1 . British English and American English have many differences. The difference also exists in the letters of the alphabet (字母表). Or, more specifically (具体地), the last letter of the alphabet. Z is pronounced as “zed” in Britain while in America, it is pronounced as “zee”.
“Zee” showed up on the scene in modern English. Dr. Adam Crowley, an associate professor of English in Husson University’s College of Science and Humanities, suggests that the popularity of “zee” grew because it rhymes (押韵) with so many other letters, like B, C, and P.
After the Revolutionary War, Americans were trying to set up an identity separate from the British, and words and language played a big role in this.
And then, there’s The Alphabet Song. In the song, z is pronounced as “zee”.
| A．“Zed” came first. |
| B．Noah Webster led this movement. |
| C．The pronunciation sounds foreign to Americans. |
| D．But it’s not just the United Kingdom that uses “zed”. |
| E．There’s no other letter that ends with the “-ed” sound. |
| F．The song is so popular that it easily gets stuck in your head. |
| G．In the United Kingdom, though, “zee” never really became popular. |
Macquarie Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The green grass and bare rock contrast
On the north bank of Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province sits a straw-hat-shaped mountain
Scientists have obtained a large number of research results on Chengjiang Fossil Site. The reason why Chengjiang fauna (动物群) is
Up to now, more than 20 phyla and more than 280 species
The UNESCO evaluation says the Chengjiang Fossil Site is one of the
4 . The days when art was an Olympic sport
Did you know that creating works of art used to be an Olympic competition?
The idea to include art in the Olympics came from Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who was the founder of the International Olympic Committee, which created the modern Olympics. Coubertin believed that the arts and sports were linked and was impressed by anyone who had a firm command of both a sport and an artistic discipline.
Why aren’t the arts included in the Olympics today?
For starters, only amateurs were allowed to compete in the arts part of the Olympics.
Secondly, works of art created had to have sports as the subject matter.
Finally, one of the biggest reasons was that the arts are subjective. Sports can be judged by time and distance, making it easy to determine who is the winner.
| A．What is a discipline in the Olympic Games? |
| B．Why was art made an Olympic discipline? |
| C．On the other hand, the arts are not quite so easy to judge. |
| D．This rule made the objects produced seem really boring. |
| E．It means that many famous artists were banned from participating. |
| F．However, the arts part of the Olympics Games was soon abandoned. |
| G．For 36 years, from 1912 to 1948, artists participated in the Olympic Games. |
5 . One of the most famous nursery rhymes(摇篮曲) in the English language is Mary Had a Little Lamb(羔羊).It has touched many children who have read it.It is about the deep love between a young girl and her pet lamb.The poem is from a true story that happened in the early part of the 19th century in the town of Sterling,Massachusetts,in the USA.
Mary Sawyer (1806—1889) lived on a farm with her family.One day,when she was about nine years old,she saw a little lamb that had just been born and left behind by its mother.It was very weak and looked as if it would die at any moment.Mary took pity on the lamb and spent the whole night looking after it.Eventually,it grew strong and became a very close friend with Mary,following her everywhere she went.
One day,the lamb even followed Mary to school.At first she wanted to turn it back but her brother suggested that it would be fun to take the lamb to school.During the class,she hid the lamb under her desk.But when she was called to go to the front of the class,to her surprise,the lamb followed her.Though the students and the teacher thought it was funny to see a lamb at school,the teacher had to ask Mary to keep the lamb out of the school.
That very day,a young man called John Roulstone was visiting Mary’s school.He was so moved by the love between the child and her little pet lamb that he wrote a poem which he handed to Mary the next day.His poem contained twelve lines.
Later,Sara Josepha Hale added another twelve lines to the poem and published it in 1930 under the title “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.The poem has become a classic,loved by children all over the world.The appeal (吸引力) of the poem lies not only in the funny idea of a sheep going to school but also in the true love between the little girl and her pet.The town of Sterling has honoured Mary’s lamb by building a statue of the lamb with Mr Roulstone’s poem below the statue.
1. Why did the poem become a classic?| A．It was written by a young man. |
| B．It had another twelve lines added. |
| C．A statue of lamb was built in the town of Sterling. |
| D．It describes the true love between a little girl and her pet lamb. |
a.Mary found a little lamb.
b.People built a statue to honor the lamb.
c.The poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” became popular.
d.A young man was moved by the story and wrote a poem.
e.Mary’s brother suggested that she take the lamb to school.
| A．a→e→d→c→b | B．a→d→e→c→b |
| C．a→d→e→b→c | D．a→e→d→b→c |
| A．Mary’s mother was also fond of the little lamb. |
| B．Mary and the little lamb developed a very close friendship. |
| C．Mary wrote to John Roulstone and asked him to write the poem. |
| D．All children were allowed to take their pets to school in America. |
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 United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, England — many people are confused by what these different names mean. So what is the difference between them, if any?
In the 16th century, the
The four countries that
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was a
Nearly seventeen centuries had rolled away
Mount Tai lies in the north of Taian city, in the middle of Shandong province. As one of the five most famous
Mount Tai is regarded as a cultural and
Starting around 4,000 BC, traditional Chinese painting has developed continuously over a period of more than 6,000 years. Its growth has certainly reflected the changes of time and social conditions.
With Buddhism introduced
Around the 9th century, bird-and-flower painting
Modern paintings often mix several colours on one brush or mix their colours with black inks. As
