1 . People today take lots of photos. Many people use cell phones to take photos of their everyday life, with friends and family. Some photos are really special. They may show beautiful places or important events, like birthday parties or weddings. Years later, people may, look at, these special photos to remember the past.
But how did people record important events before there were cameras? How did people long ago remember the past?
Some people told stories about the past. Others wrote down the things they remembered. Some people made drawings. These helped them remember important events. One group of people who made drawings to remember the past was the Lakota tribe(部落). The people of the Lakota tribe were native Americans.
Every winter, Lakota leaders picked the most important event from the year. A Lakota artist then drew a picture of that event. These drawings were called winter counts. This is because the event for each picture was picked in the winter. For a long time, these pictures were drawn on animal skins. Later, they were drawn on paper.
The winter counts showed the Lakota tribe’s history. Each year, the new drawing was added to the rest of the winter counts. That helped people keep track of the years.
Today, winter counts are important records of the Lakota tribe’s past.
1. How many ways were used to record important events before the camera was invented in the passage?| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．Photographs of famous people. |
| B．Photographs of beautiful places. |
| C．Photographs of special or important events. |
| D．Photographs of daily life from mobile phones. |
| A．The Lakota people like to draw pictures of the winter. |
| B．The events for winter counts were chosen in the winter. |
| C．People can only find winter counts on animal skins. |
| D．Each year, new drawings replace the old winter counts. |
| A．The Lakota people's winter counts are very interesting. |
| B．The Lakota people drew winter counts to practice their drawing skills. |
| C．The winter counts helped Lakota's people remember important events over the years. |
| D．Cameras have made it a lot easier for people to remember important events over the years. |
2 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3, 000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6,500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.
Traders traveling along the Silk Road carried silk of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.
There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers (士兵) traveled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Some of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.
During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Baetrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these people traveled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages and culture.
In modern times, the old Silk Road routes(路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.
1. Traders carried all kinds of goods along the Silk Road. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?| A．Silk | B．Cloth | C．Gold | D．Tea |
| A．Asian soldiers | B．European soldiers |
| C．African soldiers | D．American soldiers |
| A．Valuable things could not be sold along the Silk Road. |
| B．The Silk Road allowed people from different countries to mix. |
| C．Ancient Chinese along the Silk Road may be able to speak different languages. |
| D．The objects in the museum in Jiuquan in China are from all along the Silk Road. |
| A．History and geography | B．Sports world |
| C．Man and animals | D．Popular science |
3 . We eat an average of 9 kilograms of chocolate per person per year. But where does chocolate come from, and how is it made into the sweet, delicious treats that we love to eat?
The story of chocolate begins in the rainforest where cacao trees grow. Pods (豆荚) grow on the cacao trees and inside the pods are seeds called cocoa beans. These cocoa beans are the magic ingredient (原料) in chocolate.
Only a few of the hundreds of blossoms (花) of cacao trees develop into cocoa pods. In about four months, the cocoa pods grow to the size of melons. It takes another month before they are fully ripe (成熟的). The color of the ripe pods ranges from yellow to dark red. The pods are hard and must be split (剥开) open to show the beans, which are the valuable beans that make chocolate. The Mayans were the first people to plant the beans of wild cacao trees. This was the beginning of the cocoa farming. In return for other goods，the Mayans traded cocoa beans to the Aztecs, whose land was too dry to grow cacao trees.
Both the Mayans and Aztecs used cocoa beans to make a chocolate drink. The beans were dried and crushed, and then mixed with water. The Mayans drank it hot, while the Aztecs drank it cold.
In 1492 , Christopher Columbus became the first European to take some cocoa beans back to Spain. But the taste of the drink was too bitter (苦) for them. In 1519, the Spain explorers added some sugar into it, and introduced the hot, sweet drink to their country. The chocolate drink soon became popular with rich families. In 1765, the first American chocolate factory opened in Massachusetts, the USA. In 1765, James Watt built a steam engine that made goods quickly and cheaply. Using a steam-powered chocolate grinder (研磨机) made chocolate drink a cheaper treat for everyone.
1. Where does the story of chocolate begin?| A．In the rainforest. | B．On the mountain. | C．Near the sea. | D．In the field. |
| A．For four months. | B．For five months. | C．For three months. | D．For two months. . |
| A．Increased. | B．Closed. | C．Broken. | D．Collected. |
| A．The Invention of Chocolate Grinder. | B．The Story of Chocolate. |
| C．The Popularity of Chocolate. | D．The Planting of Cacao Trees. |
Benjamin Franklin famously founded America’s first lending library in 1731. But the public library system got its biggest development in the American history in the late 1800’s. Businessman Andrew Carnegie donated millions of dollars to help build free public libraries across the country. Between 1886 and 1919, Carnegie’s donations helped build 1,679 new libraries.
Carnegie believed that libraries could offer the chances to Americans, young and old. He knew that the more libraries there were, the more people would have opportunities to read and use books, speeches and news.
If you can easily find a public library in your community, you’ll get more chances. After all, the United States has 9,225 public libraries. Today, libraries keep growing. Seven tenths of the libraries have free Internet. It provides much more information and opportunities to ask for jobs online.
Libraries are also teaching kids about the fun of reading. The new program Read! Build! Play! adds reading into playtime. As kids listen to a book that is being read aloud, they use Legos (乐高积木) to build images(图像)from the story happily. Today’s libraries are always looking for creative programs to bring people into the library.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “The doors of wisdom are never shut.” As long as the doors of public libraries are open, what he said is most certainly correct!
1. How many public libraries have free Internet in the US now?
| A．2767. | B．6458. | C．9225. | D．1679. |
①The public library system in America developed fast.
②The first lending library was founded.
③Libraries provide information and chances to ask for job online.
④Libraries try to bring people into the library by using creative programs.
| A．②①③④ | B．②③④① | C．③④①② | D．①②③④ |
| A．Libraries have played an important role in Americans’ education. |
| B．Public libraries in the US should never close the doors. |
| C．The writer doesn’t agree with Benjamin Franklin. |
| D．Libraries help people to open the doors of wisdom. |
| A．The Libraries in the World |
| B．Libraries And Opportunities |
| C．Libraries Teach Kids to Read And Learn |
| D．The Development of the American Libraries |
