The discovery of Machu Picchu | |
The Incas Between 1438 and 1532 the Incas built an empire with a population of about 12,000,000 people on the west coast of South America. They had no system of writing, so little is known about their everyday lives. But we do know these things: ● they built large cities in the mountains ● they built houses with huge square stones ● they built 23,000 kilometers of roads through the mountains ● they did not have wheels so everything was carried by animals or people | It was early morning on 24 July, 1911. A young American archaeologist named Hiram Bingham was in a small hotel in Peru, in the Andes mountains. He was there because he wanted to find a lost Inca city. He was not the first. Before Bingham, other explorers had looked for the city, but they hadn’t found it. Bingham has always been attracted by the Incas. He was a university professor and had studied their civilization for many years. Bingham and some scientists had travelled all the way to Peru from the USA, and had gone up to the city of Cuzco. From Cuzco, they had travelled higher up into the mountains, to about 1,800 meters, and they had spent the night in the hotel. The hotel owner had told Bingham about a ‘lost’ city not far away. On the morning of 24 July, Bingham and a guide went out in the heavy tropical rain and climbed another 60 meters. On the way, they met a ten-year-old boy who led them through the jungle to a wall. They climbed over it and there it was. Machu Picchu—the lost city of the Incas. In his book ‘The discovery of Machu Picchu’ Hiram Bingham wrote: ‘Suddenly I was standing in front of the walls of a ruin and houses from the best quality of Inca art… I found brilliant temples, royal houses, a big square and tens of houses. It looked like a dream.’ |
| A．They left behind no written records. |
| B．They lived along the coast of America. |
| C．They invented vehicles without wheels. |
| D．They built roads leading to other empires. |
| A．To study an endangered civilization. |
| B．To find local people that once lived there. |
| C．To confirm other explorers’ previous findings. |
| D．To look for an ancient city that used to be there. |
| A．The book ‘The discovery of Machu Picchu’ was completed. |
| B．A little boy went through the jungle by accident. |
| C．The city of Cuzco was rediscovered. |
| D．Bingham found Machu Picchu. |
2 . History has some very special and influential qualities about it. It is a
One of the
Take the story of Thomas Edison and how many times he
Or, think about the story of Abraham Lincoln who
These true history stories will make you stop to reconsider
| A．note | B．record | C．chance | D．belief |
| A．mistakes | B．jokes | C．agreements | D．challenges |
| A．events | B．periods | C．problems | D．advantages |
| A．studied | B．reacted | C．competed | D．explored |
| A．Although | B．Because | C．Unless | D．Whether |
| A．clear | B．subsequent | C．special | D．useful |
| A．failed | B．watched | C．escaped | D．travelled |
| A．also | B．often | C．still | D．never |
| A．shocked | B．beaten | C．discouraged | D．controlled |
| A．job | B．dream | C．duty | D．power |
| A．happened | B．prepared | C．pretended | D．managed |
| A．directions | B．improvements | C．permissions | D．difficulties |
| A．passing by | B．giving up | C．setting off | D．calming down |
| A．ability | B．habit | C．goal | D．choice |
| A．introductions | B．conversations | C．judgements | D．impressions |
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 |
When the Amber Room was first built, his owner could have never imagined it would have such an
5 . Pirates: Romance and Reality
In the movies, pirates (海盗) have exciting and adventurous lives.
A Pirate’s Life
While movie pirates are men in search of adventure, the average pirate was usually trying to escape from a different life. Some were ex-sailors who were treated poorly on their ships.
In movies, pirates have chests full of gold and piles of money stolen from other people. However it as far more common for pirates to steal things like cloth, spices, and even medicine. They often sold these things.
Pirate Style
Movie pirates often wear eye patches and have wooden legs. Many real pirates also looked like this. Why?
| A．Pirate Heaven |
| B．Pirate Treasure |
| C．One reason was the poor living conditions. |
| D．Others were escaped slaves who wanted their freedom. |
| E．But what was life actually like for an 18th –century pirate? |
| F．The men also divided the income from stolen goods fairly. |
| G．Also, unlike movie pirates, real pirates didn't bury their money. |
6 . That the Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer leans quite so much after a ￡20 million project to save it has proved to be a great success.The tower,which was on the edge of collapse,has been straightened by 18 inches,returning it to its 1838 position.
