1 . More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, most of which were stolen and illegally shipped out (运出) of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in more than 200 museums (博物馆) in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.

Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23, 000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.

The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also the government can turn to official channels (渠道) to demand the return of relics.

In 2003, a priceless (无价的) bronze pig’s head (青铜猪头) dating from the Qing Dynasty (清朝) was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo­French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur (企业家) Stanley Ho (何鸿燊) donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

Although buying­back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.

In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information.It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．How to recover cultural relics.

B．The efforts to recover Chinese cultural relics.

C．Stanley Ho donated a bronze pig’s head to Beijing.

D．Chinese cultural relics were stolen by the Anglo­French Allied Army.

2. Which of the following statements about the bronze pig’s head is NOT true?

A．It was made in the Qing Dynasty.

B．It is now in the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

C．It was donated by the French government to China.

D．It was removed by the Anglo­French Allied Army over 140 years ago.

3. The underlined word “feasible” in Paragraph 5 can be replaced by “________”.

A．possible	B．difficult
C．popular	D．careful

2 . When people think of Beijing, the hutong style always comes to mind. It is no exaggeration (夸张) to say within hutong lives the city’s history.

The word “hutong” referred to a place where people live, which was borrowed from the Mongolian word to mean “water well” about 700 years ago. Hutong we see today are made up of small paths formed by walls of siheyuan. They were built during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, there were more than 3,000 hutong. Most of the city’s population lived in this traditional housing. But with the modernization of the city in the 1980s and early 1990s, many hutong were pulled down to build roads, skyscrapers and modern houses.

The government has recognized the importance of hutong to Chinese cultural heritage. In 2002, Beijing listed 40 protected historical zones and increased its efforts to rebuild some key relics and older streets in the city. Nearly 500 hutong have survived.

Hutong that still exist are like oases (绿洲) of calm in the noisy city. Walking through them, it’s common to see groups of elderly people sitting together playing cards, mahjong (麻将) or Chinese chess. In the early mornings and evenings, they gather to practice traditional forms of exercise such as Taijiquan as well as dancing and singing folk songs or Peking Opera. Hutong have become a museum of Beijing’s folk customs and history.

1. What is the purpose of paragraph 2?

A．To add background information of hutong.	B．To bring in the topic of the context.
C．To stress the importance of hutong.	D．To introduce the benefits of hutong.

2. What happened to hutong in Beijing in 2002?

A．More hutong were built.

B．Lots of hutong disappeared.

C．Most hutong became historical zones.

D．Some hutong were placed under protection.

3. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The future of hutong.	B．The change of hutong.
C．The beauty of hutong life.	D．The history of hutong life.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards Hutong protection?

A．Negative.

B．Unclear.

C．Supportive.

D．Doubtful.

3 . Beginning with Chinese efforts to explore and connect with Central Asia, the Silk Road consisted of massive small routes and was named after the silk cloth the Chinese produced.     1     Through these routes, Chinese silk, porcelain, lacquer work and ironware were shipped to the West, while pepper, flax, spices, grape and pomegranate entered China.

    2     They promoted flow of knowledge as well. Arab astronomy, calendar and medicine found their way to China, while China’s four great inventions and silkworm breeding spread to other parts of the world.     3     For example, Buddhism originated in India, blossomed in China and was enriched in Southeast Asia. Confucianism, which was born in China, gained appreciation by European thinkers such as Leibniz and Voltaire. Herein lies the appeal of mutual learning.

The ancient silk routes witnessed the busy scenes of visits and trade over land and ships calling at ports. Along these major routes, capital, technology and people flowed freely.     4     The ancient prosperous cities and ports developed, so did the Roman Empire as well as Parthia and Kushan Kingdoms. The Han and Tang Dynasties of China entered the golden age. The ancient silk routes brought prosperity to these regions and contributed to their development.

Some regions along the ancient Silk Road used to be a land of milk and honey. Yet today, these places are often associated with conflict, crisis and challenge.     5     Now, the Belt and Road Initiative intends to build an open platform of cooperation and a broad community of shared interests. It will not only achieve economic growth and balanced development, but also connect different civilizations. Mutual understanding, mutual respect, and mutual trust among different countries will be boosted.

A．More importantly ideas were also exchanged.

B．The ancient silk routes were not only for trade.

C．Goods, resources and benefits were widely shared.

D．Such state of affairs should not be allowed to continue.

E．However, silk was just one of many goods traded on these routes.

F．Large empires provided stability and protection for the trade routes.

G．The Silk Road was never an actual road, or even a single massive trade route.

4 . 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.