the difficulty, because the puzzle solver cannot be certain which way up each piece goes. Some jigsaws do not have straight edges (边缘). The edge pieces could be any interlocking piece. Solving these jigsaws requires more effort than doing those straight-edged ones. Others designedly have a piece or two missing. Jigsaws are no longer educational toys but are used for entertainment or a hobby.
1. What can we learn about jigsaw puzzles?| A．Cartoon-style pictures are traditional subjects of jigsaw puzzles. |
| B．People can choose any photo they like to use in a jigsaw puzzle. |
| C．The smallest jigsaw puzzle in the world has three hundred pieces. |
| D．There are many small, interlocking pieces in all the jigsaw puzzles. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．A double-sided jigsaw with straight edges. |
| B．A one-sided jigsaw with straight edges. |
| C．A double-sided jigsaw with curved edges. |
| D．A one-sided jigsaw with curved edges. |
| A．Puzzles are cheap entertainment that can be replayed or passed on to others. |
| B．By 1767, students began to learn geography by putting the puzzles back together. |
| C．Spilsbury continued to build more puzzles with different area maps and sell them. |
| D．Early wooden puzzles had pictures printed to the front and lines for cutting on the back. |
9 . Where is it possible to drive from Rome to Moscow, Madrid, Paris, Vienna and Stockholm without going to Europe? The answer is in the state of Maine!
Throughout the United States there are many towns and cities that have been named after not only European cities but other countries as well, such as China, Poland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Just how many New World place names are recycled from the Old World names has never been tallied, but one researcher found forty-one Londons, fifty-six Berlins, twenty-four Dublins, thirty-two Athenses, and twenty-seven Moscows, among others!
Reasons for European place names differ. Some were in memory of settlers' former homes, others in honor of historic events. Founded in 1818 by John coffee, Robert Beauty, John D. Carroll and John Read, Athens is one of the oldest incorporated cities in the State of Alabama. The town was first called Athenson, and the name was then shortened to Athens, after the ancient city in Greece. More interestingly, some names were given by mistake. For instance, the people of Moscow, Kansas, wanted their city to follow the name of the explorer Moscoso. They shortened his name to Mosco, and an official in Washington, thinking the Kansans couldn't spell, added a "w".
1. What might have made the official in Washington change Mosco into Moscow?| A．Moscow is a world-famous city name. |
| B．He thought Moscoso would prefer Moscow. |
| C．He believed Moscow was a far better name. |
| D．He couldn't spell very well and made a mistake. |
| A．built | B．believed | C．added | D．visited |
| A．The Story of Moscow, Kansas |
| B．American Cities and Their Names |
| C．Interesting Names |
| D．Old World Place Names in America |
The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route （路线）between China and the Mediterranean（地中海）. It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been
The ancient road started from Chang’an（now Xi’an) and ended in East Europe, near
