| bring as they Chinese go hundred across is easy about |
Long ago, traders (商人)
The Silk Road
2 . 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 |
3 . The British Museum is one of the biggest museums in the world. Inside, you feel smaller than usual. There are many things to see.
The story of the British Museum dates back three hundred years or so to one unusual man, Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor of King George II. The doctor collected books, drawings, clothes, money, animals, and flowers from all over the world. The doctor wanted everything to stay together before he died, so that people could come and have a look. The British Museum began. King George II gave away his library, and the museum started to grow.
The British Museum opened in 1759, six years after Sir Hans Sloane died. At first, the museum was only open three days a week and only ten people could enter in an hour. There wasn’t much time to see things. Visitors had to run through the rooms.
By about 1800, things began to get better. Wonderful statues, three thousand years old, arrived from Egypt. King George IV sold all his books to the museum secretly. A hundred years ago not only old books but also new ones arrived at the museum, and more people came to read them. Since then many famous men have written and studied there. And the library is growing faster and faster. There are four kilometers of new shelves every year and there are about six million visitors each year.
1. When you go inside the British Museum, you feel smaller than usual because ________.| A．the museum is empty | B．the museum is very big |
| C．there are too many things in it | D．you are too small |
| A．1753 | B．1759 | C．1765 | D．1800 |
| A．Because he was the first king to support the British Museum. |
| B．Because he gave away all his books to the British Museum. |
| C．Because he sold all his books to the British Museum. |
| D．Because he made the British Museum famous in the world. |
| A．At first the museum was only open three days a week. |
| B．There weren’t many people visiting the museum every day at first. |
| C．There are about six million visitors every year to the museum now. |
| D．The second paragraph is about why King George II loved the British Museum. |
| A．the things in the museum | B．the history of the British Museum |
| C．some famous museums in the world | D．British kings and their museums |
4 . People often remember what they were doing when they
Robert Allen is now over 50, but he was a school pupil at that time. “I was at home with my parents,” Robert remembers. “We were eating dinner in the kitchen when we heard the news on the radio. The news reporter said, ‘Dr. King died just 10 minutes ago.’ My parents were
More recently, most Americans remember what they were doing when the World Trade Center in New York was taken down by
This was a day Kate Smith will never forget. She remembers
5 . Who “discovered” America? And who managed the first successful sail around the world in history?
Well, our textbooks have the answers: they are Italian sailor Christopher Columbus and Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
However, China’s great explorer, Zheng He（1371-1435）, may well have beaten the European explorers and sailed around the world first. The life and achievements of the great sailor are shown in a 59-episode TV drama.
Zheng was an officer of the Ming Dynasty’s Yongle Emperor. In 1405, the emperor asked Zheng to visit the “Western Seas”, which referred to the seas and lands west of the South China Sea.
Zheng traveled with 62 ships filled with silk, porcelain and 27, 800 men. The biggest ship was 126 meters long and could take the weight of 7. 000 tons. In the following 28 years, Zheng made another six successful journeys. He visited over 30 countries.
Since most of the records of Zheng’s voyages have been lost many historians（历史学家）believe Zheng’s achievements have been underestimated（低估）. British writer Gavin Menzies, who spent 14 researching the movements of the Chinese fleet, explained it was Zheng who first sailed around the world, in his book, 1421, The Year China Discovered America.
While Menzies was doing the research, he said he was shown a map, dated 1459, which included southern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. Yet the Cape was not “discovered” by da Gama until 1497. On the map was a note about a voyage round the Cape in 1420——and a picture of a Chinese ship.
“What nobody has explained is why the European explorers had maps. Who drew the maps?” he asks in his book. “There are millions of square miles of ocean. It required huge fleets to chart them. If you say it wasn’t the Chinese, then who was it?”
1. What did Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan and Zheng He have in common?| A．They were all great explorers. |
| B．They were born in the same period. |
| C．They were all the officers of the Ming Dynasty. |
| D．Their life and achievement were featured on CCTV 8. |
①He saw a map with southern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope.
②Records of Zheng’s voyage have been lost.
③The European explorers had maps before exploration.
④The map was dated in 1459.
⑤A picture of a Chinese ship on the map.
| A．①②③⑤ | B．①③④⑤ | C．①②③④ | D．②③④⑤ |
| A．the European explorers drew the map |
| B．the European explorers gave their maps to the Chinese |
| C．the huge European fleets charted the map |
| D．the Chinese are most likely to discover America |
| A．Great European Explorers | B．Successful Journey |
| C．Who Discovered America | D．A Research on Western Seas |
Last week, Li Ming and his friends talked about Marco Polo and the Silk Road for
Li Ming described two pictures for their project. One picture had old soldiers and horses that looked like
7 . In the 19th century, millions of Europeans went to the USA because they wanted to find a better life. Many of them couldn’t find work in cities like New York.
