1 . Women were less likely than men to support the Vietnam war, the Gulf war, or the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. They commit far fewer murders. They are less likely to favor strikes. For some scholars, these are grounds for thinking that a world run by women would be more peaceful.
But European history suggests otherwise, according to political scientists Oeindrila Dube and S. P. Harish. They studied how often European rulers went to war between 1480 and 1913, and found that states ruled by queens were 27% more likely to get involved in wars than those ruled by kings.
This was not all the queens’ fault: men, seeing them as soft targets, tended to attack them. Frederick the Great of Prussia once declared: ”No woman should ever be allowed to govern anything.“ Shortly after becoming king, he attacked the newly crowned Archduchess of Austria, Maria Theresa, and seized Silesia province. Despite years of war, she never recovered it.
But perceived weakness is not the whole story. Queens, the researchers found, were more likely to gain new territory. Catherine the Great expanded her empire by some 200,000 square miles. And married queens were more aggressive than single queens or kings, whether single or married.
The authors suggest several reasons for this. First, married queens may have been able to form more military alliances(联盟),making them confident enough to pick fights. Their husbands had often served in the army before they married, and were well placed to strengthen military ties between their homelands and their wives’ states.
Second, unlike most kings, queens often gave their husbands a lot of power,putting them in charge of foreign policy or the economy. During the 1740s, Maria Theresa’s husband, Francis I, reformed the Austrian economy and raised money for the armed forces while his wife ruled much of central Europe. Prince Albert was Queen Victoria’s most trusted adviser, shaping her foreign policy until his death in1861. This division of labor, the authors suggest, freed up time for queens to pursue more aggressive policies.
The modern era, too, has witnessed female leaders in wars: Golda Meir and the Yom Kippur war, or Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands. The number of countries led by women has more than doubled since 2000, but there is plenty of room for improvement: the current level of 15 represents less than 10 % of the total. A world in which more women took power might be more equal. Whether it would be more peaceful is a different question.
1. The underlined “perceived weakness” in paragraph 4 means that________.| A．women were less likely to support wars |
| B．women could not recover lost territory |
| C．women commit far fewer crimes |
| D．women were soft targets |
| A．Because their military alliances picked fights for them. |
| B．Because they were ambitious and aggressive by nature. |
| C．Because their husbands were supportive in state governing. |
| D．Because they centralized all power into their own hands. |
| A．To imply there is room for improvement in gender equality. |
| B．To indicate more females become leaders in modern times. |
| C．To illustrate female leaders cannot prevent wars in modern times. |
| D．To suggest female leaders have their share of wars in modern times. |
| A．married women are not fit to govern their states on their own |
| B．female leaders should be responsible for all wars throughout history |
| C．the world wouldn’t be more peaceful even if more women took power |
| D．the division of labor allows queens to survive economic crisis |
2 . Sometimes it’s hard to let go. For many British people, that can apply to institutions and objects that represent their country’s past-age-old castles, splendid homes… and red phone boxes.
Beaten first by the march of technology and lately by the terrible weather in junkyards (废品场), the phone boxes representative of an age are now making something of a comeback. Adapted in imaginative ways, many have reappeared on city streets and village greens housing tiny cafes, cellphone repair shops or even defibrillator machines (除颤器).
The original iron boxes with the round roofs first appeared in 1926. They were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect of the Battersea Power Station in London. After becoming an important part of many British streets, the phone boxes began disappearing in the 1980s, with the rise of the mobile phone sending most of them away to the junkyards.
About that time, Tony Inglis’ engineering and transport company got the job to remove phone boxes from the streets and sell them out. But Inglis ended up buying hundreds of them himself, with the idea of repairing and selling them. He said that he had heard the calls to preserve the boxes and had seen how some of them were listed as historic buildings.
As Inglis and, later other businessmen, got to work, repurposed phone boxes began reappearing in cities and villages as people found new uses for them. Today, they are once again a familiar sight, playing roles that are often just as important for the community as their original purpose.
In rural areas, where ambulances can take a relatively long time to arrive, the phone boxes have taken on a lifesaving role. Local organizations can adopt them for l pound, and install defibrillators to help in emergencies.
Others also looked at the phone boxes and saw business opportunities. LoveFone, a company that advocates repairing cellphones rather than abandoning them, opened a mini workshop in a London phone box in 2016.
