1 . Women were less likely than men to support the Vietnam war, the Gulf war, or the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. They commit far fewer murders. They are less likely to favor strikes. For some scholars, these are grounds for thinking that a world run by women would be more peaceful.
But European history suggests otherwise, according to political scientists Oeindrila Dube and S. P. Harish. They studied how often European rulers went to war between 1480 and 1913, and found that states ruled by queens were 27% more likely to get involved in wars than those ruled by kings.
This was not all the queens’ fault: men, seeing them as soft targets, tended to attack them. Frederick the Great of Prussia once declared: ”No woman should ever be allowed to govern anything.“ Shortly after becoming king, he attacked the newly crowned Archduchess of Austria, Maria Theresa, and seized Silesia province. Despite years of war, she never recovered it.
But perceived weakness is not the whole story. Queens, the researchers found, were more likely to gain new territory. Catherine the Great expanded her empire by some 200,000 square miles. And married queens were more aggressive than single queens or kings, whether single or married.
The authors suggest several reasons for this. First, married queens may have been able to form more military alliances(联盟),making them confident enough to pick fights. Their husbands had often served in the army before they married, and were well placed to strengthen military ties between their homelands and their wives’ states.
Second, unlike most kings, queens often gave their husbands a lot of power,putting them in charge of foreign policy or the economy. During the 1740s, Maria Theresa’s husband, Francis I, reformed the Austrian economy and raised money for the armed forces while his wife ruled much of central Europe. Prince Albert was Queen Victoria’s most trusted adviser, shaping her foreign policy until his death in1861. This division of labor, the authors suggest, freed up time for queens to pursue more aggressive policies.
The modern era, too, has witnessed female leaders in wars: Golda Meir and the Yom Kippur war, or Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands. The number of countries led by women has more than doubled since 2000, but there is plenty of room for improvement: the current level of 15 represents less than 10 % of the total. A world in which more women took power might be more equal. Whether it would be more peaceful is a different question.
1. The underlined “perceived weakness” in paragraph 4 means that________.| A．women were less likely to support wars |
| B．women could not recover lost territory |
| C．women commit far fewer crimes |
| D．women were soft targets |
| A．Because their military alliances picked fights for them. |
| B．Because they were ambitious and aggressive by nature. |
| C．Because their husbands were supportive in state governing. |
| D．Because they centralized all power into their own hands. |
| A．To imply there is room for improvement in gender equality. |
| B．To indicate more females become leaders in modern times. |
| C．To illustrate female leaders cannot prevent wars in modern times. |
| D．To suggest female leaders have their share of wars in modern times. |
| A．married women are not fit to govern their states on their own |
| B．female leaders should be responsible for all wars throughout history |
| C．the world wouldn’t be more peaceful even if more women took power |
| D．the division of labor allows queens to survive economic crisis |
2 . 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 |
The classical gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, date back to the 6th century
Built in the 11th century on the site of an
The classical gardens of Suzhou
When it comes to ancient civilizations, most people think of the Greeks and Romans. It’s understandable as both
The Jiahu settlement is located in the central plain of ancient China,
The settlement’s end came around 5700 BCE when the nearby rivers overflowed and flooded the area. It is assumed that the Jiahu people left their home
Several large wooden constructions
First discovered in 1978,the site used
Researchers
Researchers believe
Columbus was born in a port city of Italy in 1451. As a teenager, he loved sailing and showed great interest in geography,
Columbus insisted on searching for a direct sea route to the East Indies
Between 1493 and 1504, Columbus found more land later. His major
The Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics unveiled the Phryges as their
The mascots are dressed in a red, white and blue colourway, with the golden Paris 2024 logo across their chests. It's a symbol of revolution and freedom, of striving. The mascot, Phryges, is an icon
The two mascots share a motto of “Alone we go faster, but together we go
Julie Matikhine, the brand manager of the Paris 2024 Games, said of the Phryges, “It is a mascot who embodies the French spirit. An ideal that carries the values of our country, a part of our history and a singular point of view on the world.”
Ancient footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans arrived in North America around 23, 000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday.
The first footprints
The findings may help scientists solve a mystery that has long attracted scientists: When did people first arrive in the Americas, after
Most scientists
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Based
9 . 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 |
10 . Exhibition of the week
Charles II : Art & Power
Queen’s Gallery, London SW1 (0303-123 7300, www.royalcollection.org.uk), Until 13 May.
Charles II had the misfortune to be in a time “loaded with a rare tonnage of national botheration”, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. His father Charles, of course, “paid the price for his royalty” when he died in 1649. Arguably Charles II, who regained the throne (王位) in 1660, occupied “an even hotter seat”. He was well aware that he might suffer the same fate as his father. Yet, as this “uplifting” new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery reveals, Charles was a “brilliant operator who played his moves like a chess grand-master” — and who used art to glorify the monarchy (君主制) and to justify his rule. The exhibition bring together a wealth of paintings, drawings and furniture he inherited or collected over the course of his “remarkably successful reign (统治)”. The result is a “grand” celebration of “a king who brought gaiety back to his nation”.
Art certainly played a “vital” role in establishing the Restoration, said Laura Cumming in the Observer. Prints in the exhibition show Charles “effortlessly” calming a horse or offering his “healing touch to the sick”. The Shropshire oak in which he famously hid from the Round-heads after the Battle of Worcester can be seen again and again. Most “striking” of all is John Michael Wright’s painting, which is so big that the viewer is “just about on kissing level with the royal feet”. But the show has an inherent flaw, said Nancy Durrant in the Times. On climbing up to the throne, Charles found that most of his father’s vast art collection had been sold off by Oliver Cromwell, and he set about securing its return. While this ambitious initiative was “effective” in England, it worked less well in recovering the masterpieces that were sold overseas — and their absence is disappointing once you learn what was lost.
Nevertheless Charles added some marvelous art to the Royal collection, said Jonathan Jones in the Guardian. There are many fine British works in this show — notably Peter Lely’s painting of a royal mistress, Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. However, the “drop-dead highlights” of Charles’s collection come from abroad: they include Lorenzo Lotto’s “intensely atmospheric” 1527 portrait of Andrea Odoni, and the hundreds of “amazing” drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, four of which are on show here. What an “absorbing” exhibition this is.
1. According to the passage, Charles II ________.| A．suffered the same fate as his father, Charles I |
| B．ruled the nation in an incomparably fierce way |
| C．was one of the greatest chess players in history |
| D．started his reign while the nation was in trouble |
| A．Charles II brought most of his father’s vast art collections abroad |
| B．visitors will feel disappointed to see what is on show in the exhibition |
| C．Oliver Cromwell wasn’t able to recover the masterpieces he once sold |
| D．the exhibition fails to include some masterpieces sold overseas in history |
| A．It is most famous for its local collections. |
| B．It shows how art was used to restore the nation. |
| C．It excludes what Charles II collected in his reign. |
| D．It includes hundreds of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. |
