As there have been so many different styles of Western art, perhaps the best way
If New Year’s Eve had an official song, it would be Auld Lang Syne. Every year, just after the clock strikes midnight, many people around the world will sing this beloved song. Why is Auld Lang Syne a New Year’s tradition? From its beginning as an 18th-century Scottish poem
The song is actually a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. Traditionally
Although Burns’ version is the only one we know today, there were also some earlier
Burns was not satisfied with his version of the poem’s
With its emphasis on friendship and parting, Auld Lang Syne expresses the spirit of New Year’s Eve,
A type of glazed pottery(釉陶)with the main colours of yellow, green and white was very popular in the Tang dynasty. It was later called tri-coloured glazed pottery of the Tang dynasty, or Tangsancai.
Tri-coloured glazed pottery was usually used as burial
Tri-coloured glazed pottery of the Tang dynasty was mostly produced in Xi’an, Luoyang and Yangzhou,
Tang people were open-minded
Tri-coloured glazed pottery is the
4 . Several cultural relics unearthed from the Haihunhou tomb in Nanchang have been confirmed to be official documents presented to the imperial court. The three pieces already released were all written with ink, according to the Nanchang Evening News.
Based on the analysis by Zhang Yuzheng, an expert at Beijing Union University, the relics may be the oldest original copies of senior official documents in the Han Dynasty (BC 206-AD 220), which have great value for the study of ancient official documents.
Among the three publicly released relics, two of them remain fairly intact with exact date information, though the handwriting is partly damaged. Chinese characters meaning “concubine (妾)” and “Haihunhou He” can be seen on the relics, which show that they were written by the Marquis of Haihun Liu He and his concubine.
Zhang Yuzheng suggested that according to Haushu, the documents presented to the imperial court should be in two copies, with the original copy submitted to the emperor and the copy to the minister. The minister would first review the contents and then decide whether it was appropriate to be submitted to the emperor. The system was ended during the reign of Emperor Hanxuan in the Han Dynasty. The unearthed relics from Haihunhou tomb are believed to have been written on the fourth year of Yuankang during the reign of Emperor Hanxun when the system was already ended.
Therefore, Zhang holds that the unearthed relics written with date information “fourth year of Yuankang” were very likely the original copies of official documents, instead of copies.
The whole structure and content are also complete, the handwriting is quite neat, and the format (格式) is strict, consistent with the features of an original copy, according to Zhang.
1. What can we know about the three released relics?| A．They were official documents by senior officials. |
| B．They proved to be the oldest documents in the Han Dynasty. |
| C．They were recognized as Liu He and his concubine’s handwriting. |
| D．They were publicly released as early as on the fourth year of Yuankang. |
| A．Complete. | B．Meaningful. | C．Organized. | D．Reliable. |
| A．The valuable relics kept until today. |
| B．How the relics were presented to the imperial court. |
| C．What information should be included in the official document. |
| D．Something about document presentation system in the Han Dynasty. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Sports. | C．Health. | D．History. |
The true origins of silk fabric will likely never be known. The best that can be done is
This seems unlikely to have been done if the cocoon was to be used to produce silk
6 . 14-year-old Harini Logan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States. She correctly spelled 22 words during 90 seconds. Most Americans, however, would find it difficult to spell any of these words!
Native English speakers know there are clear differences between how words are pronounced and spelled. But they do not know that the differences are unique to English among major languages. Languages like Italian or Finnish can be spelled more easily because each letter matches one sound. Students studying these languages can have 90 percent reading accuracy after the first year.
In English, many letters have two or more sounds. This is why even after years of learning, students of English are still far below Italian or Finnish students in reading accuracy.
English started as a Germanic language. It is most closely connected to German and Dutch, especially in grammar and basic vocabulary. During the Norman attack in the 12th century, Old English was spoken but French was used in government and formal papers. As a result, more French and Latin words entered the English language.
The printing machine was invented in the late 1400s. This helped to establish English spelling and strengthen the connection between how English is spoken and how it is written. The English of today is how the language was written at the time.