“It has straightened a little bit more than we expected,but very little helps,”said Prof.John Burland,the only British member of the rescue committee.“The tower is still very slightly moving towards being upright.”
The tower,which has been leaning almost since building work first began in 1173,was closed to the public in 1990 because of safety fears.The 183-foot tower was nearly 15 feet off vertical and its structure was found to have been weakened by centuries of strain(作用力).
Prof.Burland said it could have collapsed “at any moment”.However,it took nine years of quarrelling before any work was done.The last attempt at straightening the tower was carried out.Concrete(混凝土) was poured into the foundations,but the result was that the tower sank further into the soil.
The straightening work involved digging out around 70 tonnes of earth from the northern side of the tower,causing it to sink on that side.Before the digging started,the tower was fixed with steel ropes and 600 tonnes of lead weights.
However,halfway through the project,concerns at the ugliness of the lead weights led to their removal and the tower leaned greatly.The weights were hurriedly reattached.One night,the tower moved more than it had averaged in an entire year.The tower’s stonework has also been restored.
The Italian government stepped in after a tower collapsed in Pavia in 1989,killing four people.Experts suddenly realized that the tower at Pisa,which was similarly built and on the same sort of earth,could do the same.
1. What would be the best title for the passage?| A．The Building of the Leaning Tower of Pisa |
| B．Saving the Leaning Tower of Pisa |
| C．The Collapse of the Leaning Tower of Pisa |
| D．The History of the Leaning Tower of Pisa |
| A．closed for the straightening work in 1990 |
| B．began to lean more than 800 years ago |
| C．has a history of more than 1,000 years |
| D．has become vertical |
| A．The development of new technology. | B．The advice of Prof.John Burland. |
| C．The expectation of the rescue committee. | D．The collapse of a tower in Pavia. |
| A．The lead weights fixed to the tower. |
| B．Restoring the stonework. |
| C．Pouring concrete into the foundations. |
| D．Digging earth from the southern side of the tower. |
| A．The position of the tower has been restored to what it was 182 years ago. |
| B．Hundreds of years of strain has weakened the tower’s structure. |
| C．The tower doesn’t lean any more after the straightening work finished. |
| D．People spent nine years in discussing about the straightening work. |
Several days before July 28,1976, many strange things happened in Tangshan. The water in the village wells
8 . The word “diary” comes from the Latin word “diarium”, which means “daily allowance”.
In America, from the 1940s through the 1980s, a diary was thought of mostly as a way to privately express one’s deepest thoughts while keeping notations about the day.
Samuel Pepys, who lived during the 17th century, is the earliest diary keeper that is famous today. His diary is also an important documentation of history, for it gives personal insight（洞察力）into London’s Great Plague and the Great Fire. His diary is being published on the Internet, and it’s interesting to note that there has been a new entry every day since January of 2003. It will continue over the course of several years to come.
Today’s electronic version of the diary, the web log or “blog” has once again stretched the diary to be much more than a personal account of the day’s events.
| A．It refers to a book for writings by date. |
| B．Reading his diary is fascinating, and it makes his life all the more real to us. |
| C．People love to write diaries, so whenever they are free, they will write a few lines. |
| D．Private reflections in diary may have historical significance long after the author’s death. |
| E．Nowadays, the blog has taken the place of the diary and becomes more and more popular. |
| F．Her diary became one of the world’s most widely read books and is the basis for many films. |
| G．In those times, and even continuing on today, writing in a diary was like writing to a special friend. |
9 . Studying a subject that you feel pointless is never a fun or easy task.If you’re studying history, asking yourself the question “why is history important” is a very good first step. History is an essential part of human civilization. You will find something here that will arouse your interest, or get you thinking about the significance of history.
