2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Some time after 10,000 BC, people made the first real attempt to control the world they lived     1     , through agriculture. Over thousands of years, they began to depend less on     2     could be hunted or gathered from the wild, and more on animals they had raised and crops they had sown.

Farming produced more food per person     3     hunting and gathering, so people were able to raise more children. And，as more children were born, more food     4    (need). Agriculture gave people their first experience of the power of technology     5    (change) lives.

By about 6000 BC，people     6     (discover)the best crops to grow and animals to raise. Later，they learned to work with the     7     (season)，planting at the right time and, in dry areas,     8     (make) use of annual floods to irrigate (灌溉) their fields.

This style of farming lasted for quite a long time. Then，with     9     rise of science, changes began. New methods     10     (mean) that fewer people worked in farming. In the last century or so, these changes have accelerated. New power machinery and artificial fertilizers (化肥) have now totally transformed a way of life that started in the Stone Age.

3 . Before the 1830s, most newspapers were sold through annual subscriptions in America, usually $8 to $10 a year. Today $8 or $10 seems a small amount of money, but at that time these amounts were forbidding to most citizens. Accordingly, newspapers were read almost only by rich people in politics or the trades. In addition, most newspapers had little in them that would appeal to a mass audience. They were dull and visually forbidding. But the revolution that was taking place in the 1830s would change all that.

The trend, then, was toward the “penny paper”—a term referring to papers made widely available to the public. It meant any inexpensive newspaper; perhaps more importantly it meant newspapers that could be bought in single copies on the street.

This development did not take place overnight. It had been possible(but not easy) to buy single copies of newspapers before 1830, but this usually meant the reader had to go down to the printer’s office to purchase a copy. Street sales were almost unknown. However, within a few years, street sales of newspapers would be commonplace in eastern cities. At first the price of single copies was seldom a penny—usually two or three cents was charged—and some of the older well-known papers charged five or six cents. But the phrase “penny paper” caught the public’s fancy, and soon there would be papers that did indeed sell for only a penny.

This new trend of newspapers for “the man on the street” did not begin well. Some of the early ventures(企业) were immediate failures. Publishers already in business, people who were owners of successful papers, had little desire to change the tradition. It took a few youthful and daring businessmen to get the ball rolling.

1. Which of the following best describes newspapers in America before the 1830s?

A．Academic.

B．Unattractive.

C．Inexpensive.

D．Confidential.

2. What did street sales mean to newspapers?

A．They would be priced higher.	B．They would disappear from cities.
C．They could have more readers.	D．They could regain public trust.

3. Who were the newspapers of the new trend targeted at?

A．Local politicians.	B．Common people.
C．Young publishers.	D．Rich businessmen.

4. What can we say about the birth of the penny paper?

A．It was a difficult process.	B．It was a temporary success.
C．It was a robbery of the poor.	D．It was a disaster for printers.

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

2. Why did the phone boxes begin to go out of service in the 1980s?

A．They were not well-designed.	B．They provided bad services.
C．They had too short a history.	D．They lost to new technologies.

3. The phone boxes are becoming popular mainly because of ______.

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

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

In much of Asia, especially the so-called “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea,     1     Vietnam, food is usually eaten with chopsticks.

Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also be made of plastic, animal bone or metal. Sometimes chopsticks are quite artistic. Truly elegant chopsticks might     2     (make) of gold and silver with Chinese characters. Skilled workers also combine various hardwoods and metal     3     (create) special designs.

The Chinese have used chopsticks for five thousand years. People probably cooked their food in large pots,     4     (use) twigs (树枝) to remove it. Over time,     5     the population grew, people began cutting food into small pieces so it would cook more quickly.

Food in small pieces could be eaten easily with twigs which     6    (gradual) turned into chopsticks.

Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius,     7     lived from roughly 551 to 479 B.C., influenced the     8     (develop) of chopsticks. Confucius believed knives would remind people of killings and     9     (be) too violent for use at the table.

Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, for example, most people traditionally eat     10     their hands.

6 . D
Freedom and Responsibility
Freedom’s challenge in the Digital Age is a serious topic. We are facing today a strange new world and we are all wondering what we are going to do with it.
Some 2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom. Before that there was no freedom. There were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Babylon were both tyrannies ,   one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses.
In Greece, in Athens (雅典), a little city in a little country, there were no helpless masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves passed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must show each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be very painful unless one chose to live alone in the desert.The Athenians never thought that a man was free if he could do what he wanted. A man was free if he was self-controlled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved from looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the welfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the city was his pride and his safety. The essential belief of the first free government in the world was liberty for all men who could control themselves and would take responsibility for the state.
But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discovered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch is its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed though it was of the extreme importance, a spiritual change which affected the whole state. It had been the Athenian’ s pride and joy to give to their city. That they could get material benefits from her never entered their minds. There had to be a complete change of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens for doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the state was to give to them. What the people wanted was a government which would provide a comfortable life for them; and with this as the primary object, ideas of freedom and self-reliance and responsibility were neglected to the point of disappearing. Athens was more and more looked on as a cooperative business possessed of great wealth in which all citizens had a right to share.
Athens reached the point when the freedom she really wanted was freedom from responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from the burden of self-dependence and responsibility for the common good, they would cease to be free. Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom. It is to be had on no other terms. Athens, the Athens of Ancient Greece, refused responsibility; she reached the end of freedom and was never to have it again. But, “the excellent becomes the permanent”, Aristotle said. Athens lost freedom forever, but freedom was not lost forever for the world. A great American, James Madison, referred to: “The capacity (能力) of mankind for self-government.” No doubt he had not an idea that he was speaking Greek. Athens was not in the farthest background of his mind, but once man has a great and good idea, it is never completely lost. The Digital Age cannot destroy it. Somehow in this or that man’s thought such an idea lives though unconsidered by the world of action. One can never be sure that it is not on the point of breaking out into action only sure that it will do so sometime.
1. What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Countries where their people need help.

