Up, up, and away! How could a superhero fly through the sky and take down bad guys without a cape? But superheroes aren’t the first to wear this fashionable (时尚的) clothing. People have worn capes for a long time.
With most closing at the neck, any outer covering without sleeves (衣袖) can usually be called a cape. Cape styles have changed quite a lot, starting with those worn by the ancient Romans. They were fastened (扎着) or tied at the front. Or they were fixed at the shoulder with a small piece of metal. The ancient Romans wore capes for protecting the clothes from bad weather, providing warmth, and showing social position. As time went on, capes became more important in social position. For example, capes made with fur were worn by kings. Capes were also seen as part of senior soldiers’ uniforms. Once women began wearing them in the 1800s, however, the cape became more about fashion. The cape remained a favorite in women’s fashion until the 1950s.
When Superman came on the scene in the 1930s, his red cape was seen as a superhero’s uniform. It was always connected with bravery and physical power. Capes had another interesting reason for appearing on superheroes. Since most superheroes first appeared in comic (漫画) books, comic book artists could use a cape to show which way and how quickly a character was moving. When you saw a superhero’s cape sticking straight, you knew he was flying as fast as he could to save the day.
1. Picture _______ shows the meaning of the underlined sentence.A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．marking the social position | B．keeping warm in cold days |
| C．protecting the clothes inside | D．showing the physical power |
| A．superman is the first to wear the cape in the history |
| B．people wear capes inside clothes to provide warmth |
| C．capes used to be worn by senior soldiers as well |
| D．capes were popular with women before the 1800s |
| A．how much the superhero has changed in style |
| B．how fashionable the superhero’s clothing was |
| C．how important the superhero was in social position |
| D．how fast the superhero flew and moved in the sky |
| A．the history of capes | B．the wearers of capes |
| C．the styles of capes | D．the importance of capes |
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 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, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these people traveled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages and cultures.
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. Which of the following goods is not mentioned in the passage?| A．Silk. | B．Cloth. | C．Gold. | D．Tea. |
| A．About 3, 000. | B．Nearly 6, 500. | C．Almost 2, 000. | D．Over 3, 500. |
| A．Valuable things could not be sold along the Silk Road. |
| B．The Silk Road was only good for Chinese people. |
| 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．Man and Animals. |
| C．Sports World. | D．Popular Science. |
| place; importance; because; successful; end; trade; like; long; each; between |
The Silk Road has been a bridge
The Silk Road got its name
The Silk Road was very
Today,
4 . The Silk Road was first travelled by Zhang Qian in the 2nd century BC. This great route(路线) flourished(繁华的) for over a thousand years in Chinese history. Zhang Qian was a pioneer in setting up the Silk Road. He was an official in the Han Dynasty. At that time, China knew little about the lands in the far west. The emperor sent Zhang Qian to explore and open routes to the outside world.
1. He travelled to many countries and made useful reports on the people and cultures there.2. The Silk Road got its name from the Chinese silk trade. It was started over 2,000 years ago. It was called a “road”, but the Silk Road was actually many different routes, both on land and by sea. These routes spread from East, South and West Asia to North and East Africa as well as Europe. They allowed people to carry goods between countries, and helped spread knowledge and ideas across the world.
3. The Silk Road played an important part in the development of countries such as China,India and Egypt.
In Darayya, a city in Syria, here’s a library and it has 15,000 books on almost every subject you can think of. However, it is different from any libraries you know: It is a secret underground library, and only people in Darayya know where it is.
Over the years, war has shaken Darayya badly. Every day, houses are bombed and people are killed. Stores are closed one after another, and so are schools. To help the kids in Darayya with their learning, Anas Ahmad, a 19-year-old student, and his friends decided to build a library. They built the library under the ground to keep it safe from bombing. But it is dangerous to collect books for the library. Often, Ahmad and his friends look for books in houses that were bombed. They need to be careful because they may be killed in another bombing.
You may ask, “In a place like Darayya, would people be interested in books?” “Just like the body needs food, the mind needs books,” says one library user. In the library, people enjoy their time of reading and forget about the terrible world above, so their life doesn’t seem so hard. Through reading, they are able to dream of a better life after war.