Some of these people hoped to find gold in California. The journey sometimes took more than one year. There are a lot of films, called Westerners, about the settlers on the trail. In most of the films, we see the Native Americans (American Indians) attacking the settlers, and the “Indians” killing many white people. But the truth is that the Native Americans were not the biggest problem for the settlers. In fact, most of them were very helpful to the settlers.
More than 50000 people, including many women and children, died on the trail. A lot of people died of illnesses like cholera, because the drinking water wasn’t clean.
| A．It is true that the settlers’ journey was extremely difficult. |
| B．Many parents also had to carry their small children. |
| C．Many of them lost their home. |
| D．They hoped they could make more money. |
| E．There were also a lot of accidents. |
| F．So they left and went to find farmland in the west. |
8 . News Flash
| Florence, Italy An art show opens About 130 sculptures（雕塑）, paintings and drawings by artist Donatello will be on show in Florence. Donatello was born in the 14th century. He was a famous artist at the time. It is the first exhibition（展览）to show all Donatello’s most famous works together. |  |
| Al Jafr Basin, Jordan An ancient shrine（神庙）found A team of Jordanian and French scientists have found a 9, 000-year-old shrine in the south of the country. The shrine had two carved（雕刻）standing stones with human-looking figures on them. The shrine is still in good condition. |  |
| Athribis, Egypt Ancient “lines” found  Researchers found written lines on pottery（陶器）around 2, 000 years ago in Athribis, Egypt. Researchers think teachers made those children with poor performance write the lines. The pottery was one of 18, 000 pieces of pottery, including school texts and drawings. | |
| Germany Mystery over a statue（雕像） On 12 February, scientists in Germany made a report. The report showed the secret of a small statue. The scientists found the small statue in a river in northeastern Germany. They made a study and believed that people used the statue to weigh how heavy something was. |  |
| A．About 700 years old. | B．About 2, 000 years old. | C．About 18, 000 years old. |
| A．In Egypt. | B．In France. | C．In Jordan. |
| A．in an ancient school | B．in an ancient hotel | C．in an ancient restaurant |
| A．Scientists found an old statue. |
| B．Scientists found an ancient shrine. |
| C．Scientists showed the secret of a statue. |
| A．Science. | B．History. | C．Geography. |
9 . La Gomera is one of a few places in the world which has a whistled (口哨) language. We do not know how and why it began because we do not know the complete history of the island. But we can certainly imagine the reasons for the beginning of the whistled language. There are many deep valleys on the island. A person on one side of a valley cannot easily shout to a person on the other side. But he can whistle and be heard. Some of the best whistlers can be heard from four miles away and the record is seven miles. The people who live on the island usually have good teeth, and this helps them to whistle well. They must also have good ears so that they can hear the other whistlers.
We can understand why the whistled language continues. It is very useful on the island, and quite easy to learn. When somebody is hurt or ill, the whistled language takes the place of the telephone. If the sick person is quite far away from the town, people pass the message from one to another. A boy guarding cattle on a hillside whistles to a man fishing from his boat. The last one is able to describe the trouble fully and exactly to the doctor in town. People help one another in the same way when a car breaks or a cow is lost.
The whistled language is hundreds of years old, and probably it will continue to live on for hundreds of years more. Radio and TV often kill the special ways of speaking in different parts of a country. But on La Gomera you are nobody if you cannot whistle. Perhaps soon after TV arrives on the island, the people there will be whistling the news and other facts and opinions.
1. Why did the whistled language begin in La Gomera?| A．There were many deep valleys on the island. |
| B．The people on the island had good ears. |
| C．The people on the island had good teeth. |
| D．The whistlers could be heard four miles away. |
| A．what people think of the island |
| B．how people pass messages |
| C．who continues the whistled language |
| D．where people learn the whistled language |
| A．an unreal person | B．an unlucky person |
| C．an unhappy person | D．an unknown person |
| A．Whistlers, Passers on an Island | B．Lo Gomera, a Famous Island |
| C．Reasons, the Start of a Whistled Language | D．Whistling, a Special Language that committee. |
Researches show that the fork was first used in Ancient Egypt, China and Greece. And then it t
The fork began to get acceptance in Italy by the late 16th century, because the upper-class Italians had great i
