1 . The remains of a gold mask are among a huge quantity of 3,000-year-old artifacts (文物) found at an archaeological (考古的) site in China’s Sichuan province.
Weighing about 280 grams and estimated to be made from 84% gold, the ceremonial mask is one of over 500 items unearthed from six newly discovered “sacrificial pits” (祭祀坑), according to the country’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The finds were made at Sanxingdui, a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. Some experts say the items may shine further light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin before 316 BC.
In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists uncovered bronzes (青铜器) and artifacts made from other materials such as bone. The six pits also contained an as-yet-unopened wooden box and a bronze container with owl-shaped patterning.
More than 50,000 ancient artifacts have been found at Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when a local farmer accidentally came upon some remains at the site. A major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with the discovery of two ceremonial pits containing over 1,000 items, including delicate and well-preserved bronze masks. Discoveries made at the site date back to the 12th and 11th centuries BC.
Sanxingdui has completely revolutionized experts’ understanding of how civilization developed in ancient China. In particular, evidence of a unique Shu culture suggests that the kingdom developed independently of neighboring societies in the Yellow River Valley, which was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Chinese civilization.
Though not yet recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanxingdui is on the organization’s list for possible future inclusion. Along with other Shu archaeological sites, it is credited by the UN agency as “an outstanding representative of the Bronze Age Civilization of China, East Asia and even the world.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “shine further light on” in paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Make greater progress in. | B．Have a deeper influence on. |
| C．Provide more information about. | D．Engage more attention to. |
| A．It changes experts’ understanding of how Chinese civilization developed. |
| B．It confirms that the Shu Kingdom developed in the Yellow River Valley. |
| C．It implies that the Yellow River Valley is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. |
| D．It shows Sanxingdui symbolizes a fundamental change in Chinese society. |
| A．Sanxingdui’s history of discovery. | B．The world’s recognition of Sanxingdui. |
| C．The difficulty in discovering Sanxingdui. | D．The preservation of Sanxingdui’s remains. |
| A．Sanxingdui Accidentally Discovered by a Local Farmer |
| B．3,000-year-old Gold Mask Uncovered in Southwest China |
| C．Outstanding Representatives of the Bronze Age Kingdom |
| D．New Addition to the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites |
2 . On US TV shows, you may sometimes see rubber balls on people’s desks. These balls are known as “stress relief balls”. People can squeeze them when they feel stressed out. It’s believed that by concentrating on the act of squeezing, they can let go of the negative energy in their bodies.
In fact, the rubber stress relief balls that are so popular today in the US are believed to date back to ancient China.
And today, we have many gadgets (器具) and toys that are designed to reduce stress in addition to stress relief balls. One example is the popular fidget spinner (指尖陀螺).
| A．thus making them feel relaxed as well |
| B．These gadgets may look like simple toys |
| C．It keeps your hand busy with an easy task |
| D．Indeed, stress is a big problem for many people |
| E．This is the perfect way to get yourself concentrated |
| F．A focused activity helps take your mind off the problems of your day |
| G．Back in the Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), soldiers used walnuts to get rid of stress |
3 . The commonly held view is that people arrived in North America from Asia via a land bridge once connecting the two continents. But recent discoveries have suggested humans might have been there earlier. Researchers studying fossilized human footprints in New Mexico say that humans were there at least 23,000 years ago.
Matthew Bennett, a specialist in ancient footprints and author of a study on the new findings published in Science, and his colleagues studied 61 footprints by radiocarbon dating layers of aquatic (水生的) plant seeds preserved above and below the footprints and accurately dated they were made 21,000 to 23,000 years ago. The people who made the footprints were living there in the last Ice Age when two massive ice sheets covering the continent and cold temperatures would have made a journey between Asia and Alaska impossible, indicating humans must have been there much earlier than previously thought.
According to their analysis of the footprints, they were likely made in soft ground at the edge of a wetland by children who were sent to do the work like fetching and catching by adults. Wind probably blew dust over the surface, accumulating in the prints, thus, leaving footprints that previously recorded.
Their finding also makes it possible to explore the older and more controversial sites with a different light. One such site is Chiquihuite Cave in central Mexico, where stone tools dating back to 30,000 years ago have been found.
David Rachal, an uninvolved but experienced geoarchaeologist (地质考古学家) thought the footprint dates provided by Bennett and his team looked “solid”，with seeds providing very reliable and precise ages through radiocarbon dating. “You could not ask for a better setup,” said Rachal. However, he was puzzled that no artifacts, such as stone tools, had been found in the area. He thought it was just a theme that was gaining some serious traction in the literature.