1. What are the books in Darayya’s library on?| A．Every subject. | B．War and Peace. | C．Science and arts. | D．Animals. |
| A．Some foreigners. | B．A student and his friends. |
| C．The local government. | D．Some teachers. |
| A．The teachers give away their books. |
| B．The students buy books from different countries. |
| C．The volunteers send books to the students every year. |
| D．The students collect books from houses that were destroyed. |
| A．It’s safe to stay there. | B．The teachers give lessons there. |
| C．They find hope by reading. | D．They can get free lunches there. |
①How Darayya’s library helps people. ②The situations and problems in Darayya.
③How Darayya’s library was started. ④What makes Darayya’s library special.
| A．③﹣①﹣②﹣④ | B．④﹣②﹣③﹣① | C．①﹣④﹣③﹣② | D．③﹣②﹣④﹣① |
6 . Hundreds of years ago, a Roman（古罗马的）army came north from England to make war on Scotland（苏格兰）. The Scots, a brave people, loved their country very much. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland, but there were too many of the Romans. It looked that the Romans would win.
One night, the leader of Scots marched（行军）his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win or we will die.”
They were all very tired, so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they too, were very tired, and one by one, also fell asleep.
The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they climbed up the hillside, taking care not to make a sound. Closer and closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more, the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle（蓟）. He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a moment, they stood up and ready for battle. The fighting was hard but it did not last long.The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved their country.
The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp（锋利的）needles（刺）all over it.Few people like it. But the people of Seotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.
1. Where did the Roman army come from?| A．England. | B．Germany. | C．Russia. | D．France. |
| A．they fought against the Romans | B．they had a party |
| C．they were all very tired | D．they were too exited to fall asleep |
| A．Because the guards of the Scots found the Romans. |
| B．Because the Scots were hungry. |
| C．Because one of the Romans put his foot on a thistle, and he cried out. |
| D．Because the Romans made a lot of noise. |
| A．prepared | B．raised | C．warned | D．beat |
| A．Thistle. | B．Rose. | C．Carrot. | D．Bean. |
7 . Early Writing and Alphabets (字母表)
When people first began to write, they did not use an alphabet.
The Ancient Egyptians had a
An alphabet is quite
| A．However | B．Instead | C．Also | D．Then |
| A．amazing | B．powerful | C．strange | D．slow |
| A．wall | B．piece | C．system | D．collection |
| A．finally | B．seldom | C．nearly | D．especially |
| A．similar to | B．different from | C．full of | D．close to |
| A．noticed | B．arranged | C．developed | D．discovered |
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．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 |
The chocolate was
At first only dark chocolate was made. Milk chocolate came later and it was made by
Today, we consider zero as a common number. Few of us know zero has an unusual history. Yes, zero is, in fact, very different from the other numbers. At first, there were only the numbers one to nine. Zero first appeared in India about 2, 000 years ago. Many other ancient cultures had been marking nothingness. However, the ancient Indians were the first to consider nothingness a number.
Little by little, communication around the world became more often. Finally, zero was brought out of India. It was accepted as an Arabic (阿拉伯的) number. During the 13th century, Arabic numbers were introduced into the West. However, people in the west had been used to using Roman numbers (I, V, X, etc.). Arabic numbers were not popular. This was especially true for zero. Since there is no zero in Roman numbers, people found it hard to accept the new number. It was quite easy for dishonest business people to turn a “0” into a “6”or a “9”. Some people, therefore, believed zero would cause much trouble. Zero was also considered an unlucky number. That’s because it is close to negative numbers — the idea of having debts (债务). People in Florence and Italy even weren’t allowed to use zero citywide.
It was not until the 15th century that zero and the other Arabic numbers were fully accepted. Business people played an important role. Just think about doing calculations (计算) using Roman numbers. You can hardly do any trade, can you?
回答下列五个问题，每题答案不超过5个词。
1. How many numbers were there before zero was invented?
2. Who was the earliest people to use the number “zero”?
3. When did Arabic numbers appear in the West?
4. What does the underlined word “This” in Paragraph 3 refer to (指)?
5. What does the article mainly talk about?
