1 . I visited Elba last June, joining Mary and John on a bicycling vacation. They made the arrangements for the car, hotel and bicycles. I studied the history of the island, which of course particularly features Napoleon.
Napoleon (now I know) picked Elba as a place for peace when he was forced to give up the throne (王权) as Emperor of France in 1814. Far from being a prison island, Elba is beautiful with towering mountains, thick forests and sweeping bays and beaches.
It is also an island filled with treasure. Very early on this island, locals discovered rich deposits of iron. Soon outsiders, too, discovered the iron and 150 other valuable minerals on this little piece of land. Long before Etruscans and other Greeks set foot on it, Dorians had moved in by the tenth century B. C. and were mining the island. The Romans ruled next, obtaining the minerals and building grand houses overlooking the sea. From the twelfth century until the nineteenth, the island was traded back and forth and was passed to France in 1802. Then came Napoleon, the new ruler of Elba.
I was eager to visit his house in Portoferraio. The Emperor lived with his court and his mother, but his wife, Marie Louise had ensconced herself in the splendid Viennese palace of her father, Emperor of Austria. She lived safely there and showed little interest in visiting her husband in his mini-kingdom. Apparently, Napoleon wasn’t troubled much by this. He was too busy riding everywhere on horseback, building roads, modernizing agriculture and, above all, sharpening his tiny army and navy into readiness for his escape.
In the formal gardens behind the house it seemed to me that I could imagine the exiled (流放的) conqueror’s anxious thoughts. He might gaze over where I stood now, toward the lighthouse of the Stella fort, the sandy bay, and across it, the green mountains of the Tuscan coast. Napoleon spent only ten months here before making his victorious return to France and the throne.
1. What did the author do for the visit to Elba?| A．He did research on its past. |
| B．He arranged transportation. |
| C．He planned bicycling routes. |
| D．He booked accommodation. |
| A．Napoleon and his army. | B．Etruscans and other Greeks. |
| C．Dorians. | D．Romans. |
| A．Settled. | B．Locked. |
| C．Cured. | D．Controlled. |
| A．Beautiful views on Elba. |
| B．Terrible living conditions on Elba. |
| C．Napoleon’s ambition to regain power. |
| D．Hardship of Napoleon’s return to France. |
2 . You probably know about the Titanic, but it was actually just one of three state-of-the art (最先进的) ocean ships back in the day. The Olympic class ships were built by the Harland & Wolff ship makers in Northern Ireland for the White Star Line company. The Olympic class included the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic. What you may not know is that the Titanic wasn’t even the flagship of this class. All in all, the Olympic class ships were marvels of sea engineering, but they seemed cursed to suffer disastrous fates.
The Olympic launched first in 1910, followed by the Titanic in 1911, and lastly the Britannic in 1914. The ships had nine decks, and White Star Line decided to focus on marking them the most luxurious ships on the water.
Stretching 269.13 meters, the Olympic class ship were wonders of naval technology, and everyone thought that they would continue to be so for quite some time. However, all suffered terrible accidents on the open seas. The Olympic got wrecked before the Titanic did, but it was the only one survive and maintain a successful career of 24 years. The Titanic was the first to sink after famously hitting a huge iceberg in 1912. Following this disaster, the Britannic hit a naval mine in 1916 and subsequently sank as well.
Each ship was coal-powered by several boilers constantly kept running by exhausted crews below deck. Most recognizable of the ship designs are the ship’s smoke stacks, but the fourth stack was actually just artistic in nature and served no functional purpose. While two of these ships sank, they were all designed with double hulls (船体) believed to make them “unsinkable”, perhaps a mistaken idea that led to the Titanic’s and the Britannic’s tragic end.
The Olympic suffered two crashes with other ships and went on to serve as a hospital ship and troop transport in World War I. Eventually, she was taken out of service in 1935, ending the era of the luxurious Olympic class ocean liners.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the three Olympic class ships?| A．They performed marvelously on the sea. |
| B．They could all break the ice in their way. |
| C．They all experienced terrible misfortunes. |
| D．They were models of modern engineering. |
| A．Their capacity of sailing across all waters. |
| B．The utmost comfort passengers could enjoy. |
| C．Their ability to survive disasters of any kind. |
| D．The long voyages they were able to undertake. |
| A．Their unscientific designs |
| B．Their captains’ misjudgment |
| C．The assumption that they were built with the latest technology |
| D．The belief that they could never sink with a double-layer body |
| A．was used to carry troops |
| B．was sunk in World War I |
| C．was converted into a hospital ship |
| D．was retired after her naval service |
3 . Everything has its root. “Holiday”, is no exception. The origin of “holiday” is easy to see, coming from “holy day”, a day of particular religious significance, often celebrating the life of a saint (圣徒), during which no work was to be done. As far back as the 11th century, “holidays”, especially the major feast days, were times of “celebration and amusement”, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it.