History grounds us in our roots. History is an important and interesting field of study, and learning the history of our home country can give us a deeper, more meaningful glimpse（一瞥）into our ancestral pasts, and how we got to where we are today. Many people feel like they need a sense of cultural belonging, which is something that studying your roots and being open-minded to the evolution of your culture can provide.
History enriches our experience. Reading history is an amazing experience because it enables us to reflect on the social and economic life of the people living long time ago. According to the experts, problems faced by people regardless of the past and present are the same.With the information about the ancestors, one can become more experienced in handling challenges of life.
History makes us more empathetic（具有共情能力的）. Studying history can give us insight（洞察力）into why our culture does certain things, and how the past has shaped it into what we know now. It also provides a rather strong foundation for empathy across cultures. Fear and hate for others is usually caused by ignorance（无知）.We’re scared of the things that we don't understand. History has the potential to break down those boundaries by offering us insight into entire worlds that would otherwise be foreign to us.
History can inspire us to learn more. What's fantastic about history is the way it broadens our horizons. It’s almost impossible to learn about one historical period without having dozens of questions about related concepts. Study the 19h century England, and you might catch a glimpse of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Look up Charles Dickens, and you might learn a thing or two about realism. Or maybe you end up switching your attention away from novels, and discover the history of romantic poets in England. It can go anywhere, and there is something in there for absolutely anybody.
The value of history cannot be underestimated. We don't have to live in the past, but we can definitely do better by learning from it and using the lessons learned to lead more meaningful lives.
1. According to the experts, why is history useful for people to handle challenges of life?| A．The problems at present are similar to those in the past. |
| B．Ancient people laid economic foundations for people today. |
| C．The current challenges of life were predicted by the ancestors. |
| D．People living long time ago knew more about how to solve problems. |
| A．Charles Dickens contributes much to British literature |
| B．Oliver Twist can satisfy our curiosity for romantic poets |
| C．reading novels is a way to learn about a historical period |
| D．studying history can arouse people's interest in other fields |
| A．How to Build Cultural Identity |
| B．Why Studying History Matters |
| C．Know the Past, Know the Present |
| D．History:a Way to Broaden Horizons |
10 . TRADITIONAL belief has always had it that a not-so-clear-thinking---Vincent Van Gogh cut off his own ear after a fight with the French artist Paul Gauguin in 1888.Van Gogh is said to have handed the ear to a woman named Rachel. Then, doing what any person who had just lost an ear might do, he went home to take a nap.
But a new book titled In Van Gogh’s Ear argues that it was Gauguin who cut off the Dutch painter’s ear. Authors Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans explained inconsistencies(矛盾) in Gauguin’s description of the event and his ability as an expert swordsman(剑客). “Vincent might have attacked him; Gauguin wanted to defend himself and to get rid of this “madman’,……
They believe that Gauguin and Van Gogh agreed to hide the incident. But that doesn’t mean Gogh never dropped a hint about the “real” story. He once told his brother Theo in a letter, “Luckily, Gauguin is not yet armed with machine guns and other dangerous war weapons”.
1. It is widely accepted by people that cut off his ear.| A．Hans Kaufmann | B．Gauguin | C．Rachel | D．Van Gogh himself |
| A．Van Gogh is a Dutch painter |
| B．Gauguin didn’t use a machine gun to cut off Van Gogh’s ear |
| C．Theo is van Gogh’s brother |
| D．Van Gogh had slept for a long time after his ear was cut off |
| A．Van Gogh cut off his own ears. |
| B．It’s not possible Gauguin who cut off Van Gogh’s ear |
| C．Kaufmann and Wildegans wrote the book called In Van Gogh’s Ear |
| D．Van Gogh never dropped a hint about his ear |
| A．Gauguin wanted to kill him |
| B．He was lucky not to be killed by Gauguin |
| C．He hated Gauguin |
| D．He wanted to tell his brother it was who cut off his ear |
| A．Who cut off Van Gogh’s ear? |
| B．The introduction of Van Gogh |
| C．A new book titled In Van Gogh’s Ear |
| D．A Swordsman |