1. What is the most essential evidence dating the time in the passage?| A．The aquatic plant seeds. | B．The fossilized human footprints. |
| C．The unearthed tools. | D．The massive ice sheets. |
| A．To introduce a historical site. |
| B．To show the significance of the footprints. |
| C．To compare geoarchaeological discoveries. |
| D．To explain the course of making a discovery. |
| A．Optimistic and trustful. | B．Conservative and cautious. |
| C．Negative but curious. | D．Favorable but confused. |
| A．The discovery of human footprints. |
| B．Scientific methods of dating footprints. |
| C．The earlier arrival of people in North America. |
| D．A discussion on human history among researchers. |
4 . Sometimes it’s hard to let go. For many British people, that can apply to institutions and objects that represent their country’s past-age-old castles, splendid homes… and red phone boxes.
Beaten first by the march of technology and lately by the terrible weather in junkyards (废品场), the phone boxes representative of an age are now making something of a comeback. Adapted in imaginative ways, many have reappeared on city streets and village greens housing tiny cafes, cellphone repair shops or even defibrillator machines (除颤器).
The original iron boxes with the round roofs first appeared in 1926. They were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect of the Battersea Power Station in London. After becoming an important part of many British streets, the phone boxes began disappearing in the 1980s, with the rise of the mobile phone sending most of them away to the junkyards.
About that time, Tony Inglis’ engineering and transport company got the job to remove phone boxes from the streets and sell them out. But Inglis ended up buying hundreds of them himself, with the idea of repairing and selling them. He said that he had heard the calls to preserve the boxes and had seen how some of them were listed as historic buildings.
As Inglis and, later other businessmen, got to work, repurposed phone boxes began reappearing in cities and villages as people found new uses for them. Today, they are once again a familiar sight, playing roles that are often just as important for the community as their original purpose.
In rural areas, where ambulances can take a relatively long time to arrive, the phone boxes have taken on a lifesaving role. Local organizations can adopt them for l pound, and install defibrillators to help in emergencies.
Others also looked at the phone boxes and saw business opportunities. LoveFone, a company that advocates repairing cellphones rather than abandoning them, opened a mini workshop in a London phone box in 2016.
The tiny shops made economic sense, according to Robert Kerr, a founder of LoveFone. He said that one of the boxes generated around $13,500 in revenue a month and cost only about $400 to rent.
Inglis said phone boxes called to mind an age when things were built to last. “I like what they are to people, and I enjoy bringing things back,” he said.
1. The phone boxes are making a comeback ______.| A．to form a beautiful sight of the city |
| B．to improve telecommunications services |
| C．to remind people of a historical period |
| D．to meet the requirement of green economy |
| A．They were not well-designed. | B．They provided bad services. |
| C．They had too short a history. | D．They lost to new technologies. |
| A．their new appearance and lower prices | B．the push of the local organizations |
| C．their changed roles and functions | D．the big funding of the businessmen |
1. What was the purpose of Columbus’ first trip?
| A．To collect plants. | B．To look for gold | C．To learn about American cultures |
| A．It is delicious and cheap. |
| B．It can be cooked in many way |
| C．It grows easily in various conditions. |
| A．Chocolate beans | B．Fried potatoes. | C．Sweet corn |
| A．They made native Americans enjoy European foods |
| B．They made native American foods popular |
| C．They made native American lifestyle well-known |
| A．Literature. | B．Business. | C．Cooking. | D．History. |
| A．Christopher Columbus. | B．People in Mexico. |
| C．Hernando Cortez. | D．Daniel Peter. |
| A．The development of chocolate. | B．The introduction of Cortez. |
| C．The contributions of Columbus. | D．The usage of cocoa beans. |
| A．To prepare the students for the next reading assignment. |
| B．To provide background information for a class discussion. |
| C．To review material from a previous lesson. |
| D．To prepare for a quiz on chapter six. |
| A．Insurance companies. | B．Sailors. | C．Manufacturers. | D．Merchants. |
| A．They include features similar to earlier policies. |
| B．They are totally different from the ones in the Middle Ages. |
| C．They contain only four earlier policies in chapter six. |
| D．They don’t provide shipping protection any more. |
8 . The Domestication（驯化）of Cats
For centuries, the common view of how domestication had occurred was that prehistoric people, realizing how useful it would be to have animals kept for food, began catching wild animals and breeding（繁殖）them. Over time, by allowing only animals with “tame”（驯养）characteristics to produce their babies, human beings created animals that were less wild and more dependent upon people. Eventually this process led to the domestic farm animals and pets that we know today, having lost their ancient survival skills and natural abilities.
