1 . The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It was named after Alexandre Eiffel whose team of engineers designed it. It cost £260,000 to build in 1889 with most of the money being provided by Eiffel himself and the French state. The Eiffel Tower rises to a height of 985 feet and for over forty years it was the highest building in the world. The tower is largely composed of triangulated(三角形的)sections and this allowed the engineers to build the tower so high.
Originally looked upon as a short-lived building, the Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. It was the entrance gate to the World’s Fair and one of a number of designs entered as part of a competition. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel’s company won the competition, so the tower became known as the Eiffel Tower. However, it was Morris Koechlin, an employee of Eiffel, who designed the thousand - foot tower. And he also designed the structure(结构)for the Statue of Liberty.
The original idea was for the tower to be dismantled after a twenty-year period. However, it was so well built and engineered that it was decided to leave it in position. The various parts were so well engineered that not even one had to be returned to workshops.
After the first year of opening so much money had been raised from people visiting the tower that the cost of construction was covered. After that, Alexandre Eiffel became rich. Later on, he conducted experiments on the tower such as using it as an instrument for measuring air resistance and atmospheric pressure. In 1898 it was discovered that the tower could also be used as a great radio tower. Thus, the Eiffel Tower was saved.
1. What makes the high tower possible?A.Its structure. | B.Its position. | C.Its materials. | D.Its cost. |
A.To stand in Paris as a landmark. | B.To work as a great radio tower. |
C.To compare with the Statue of Liberty. | D.To serve as the gate of the World’s Fair. |
A.Set up. | B.Burnt down. | C.Taken apart. | D.Passed down. |
A.Eiffel Tower’s history. | B.Eiffel Tower’s designer. |
C.Alexandre Eiffel’s team. | D.Alexandre Eiffel’s success. |
Alice Thompson is a girl from Sydney, Australia. She had her first long
Why is the train
The tracks found at New Mexico’s White Sands National Park are turning upside down past assumptions on when humans first came into North and South America. They look like they were left behind just moments ago by a barefoot teen visitor to New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, each footprint freshly defined (描出外形) by sand. But this is no tourist track. These footprints are among the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas, marking the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that challenges when and how people first got into this unexplored land.
According to the research team, the footprints were pressed into the mua near an ancient lake at White Sands between 21, 000 and 23, 000 years ago, a time when many scientists think that huge ice sheets walled off human passage into North America.
Exactly when humans populated the Americas has been heatedly debated for nearly a century, and until recently, many scientists insisted that this first occurred no earlier than 13, 000 years ago. A growing number of discoveries suggest people were in North and South America thousands of years before. These include the Monte Verde site in Chile that is as old as 18, 500 years and the Gault site in Texas that is up to 20,000 years old. But each find kicks up a firestorm of controversy among scientists.
While the White Sands discovery doesn’t close the book on these debates, it is stirring excitement. “A discovery like this is very close to finding the Holy Grail (圣杯),” says Ciprian Ardelean, an archacologist at the Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico, where researchers believe they have evidence for human activity in the Americas as early as 30,000 years ago.
If confirmed, the discovery of people in the Americas during the last glacial maximum (末次盛冰期)would require a major change in scientifie thinking about how people arrived in the New Werld.
1. What is the previous conclusion on the first arrivals of Americas?A.Humans came into Americas about 23, 000 years ago. |
B.Humans first appeared in Americas to explore the land. |
C.Humans didn’t arrive in Americas until 13, 000 years ago. |
D.Humans couldn’t enter Americas because of White Sands. |
A.To add evidence. | B.To introduce the background. |
C.To give data. | D.To end the debate. |
A.Excitement. | B.Argument. | C.Disagreement. | D.Interest. |
A.Trustworthy. | B.Questionable. | C.Inspiring. | D.Disappointing. |
A.Humans populated the Americas for nearly one hundred years. |
B.The tracks were found at New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. |
C.The footprints are among the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas. |
D.Surprising footprints push back human arrival in Americas by thousands of years. |
4 . Lost cities that have been found
The White City
In 2015, a team of explorers to Honduras in search of"the Lost City of the Monke God"led to the discovery of the White City. They found the ruins in the Mosquitia region of the Central American country which is known for poisonous snakes, vicious jaguars and deadly insects. It is believed that local people hid here when the Spanish conquerors(征服者) occupied their homeland in the16th century.
