1 . The Taj Mahal(泰姬陵)is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl
Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne(王位). He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that he had ever seen.
He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was completed. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6—7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four comers. The Taj Mahal itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.
The emperor planned to build an identical(相同的)tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife.
1. Why was the Taj Mahal built according to the passage? Because________.| A．Shah Jahan was heartbroken after the death of his wife |
| B．Shah Jahan loved his wife greatly |
| C．his wife was a beautiful and bright woman |
| D．his wife was the “pride of the palace” |
| A．the Taj Mahal was completed quickly owing to the efforts of the best artists and workers |
| B．a lot of people took part in the building of the Taj Mahal |
| C．the Taj Mahal and Shah Jahan’s own tomb were built at the same time |
| D．the Taj Mahal is the most beautiful tomb in the world |
| A．four-sided | B．eight-cornered | C．black-colored | D．white-colored |
| A．he died soon after his wife’s death | B．he was killed by his son |
| C．he gave up his throne | D．he was put into prison by his son |
| A．the story of the Taj Mahal |
| B．a beautiful fairy tale |
| C．white and black marble tombs made for two emperors |
| D．the love story of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife |
2 . If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like “Shakespeare” “Samuel Johnson” and “Webster”, but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn’t even speak English-William the Conqueror.
Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups. In the west-central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic. In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon or Old English, a Germanic language. If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German.
But this state of affairs did not last. In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England. For about a century, French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result, English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German. In some cases, modern English even shows a distinction (区别) between upper-class French and lower-class Anglo-Saxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating. When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more “foreign” than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does. Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man’s ambition.
1. What language did people in Britain mainly speak before 1066?| A．Celtic and Old English. | B．Nordic and Germanic. |
| C．Welsh and Scottish. | D．Anglo-Saxon and Germanic. |
| A．By teaching people in Britain to speak English. |
| B．By defeating the Saxons and ruling the whole England. |
| C．By bringing French to Britain to greatly influence English. |
| D．By speaking good English to show that they were upper-class. |
| A．They know French better than German. |
| B．They know little history of the English people. |
| C．In France most of the advertisements appear in English. |
| D．There are more similarities between English and French. |
| A．The history of Great Britain. |
| B．The French effects on the English language. |
| C．The differences between English and French. |
| D．The great people who had effects on English. |
3 . 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 |
| 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. |
| A．America | B．Japan |
| C．France | D．South Korea |
| A．How to Dance the Tango |
| B．The History of the Tango |
| C．How to Promote the Tango |
| D．The Modern Tango Boom |
Chinese brush calligraphy or “shufa” in Chinese is one of
The
He simplified Chinese characters and regular rules were set,
Today Chinese calligraphy is once again a subject in schools and an art form highly
