“Chinese Joan of Arc, ” Qiu Jin (1875-1907) , was a women’s rights activist and the leader of revolutionary army. She fearlessly challenged traditional gender roles and demanded equal rights and
2 . We think of history as a time line — a series of events stretching thousands of years into the past. It’s time to think bigger. Instead of a line, imagine a web of endless connections interacting over billions of years, linked together to create everything we’ve ever known. From the clothes we wear to the rise and fall of empires (帝国) to the revolution of language, it’s the horse that links them all.
6, 000 years ago, the early people in central Asia spoke an ancient language known as “Proto-Indo-European.” Their words would eventually spread, change and develop, branching into French, Italian, Spanish, Greek Russian, Hindi, German, and English, giving us the languages spoken by nearly half the world. The reason is that these are the first people on earth to ride horses, which creates highway for their words.
2, 000 years ago, Romans traditionally wore tunics, but it’s hard to ride a horse in clothes like this. As Romans moved north to conquer the barbarians (野蛮人), they noticed their enemies wore something different into battle: pants. Pants are warmer and a lot more comfortable to wear on horsebacks The Roman army made the switch and soon so did men everywhere. Horses are a key reason why millions of people around the world wear pants.
For 6, 000 years, horses have been the primary way of conquering, making large empires possible. Horses helped Rome expand from Britain to North Africa. But why didn’t these enormous ancient empires grow even bigger? The evidence suggests a surprising theory that ancient empires have a size limit determined by the horse. If the borders of an empire are more than 14 days’ ride from the capital, it becomes a struggle to continue control. Speed of communications is essential for an empire. You must be able to get messages to and from the border within a reasonable time. If you can’t do that, you can’t respond to attacks.
On the scale of big history, it’s hard to think of any other mammal that’s had such an influence on human history as the horse.
1. What do we know about “Proto-Indo-European”?| A．It was the first language in the world. |
| B．It was spoken only by the horse riders. |
| C．It constructed a highway between France and Germany. |
| D．It developed into languages used by about half the world. |
| A．Ancient empires could grow as big as they wished. |
| B．Horses determined the location of empires’ capitals. |
| C．Horses had little impact on the expansion of ancient empires. |
| D．Timely messages are vital for ancient empires to keep control. |
| A．To express the author’s love for horses. |
| B．To introduce the development of clothes. |
| C．To provide a new way of looking at history. |
| D．To encourage the interaction between animals. |
3 . A fresh and gentle wind on your face, soft sand under your feet and blue waters as far as the eye can see. Is there any other Olympic sport that is played in such pleasant conditions as beach volleyball？
“I’ve gone to a lot of beautiful places, and met a lot of beautiful people. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been playing another sport.” said Randy Stoklos, America’s most famous beach volleyball player.
The sport began as a four-a-side game on beaches in Southern California in the 1920s. The first recorded two-man game took place there in 1930, and the first tournament (锦标赛) was held in Los Angeles 18 years later. The winners were awarded a case of Pepsi. In the 1950s, women started playing and the sport soon spread to Europe and South America. Yet at that time, beach volleyball was more an entertainment show than a sport, with beauty contests included. The Association of Volleyball Professionals was founded in 1983 and beach volleyball developed into a fast, athletic sport. Its world-wide popularity won beach volleyball a place at the 1996 Olympics in Atalanta, where 24 male teams and 16 female teams took part. At present, the US and Brazil are the best in the world at beach volleyball.
The game came to China in the early 1990s and there have been national tournaments since 1994. It became an official event at the Eighth National Games in 1997. China’s You Wenhui and Wang Lu finished ninth in the women’s beach volleyball world championships in Brazil.
1. The passage is mainly about ______.| A．the history of beach volleyball |
| B．how to play beach volleyball |
| C．the importance of beach volleyball |
| D．women’s beach volleyball in China |
| A．Beach volleyball was first played like other Olympic: sports. |
| B．Beach volleyball has always been an entertainment show rather than a sport. |
| C．Beach volleyball began on beaches in Souther California. |
| D．Women started playing beach volleyball in South America in 1945. |
| A．In 1948, | B．In 1996. | C．In 1950. | D．In 1997. |
| A．in 1996, beach volleyball became an official event in China |
| B．China’s beach volleyball team is the best in the world |
| C．China’s beach volleyball players won the first place in Brazil |
| D．beach volleyball came to China in the early 1990s |
In Western art there are several main
5 . Zoos have been around for centuries — and they’ve changed a lot over the years. In the Middle Ages, wealthy people kept animals in their gardens. Public animal parks appeared in European cities in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Philadelphia Zoo, the first in the United States, opened in 1874.
Until a few decades (十年) ago, most zoos were organized by creatures — monkeys in one area, cats in another, birds somewhere else, just like museum collections. In recent years, zoos have instead begun grouping animals that would normally interact (互相作用) in the wild. Moreover, instead of closing animals behind bars, designers are creating landscapes like the environments in which these creatures would naturally be found. Nearby signs provide information about the animals and their habitats in parts of the world where they normally live.
The Denver Zoo’s new Predator Ridge exhibit, for example, aims to teach visitors about Africa. Eight acres of land provide homes for 14 animal species, including lions, porcupines, cranes, and wild dogs. Plants from the region grow alongside African-like landform. Ten-foot-tall mounds (土墩) give lions a place from which to survey their surroundings, just as they would do in the wild.
Landscape design makes visitors to the Denver Zoo’s Predator Ridge exhibit feel like they’re really in Africa.
Animals in Predator Ridge can’t actually be mixed with one another, for safety reasons. But hidden deep channels and other smart features allow visitors to see all the animals at once. Different species can see each other too.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．The safety problem of zoos. |
| B．The living habits of zoo animals. |
| C．Changes of zoos over the time. |
| D．Protection of zoo animals. |
a. Different species were kept in a group.
b. Zoos were organized by species.
c. Natural environments were created in zoos.
d. Animals were kept in people’s gardens.
| A．b; d; c; a | B．d; a; c; b | C．b; d; a; c | D．d; b; a; c |
| A．protect the safety of visitors |
| B．create a natural environment for lions |
| C．separate lions from other animals |
| D．offer visitors a better view of lions |
| A．the Denver Zoo | B．the Predator Ridge exhibit |
| C．Africa | D．the ten-foot-tall mounds |
| A．the earliest zoos were probably rich people’s gardens |
| B．the Philadelphia Zoo is the first zoo in the world |
| C．the new Predator Ridge exhibit is held in Africa |
| D．more animals will be kept in zoos in the future |
Before the 1830s, most newspapers were sold through yearly subscriptions(订阅) in America, usually $ 8 to $ 10 a year. Today $ 8 or $ 10 seems a small amount of money, but at that time the amounts were unaffordable 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 large audience. They were dull and visually unpleasant. 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 buy 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 copy 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 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.
From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He made seven historic voyages to Asia and Africa. Thanks to frequent friendly
Zheng He’s fleet traveled from the Western Pacific through the Indian Ocean to West Asia and the east coast of Africa,
Sadly, many of the official Chinese records of these voyages were destroyed
1.时间、地点；
2.主讲人；
3.主题及内容。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：兵马俑terracotta warriors
Dear David,
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Discovered in 1973 in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, Hemudu Cultural Ruins, 7,000 years old, are important village ruins in the Chinese New Stone Age. One
California is the most multicultural state in the USA,
Most of the people attracted from all over the world remained to make a life for themselves after the Gold Rush,