Canopus and Heracleion
Modern researchers were teased by the ancient writings about the Egyptian cities Canopus and Heracleion- where Queen Cleopatra often visited. But the cities weren’t found until 1992, when a search in Alexandria waters found that the two cities had been flooded for centuries. Artifacts(史前器物) showed that the cities once highly developed as a trade network, which helped researchers piece together more about the last queen of Egypt.
Machu Picchu
A Yale professor discovered "the Lost City in the Clouds"in 1911. A combination of palaces, plazas, temples and homes, Machu Picchu displays the Inca Empire at the height of its rule. The city, which was abandoned in the 16th century for unknown reasons,was hidden by the local people from the Spanish conquerors for centuries keeping it so well preserved.
Troy
The ancient city of Troy in homer's The Iliad was considered a fictional setting for his characters to run wild. But in 1871, explorations in northwestern Turkey exposed nine ancient cities layered (层叠) on top of each other, the earliest dating back to about 5,000 years before. It was later determined that the sixth or seventh layer contained the lost city of Troy and that it was actually destroyed by an earthquake, not a wooden horse.
1. Why did people hide in the White City in the 16th century?A.To survive the war |
B.To search for a lost city. |
C.To protect their country. |
D.To avoid dangerous animals |
A.The White City |
B.Canopus and Heracleion |
C.Machu Picchu |
D.Troy |
A.It was built by Homer. |
B.It consisted of nine cities |
C.It had a history of 5,000 years |
D.It was ruined by a natural disaster. |
When
Around 4, 000 years ago in Babylon, the earliest
To this day, the traditions of the ancient Babylonians and Romans continue on around the world. Google launched a Resolution: Map in 2013,
Buried deep in the ruins of the Shang Dynasty,
A collection of archaeological evidence has confirmed the
Nevertheless, the rhino was no longer wandering in the region after the Han Dynasty. One explanation is that it was the colder climate of Northeast Asia that saw the creature
Armor was originally made of bamboo but the material possessed limited
Cholera used to be one of the most feared diseases in the world. In the early 19th century, when cholera
1. Where is the line painted on ships?
A.At the bottom. | B.At the top. | C.On the side. |
A.Britain. | B.France. | C.Venice. |
A.In the 12th century. | B.In the 19th century. | C.In the 20th century. |
9 . Have you ever wondered why people drive on a different side of the road? It might seem bizarre that U. K. Drivers stay on the left, but they’re not the only ones. Around 35 percent of the world population do the same, including people in Ireland, Japan, and some Caribbean islands.
Originally, almost everybody traveled on the left side of the road. However their way of transport was quite different from today: Think about four legs instead of four wheels. For Medieval swordsmen on horseback, it made sense to keep to the left to have their right arms closer to their enemies. Getting on or off was also easier from the left side of the horse, and safer done by the side of the road than in the center.
So why did people stop traveling on the left? Things changed in the late 1700s when large wagons (货车) pulled by several pairs of horses were used to transport farm products in France and the United States. The wagon driver sat behind the left horse, with his right arm free to use his whip to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left position, he wanted other wagons to pass on his left, so he kept to the right side of the road.
The British Government refused to give up their left-hand driving ways, and in 1773 introduced the General Highways Act, which encouraged driving on the left. This was later made law thanks to The Highway Act of 1835.
When Henry Ford showed his Model T in 1908, the driver’s seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the roadside. However, British drivers remain on the left, and this is highly unlikely to change.
1. What does the underlined word “bizarre” in Paragraph 1 mean?A.Funny. | B.Strange. |
C.Wrong. | D.Difficult |
A.It was safer to keep on the left |
B.It was easier to carry goods. |
C.It was easier for them to fight. |
D.It was necessary to control the horse. |
A.Their sitting position. |
B.The road conditions. |
C.The number of horses. |
D.The products in the wagons. |
A.UK Drivers Still Go On The Left |
B.Why People Like Sitting On The Left Side |
C.The History Of Transportation Means |
D.The Reasons For Different Driving Sides |
It is hard to give Western art a precise