In the afternoon, I headed to a local museum
2 . In the 17th century when a British businessman heard that there were one hundred million people in China, he was determined to go there and sell spoons. He thought even if he could earn one penny for one spoon, he would still make a lot of money.
Then, why do the Chinese people use chopsticks? Some people did research on the origin of China’s chopsticks. One theory is that chopsticks were very convenient for Chinese to use because China was an agricultural society, relying mainly on vegetables for food. When we steamed or boiled food, it was difficult for us to use spoons to dip vegetables in the soup.
Chopsticks reflect gentleness and kindness, the main moral teaching of Confucianism.
Today, chopsticks have become a typical part of Chinese culture, symbolising the power of unity.
| A．As a result, spoons were designed and preferred by Westerners. |
| B．But to his surprise, the Chinese people use chopsticks, not spoons. |
| C．Therefore, Chinese people cleverly invented chopsticks to pick food. |
| D．Besides, never point at people with your chopsticks while using them. |
| E．Indeed, one chopstick is useless and so delicate that it can be broken readily. |
| F．So these virtues have gradually become the rules people follow in their daily life. |
| G．There are some rules about using chopsticks that you should pay great attention to. |
An important symbol of China is the Chinese characters—hanzi. While this unique writing system has an ancient origin, it was standardised and unified by Emperor Qinshihuang. Since then, it
Another popular symbol of China around the world is the Great Wall. It was originally built by Emperor Qinshihuang, and
Halloween began with the Celts(凯尔特人),
Come and see the Terracotta Army: more than 8,000 statues
6 . The history of inventions leading up to the modern computer is a story of people trying hard to create machines that complete many tasks automatically, such as adding up large numbers, controlling airplanes in flight, etc. Many of the earliest methods of recording and counting data still remain mysteries (something that is not understood).
In England you can visit Stonehenge, where a mysterious collection of large stones has stood since 1,500 BC. Scientists have never discovered the stones’ purpose. However, by observing the way the sun shines between the stones, many people believe Stonehenge was used to predict the seasons and eclipses (蚀) of the sun and the moon.
Another early method of computing was a brass calculator, which existed in Spain nearly 1,000 years ago. The machine was shaped like a human head, with numbers instead of teeth. The shape became its undoing; some people were afraid the machine was supernatural, and destroyed it. In early recorded history, calculators that used the sun, or objects in the night sky, were developed to be used on ships to explore the world beyond the Tigris-Euphrates Valley of southwestern Asia. One such device, dating from the first century, worked with a system of gears designed to track the orbits of stars and planets. These orbits became the marked routes for ships.
In ancient Rome and Greece, one of the earliest machines ever used for processing numbers was the abacus. This simple collection of beads has been used for centuries in China and other Asian countries. The abacus is built with columns of beads attached to a rectangular wooden frame. Inside the wooden frame is a crossbar that separates each column of beads into two sections. In the Chinese version there are two beads above the bar and five below. Each column of beads means a different range of numbers. The first column from the right represents ones, the second tens, the third hundreds, etc. By moving beads, calculations are quickly completed. Because values are shown by positions, the abacus is very valuable in teaching arithmetic to blind students.
Experienced users operate the abacus very quickly. After World War II, a speed competition was arranged in Japan between the fastest calculator operator in the US Army and an employee of the Japanese Post Office using an abacus. The American was defeated easily by the moving beads of his opponent.
1. What does the author mainly talk about in this passage?| A．Old methods to manage data. | B．The great inventions in science. |
| C．The mysterious historical events. | D．Theory and practice in computing. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By analyzing the cause. |
| C．By telling a true story. | D．By giving examples. |
| A．cause of bad luck | B．reason for change |
| C．way to escape | D．loss of power |
Since Chinese archaeologists (考古学家) discovered two deep holes in Guanghan, Sichuan in 1986, and
8 . Walking Under Liverpool
In most ways, the English city of Liverpool is no different from other large cities. It is full of people, restaurants, museums, and shops. However, Liverpool stands out in one interesting way.
We now know that the tunnels were built sometime in the early 1800s. A man named Joseph Williamson designed them.
Still others think that Williamson built the tunnels for safety reasons. Perhaps he was afraid that some type of dangerous event would happen.
| A．But there is a lot we still don’t know. |
| B．The ideas are interesting, but no one knows the truth. |
| C．Under the busy streets, there are miles of old tunnels. |
| D．Some people who study the tunnels have got new findings. |
| E．One idea is that Williamson, who was rich, was trying to help others. |
| F．Nor does anyone know for sure even how many of the tunnels there are. |
| G．The tunnels would have offered protection for himself and his loved ones. |
The United Kingdom has a long and interesting history
First, the Romans came. Some of their great
Amsterdam has become very popular with cyclists because of the convenience for bicycles. In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans came up with an idea
