1 . Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America. It has three main geographical areas: a narrow coastal belt; the Andes Mountains running parallel to the coast; and high, flat plains in the southeast. In the high plains area is Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, on which boats can travel. Peru has abundant plants from desert grasses to vast areas of jungle.
Once the centre of the powerful and extremely wealthy Inca Empire, much of South America was governed by Spain from the sixteenth century. Peru gained its independence from Spain in 1821. The capital of Peru is Lima, which is in the north on the coast. The ancient Inca capital, Cuzco, is found high in the Andes. It is a popular tourist destination as it is close to the famous Inca ruins of the city of Machu Picchu. Cuzco is a lively city where both Indian and Spanish culture and art can be seen.
1. How many geographical parts is Peru made up of?| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．It is the highest lake in the world. | B．It is the lowest lake in the world. |
| C．It is the biggest lake in the world. | D．It is the narrowest lake in the world. |
| A．In 1800. | B．In 1821. | C．In 1835. | D．In 1879. |
2 . Levi Strauss did not invent jeans, but he is considered the first person to make and sell great numbers of them. He was born in Bavaria, an area that is part of Germany. In 1847 he and his family moved to the United States.
Levi Strauss opened a small dry goods store, first in New York, then in San Francisco, California. Among the products he sold were jeans. These pants were especially useful for miners in California. They needed clothing made from a strong material. Jeans are usually made from a heavy cotton cloth called denim.
Levi Strauss partnered with a clothing maker named Jacob Davis. Davis had invented a process for making rivets (铆钉) for jeans. These little metal connectors helped hold the pieces of cloth together to make the jeans stronger.
In 1875, the government gave Strauss and Davis a patent (专利) for their invention. That meant no one else could legally copy it without their permission. In 1928 the Levi Strauss company registered (注册) the word “Levi’s” as a trademark for their product.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington has one of the oldest known pairs of Levi’s. Writer James Sullivan published a book called “Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon.” In the book, he says jeans show two American values, creativity and rebellion.
Cowboys wore jeans in the old Wild West. In the 1950s, people saw famous Hollywood actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando wearing jeans in movies.
Today jeans come in blue but also lots of other colors and in many styles and at all prices.
1. Which of the following about Levi Strauss is TRUE?| A．He invented jeans. | B．He was born in the west of America. |
| C．He used to run a dry goods store in New York. | D．He started the Levi Strauss company by himself. |
| A．hang little things. | B．make the clothes stronger. |
| C．decorate the clothes. | D．protect miners from attacks. |
| A．was registered in 1928. | B．was given a patent. |
| C．was the oldest trademark of jeans. | D．has ever appeared in movies. |
| A．the meaning of jeans. | B．the history of jeans. |
| C．how jeans are invented. | D．why jeans become popular. |
With a fascinating past and more than four hundred years of history, St. Augustine is one of the nation’s oldest cities and a
In 1513, an explorer found this land,
Apart
After the city recovers, visitors shouldn't overlook it. It has suffered much in history. Hopefully, visitors will come and perhaps support the coast recovery while discovering Florida’s
4 . There are 195 countries in the world today and actually none of them have purple on their national flags. Throughout history, purple was never used to represent a kingdom.
So what’s wrong with purple? It’s such a popular color today. The answer is really quite simple. Purple was just far too expensive.
The color purple has been related to royal power and wealth for centuries. Queen Elizabeth I didn’t allow anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it. Purple’s unique position comes from the rarity and high cost of the dye used to produce it. The dye was from a small sea snail that was only found in the Tyre area of the Mediterranean. Over 10,000 snails were needed to create just one gram of Tyrian purple; not to mention lots of work went into producing the dye, which made purple dye so expensive even for some royal families. Third century Roman Emperor Aurelio famously wouldn’t allow his wife to buy a scarf made from purple silk because it cost three times its weight in gold. A single pound of dye cost three pounds of gold, which equals 56,000 dollars today. Therefore, even the richest countries couldn’t spend that much having purple on their flags.
