1 . Few people are aware that Waterloo Bridge, crossed by thousands of daily commuters (每天长途上下班的人) and celebrated as a London landmark, was mainly built by a female workforce.
There are no written or photographic records of the women who built the bridge since the construction company that built it closed in the 1980s and with it went all the records. What’s left is anecdotal evidence, kept alive by the tourist boat skippers who have called it the Ladies Bridge.
During the Second World War, with the majority of the active male labor-force away at the front, women increasingly took on traditionally male roles. By 1944, 25,000 women were working in the construction industry, carrying out back-breaking tasks. These women were permitted to carry out this exhausting and dangerous work on the basis that it would only be temporary and that their pay would be lower than that of men. So the surge (激增) in women working in construction and engineering did not continue after the war.
September sees a series of events celebrating the unknown work of the large female workforce. Musician Claudia Molitor has created a 45-minute musical entitled “the Singing Bridge”, which runs at Somerset House from Sept9th. to Sept25th. In late September, the “Light up the Ladies Bridge” event saw the National Theatre’s fly tower lit up by large scale photographic projections (投影片) of female construction workers working in construction during World War II.
Let’s all celebrate the women who have helped to build the cities in which we live.
1. Why do few people know about the builders of Waterloo Bridge?| A．The records of their work have been lost. |
| B．Female workers received little attention. |
| C．The construction took place long ago. |
| D．Few people know about the bridge. |
| A．There are less female workers in London. |
| B．Waterloo Bridge is popular among artists. |
| C．The story of Waterloo Bridge is better known. |
| D．Many works of art were created during World War II. |
| A．It was a tradition in London. |
| B．They wanted to get a steady job. |
| C．Most men had gone to the battlefield. |
| D．The company offered them better pay. |
| A．Female Workers on the Rise |
| B．A Hidden Treasure in London |
| C．A New London Landmark |
| D．The Story behind the Ladies Bridge |
2 . We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know the history of the Internet?
Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time, computers were large and expensive. Computer networks didn’t work well. If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped. So a new network system had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part. In this way, computer network system would keep on working all the time.
At first the Internet was only used by the government, but in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals and banks were allowed to use it, too. However, computers were still very expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of the 1990s, computers had become cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software that made “surfing” the Internet more convenient.
Today it is easy to get online and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending email is more and more popular among students.
The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people’s life．
1. The Internet has a history of around ______ years.| A．ten | B．twenty | C．fifty | D．seventy |
| A．break down the whole network |
| B．make itself keep on working all the time |
| C．make computers cheaper |
| D．make computers large and expensive |
| A．Scientists | B．the government |
| C．schools | D．hospitals and banks |
| A．Software | B．Scientists | C．Information | D．Computers |
3 . Thousands of years ago, people didn't live in cold places because they didn't know how to keep themselves warm. Later they learned to make clothes. When an animal was killed, they made use of its skins to cover their bodies. The skins kept them warm. Nature is people's good friend. It once helped people find fire, when lightning(闪电) hit a forest and started a fire. People took some of this fire to their homes. The fire kept them warm, and also frightened wild animals. Soon people found the food cooked tasted much better, so they began to use the fire to cook food. But people still didn't know how to make a fire. When they got a fire from the forest they tried to keep it burning. If it went out, they had to wait for years. But later they found different ways to make fire. For example, they made fire by burning wood or knocking two pieces of stones.
Today it's easy for people to make fire because they have matches, lighters and different kinds of heaters. They can make fire at any time they need.
1. Once people lived only in hot places because they did not know how to _____.| A．kill animals | B．take fire from forest |
| C．keep themselves warm | D．make matches |
| A．for food | B．to make fire | C．for burning | D．to warm themselves |
| A．cook food | B．kill animals | C．cut off an animal’s skin | D．burn wood |
| A．stones | B．wood | C．dry leaves | D．animal skins |
4 . People have been making and flying kites for about 2,000 years.
Kites were also used to develop airplanes. The Wright Brothers experimented with kites before they flew the first airplane.
Today most people fly kites as a hobby. Kite festivals are organized in many cities in all parts of the world.
| A．Kites are made in many different sizes, colors and shapes. |
| B．flying kites is great fun and it is easy if you know some secrets. |
| C．Kites have also been used in experiments. |
| D．No one knows for sure who invented the kite. |
| E．In Japan families fly fish kites on Children's Day, May5th. |
| F．Stories of kites were brought to Europe till the end of the 13th century. |
| G．In the past, kites were sometimes used to take pictures in wars. |
5 . We all love bank holidays. In the UK, we only get eight bank holidays in one year, and atleast five of those occur around Christmas time and Easter time! A bank holiday is a British English term. This is an official day that is decided by the government, when banks, shops and offices close for the day even though it’s a weekday — usually a M onday, and a lot of people have a day off work.
