1 . More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, lots of which were stolen and illegally shipped out of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in no more than 200 museums in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.
Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23,000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.
The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also, the government can turn to official channels to demand the return of relics.
In 2003, a priceless bronze pig’s head dating from the Qing Dynasty was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
Although buying-back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.
In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information. It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.
1. What is the passage mainly about?A.The best way to recover cultural relics. |
B.The efforts to recover Chinese cultural relics. |
C.Stanley Ho donated a bronze pig’s head to Beijing. |
D.Chinese cultural relics were stolen by the Anglo-French Allied Army. |
A.It was made in the Ming Dynasty. |
B.It is now in the Poly Art museum in Beijing. |
C.It was donated by the French government to China. |
D.It was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 150 years ago. |
A.Possible. | B.Difficult. | C.Wonderful. | D.Careful. |
A.China has enough money to buy all the cultural relics back. |
B.Many countries have returned the lost cultural relics to China for free. |
C.The Chinese government has done a lot to recover the lost cultural relics. |
D.China is preparing to set up a database to collect information about the lost cultural relics. |
The lion dance is one of the most outstanding
The lion
The lion dance requires two highly-trained
In one lion dance, the “lion” moves from place to place looking for some green vegetables, in
Nowadays, the lion dance
3 . When another old cave is discovered in the south of France, it is not usually news. Rather, it is an ordinary event. Such discoveries are so frequent these days that hardly anybody pays heed to them. However, when the Lascaux cave complex was discovered in 1940, the world was amazed. Painted directly on its walls were hundreds of scenes showing how people lived thousands of years ago. The scenes show people hunting animals, such as bison or wild cats. Other images depict birds and, most noticeably, horses, which appear in more than 300 wall images, by far outnumbering all other animals.
Early artists drawing these animals achieved a monumental and difficult task. They did not limit themselves to the easily accessible walls but carried their painting materials to spaces that required climbing steep walls or going on hands and knees into narrow passages in the Lascaux complex.
Unfortunately, the paintings have been exposed to the destructive action of water and temperature changes, which easily wear the images away. Because the Lascaux caves have many entrances, air movement has also damaged the images inside.
Although they are not out in the open air, where natural light would have destroyed them long ago, many of the images have deteriorated and are hardly recognizable. To prevent further damage, the site was closed to tourists in 1963, 23 years after it was discovered.
1. Which title best summarizes the main idea of the passage?A.Wild Animals in Art |
B.Hidden Prehistoric Paintings |
C.Exploring Caves Respectfully |
D.Determining the Age of French Caves |
A.discovers | B.watches |
C.notices | D.buys |
A.It was completely dark inside. |
B.The caves were full of wild animals. |
C.Painting materials were hard to find. |
D.Many painting spaces were difficult to reach. |
A.temperature changes | B.air movement |
C.water | D.light |
A sign advertises different costs for a cup of coffee depending on how polite the customer is when ordering. The prices are listed with the typical phrases a customer might use when placing their order. They include: “Small coffee” at $5, “small coffee please” at $3 and “hello, one small coffee please” at $1.75.
A passer-by took a photo of the sign and posted the image online. This isn’t the first time that a coffee shop has attempted to teach customers a lesson. The Petite Syrah cafe in Nice, on the French Riviera, charged customers €7 for “a coffee”, but a more affordable €4.25 for “a coffee please”.
Fabrice Pepino, manager of Petite Syrah, explained the reason: “It started as a joke because at lunchtime people would come in very stressed and were sometimes rude to us when they ordered a coffee.” He added: “I know people say that French service can be rude but it’s also true that customers can be rude when they’re busy.”
The American cafe will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Petite Syrah cafe as the original coffee shop proved a success in changing customers’ behaviors. Pepino said that he had noticed a huge difference in the behaviors of his customers after a few days of the sign being on show.
1. If a customer orders a coffee politely, the cafe will ________.
A.present him/her a gift as a reward |
B.charge him/her less money |
C.offer him/her the coffee for free |
D.teach him/her a good lesson |
A.the cafe in Virginia is the first coffee shop to do so |
B.people don’t believe the strategy because it is a joke |
C.the French cafe made the rule just for fun at first |
D.both French service and French customers are rude |
A.It is useless. | B.It is boring. |
C.It is unacceptable. | D.It is effective. |
5 . The rules about how to talk, eat and sit, which are highly limited, are observed in most Western restaurants and homes.
A.How one sits at the table is also prescribed. |
B.We were not allowed to talk about anything that made listeners uncomfortable. |
C.Can’t you think up a better excuse than that? |
D.They’re completely different from what we find here in China. |
E.Your hands don’t look dirty! |
F.The scene is fantastic. |
G.In general they were all strictly forbidden topics. |
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea.Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added.She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.
1. Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?
A.The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
B.Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
C.The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
D.It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
A.the history of tea drinking in Britain |
B.how tea became a popular drink in Britain |
C.how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea |
D.how tea-time was born |
A.in eighteenth century | B.in sixteenth century |
C.in seventeenth century | D.in the late seventeenth century |
A.it tasted like milk |
B.it tasted more pleasant |
C.it became a popular drink |
D.Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea |
due to the influence of ________.
A.a famous French lady | B.the ancient Chinese |
C.the upper social class | D.people in Holland |
7 . America is a mobile society.Friendships between Americans can be close and real,yet disappear soon if situations change.Neither side feels hurt by this.Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two,perhaps a few letters for a while-then no more.If the same two people meet again by chance,even years later,they pick up the friendship.This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand,because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings,extending(延伸)sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes,share their holidays,and their home life.They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality(好客)easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives,they don't show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time.This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time.Sometimes,we,as hosts,will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend.We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends.The Americans,however,express their welcome usually at homes,but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine.They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus.And they expect that we will phone them from there.Once we arrive at their homes,the welcome will be full,warm and real.We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans,it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes thanto go to restaurants,except for purely business matters.So accept their hospitality at,home!.
1. The writer of this passage must be______.A.an American | B.a Chinese |
C.a professor | D.a student |
A.Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
B.Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
C.Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
D.Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
A.warmly welcomed at the airport | B.offered a ride to his home |
C.treated hospitably at his home | D.treated to dinner in a restaurant |
A.strict with time | B.serious with time |
C.careful with time | D.willing to spend time |
A.Friendships between Chinese |
B.Friendships between Americans |
C.Americans' hospitality |
D.Americans' and Chinese's views of friendships |