However, the spoken language started to change in the 1500s with the pronunciation of all long vowels, especially in southern England. For example, the word “bite” was pronounced closer to “beet” in the 1400s, before changing through the years to its present sound. The effect was that the English language had old spellings but new sounds.
English has 26 letters, but over 44 different sounds depend on the difference of spoken English. There are several sounds from only one letter. For example, the letter “C” can sound like an “S” as in “city”, and it also sounds like a “K” as in “cat”.
1. Why is English harder to spell than Italian and Finnish?| A．English has more letters. | B．English is used more widely. |
| C．Some English letters have more sounds. | D．English words are made up of more letters. |
| A．Grammar. | B．Writing. | C．Spelling. | D．Pronunciation. |
| A．Words were simpler to spell. | B．Words were easier to pronounce. |
| C．Words had old spellings but new sounds. | D．Words spellings matched with their sounds. |
| A．How English Developed | B．Why English Is Hard to Spell |
| C．How to Spell English Correctly | D．Why English Letters Have More Sounds |
The Xuanyuan Mirror is a special ancient Chinese mirror made of bronze. It was created during the Han Dynasty,
The Xuanyuan Miror is big and round, about 51 cm in diameter. It has a curved surface that bulges (凸起) outwards
One thing that makes the Xuanyuan Mirror so interesting is its writing, called an inscription (铭文). It says “Xuanyuan” in ancient Chinese characters. People believe this refers to Emperor Wu of Han, who
Not only is the Xuanyuan Mirror important for history, but it is also
In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted to build a new dam across the Nile. But the proposal led to protests. Water from the dam would likely damage many temples and destroy cultural
A committee was established
The spirit of the Aswan Dam project
9 . Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed a Sphinx statue (狮身人面像) with a smiley face near the Hathor Temple, one of the country’s best preserved ancient sites. The smiling Sphinx is much smaller than the famous Sphinx in Giza, which is 20 metres high. The stone work of art, believed to be a stylized representation of an ancient Roman emperor, was found inside a two-level tomb near the temple in southern Egypt.
Next to the beautifully and accurately carved Sphinx, researchers had found a Roman stone written in hieroglyph (象形文字). Once fully translated, the stone may unveil the identity of the sculpted ruler, who could be Emperor Claudius.
The smiling Sphinx is among a series of discoveries announced over the past few months. The country has uncovered major archaeological discoveries in recent months, primarily in the Saqqara cemetery (墓地) south of Cairo as well as in Giza, home to the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Recently, Egypt announced the discovery of a hidden nine-metre passage inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, which may lead to the actual burial room of pharaoh (法老) Khufu, or Cheops. Further south, in Luxor, archaeologists had discovered a 1,800-year-old complete residential city from the Roman times.
Hathor Temple, about 500 kilometres south of the capital Cairo, was home to the Dendera Zodiac, a heavenly map which has been displayed at the Louvre in Paris for more than a century. Since Frenchman Sebastien Louis Saulnier took it out of the temple in 1922, Egypt has been attempting to get it back.
Some experts see such announcements as having more political and economic weight than scientific, as Egypt is counting on tourism to revive its vital tourism industry in a severe economic crisis. The government aims to draw in 30 million tourists a year by 2028.
1. What do we know about the smiling Sphinx?| A．Its owner was confirmed as an ancient Roman ruler. |
| B．It has been the best-preserved Sphinx till now. |
| C．It is as high as 20 metres like the Sphinx of Giza. |
| D．It was discovered close to the Hathor Temple. |
| A．Reveal. |
| B．Seek. |
| C．Deny. |
| D．Maintain. |
| A．The diversity of cultural relics in Egypt. |
| B．The discoveries made recently in Egypt. |
| C．The status of the Great Pyramid of Giza. |
| D．The new discovery about pharaoh Khufu. |
| A．Scientific progress. |
| B．Political position. |
| C．Economic advance. |
| D．Cultural exchange. |
As the world’s longest man-made canal, the Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China,
The Grand Canal is a magnificent hydraulic (水利) project in human history.
The Grand Canal represents the