The tiny shops made economic sense, according to Robert Kerr, a founder of LoveFone. He said that one of the boxes generated around $13,500 in revenue a month and cost only about $400 to rent.
Inglis said phone boxes called to mind an age when things were built to last. “I like what they are to people, and I enjoy bringing things back,” he said.
1. The phone boxes are making a comeback ______.| A．to form a beautiful sight of the city |
| B．to improve telecommunications services |
| C．to remind people of a historical period |
| D．to meet the requirement of green economy |
| A．They were not well-designed. | B．They provided bad services. |
| C．They had too short a history. | D．They lost to new technologies. |
| A．their new appearance and lower prices | B．the push of the local organizations |
| C．their changed roles and functions | D．the big funding of the businessmen |
The classical gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, date back to the 6th century
Built in the 11th century on the site of an
The classical gardens of Suzhou
Several large wooden constructions
First discovered in 1978,the site used
Researchers
Researchers believe
Columbus was born in a port city of Italy in 1451. As a teenager, he loved sailing and showed great interest in geography,
Columbus insisted on searching for a direct sea route to the East Indies
Between 1493 and 1504, Columbus found more land later. His major
6 . Tea is currently the world's most popular drink, only after water. However, there was a time when tea was known only to the Chinese.
While we know that tea drink started in China, its true origin remains something of a mystery. Legend has it that about 5,000 years ago, Shennong came across tea when dried leaves blew into a pot of boiling water. Following his discovery, tea was used as medicine, included in meals and later offered as a refreshing drink to officials and noblemen.
It is then not surprising that the beauty of tea was eventually revealed to a wider world.
| A．So, how did tea originate in China? |
| B．But how was tea introduced overseas? |
| C．Tea became the main theme in ancient poems, |
| D．The love of tea inspired many people to write about it, |
| E．Over time, the gift of tea was further delivered to Western Asia and Eastern Africa. |
| F．Eventually, it became a common drink enjoyed and embraced by all Chinese people. |
| G．Tang and Song Dynasties needed strong Tibetan horses, the Tea Horse Road was born. |
Chinese seal (印章) carving originated during the Shang Dynasty. In the beginning, the characters carved on seals were the same as
In ancient times, seals were regarded as
After the Qin Dynasty, materials for seals were
To protect this artistic treasure, Chinese seal carving
8 . The remains of a gold mask are among a huge quantity of 3,000-year-old artifacts (文物) found at an archaeological (考古的) site in China’s Sichuan province.
Weighing about 280 grams and estimated to be made from 84% gold, the ceremonial mask is one of over 500 items unearthed from six newly discovered “sacrificial pits” (祭祀坑), according to the country’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The finds were made at Sanxingdui, a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. Some experts say the items may shine further light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin before 316 BC.
In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists uncovered bronzes (青铜器) and artifacts made from other materials such as bone. The six pits also contained an as-yet-unopened wooden box and a bronze container with owl-shaped patterning.
More than 50,000 ancient artifacts have been found at Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when a local farmer accidentally came upon some remains at the site. A major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with the discovery of two ceremonial pits containing over 1,000 items, including delicate and well-preserved bronze masks. Discoveries made at the site date back to the 12th and 11th centuries BC.
Sanxingdui has completely revolutionized experts’ understanding of how civilization developed in ancient China. In particular, evidence of a unique Shu culture suggests that the kingdom developed independently of neighboring societies in the Yellow River Valley, which was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Chinese civilization.
Though not yet recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanxingdui is on the organization’s list for possible future inclusion. Along with other Shu archaeological sites, it is credited by the UN agency as “an outstanding representative of the Bronze Age Civilization of China, East Asia and even the world.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “shine further light on” in paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Make greater progress in. | B．Have a deeper influence on. |
| C．Provide more information about. | D．Engage more attention to. |
| A．It changes experts’ understanding of how Chinese civilization developed. |
| B．It confirms that the Shu Kingdom developed in the Yellow River Valley. |
| C．It implies that the Yellow River Valley is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. |
| D．It shows Sanxingdui symbolizes a fundamental change in Chinese society. |
| A．Sanxingdui’s history of discovery. | B．The world’s recognition of Sanxingdui. |
| C．The difficulty in discovering Sanxingdui. | D．The preservation of Sanxingdui’s remains. |
| A．Sanxingdui Accidentally Discovered by a Local Farmer |
| B．3,000-year-old Gold Mask Uncovered in Southwest China |
| C．Outstanding Representatives of the Bronze Age Kingdom |
| D．New Addition to the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites |
9 . Hand gestures (手势) have been commonly used in our daily communication. They add to the message by filling in what words sometimes leave behind. But are you somewhat aware of the history that goes behind some of these popular hand gestures?
