1 . Perhaps unsurprisingly, buffoonery(滑稽) was one of few careers acceptable for women to pursue in the Middle Age. And it was not uncommon for women to enjoy this career.
However, in the 17th century, comedians were forced to society’s edge as their tendency to truth-telling was no longer tolerated among high society and women, bearing the weight of gender prejudice, were seldom among this career.
This slowly began to change in the mid-19th century when women began to enter the workforce and, in the circus industry, a growing minority of female performers were employed. They promoted the industry’s “New Woman” movement which introduced female performers into the traditionally male stage.
In 1895, among the women breaking the prejudice was Josephine Williams or “Lady Evetta” called the “The Only Lady Clown”.
Williams told The New York Times: “I believe that a woman can do anything for a living that a man can do and do it just as well as a man. All my people laughed at me when I told them that I was going on stage as a clown. But they do not laugh now.”
Despite her being optimistic, the article concluded: “The men in the clown business rather enjoy Miss. Williams’ odd performances but they do not regard her as a serious competitor or believe that any other women are likely to follow her example.”
How wrong they were. In the 1970s, French-born Annie Fratellini openedeh circus school, Académie Fratellini, encouraged by her film-making husband Pierre Etaix.
Fratellini Auguste was recognizable as the clown familiar today. Her unique make-up was made up of a big red nose, tears, a black mouth and shiny decorations fixed to her eyes. When asked whether the character she acted was male or female, she insisted that “clowns have no gender”.
1. What happened in the 17thcenturyaccordnglo Paragraph 2?| A．Comedians disappeared in the society. |
| B．Few women worked as comedians. |
| C．Male comedians were forced out of society. |
| D．Comedians were popular among high society. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Appreciative. |
| C．Impatient. | D．Unacceptable. |
| A．Annie Fratellini. | B．Pierre Etaix. |
| C．Lady Evetta. | D．Josephine Williams. |
| A．Women suffered from prejudice. | B．The development of comedies. |
| C．The history of female clowns. | D．How men broke the prejudice. |
2 . The Shaanxi Archaeology (考古学) Museum, China’s first archaeological museum, is to be opened to the public soon in 2022.
The museum focuses on the results of archaeological research in Shaanxi Province over the past century and the more than 200, 000 cultural relics that have been unearthed, aiming to introduce Chinese history and the spirit of the Chinese nation to the world.
A total of 4,218 of the 5,215 cultural relics in the collection are on display. Pottery figurines (小雕像) from the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han from the Western Zhou Dynasty and the epitaph (碑文) of Yan Zhenqing from the Tang Dynasty will be presented to the public for the first time, according to a report from CCTV.
Sun Zhouyong, director of the museum, told the Global Times on Saturday that the museum focuses on the development of Chinese archaeology as its main thread, so all of the displayed cultural relics are introduced alongside the background of their unearthed sites so that the public can have a deeper understanding of the field of archaeology.
Media reported that many of the displayed relics have been restored and are being protected using new techniques and advanced technology. The museum includes sample rooms, an archaeological content center, and a public archaeological center that allows visitors to excavate their own objects using ancient techniques at the hand-on archaeological sites.
With advanced equipment and technical know-how, the Science and Technology Protection Center at the museum conducts research on the protection and restoration of cultural relics mainly unearthed in Shaanxi Province. Some working areas are open to the public, and tourists can see the restoration process of cultural relics through workshops so as to deepen their understanding of the cultural relic protection work.
1. What is the museum designed for?| A．Restoring the unearthed cultural relics. |
| B．Protecting the displayed cultural relics. |
| C．Displaying the collection of pottery figurines. |
| D．Promoting the history and spirit of Chinese nation. |
| A．They are displayed on their unearthed sites. |
| B．Tourists can use new techniques to restore them. |
| C．All of the cultural relics in collection are on display. |
| D．They tell us the development of Chinese archaeology. |
| A．Protect. | B．Carve. |
| C．Dig. | D．Restore. |
| A．The introduction to a museum. |
| B．The importance of archaeology. |
| C．The protection of cultural relics. |
| D．The development of Chinese culture. |
3 . There are 195 countries in the world today but almost none of them have purple on their national flag. So what’s wrong with purple? It’s such a popular color today. Why would no country use it in their flag? The answer is really quite simple. Purple was just for too expensive.