The number of holidays steadily increased during the Middle Ages, until a medieval Englishman would have had the luxury of 40 to 50 days a year off work, depending on where he lived, in addition to a free day on Sundays.
During the Reformation, Henry VIII abolished most of the holidays partly because of the Protestant (新教徒的) suspicion of saints, but more practically, because, according to historian Eamon Duffy, “A large number of holidays were making the people poor by limiting agriculture.” The people took a different view and organized a protest march—the Pilgrimage of Grace—partly to protect their days off.
Though at first the religious and festive senses of holiday were combined, the word gradually came to be used for any kind of relaxing break from work. As the word was drawing away from a religious society, the number of authorized holidays was reduced, until by 1834 most workers had only four official days off a year, in addition to Sundays. Many factory workers amplified this time by staying home on “Saint Monday” to recover from what they had gotten up to the day before.
By the late 19th century, employers were compromising and offering half-day Saturdays, the beginning of the “weekend”, a term first used in 1879. In 1908, an innovative mill in New England gave its employees all of Saturday off, and the practice of their getting the whole Saturday off spread widely during the Great Depression as a way to keep employment up. It took 400 years, but finally workers could enjoy as many holidays as they had in the 15th century.
1. What was the word “holiday” originally intended for?| A．Economy. | B．Entertainment. |
| C．Religion. | D．Politics. |
| A．His people required a thorough reformation. |
| B．He didn’t believe in God and saints. |
| C．People took no interest in the agriculture due to them. |
| D．Large numbers of holidays stood in the way of the agriculture. |
| A．lengthened | B．wasted |
| C．shortened | D．guaranteed |
| A．In 1879. | B．During the Great Depression. |
| C．In 1908. | D．In the 15th century. |
Cholera was a deadly disease of its day. Neither its cause nor its cure
He became interested in two theories
John Snow suspected that the second theory was correct but he needed evidence. So when another outbreak hit London in 1854, he was ready
5 . Your mobile phone vibrates in your pocket. ‘Need to see you,’ reads the screen. Nothing new, considering that texting is currently the most common form of long-distance communication. But how were messages conveyed in the past?
One of the first methods was the smoke signal. This practice was used by Chinese soldiers guarding the Great Wall to warn of the enemy’s approach. The Greeks invented a whole alphabet of smoke signals for sending messages. But it was Native Americans who made the system mobile by carrying small bunches of dried grasses around with them. These could be lit quickly from any place at any time.
Moving on to messages transmitted by sound, an early technique was the drum. Drums are still used today in the rainforests of Africa, Papua New Guinea and Central and South America for broadcasting news. The instrument is made from a piece of wood, which is empty inside, and this is hit with a stick. On receiving the message, each village passes it on to the next, which means that news can travel at up to 150 km an hour.
In some parts of the world, humans are able to convey messages over long distances without using instruments. On La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, people use Silbo, or the ‘whistling language’ to communicate across the valleys. The language involves the use of the tongue, lips and hands to make sounds, which can travel up to 5 km. To ensure its continuation, Silbo is currently a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools on the island.
A look at long-distance communication would not be complete without mentioning the art of yodelling. This is a form of singing, in which the voice changes sound levels very quickly, making it easily heard over long distances. It is believed that the technique was developed in the Swiss Alps, but it is also found in other places such as Central Africa. At one time, yodelling was popular in theatres and music halls, but this is no longer so.
1. What was most remarkable about the Greeks’ system of smoke signals?| A．It could communicate words. |
| B．It could be used instantly. |
| C．It could mislead the enemy. |
| D．It could stop wars from breaking out. |
| A．The length of the message. |
| B．The simplicity of the instrument. |
| C．The speed of the transmission. |
| D．The volume of the sound. |
| A．Moving frequently between high and low notes. |
| B．Singing a recognizable tune in harmony. |
| C．Using music with a really strong beat. |
| D．Shouting in a loud voice. |
| A．Is That Strange? |
| B．Get the Message? |
| C．The Old Technology |
| D．The History of Information |
6 . Palaces are known for their beauty and splendor, but they offer little protection against attacks. It is easy to defend a large building, but usually these buildings are not designed with the comfort of a king in mind. When it comes to structures that are both beautiful and defensive, the European castle is a big success.