Bank holidays are different in Colombia — firstly, they are called “festivos”. There are twenty festivos for the whole country in one year ! In Britain, people get more holiday allowance (津贴) than Colombians but fewer bank holidays. There can be even more festivos in Colombia, depending on which region of Colombia you live in. This is because different regions have their own holidays. For example, some regions have a patron saint (守护神) in their region, so they have an extra festivo to celebrate that saint.
However, there are some days that are national holidays for historical reasons. There is an Independence Day celebration on July 20 every year. This is just like Bastille Day in France on July 14, or Independence Day in the United States on July 4. Other important festivos in Colombia are： Labor Day, on May 1, and Columbus Day on October 12. Columbus Day is a historical bank holiday that almost every country on the continent of A merica celebrates. This includes Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and the United States. It is a memorialization of the day that the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, first reached land on the continent in the year 1492. Many people criticize this day and say it is not something to celebrate because of the way Columbus and his teams treated the people that were already living there.
1. What is a “bank holiday” according to the text?| A．A holiday only for the bank staff. |
| B．A British traditional religion festival. |
| C．A celebration for Christmas and Easter. |
| D．An official nationwide rest day. |
| A．Colombia and Britain have the same number of festivos. |
| B．All Colombians have the same number of festivos. |
| C．Colombians have more bank holidays than the British. |
| D．Different regions in Colombia have different patron saits to celebrate. |
| A．Because Columbus wasn’t an American at all. |
| B．Because Columbus once treated the locals badly. |
| C．Because it wasn’t Columbus that found America first. |
| D．Because Columbus didn’t live in the continent of America. |
| A．Bank Holidays in Western World |
| B．How to Celebrate Bank Holidays |
| C．Celebrations of National Holidays |
| D．Why People Celebrate National Holidays |
6 . Walk Through History
It’s no surprise to anyone who’s been to Charleston that it is among the best US cities to visit. “It can feel like you’re in a dream sometimes, like you’ve stepped back 200 years,” says Brian Sim ms, the owner of Charleston Sole Walking Tours. These are Sim ms’s must-sees.
African-American Heritage(遗产)Tour
“People don’t realize how much African culture is here.” says Sim ms. He recommends learning about the African-A merican heritage that shaped the city, region and country to fully understand Charleston.
Gullah Tours offers a two-hour bus tour for $ 18.www.gullahtours.com
Battery and White Point Gardens
A large public park and garden with walking paths and artifacts (人工制品)—all shaded by beautiful trees.
Free admission. Simms provides two- hour guided tours for $10 to $20. www.charlestonsole.com
Middleton Place
Middleton Placeis a historic plantation(种植园) with vivid exhibits and a working table. It provides an all-around view of what was going on with the history of the families that ran the plantation.
$ 28 / adult; $ 15 / student 14 and older; $ 10 / child 6-13; free / under age 6.www.middleton place.org
Fort Summer National Monument
Marking the site where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, this historic place includes several sites around Charleston Harbor and an education center at Gadsden’s Wharf. The best time of yearto visitis spring—when the azaleas(杜鹃花) are flowering—or fall.
Admission is free； boat ride is $ 19.5 / adult, $ 12 / child. www.nps.gov/fosu
1. Where can you book a tour to learn about African A merica culture?| A．On www.nps.gov / fosu. | B．On www.gullahtours.com. |
| C．On www.charlestonsole.com. | D．On www. middletonplace.org. |
| A．Visit an education center. |
| B．Appreciate the beauty of azaleas. |
| C．Learn about the history of American families. |
| D．Learn about the operation of a historic plantations |
| A．$20. | B．$36. |
| C．$39. | D．$56. |
7 . Constructed in the third century BC, the Terracotta Army is a collection of clay sculptures presenting the forces of the First Emperor of China- Qin Shi Huang. The figures include more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses. Their varying clothes, facial features and body types have long impressed people. But historian Dan Snow says, “The amazing realism increases the great mystery surrounding these terracotta figures, where do they come from? They are nothing like any figure made in China before them, something changed. Something remarkable happened here 2,200 years ago."
Mr Snow explains historians have long believed Ancient China remained separated from the rest of the world. But the Terracotta Army could disprove that theory.
The time of the First Emperor was around 220BC. When, on the eastern edge of the Eurasian（欧亚的）landmass, was the Chinese worlds with competing mini-states over there. Over on the west of Eurasia, the Roman Empire started to expand over here and Greece was a great power,
"What's going on artistically in the East and West is very different in the third century BC. The classic Greek art is easy to recognize, with the absolute high watermark of artistic expression, beautiful—metre-and-a-half tall, human in its look. But in the Chinese world, you've got just 10cm tall, far more basic." says Mr Snow. He continues, "Then something changes, in fact, everything changes—there's a revolution. Suddenly, in 220BC you get the Terracotta Army lightyears ahead of what's gone before. It starts to look far less like before and far more like what's going on in the western world, both life-size, both lifelike, both attempts at realism."
