In general, doctors in those days had two contradictory theories to explain how cholera spread. One theory was that bad air caused the disease. Another was that cholera
Between 139 and 126 BC, Zhang Qian traveled to Central Asia as a diplomat (外交官)for the Han emperor. As a result of his efforts, Chang'an became the starting place of the Silk Road a network of trading routes that went all the way to the Roman Empire. People who traveled on the Silk Road
Meanwhile, Chang'an was also the center of Asia.
What’s in a name?
According to the British history, Wales is the first country to be joined to the Kingdom of England, which happened in the 16th century. Later, Scotland and Ireland
4 . Ancient Chinese folk paintings and many other art styles have been passed down from generation to generation, and are still practiced in different parts of China. Here's a look at four unique Chinese folk-art forms.
Chinese Opera is the traditional form of Chinese drama. According to incomplete statistics, in China's various ethnic regions there are about more than 360 kinds of operas. The most famous ones include Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yueju Opera, Yuju Opera, Sichuan Opera, Fujian Opera, Hebei opera, Huangmei Opera arid so on, in total more than 50, among which Peking Opera is the most popular in China.
Shadow Play (皮影戏) dates back to Western Han Dynasty in Shaanxi more than 1,000 years ago. The moving figures, usually carved out from leather, are operated by folk artists, accompanied by music and singing. It is the world's first dubbed (配音的) motion picture art form, thus considered the “ancestor” of modern film. Today this art form is still popular in northern China.
Paper-cutting is one of the most popular traditional decorative arts in China with a long history. Paper-cutting can be seen across China and it has even developed into different local genres (流派). They are usually used to decorate gates and windows during festivals.
The Kite was invented by Chinese people. According to legend the earliest kite in China was a wooden bird by Mo Di in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Later his student Lu Ban improved the tech and used bamboo as material to make a kite. Today, various kite-flying activities can be found in different regions of China. Shandong Weifang Kite Festival is held every year and attracts lots of kite lovers and travelers.
1. Which Chinese Opera is the most popular in China?| A．Peking Opera | B．Kunqu Opera |
| C．Yueju Opera | D．Yuju Opera |
| A．It has a history of more than 1,000 years. |
| B．It was operated by ancient folk artists. |
| C．It is accompanied by music and dances on the stage. |
| D．It is the world's first dubbed motion picture art form. |
| A．Paper | B．Wood |
| C．Bamboo | D．Leather |
| A．Chinese folk art | B．Chinese folk paintings |
| C．Chinese operas | D．Chinese folk plays |
5 . Argentina in the late nineteenth century was an exciting place.Around 1870,it was experiencing an economic(经济的)boom,and the capital,Buenos Aires,attracted many people.Farmers,as well as a flood of foreigners from Spain and Italy,came to Buenos Aires seeking jobs.These jobs didn’t pay well,and the people felt lonely and disappointed with their new life in the city.As the unhappy newcomers mixed together in the poor parts of the city,the dance known as the tango(探戈舞) came into being.
At the beginning the tango was a dance of the lower classes.It was danced in the bars and streets.At that time there were many fewer women than men,so if a man didn’t want to be left out,his only choice was to dance with another man so that he could attract the attention of the few available women.Gradually,the dance spread into the upper classes of Argentinean society and became more respectable.
In Europe at this time,strong interest in dance from around the world was beginning.This interest in international dance was especially evident in Paris.Every kind of dance from ballet(芭蕾舞) to belly dancing could be found on the stages of the Paris theaters.After tango dancers from Argentina arrived in Europe,they began to draw the interest of the public as they performed their exciting dance in cafes.Though not everyone approved of the new dance,saying it was a little too shocking,the dance did find enough supporters to make it popular.
The popularity(流行) of the tango continued to grow in many other parts of the world.Soldiers who returned to the United States from World War Ⅰ brought the tango to North America.It reached Japan in 1926,and in 2003 the Argentinean embassy in Seoul hired a local tango dancer to act as a kind of dance ambassador,and promote tango dancing throughout South Korea.
1. The origin of the tango is associated with .| A．belly dancers |
| B．American soldiers |
| C．a Spanish city |
| D．the capital of Argentina |
| A．It was created by foreigners from Spain and Italy. |
| B．People of the upper classes loved the tango most. |
| C．It was often danced by two males in the beginning. |
| D．A dancer in Seoul became the Argentinean ambassador. |
| A．America | B．Japan |
| C．France | D．South Korea |
| A．How to Dance the Tango |
| B．The History of the Tango |
| C．How to Promote the Tango |
| D．The Modern Tango Boom |
In the early hours of Sunday, November 3,Daylight Saving Time(夏时制)
Daylight Saving Time is the
American Benjamin Franklin first proposed the time change in 1784. He liked the idea of moving clocks forward to take advantage
In 1915,Germany and Britain agreed to the time change during World War I. When the United States entered the war, Congress
The idea behind Daylight Saving Time was to save energy. With more sunlight later in the day, people would use less electric lighting.
7 . BEIJING/SAO PAULO-Chinese traditions like cockfighting, like-flying and fireworks have been quite common in Brazil for many years.
Despite the thousands of kilometers between them, China’s historical and artistic mark on Brazil has existed for about 300 years, said Brazilian sinologist (汉学家) Jose Roberto Teixeira Leite in his book China in Brazil. “Influences from China can date from the colonial period, even up to the time after after Brazil’s independence.” The commercial relationship between the two countries has existed for a long time, he noted, adding that incoming ships would fill up Brazilian cities like Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Recife with Chinese products like porcelain (瓷器), silk and fans He also found Chinese influence not only in the arts and architecture of Brazil but also in the most diverse areas of Brazilian society, like the economy, medicine and popular culture. “At the end of the 19th century, in Pernambuco, (a state in northeastern Brazil), there was a custom that children slept with clothes decorated with Chinese dragons.” Teixeira added.