Castles were originally built in England by the Normans in 1066. They built towers and walls to secure the land they had taken. These castles provided the Normans with a quiet and safe place. They also served as bases of operation for attacks. In this way castles served both defensive and offensive roles. Besides, castles served as offices for governors. Those that were socially beneath the governor would come to report affairs and express their respect. They would address problems, handle business, feast, and enjoy festivities in castles. So castles served as social centers as well.
The first castles were made from earth and wood, and they were likely to suffer from attacks by fire. Then wooden castles were gradually replaced by stone, which greatly increased the strength of these towers and walls. However, attackers could throw flaming objects into castles through the windows or burn the wooden doors. This led to moving the windows and entrances off of the ground floor and up to the first floor to make them more difficult to access.
During the Middle Ages, attacks increased in regularity, so castle defenses were updated. Arrow-slits were added. They were small holes in the castle, which allowed defenders to fire without being hurt. Towers were built from which defenders could provide fire on both sides. The towers were connected to the castle by wooden bridges, so that if one tower fell, the rest of the castle was still easy to defend. A lot of rings of castle walls were constructed, so that even if attackers went past one wall, they would be caught on a killing ground between inner and outer walls. All of these increased the defense of castles.
The end of castles can be attributed to gunpowder. During the 15th century, artillery, a kind of large guns, became powerful enough to break through stone walls. This greatly made the role of castles less effective. Though castles no longer serve their original purposes, remaining castles receive millions of visitors each year who wish to experience the situations of ancient times.
1. What was the original function of castles according to the passage?| A．They served as tourist attractions. |
| B．They were important social centers. |
| C．They marked religious ceremonies. |
| D．They were built for use in emergencies. |
| A．stone castles cost less money |
| B．stone castles offered better defense |
| C．wooden castles were uncomfortable |
| D．wooden castles took a long time to build |
| A．Castles were totally separated by stones. |
| B．Arrow-slits were made in large quantities. |
| C．Rings of walls were built to defend the towers. |
| D．Windows and entrances were moved to the higher floor. |
| A．Fancy Living: Learning about Castles |
| B．Normans: Bringing Castles to England |
| C．A History of Castles: The Rise and Fall of Castles |
| D．Defending Castles: Technologies Used to Defend Castles |
Woodblock printing first appeared in the early Tang period. During the Song dynasty, the technique of block printing was very advanced. Books were
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10 . Three divers enter a hole leading to a water-filled cave on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. They swim for an hour. Finally, they reach a large room 60 feet underground and about the size of two basketball courts. Here, they discover an upside-down human skull (the bones of a person’s head). Other bones lay nearby.
The team came across the skull in 2007. The divers then told the Mexican government about the finding. Soon the government formed a team of scientists to look into it. The group, which included archaeologist (考古学家) Dominique Rissolo, believed that the skull belonged to someone who lived in the last ice age. At the ice age’s height some twenty thousand years ago, sea levels dropped and new land appeared. Over time, rain and wind ate holes into some of the land.
“The person may have died after entering the cave,” Rissolo says. Then, when the ice age ended some ten thousand years ago, sea levels rose. Water flooded the cave, covering the remains.
Worrying that moving the skull might destroy it, scientists decided to examine it at its watery resting place. They collected information about the skull and other pieces of bones. They found that the bones belonged to a 15- to 17-year-old girl who lived at least twelve thousand years ago. The team named her Naia after some sea creatures in Greek myths.
Naia is the oldest nearly complete human skeleton (骨架) ever found in the Americas. DNA tests showed that she’s a direct ancestor of present-day Native Americans. Naia’s DNA also matches with people native to Siberia, a part of Russia. Scientists have long thought that ancient people from this area arrived in Alaska during the last ice age. They were the first humans to live in the Americas. And Naia proves how far south they went. (Mexico is a country to the south of the US.)
In 2014 the scientists decided to bring up Naia’s skull from the cave to protect it from curious divers. So it was taken to a lab, where it remains today.
1. What do we learn about the skull?| A．It was left alone in the cave. |
| B．It lay under a basketball court. |
| C．It drew the government’s attention. |
| D．It was discovered by three scientists. |
| A．After the last ice age ended. |
| B．Before the last ice age ended. |
| C．Before the last ice age started. |
| D．At the beginning of the last ice age. |
| A．Scientists tried to protect it. |
| B．The temperature was fine in there. |
| C．It was against the law to take it out. |
| D．It would help scientists study the cave, |
| A．Early humans in Greece. |
| B．Early humans in Siberia. |
| C．Early humans in Alaska. |
| D．Early humans in Mexico. |