Recent research suggests that this view of domestication is incomplete. Prehistoric human beings did catch and breed useful wild animals, but specialists in animal behavior now think that domestication was not simply something people did to animals—the animals played an active part in the process. Wolves and wild horses, for example, may have taken the first steps in their own domestication by hanging around human settlements, feeding on people’s crops and getting used to human activity. The animals which were not too nervous or fearful to live near people produced their babies that also tolerated humans, making it easier for people to catch and breed them.
In this version, people succeededin domesticating only animals that had already adapted easily to life around humans. Domestication required an animal that was willing to become domestic. The process was more like adancewith partners than a victory of humans over animals.
At first glance, the laming of cats seems to fit nicely into this new story of domestication. A traditional theory says that after prehistoric people in Egypt invented agriculture and started farming, rats and mice gathered to feast on their stored grain. Wildcats, in turn, gathered at the same places to hunt and eat the rats and mice. Over time, cats got used to people and people got used to cats. Some studies of wildcats, however, seem to call this theory into question. Wildcats don’t share hunting and feeding areas, and they don’t live close to people. Experts do not know whether wildcats were partners in their own domestication. They do know that long after people had acquired domestic dogs, sheep and horses, they somehow acquired domestic cats. Gradually they produced animals with increasingly tame qualities.
1. What is suggested in recent research?| A．Animals were less afraid than thought. |
| B．Animals had an active role in their domestication. |
| C．Wolves and horses were the first to be domesticated. |
| D．Domestication meant something people did to animals. |
| A．animals and humans were close |
| B．control over animals was easy |
| C．animals were independent of humans |
| D．domestication was like a game |
| A．Other cats. | B．Warmth. |
| C．Humans. | D．Food |
| A．Cats were not friendly to people. |
| B．Cats were not as fierce as wolves. |
| C．Cats had the characteristic of independence. |
| D．Cats showed cleverness when they were hunting. |
Confucius(孔子)is honored
How music was used and performed is expressed in several main Confucian books. Confucius taught that
Musical knowledge was
Music was so important because the ideal society was to be governed by ritual (礼制)functions, but not by law. In a culture
Friends and fellow citizens：I stand before you tonight under accusation of the unproven crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote．It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution(宪法), beyond the power of any state to deny.
Our democratic-republican government is based on the idea of the natural right of every individual member to a voice and a vote in making and executing the laws．We declare the duty of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unchallengeable right．We throw to the winds the belief that government can give right.
‘All men are created equal, and gifted by their Creator with certain undeniable rights．Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness．To secure these, governments are established among men, gaining their just powers from the agreement of the governed.’
Here is no shadow of government authority over rights, or exclusion of any class from their full and equal enjoyment．Here is pronounced the right of all men, and ‘therefore,’ as the Quaker minister said, ‘of all women,’ to a voice in the government．And here, in this first paragraph of the Declaration, is the declaration of the natural right of all to the vote; for how can ‘the agreement of the governed’ be given, if the right to vote be denied?
The introduction of the Federal(联邦的) Constitution says: ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic peacefulness, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity(子嗣), do establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union．And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men．And it is absolute ridicule to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government - the vote.
1. The speaker was standing in front of the audience to ________.
| A．accuse the government of having denied treating her unfairly |
| B．fight for the legal right to vote in the United States as a woman |
| C．share a recent victory on voting for the president of the States |
| D．guarantee that they could better understand the National Constitution |
| A．abandon |
| B．emphasize |
| C．shake |
| D．spread |
| A．The Quaker minister holds conflicting opinions on women’s right to vote． |
| B．Government authority has the right to bar some of the governed out of liberty. |
| C．The policy is undeniably adopted that all the governed in America have the equal rights． |
| D．There’s no way to the real agreement of the governed if women’s vote right is robbed. |
| A．it’s more important to have liberty than have good wishes of it |
| B．the Federal Constitution comes from the National Constitution |
| C．it’s ridiculous that women enjoy liberty while their rights are not secured |
| D．racial and gender issues are among the major social problems of the USA |
| A．For the Sake of Liberty and Happiness |
| B．Vote on the Women’s Rights |
| C．In the Name of Equal Right to vote |
| D．Power of American Constitution |