B．Powerful states with higher civilization.

C．Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.

D．Governments ruled with absolute power.

2. People believing in freedom are those who________ .

A．regard their life as their own business

B．seek gains as their primary object

C．behave within the laws and value systems

D．treat others with kindness and pity

3. What change in attitude took place in Athens?

A．The Athenians refused to take their responsibility.

B．The Athenians no longer took pride in the city.

C．The Athenians benefited spiritually from the government.

D．The Athenians looked on the government as a business.

4. What does the sentence “There could be only one result.” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Athens would continue to be free.

B．Athens would cease to have freedom.

C．Freedom would come from responsibility.

D．Freedom would stop Athens from self-dependence.

5. Why does the author refer to Aristotle and Madison?

A．The author is hopeful about freedom.

B．The author is cautious about self-government.

C．The author is skeptical of Greek civilization.

D．The author is proud of man’s capacity.

6. What is the author’s understanding of freedom?

A．Freedom can be more popular in the digital age.

B．Freedom may come to an end in the digital age.

C．Freedom should have priority over responsibility.

D．Freedom needs to be guaranteed by responsibility.

7 . Look to many of history’s cultural symbols, and there you’ll find an ancestor of Frosty, the snowman in the movie Frozen. It appeared on some of the first postcards, starred in some of the earliest silent movies, and was the subject of a couple of the earliest photos, dating all the way back to the 1800s. I discovered even more about one of humanity’s earliest forms of life art during several years of research around the world.
For example, snowmen were a phenomenon in the Middle Ages, built with great skill and thought. At a time of limited means of expression, snow was like free art supplies dropped from the sky. It was a popular activity for couples to leisurely walk through town to view the temporary works of chilly art. Some were created by famous artists, including a 19-year-old Michelangelo, who in 1494 was appointed by the ruler of Florence, Italy, to build a snowman in his mansion’s courtyard.
The Miracle of 1511 took place during six freezing works called the Winter of Death. The city of Brussels was covered in snowmen—an impressive scene that told stories on every street corner. Some were political in nature, criticizing the church and government. Some were a reflection of people’s imagination. For the people of Brussels, this was a defining moment of defining freedom. At least until spring arrived, by which time they were dealing with damaging floods.
If you fear the heyday of the snowman has passed, don’t worry: I’ve learned that some explosive snowman history is still being made today. Every year since 1818, the people of Zurich, Switzerland, celebrate the beginning of spring by blowing up a snowman. On the third Monday of April, the holiday Sechselauten is kicked off when a cotton snowman called the Boogg is stuffed with explosive and paraded through town by bakers and other tradesmen who throw bread to the crowds. The parade ends with the Boogg being placed on a 40-foot pile of firewood. After the bells of the Church of St. Peter have rung six times, representing the passing of winter, the pile is lit. When the snowman explodes, winter is considered officially over—the quicker it is burnt down, the longer summer is said to be.
1. According to the passage, why did snowmen become a phenomenon in the Middle Ages?

A．People thought of snow as holy art supplies.

B．People longed to see masterpieces of snow.

C．Building snowmen was a way for people to express themselves.

D．Building snowmen helped people develop their skill and thought.

2. “The heyday of the snowman” （paragraph 4） means the time when___________.

A．snowmen were made mainly by artists

B．snowmen enjoyed great popularity

C．snowmen were politically criticized

D．snowmen caused damaging floods

3. In Zurich, the blowing up of the Boogg symbolizes__________________.

A．the start of the parade

B．the coming of a longer summer

C．the passing of the winter

D．the success of tradesmen

4. What can be concluded about snowmen from the passage?

A．They were appreciated in history

B．They have lost their value

C．They were related to movies

D．They vary in shape and size

8 . Color is a daily mystery．ROY G B.IV deals with lots of big﹣picture color questions explaining why hams are often red and why NYC taxis are yellow．Today's question：why are Jeans blue？

