1. When did people first celebrate books?
A.In 1922. | B.In 1926. | C.In 1930. |
A.Once a month. | B.Once a year. | C.Once every two years. |
A.Alexandria. | B.New Delhi. | C.Madrid. |
1. What do we know about Beowulf?
A.Its writer is unknown. | B.It is a famous novel. | C.It is easy to understand. |
A.Between about AD 800 and AD 1066. |
B.Between about AD 1066 and AD 1150. |
C.Between about AD 1150 and AD 1500.. |
A.An English historian. | B.A Middle English poet | C.A modern English writer. |
A.Modern English. | B.Middle English. | C.Old English. |
3 . Frozen in time, a 125-million-year-old mammal attacking a dinosaur. A 39-million-year-old whale, the heaviest animal that ever lived. The oldest known jellyfish, from 505 million years ago. Paleontology (古生物学) produces newsworthy discoveries.
Fossils (化石), moreover, provide direct evidence for the long history of life, allowing paleontologists to test hypotheses (假设) about evolution with data only they provide. They allow investigation of present and past life on Earth. Flows of biological diversity, appearances of new life forms and the extinctions of long existing ones, would go undiscovered without these efforts. But the headlines over exciting new fossils greatly underestimate the true importance of paleontology. Its real significance lies in how such discoveries brighten the grand history of life on Earth. From its beginnings, more than three billion years ago, to the present day, fossils record how life adapted or disappeared in the face of major environmental challenges.
Paleontologists provide us with a unique vantage on modern climate change. They play an essential role in interpreting ancient environments, in reconstructing ancient oceans, continents and climates. Fossils provide key limitation on the climate models that are essential for predicting future climate change. And the fossil record gives important insights into how life will respond to predicted future climate conditions, because these have occurred before in Earth’s history.
In addition, paleontology has provided a fundamental contribution to human thought: the reality of species extinction and thus of a world that has dramatically changed over time. In documenting the history of life, paleontologists recognized that many extinction episodes could occur suddenly, such as the event 66 million years ago that ended the dinosaurs. The search for the causes of past mass extinctions started pioneering studies from across the scientific spectrum (科学界), focusing on potential future threats to humanity.
Not only do paleontologists know what happens to life when things go bad, they also know how long it takes for ecosystems and biodiversity to recover from these disasters, which can take far longer than modern humans have existed.
Paleontologists thus provide a unique perspective on the nature and future long-term ecological impact of the current human-produced biodiversity crisis, the so-called Sixth Extinction, and therefore the importance of protecting modern biodiversity. The very concept of a Sixth Extinction would not exist without paleontologists documenting the first five.
Paleontologists know that understanding life’s past is critical to anticipating and adapting to life’s and humanity’s future. Paleontology is important because it brings its unique and critical perspective to current challenges in climate change, biodiversity loss and the environment. Paleontologists can predict the future because they know the past.
1. The first two paragraphs are written to _______.A.describe an event | B.raise a question |
C.present an opinion | D.make a comparison |
A.A positive effect. | B.A valuable suggestion. |
C.A quick decision. | D.A comprehensive view. |
A.Ecological recovery takes shorter than imagined. |
B.Past lessons can help to predict the future threats. |
C.Paleontologists can handle the biodiversity crisis. |
D.Fossil studies focus on the causes of mass extinctions. |
A.Paleontology: A Pioneering Study |
B.Paleontology: A History Recorder |
C.Paleontology Tells More About Nature Than Humans |
D.Paleontology Is Far More Than New Fossil Discoveries |
4 . New research into a little-known text written in ancient Greek shows that “stressed poetry”, the ancestor of all modern poetry and song, was already in use in the 2nd century CE, 300 years earlier than previously thought. It has been found sculpted on twenty precious stones and as a graffito (雕画) in Cartagena, Spain.
In its shortest version, the nameless four-line poem reads “They say what they like; let them say it; I dont care.” Other versions extend with “Go on, love me; it does you good.” The poem, unparalleled (绝无仅有的) so far in the classical world, consists of lines of 4 syllables (音节), with a strong accent on the first and a weaker on the third. This allows it to come into the rhythms of numerous pop and rock songs. So it became popular across the eastern Roman Empire and survives.
By comparing all of the known examples for the first time, Cambridges Professor Tim Whitmarsh noticed that the poem used a different form of rhythm to that usually found in ancient Greek poetry. As well as showing signs of the long and short syllables characteristic of traditional “quantitative” poem, this text employed stressed and unstressed syllables. The new study, published in The Cambridge Classical Journal, also suggests that this poem could represent a “missing link” between the lost world of ancient Mediterranean oral poetry and song, and the more modern forms that we know today. A lot of popular poetry in ancient Greek takes a similar form to traditional high poetics. This poem, on the other hand, points to a distinct and rich culture, primarily oral.
1. Where was the “stressed poetry” discovered?A.In Greece. | B.In Spain. |
C.In Britain. | D.In Mediterranean. |
A.A syllable. | B.A strong accent. |
C.The four-line poem. | D.The content of the poem. |
A.A missing link between poems was found finally. |
B.A lot of popular poetry in ancient Greek was then popular in the world. |
C.The stressed and unstressed syllables distinguished the poem from others. |
D.The ancient Mediterranean oral poetry and song was older than the poem. |
A.Ancient Greek “pop culture” discovery rewrites the history of poetry and song |
B.The unparalleled poem made ancient Greek culture more attractive |
C.Ancient Greek poetry lay the foundation of modern culture |
D.Four syllables are still popular in modern poetry and song |
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