◆Handshake
Whether you’re greeting someone for the first time, or successfully negotiating (商定) an agreement, shaking hands is usually the go-to gesture. Who decided on this customary gesture, anyway? The history of the handshake dates back to ancient Greece, showing that neither person was carrying a weapon.
◆Thumbs up and thumbs down
Maybe you’re familiar with the popular story of this hand gesture dating back to Roman times. When a gladiator (角斗士) lost, the crowd would either stick their thumbs out to have him killed or just not make any sign at all. The thumbs up decided the gladiator’s fate (命运) . After WWII, thumbs up only came to mean that things were going smoothly. And thumbs down meant the opposite.
◆High five
According to some sources, the high five first became popular when baseball players performed at Dodger Stadium on October 2, 1977. Glenn Burke, one of the capable players, lifted his am high above his head and slapped palms with his teammate Dusty Baker to celebrate a milestone home run, marking what is widely regarded as the first recorded example of a high five.
◆The fist bump
The fist bump comes from boxers in the 1970s after people began imitating how they touched gloves before a competition. Later, instead of shaking hands, first bumps became popular among basketball players. The gesture soon spread to all basketball lovers, and, before long, to the President of the United States.
1. What did “thumbs up” mean to a gladiator in Roman times?| A．Being cheered. | B．Being killed. | C．Being appreciated. | D．Being blamed. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．The history. | B．The future. | C．The power. | D．The importance. |
10 . According to conventional wisdom in the West, there was little formal law in China prior to the 20th century, and what did exist was completely penal (惩罚性的) in nature. In fact, this characterization wrongly states the law and legal institutions（法律制定）in pre-20th-century China.
Recent archaeological work suggests that law in China antedates (早于) the life and thought of the influential thinker Kongfuzi or Confucius(551-479 BCE). Yet Confucianism (儒家思想) is central to an understanding of pre-20th-century Chinese law. Confucianism held that the “five relationships”-those between ruler and subject, husband and wife, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend-are the foundation of a well-ordered society.
Confucians stressed that each individual should promote his inner virtue (de) and demonstrate filial piety (xiao), which enable him to maintain and strengthen these relationships and to properly meet the responsibilities that go with them, in Confucius’ words in the collection of sayings known as Lunyu,
If the people be led by laws...they will try to avoid punishment,
but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue...
they will have a sense of shame and moreover will become good.
The earliest imperial Chinese legal code (法典), that of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE), was made under Qin Shihuangdi, who was far more influenced by Legalism (法家思想), a philosophical school whose representative thinkers took human nature to be cruel. They believed accordingly that law would provide a more effective mechanism (机制) for social order than Confucian morality would. The Qin sought to destroy Confucianism-by burning texts and also scholars--but was unsuccessful. In fact, the Qin code reserved elements similar to Confucianism. The Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) filled the ranks of officialdom (官僚) with Confucian scholars and reconstructed and strengthened the five relationships. In a process that was called the “Confucianization of law,” the Han Code provided that offenses committed by juniors (e. g., sons) against their senior relations (e. g., fathers) should be punished more severely (严厉地) than the opposite, though according to Confucian thinking it would be better that morality should be observed and that no punishment need be invoked (援用).
1. What is mainly talked about in this passage?| A．The role of formal law in China before the 20th century. |
| B．The actual feature of Chinese law before the 20th century. |
| C．The difference between Confucianism and Legalism. |
| D．The history of Chinese law before the 20th century. |
| A．“Five relationships” are the most difficult to maintain. |
| B．A society should carry out both Confucianism and Legalism. |
| C．Virtue is central to the foundation of a well-ordered society. |
| D．Punishment will result in people’s sense of shame. |
| A．the content of the five relationships |
| B．people’s responsibilities |
| C．the ranks of officialdom |
| D．the understanding of human nature |
| A．Chinese law before the 20th century has a penal nature. |
| B．Confucianism plays a leading role in the pre-20th-century Chinese law |
| C．Everyone should develop his inner virtue and demonstrate filial piety. |
| D．A child offending his father should be punished more severely than the opposite. |