First，why"jeans"？Jeans twin names﹣denim and jeans﹣come from the two European ports that supplied two similar fabrics（织物）during the Middle A.ges． Gene fustian was a cotton﹣linen﹣wool blend shipped from genoa．a silk ﹣wool blend called serge de nimes shortened to de nimes or denim， was shipped out of France．B.oth fabrics gradually changed into similar cotton only blends by the 19th century． according to an article titled a short history of denim y historian Lynn Downey． B.oth were used to make men's clothing，valued especially for [their] properly of durability（耐久性） even after many washings"．

In 1873 Levi Strauss teamed up with Jacob Davis to produce jeans，they sold like hotcakes to Gold Rush miners secking a durable uniform for fortune﹣seeking Jeans rapidly came to stand for the character of the A.merican West﹣﹣rank， energetic， rebellions，and capitalistic．

While gold rush miners probably didnt care about how denim looked， they cared a lot about durability，comfort and fit，at the beginning，Straus offered his waist overalls"in two varieties brown cotton"duck"or canvas，and blue denim﹣﹣but by 1911 they'd stopped using cotton duck entirely．As historian Downey explains "once someone had worn a pair of denim pants experiencing its strength． and how the denim became more comfortable with every washing he never wanted to wear duck again； because with cotton duck，you always feel like you re wearing a tent．"

So why are jeans blue？The answer has to do with dye．Unlike most natural dyes that， when heated，penetrate cloth fibers directly indigo（靛蓝）sticks to the cloth's threads．With each washing some of these dye molecules are stripped away，taking bits of the threads with them．The process softens rough fabrics and individualizes the color．This extreme customization made every pair a second skin．

1. How does the author start talking about jeans？

A．From the quality of the fabrics．

B．From a famous historian．

C．From their hometowns．

D．From their names．

2. Which of the following helped establish the popularity of jeans in 1873？

A．Hot cakes．

B．A. durable uniform．

C．A.merican character．

D．Gold rush．

3. What can we infer about indigo？

A．It cannot be heated．

B．It can be machine washed．

C．It doesn't stay for a long time．

D．It goes into the cloths fibers directly．

4. By saying"made every pair a second skin" in the last paragraph, the author most probably means____________．

A．the pants were made of skin．

B．the pants fitted people well．

C．the dyes were quite natural．

D．the threads became softer and softer．

9 . 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

2. Which of the following is TRUE about the tango?

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.

3. Before World War Ⅰ,the tango spread to 　　　.

A．America	B．Japan
C．France	D．South Korea

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．How to Dance the Tango

B．The History of the Tango

C．How to Promote the Tango

D．The Modern Tango Boom

10 . C
Napoleon, as a character in Tolstoy’sWar and Peace, is more than once described as having “fat little hands.’’ Nor does he “sit well or firmly on the horse.’’ He is said to be “undersized.’’ with“short legs’’ and a “round stomach”. The issue here is not the accuracy of Tolstoy’s description--it seems not that far off from historical accounts but his choice of facts：other things that could be said of the man are not said. We are meant to understand the difference of a warring commander in the body of a fat little Frenchman. Tolstoy’s Napoleon could be any man wandering in the streets and putting a little of powdered tobacco up his nose—and that is the point.
It is a way the novelist uses to show the moral nature of a character. And it turns out that, as Tolstoy has it, Napoleon is a crazy man. In a scene in Book Three ofWar and Peace, the wars having reached the critical year of 1812,Napoleon receives a representative from the Tsar(沙皇), who has come with peace terms. Napoleon is very angry：doesn’t he have more army? He, not the Tsar, is the one to make the terms. He will destroy all of Europe if his army is stopped. “That is what you will have gained by engaging me in the war!” he shouts. And then, Tolstoy writes, Napoleon “walked silently several times up and down the room, his fat shoulders moving quickly.’’
Still later, after reviewing his army amid cheering crowds, Napoleon invites the shaken Russian to dinner. “He raised his hand to the Russian’s…face,” Tolstoy writes, and “taking him by the ear pulled it gently….” To have one’s ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest honor and mark of favor at the French court. “Well, well, why don’t you say anything?’’ said he, as if it was ridiculous in his presence to respect any one but himself, Napoleon.
Tolstoy did his research, but the composition is his own.
1. Tolstoy’s description of Napoleon in War and Peaceis _________.

A．far from the historical facts	B．based on the Russian history
C．based on his selection of facts	D．not related to historical details

2. Napoleon was angry when receiving the Russian representative because _________.

A．he thought he should be the one to make the peace terms

B．the Tsar's peace terms were hard to accept

C．the Russians stopped his military movement

D．he didn’t have any more army to fight with

3. What did Napoleon expect the Russian representative to do?

A．To walk out of the room in anger.	B．To show agreement with him.
C．To say something about the Tsar.	D．To express his admiration.

4. Tolstoy intended to present Napoleon as a man who is _________.

A．ill-mannered in dealing with foreign guests	B．fond of showing off his iron will
C．determined in destroying all of Europe	D．crazy for power and respect

5. What does the last sentence of the passage imply?

A．A writer doesn’t have to be faithful to his findings.

B．A writer may write about a hero in his own way.

C．A writer may not be responsible for what he writes.

D．A writer has hardly any freedom to show his feelings.