In 1856, 18-year-old English chemist William Henry Perkin by accident created a man-made purple dye while attempting to produce an anti-malaria drug. He noticed that it could be used to dye cloth. He patented the dye and mass-produced it. Therefore everybody could afford it.
Till now, a handful of new national flags have been designed and a few of them have chosen to use purple.
1. Why was color purple expensive in the past?| A．Because only royal families were allowed to wear purple. |
| B．Because it took a long time to get purple dye from snails. |
| C．Because purple was worth as much as its weight in gold. |
| D．Because purple dye used to be uncommon and hard to produce. |
| A．The anti-malaria drug. | B．Snails. |
| C．The man-made purple dye. | D．Tyrian purple. |
| A．A few new national flags have chosen to use purple. |
| B．William Henry Perkin got rich by producing the purple dye. |
| C．Royal families stop using purple because it’s not expensive. |
| D．A single pound of dye cost three pounds of gold. |
| A．No Purple Flags? | B．Purple vs. Gold |
| C．How to Produce Purple Dye? | D．The Birth of Purple Color |
5 . Valencia is in the east part of Spain. It has a port on the sea, two miles away on the coast. It is the capital of a province that is also named Valencia.
The city is a market centre for what is produced by the land around the city. Most of the city’s money is made from farming. It is also a busy business city, with ships, railways, clothes and machine factories.
Valencia has an old part with white buildings, coloured roofs, and narrow streets. The modern part has long, wide streets and new buildings. Valencia is well known for its parks and gardens. It has many old churches and museums. The university in the centre of the city was built in the 13th century.
The city of Valencia has been known since the 2nd century. In the 8th century it was the capital of Spain. There is also an important city in Venezuela (委内瑞拉) named Valencia.
1. From the text, how many places have the name Valencia?| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．2nd century. | B．8th century. | C．13th century. | D．20th century. |
| A．Its seaport. | B．Its university. | C．Its churches and museums. | D．Its parks and gardens. |
| A．markets | B．business | C．factories | D．farming |
The first group, the Romans, came in the first century. Some of their great
7 . Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man. Wide spread use of written language would not have been possible without some cheap and practical material to write on. The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed and distributed. Together with the printing press, paper provided an extremely important way to communicate knowledge.
How much paper do you use every year? Probably you cannot answer that question quickly. In 1900 the world's use of paper was about one kilogram for each person a year. Now some countries use as much as 50 kilograms of paper for each person a year. Countries like the United States, England and Sweden use more paper than other countries.
Paper, like many other things that we use today, was first made in China. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. The Egyptians wrote on a kind of material made of a water plant. Europeans used parchment for many hundreds of years. Parchment was very strong; it was made from the skin of certain young animals. We have learnt of the most important facts of European history from records that were kept on parchment.
1. What's the meaning for the word 'parchment'? ________| A．The skin of young animals. |
| B．A kind of paper made from the skin of certain young animals. |
| C．The paper used by European countries. |
| D．The paper of Egypt. |
| A．More jobs could be provided than before. |
| B．More people could be educated than before. |
| C．More books could be printed and distributed. |
| D．More ways could be used to exchange knowledge. |
| A．Around 1400. | B．Around 1900. | C．Around 400. | D．Around 900. |
| A．China. | B．Sweden. | C．Egypt | D．Japan. |
In Asia, especially the so-called “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, food is usually eaten with
Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also
Five thousand years ago, Chinese people probably cooked their food in large pots,
Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius, who lived
Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, most people traditionally eat
1.太极拳的历史；
2.太极拳的文化根源；
3.练太极拳的益处。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Ben,
I am glad to hear that you want to know some information about tai chi.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
Ball games are a big source of modern amusement. But they're nothing new. For instance, consider a 4,500-year-old ball
So far, researchers
＂We are quite sure they were used in some sort of bat-and-ball game."Patrick Wertmann is an expert at the University of Zurich
As for how this ancient ball-and-stick game
Since we don't have any textural evidence and we don't have any sticks from the same period, we don't really know
