The red poppy, or Remembrance Poppy, has been a symbol of lives lost to war since World War I, and Memorial Day poppies play a big part in
As a symbol of support for veterans, the poppy remembers soldiers who have given their lives for their country. On Memorial Day, they belong to a
Poppies as a symbol of war casualties (伤亡) started with a poem. On the fields
On Monday, May 29, 2023, many Americans pinned a bright-red poppy to their shirts
The Friday before Memorial Day (May 26 this year), Poppies were handpicked by veterans and sold across the country, their return
2 . Dreams of world peace are as old as wars. But as the women of Wales were recovering from World War I, they demanded peace in droves.
Still sorrowing the husbands, sons, and loved ones who fought in the war, in 1923 the Welsh League of Nations United (WLNU) drafted a petition (请愿书) at Aberystwyth University calling for a warless world.
The petition was signed by roughly three quarters of all the women in Wales and was said to be seven miles long. The document was then packed in a large oak chest and sent across the Atlantic.
It was the WLNU’s hope that America would join in their mission for peace, and so they toured with the petition across the country before President Calvin Coolidge gave it to the Smithsonian for preservation.
As the centennial anniversary of World War I approached, a plaque was found in the archives at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff mentioning the petition, but nobody knew what it was, says Mererid Hopwood, chair of the Women’s Peace Petition Partnership.
So in 2017, an email was sent to the Smithsonian inquiring about the status and location of the chest and its petition.
Having arrived at the National Library of Wales on March 29 this year, Hopwood received it along with other members of the Peace Petition Partnership and described opening the chest and finally getting to see its contents (内容) as an emotional moment.
Hopwood is hoping more Welsh citizens will have similar experiences now that the petition has returned to its original home. The petition will be digitized, along with all signatures and addresses, so the public can view it online and see if their grandmothers or previous tenants of their homes signed 100 years ago.
Clearly the world has not yet achieved the petition’s great goals, but Hopwood said the signatures gave her hope.
1. What was the petition meant for?| A．A thirst for peace. | B．An end to WWI. |
| C．A fight for Wales. | D．A call for apology. |
| A．Most Welsh signed on the petition. | B．Welsh asked for Americans’ help. |
| C．Welsh women wished for peace. | D．Welsh women honored the war. |
| A．She could lead the petition. | B．Her hope for peace is on fire. |
| C．Welsh could be free of wars. | D．It would cause a big storm. |
| A．To memorise World War I. | B．To remind to value peace. |
| C．To prove Welsh bravery. | D．To inform reappearance of a petition. |
3 . Shikumen Residence
Typical Shikumen Residence, literally meaning “Stone Warehouse Gate”, is regarded as the most representative house style of Shanghai. This sort of residence combines the
These residences can date back to the 1870s, when the Taiping Rebellion against the
Construction Features of Shikumen Residence
A Shikumen Residence is usually a two-floor building constructed with bricks and wood. As the residences are usually linked, a lane naturally comes into being. Two copper door-knockers
Under the influence of western architecture, the doors and outside walls were gradually
It’s said that before the 1950s, these residences
Shikumen Culture
The appearance of these residences broke through the Chinese traditional lifestyle, under which a large
| A．living | B．furniture | C．variety | D．architecture |
| A．domination | B．ruling | C．betrayal | D．imposition |
| A．jewelry | B．property | C．weapon | D．laundering |
| A．awaken | B．alarm | C．echo | D．explode |
| A．Living through | B．Filtering through | C．Getting through | D．Stepping through |
| A．supervisors | B．guests | C．diseases | D．themselves |
| A．glued | B．decorated | C．provided | D．replaced |
| A．However | B．Likewise | C．Therefore | D．For instance |
| A．Struggle | B．Popularity | C．Development | D．Conservation |
| A．take for | B．accounted for | C．occupied for | D．care for |
| A．Due to | B．In spite of | C．Other than | D．Apart from |
| A．turned out | B．died out | C．wiped out | D．broke out |
| A．constructed | B．referred | C．preserved | D．overseen |
| A．single-parent | B．extended | C．nuclear | D．DINK |
| A．school | B．prize | C．lifestyle | D．economics |
In the summer of 1405, Zheng He set sail from Taicang
On 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Spain with three ships
The Renaissance (from the 14th to the 17th century)
New ideas and values gradually replaced old ones from the Middle Ages. As a result, painters c
Another innovation was the use of oil paints. With their deep colors and realism, some of the best oil paintings look like photographs. While painters as early as Da Vinci had used oil, this technique reached its h
In subject matter, the emphasis increasingly s
The Great Wall of China is more than 6,000 kilometres long. It winds
It was
The city of Qufu in Shandong Province is the hometown of Confucius, founder of the Confucian school of philosophy. There are many cultural sites, among which the most famous are the Mansion, the Temple and the Cemetery of Confucius.
Confucius b
孔子属于春秋时期的鲁国。到了战国时期, 还剩下七个主要 诸侯国。有时候它们联合在一起, 因为一个诸侯国的力量太小, 有时候又彼此分离。这一时期, 诸侯国之间经历了许多次战争, 包括军事进攻和军事防御。最后, 秦国征服了其他六国, 统一了国家。那之后, 秦朝建立了新的法律制度和统一的货币。有证据表明, 秦朝在许多方面都取得了巨大的成就。秦朝为何强大已不再是一个谜。
8 . Before the Renaissance (文艺复兴), art developed very slowly for about 1,000 years in Europe. Most art was made to serve the Church. Human beings in the art work were typically described as morally fallen and had to be saved by God and human life was regarded just a preparation for the happiness in the other world.
But the Renaissance (14〜16 century) upended all the above ideas. The “Renaissance Men” thought that the best way to serve God was not to bow down in church all day long but to recognize and make better use of the talents that God gave them. Human life was much more than a preparation for the other world.