The book took him about 15 years to finish. “The impact of the book surprised me, though it was published by a university publisher and it had a print run of just 1,000 copies,” he said. “Some have said that the book represents a turning point in Chinese studies in Brazil.”
Besides, the sinologist did research on the mark and presence of China in the architecture and arts of Brazil. “It was through art that China awoke in me, first, curiosity, after that, interest, and finally, passion,” Teixeira said.
In 1992, the sinologist visited Macao to do research for his doctoral thesis about the marks and presence of China in Brazil, and that trip impressed him a lot. In 2013, Teixeira had a chance to visit the Chinese cities of Bejing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, and got to know “the past and present of the great country culturally, as well as its incredible material development.”
1. What does the underlined sentence imply?| A．Brazilian children’s love for dragons as Chinese children. |
| B．The development of China-Brazil frequent trade cooperation. |
| C．A further understanding of the cultures of the two countries. |
| D．China’s influence on most diverse areas of Brazilian society. |
| A．Children’s clothes. | B．The sinologist’s traveling. |
| C．The sinologist’s book. | D．China’s porcelain. |
| A．Chinese art. | B．Chinese customs. |
| C．The history of China. | D．China’s development. |
| A．The Impression of China on Sinologist. |
| B．China and Brazil in Eyes of Sinologist |
| C．An Introduction to Sinologist’s New Book |
| D．The Future of China-Brazil Trade Relations |
The 1918 Spanish flu was the most deadly outbreak in history. It was caused by an HIN1 virus found in genes of birds’ origin. Although there is no
It
9 . We think of history as a time line — a series of events stretching thousands of years into the past. It’s time to think bigger. Instead of a line, imagine a web of endless connections interacting over billions of years, linked together to create everything we’ve ever known. From the clothes we wear to the rise and fall of empires (帝国) to the revolution of language, it’s the horse that links them all.
6, 000 years ago, the early people in central Asia spoke an ancient language known as “Proto-Indo-European.” Their words would eventually spread, change and develop, branching into French, Italian, Spanish, Greek Russian, Hindi, German, and English, giving us the languages spoken by nearly half the world. The reason is that these are the first people on earth to ride horses, which creates highway for their words.
2, 000 years ago, Romans traditionally wore tunics, but it’s hard to ride a horse in clothes like this. As Romans moved north to conquer the barbarians (野蛮人), they noticed their enemies wore something different into battle: pants. Pants are warmer and a lot more comfortable to wear on horsebacks The Roman army made the switch and soon so did men everywhere. Horses are a key reason why millions of people around the world wear pants.
For 6, 000 years, horses have been the primary way of conquering, making large empires possible. Horses helped Rome expand from Britain to North Africa. But why didn’t these enormous ancient empires grow even bigger? The evidence suggests a surprising theory that ancient empires have a size limit determined by the horse. If the borders of an empire are more than 14 days’ ride from the capital, it becomes a struggle to continue control. Speed of communications is essential for an empire. You must be able to get messages to and from the border within a reasonable time. If you can’t do that, you can’t respond to attacks.
On the scale of big history, it’s hard to think of any other mammal that’s had such an influence on human history as the horse.
1. What do we know about “Proto-Indo-European”?| A．It was the first language in the world. |
| B．It was spoken only by the horse riders. |
| C．It constructed a highway between France and Germany. |
| D．It developed into languages used by about half the world. |
| A．Ancient empires could grow as big as they wished. |
| B．Horses determined the location of empires’ capitals. |
| C．Horses had little impact on the expansion of ancient empires. |
| D．Timely messages are vital for ancient empires to keep control. |
| A．To express the author’s love for horses. |
| B．To introduce the development of clothes. |
| C．To provide a new way of looking at history. |
| D．To encourage the interaction between animals. |
10 . Have you ever wondered why people drive on a different side of the road? It might seem bizarre that U. K. Drivers stay on the left, but they’re not the only ones. Around 35 percent of the world population do the same, including people in Ireland, Japan, and some Caribbean islands.
Originally, almost everybody traveled on the left side of the road. However their way of transport was quite different from today: Think about four legs instead of four wheels. For Medieval swordsmen on horseback, it made sense to keep to the left to have their right arms closer to their enemies. Getting on or off was also easier from the left side of the horse, and safer done by the side of the road than in the center.
So why did people stop traveling on the left? Things changed in the late 1700s when large wagons (货车) pulled by several pairs of horses were used to transport farm products in France and the United States. The wagon driver sat behind the left horse, with his right arm free to use his whip to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left position, he wanted other wagons to pass on his left, so he kept to the right side of the road.
The British Government refused to give up their left-hand driving ways, and in 1773 introduced the General Highways Act, which encouraged driving on the left. This was later made law thanks to The Highway Act of 1835.
When Henry Ford showed his Model T in 1908, the driver’s seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the roadside. However, British drivers remain on the left, and this is highly unlikely to change.
1. What does the underlined word “bizarre” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Funny. | B．Strange. |
| C．Wrong. | D．Difficult |
| A．It was safer to keep on the left |
| B．It was easier to carry goods. |
| C．It was easier for them to fight. |
| D．It was necessary to control the horse. |
| A．Their sitting position. |
| B．The road conditions. |
| C．The number of horses. |
| D．The products in the wagons. |
| A．UK Drivers Still Go On The Left |
| B．Why People Like Sitting On The Left Side |
| C．The History Of Transportation Means |
| D．The Reasons For Different Driving Sides |