The color purple has been associated with royalty power and wealth for centuries. Queen Elizabeth I forbade anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it. Purple’s high status comes from the rarity and cost of the dye (染料)originally used to produce it. Fabric traders got the dye from a small sea snail (海螺)that was only found in the Tyre region of the Mediterranean. More than 10,000 snails were needed to create just one gram of purple; not to mention a lot of work went into producing the dye, which made purple dye so expensive.
Since only wealthy rulers could afford to buy and wear the color, it became associated with the royal family. Sometimes, however, the dye was too expensive even for royalty. Third century Roman Emperor Aurelio famously wouldn’t allow his wife to buy a scarf made from purple silk because it cost three times its weight in gold. A single pound of dye cost three pounds of gold, which equals 56,000 dollars today. Therefore, even the richest countries couldn’t spend that much having purple on their flags.
The dye became more accessible to lower-class about a century and a half ago. In 1856, 18-year-old English chemist William Henry Perkin accidentally created a man-made purple compound (化合物)while attempting to produce an anti-malaria drug. He noticed that the compound could be used to dye fabrics, so he patented the dye, manufactured it and got rich. Purple dye was then mass-produced so everybody could afford it.
Till now, a handful of new national flags have been designed and a few of them have chosen to use purple in their flag. So don’t be making any bets just yet.
1. Why was color purple expensive in the past?| A．Because only royal families were allowed to wear purple. |
| B．Because it took a long time to get purple dye from gold. |
| C．Because purple was worth as much as its weight in gold. |
| D．Because purple dye used to be rare and hard to produce. |
| A．Because of poor quality. | B．Because of long tradition. |
| C．Because of bad taste. | D．Because of high price. |
| A．Purple has been widely used on national flags. |
| B．Purple dye is now affordable to ordinary people. |
| C．Royal family stop using purple because it’s too common. |
| D．Fewer snails are used to produce purple dye than before. |
| A．No Purple Flags? | B．Purple vs Gold |
| C．How to Produce Purple Dye? | D．The Birth of Purple Color |
4 . Diggings on the storied Judean cliffside revealed a new Dead Sea Scrolls(死海经卷) cave, full of scroll storage jars and other antiques, the first such discovery in over 60 years. The discovery overturns a decadesold theory in the archaeological community that Dead Sea Scrolls were only found in certain caves at the Qumran cliffs, which are managed by Israel in the West Bank. Until now, it was accepted that Dead Sea Scrolls were found only in 11 caves at Qumran, but the teams believed there was no doubt this was the 12th cave.
Pottery fragments, broken scroll storage jars and their lids—even neolithic flint(新石器时代燧石) tools and arrowheads—littered the cave’s entrance and farther in, there appeared to be a cavein(塌陷). After a bit of work of digging, the team made a monumental find: an unbroken storage jar with a scroll. It was rushed to Hebrew University's conservation lab, where it was unfolded in a protected environment. It had no writing; it was placed in the jar to prepare it for writing.
But the effort was not in vain. Scientists soon discovered the cavein was intentional and it hid a tunnel about 1620 feet in length. At some point hidden in the tunnel, the team found a few broken storage jars with the lid. They also found the cloth coverings and the leather strap that bound the scrolls the jars once held. The team thought robbers came into the tunnel, took the scrolls, or even opened the scrolls and left everything around, the textiles, the pottery.
Over the last few years, researchers have believed Dead Sea Scroll fragments made their way onto the antique black market, leading authorities and researchers to start the task of surveying all the caves at Qumran in the Judean desert.
This was likely just the first in a series of Dead Sea Scroll discoveries and therefore the team have hundreds of caves and many years to go, making a big project, a huge operation but they are very upbeat because after 60 years people still find new caves with materials that cast new light on the scrolls.
According to a news release from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the diggings are part of “Operation Scroll” a joint effort by the university, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria.
1. From the passage, this new Dead Sea Scrolls cave is so significant because ________.| A．it can possibly be the evidence of the first discovery in over 60 years |
| B．its discovery turns upside down a decadesold archaeological theory |
| C．it was the twelfth Dead Sea Scrolls cave found at the Qumran cliffs |
| D．it is extremely monumental to find the unbroken storage jar |
| A．impressive | B．optimistic |
| C．crucial | D．effective |
| A．the efforts to discover an intentional cavein |
| B．the reappearance of Dead Sea Scroll fragments |
| C．an operation on materials casting light on scrolls |
| D．the digging of a potential Dead Sea Scrolls cave |