This couldn't be more important, because it's always been assumed that China developed in isolation（隔离）. But if that's not the case, if the First Emperor of China imported western ideas and techniques to create his extraordinary arts, that forces us to completely rewrite the history books.
1. What confused Dan Snow about the Terracotta Army?| A．Why Qin Shi Huang ordered to create them. |
| B．Who instructed ancient people to create them. |
| C．Why their design was different from previous time. |
| D．What kind of clothes ancient people preferred to wear. |
| A．It was closed to the outside world. |
| B．Many mini-states coexisted peacefully. |
| C．Building army of sculptures was very common then. |
| D．It built a good relationship with the rest of the world. |
| A．They were in small size. |
| B．Their styles changed greatly. |
| C．Their facial expressions seemed real. |
| D．They looked similar to the Greek ones. |
| A．The Development of Chinese Art |
| B．Westerners Found in Ancient China |
| C．The Discovery of China's Terracotta Army |
| D．Historians Reconsidering the Remote Past of China |
8 . Up in the air—a history of ballooning
The first kind of air transportation was the balloon. People traveled by balloon one hundred years before there were planes or jet aircraft. Those early days of ballooning were exciting, but they were also risky.
The first real balloon flight was in France in 1783. Two French brothers made a balloon.
Soon balloonists tried longer flights. In 1785, an American and a Frenchman flew over the English Channel. They left England on a cold, clear January day. Halfway across, their balloon began to drop toward the water. They threw out some equipment and food to make the balloon lighter. The balloon continued to fall, so they threw out almost everything in the basket -even some of their clothes.
During the nineteenth century, ballooning became a popular sport and balloons were also used by scientists to study the air and by armies in war time. After the airplane was invented, however, interest in balloons decreased dramatically. But some people today still like to go up in balloons.
| A．They filled a very large paper bag with hot air. |
| B．High up in the balloon basket, they find quiet. |
| C．Sometimes the balloons fell suddenly and sometimes they burned. |
| D．Back then, few people understood how they were able to fly so far. |
| E．Finally, after about three hours, they landed in France, cold but safe. |
| F．Balloon races and displays remain popular all over the world to this very day. |
| G．Later that same year, two other Frenchmen ascended in a basket under a balloon. |
9 . Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness (荒野). But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30,000.
Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warming. An avalanche (雪崩) once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.
But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go — to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City — its present population is 762.
1. What attracted the early settlers to New York City?| A．Its business culture. | B．Its small population. |
| C．Its geographical position. | D．Its favourable climate. |
| A．Two-thirds of them stayed there. |
| B．One out of five people got rich. |
| C．Almost everyone gave up. |
| D．Half of them died. |
| A．They found the city too crowded. |
| B．They wanted to try their luck elsewhere. |
| C．They were unable to stand the winter. |
| D．They were short of food. |
10 . Three days before the Christmas in 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders had adventured out to the moon, becoming the first human beings to reach and orbit our closest neighbor in the space. On the Christmas Eve, they pointed a TV camera out of the window of Apollo 8 and showed a global audience (观众) of 1 billion the ancient moon moving slowly below their spaceship. As that movie played, Anders began reading, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth...”
“I didn’t choose it,” he said last October, when all three astronauts met to mark the 50th anniversary (周年) of their moon flight, at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, where their spaceship is displayed.
When the three men returned to earth on December 27, they were surrounded by a sea of joy. That kind of collective (集体的) joy—born of collective effort—can seem beyond us now. From the factory floor to the three men in the spaceship, an estimated (估计) 400,000 people had a hand in making the moon flight possible. Behind the joy there was also a dark danger Apollo 8 might face. If the astronauts made it into the moon orbit but their engine failed to fire when it was time to return, rescue would be impossible. They would circle the moon forever. But the astronauts did come home, and in the process they gave the world another gift: the celebrated photograph that came to be known as Earthrise.
Even fifty years later, Borman and Lovell continued to play jokes on Anders, 85 then.
“I’m still trying to figure out who did it,” said Borman, with a wink (眨眼睛).
“You did it, I think,” Lovell answered.
“Bill did it,” Borman admits.
He didn’t want me to take it at first,” Anders said.
“I have never said it before publicly,” said Borman, “but I’m just proud that I was able to fly with these two talented guys. You did a really good job.”
1. The men pointed a camera out of the window of Apollo 8 ________.| A．to show the moon to the world |
| B．to read some sentences to the audience |
| C．to do some research into the ancient moon |
| D．to record what they were doing in the spacecraft |
| A．Their engine might explode in the orbit. |
| B．They wouldn’t land on the moon successfully. |
| C．They might have no chance to return to the earth. |
| D．Their spaceship might catch fire in the returning journey. |
| A．27. | B．30. |
| C．35. | D．50. |
| A．The flight. | B．The earth. |
| C．The reading. | D．The picture. |