For the Renaissance artists, they started to combine art and science in their work. They studied human bodies like doctors, nature like biologists and the laws of perspective like mathematicians to create realistic paintings and statues. For example, Leonardo da Vinci — an Italian sculptor, engineer, inventor and thinker — studied human bodies and observed the flight of birds. Another equally inventive and fearless Italian artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti, even went so far as to show in his work that human beings were truly made in God’s own image and that they were as great as their own creator. Raffaello Santi, the youngest of the great three Italian Renaissance artists，combined the quiet elegance of Leonardo with the raw power of Michelangelo. In his huge painting, The School of Athens, Raffaello celebrated the great ancient thinkers — a shocking break from Church tradition. And to make these once forbidden figures seem even greater, Raffaello presented the great thinkers of ancient Greece as the leading geniuses of his generation. Not only did these Renaissance-era Italians appreciate the great minds of the ancient world, they considered themselves in the same league.
Although the cultural explosion slowed down in Italy by 1600, people from around the world were already attracted to see the Renaissance-era masterpieces by then. Especially today, people continue to get inspiration from the great works of the era in the country.
1. What did the “Renaissance Men” think of human beings?| A．They should make best use of their own talents. |
| B．They were playthings of the religious authorities. |
| C．They were morally bad guys and had to be saved by God. |
| D．They had to abandon God in order to enjoy life in this world. |
| A．He was innocent. | B．He was unfearing. |
| C．He was unashamed. | D．He was too out-spoken. |
| A．Italy has a long history. |
| B．Nothing can exist forever. |
| C．The Renaissance has a lasting influence. |
| D．People love beautiful and thoughtful things. |
| A．The Greatest Renaissance Thinker in Greece |
| B．The Renaissance’s Artistic Significance in Italy |
| C．The Causes Leading to Slow Development in Europe |
| D．The Bad Influence of the Church Before the Renaissance |
9 . From early times, man has been interested in art. People have often worked together to collect and save the world’s art treasures.
Fine art treasures from many countries are kept in an art museum called the Louvre in Paris, France. The works of art have been collected by the people of France over many centuries. It is the biggest art museum in the world.
The Louvre has not always been a museum. The first building was a castle. In 1190, it was the king’s castle with high wails and a round tower. It had a river to keep out the enemies.
Over the years, the number of the buildings around the castle grew. By 1350, the castle no longer needed to be extended. The Louvre became a palace home for French kings and queens.
During times of peace, new treasures were brought in. During the days of war, many treasures were stolen, and the buildings, were damaged.
When Francis I became king of France in 1515, he brought in many artists from other countries. One of the artists was Leonardo da Vinci from Italy. Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” is the best-known painting in the museum today.
In 1793, the Louvre became a public museum, just as it is now. It is a place where art treasures are kept for everyone to enjoy, every year millions of people from all over the world come to the Louvre to see the masterpieces.
1. How long has the Louvre been a public museum?| A．For over 800 years. | B．Since 1350. | C．Since 1515. | D．For over 200 years. |
| A．Da Vinci once stayed in France. |
| B．“Mona Lisa” is kept in the Louvre. |
| C．The Louvre was once a church as well as a palace. |
| D．The Louvre is a place of interest to different people from all over the world. |
| A．French kings and queens ordered people to build another buildings as their palace home in 1350 |
| B．many treasures were brought into the Louvre in 1190 |
| C．Francis I came into power in 1515 and damaged some buildings |
| D．Some works of art in the museum have been collected from many countries |
| A．an art museum called the Louvre | B．an Italian artist named Leonardo da Vinci |
| C．a king of France named Francis I | D．the best-known painting in the Louvre |
10 . In 1879, an 8-year-old girl made a discovery that would rock our understanding of human history. On the walls of Altamira cave in northern Spain, she spotted amazing drawings of wild cows, painted in vivid red and black. More striking even than the images was their age: they were made thousands of years ago by modern humans’ supposedly primitive ancestors. Today, nearly 400 caves across Europe have been found decorated with hand stencils (模板), strange symbols and beautiful images of animals created by these skillful artists.
The discoveries led to the view that artistic talent arose after modern humans arrived in the region some 40,000 years ago, as part of a “cultural explosion” reflecting a flowering of the human mind. But more recent evidence has blown this idea out of the water. For a start, modern humans might not have been the first artists in Europe. What’s more, a collection of cave paintings emerging in Indonesia has dismissed the idea that Europe was the centre of creativity.
Local people have long known that the caves of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, contain many painted images. Modern humans are thought to have reached the region some 65,000 years ago, but nobody imagined the art could be very old because ancient paintings seem unlikely to survive in the environment of high temperatures. A team of researchers led by Maxime Aubert, now at Griffith University in Australia, upended this idea using a technique that is shifting our understanding of cave art. Using this technique in seven caves, they found a hand stencil was at least 39,900 years old, making it the oldest known hand stencil at that time.
This opened a floodgate to new discoveries in Indonesia. These included a hunting scene created at least 43,900 years ago, and by far the oldest descriptive artwork. “When we found that image, we were absolutely delighted, but when it turned out to be that old, we were almost jumping with joy,” says Adam Brumm, also at Griffith University.
1. What did the girl find in the cave?| A．Wild animals. | B．Ancient images. |
| C．Painting techniques. | D．Recording artists. |
| A．It can be traced back to Europe. |
| B．It reflected the flowering of human minds. |
| C．Modern humans led to its rise in Indonesia. |
| D．Modern humans might not have been real artists. |
| A．Proved. | B．Strengthened. | C．Overturned. | D．Overemphasized. |
| A．The amazing discoveries. | B．The researchers’ expectations. |
| C．The benefits of the technique. | D．The description of the cave art. |
