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
In much of Asia, especially the so-called “rice bowl” cultures of China, Japan, Korea,
Chopsticks are usually two long, thin pieces of wood or bamboo. They can also be made of plastic, animal bone or metal. Sometimes chopsticks are quite artistic. Truly elegant chopsticks might
The Chinese have used chopsticks for five thousand years. People probably cooked their food in large pots,
Food in small pieces could be eaten easily with twigs which
Some people think that the great Chinese scholar Confucius,
Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, for example, most people traditionally eat
3 . Icehouse and ice ticket
As early as Pre-Qin Dynasty, people used natural ice to keep food fresh and make cold drinks. The Zhou royal court had a specialized department called “ice administration”. They collected natural ice blocks each December to store in the icehouse. During the Qing Dynasty, “ice tickets” were used and they were available only to officials and the rich.
Ice container
The most commonly used cooling tool is called “Jian”, which is a big container filled with ice. It was made of clay in early Chinese history, and was later made of copper (铜). The “Jian” can be seen as an ancient refrigerator, which can be used to make cold drinks.
Hiding food in the well
During the Qin and Han dynasties, for common people, the most common way to cool off is by using their wells. Some families put a pot in the well as a cold closet, or put food in a basket and lowered the basket into the well with a rope.
Herbal drinks
During the Qing Dynasty, taking Chinese herbal medicine was popular in Beijing. In hot summer, some people preferred to drink ice water, some boiled perilla leaves, and liquorice as summer soup to keep off the heat. Ancient people also loved to make lotus seed soup in summer for the benefit of strengthening the body.
1. What does “Jian” have the same function as?| A．Container. | B．Refrigerator. | C．Clay. | D．Copper. |
| A．Ice tickets. | B．Ice container. | C．Hiding food in the well. | D．Herbal drinks. |
| A．To strengthen the body. | B．To keep food fresh. |
| C．To escape the summer heat. | D．To make cold drinks. |
Two young Chinese athletes placed a torch in the center of a giant snowflake during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. One of the two athletes, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, was born in the Altay Prefecture,
In earlier times, artifacts from Scandinavian and Russian archaeology proved the
After Beijing’s successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, experts from 18 countries including Norway and Russia paid a visit to Altay to study the “potential origin of human skiing activity, ” after
Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage,
Covering an area of 190,000 square meters, the Cottage is the biggest, best preserved and
Chinese critics from the Song Dynasty referred to Du Fu
6 . New research into a little-known text written in ancient Greek shows that “stressed poetry”, the ancestor of all modern poetry and song, was already in use in the 2nd century CE, 300 years earlier than previously thought. It has been found sculpted on twenty precious stones and as a graffito (雕画) in Cartagena, Spain.
In its shortest version, the nameless four-line poem reads “They say what they like; let them say it; I dont care.” Other versions extend with “Go on, love me; it does you good.” The poem, unparalleled (绝无仅有的) so far in the classical world, consists of lines of 4 syllables (音节), with a strong accent on the first and a weaker on the third. This allows it to come into the rhythms of numerous pop and rock songs. So it became popular across the eastern Roman Empire and survives.
By comparing all of the known examples for the first time, Cambridges Professor Tim Whitmarsh noticed that the poem used a different form of rhythm to that usually found in ancient Greek poetry. As well as showing signs of the long and short syllables characteristic of traditional “quantitative” poem, this text employed stressed and unstressed syllables. The new study, published in The Cambridge Classical Journal, also suggests that this poem could represent a “missing link” between the lost world of ancient Mediterranean oral poetry and song, and the more modern forms that we know today. A lot of popular poetry in ancient Greek takes a similar form to traditional high poetics. This poem, on the other hand, points to a distinct and rich culture, primarily oral.
1. Where was the “stressed poetry” discovered?| A．In Greece. | B．In Spain. |
| C．In Britain. | D．In Mediterranean. |
| A．A syllable. | B．A strong accent. |
| C．The four-line poem. | D．The content of the poem. |
| A．A missing link between poems was found finally. |
| B．A lot of popular poetry in ancient Greek was then popular in the world. |
| C．The stressed and unstressed syllables distinguished the poem from others. |
| D．The ancient Mediterranean oral poetry and song was older than the poem. |
| A．Ancient Greek “pop culture” discovery rewrites the history of poetry and song |
| B．The unparalleled poem made ancient Greek culture more attractive |
| C．Ancient Greek poetry lay the foundation of modern culture |
| D．Four syllables are still popular in modern poetry and song |
Mary likes Chinese cultural relics (文化遗产) very much. She spends most of her spare time
8 . Considered a symbol( 象征) of ancient Chinese
No one can tell for sure when the building of the Great Wall was
Today the Great Wall has become a
| A．organization | B．civilization | C．destinations | D．graduation |
| A．wonders | B．sources | C．paths | D．honors |
| A．wall | B．cock | C．dragon | D．panda |
| A．under | B．before | C．about | D．through |
| A．height | B．width | C．length | D．depth |
| A．registered | B．designed | C．applied | D．started |
| A．protect | B．debate | C．frighten | D．compete |
| A．city | B．empire | C．castle | D．system |
| A．cleaned | B．signed | C．made | D．joined |
| A．goal | B．type | C．role | D．power |
| A．challenging | B．amazing | C．confusing | D．outgoing |
| A．heart | B．mistake | C．hand | D．foot |
| A．transported | B．buried | C．attracted | D．delivered |
| A．traps | B．shelters | C．failure | D．ruins |
| A．must-see | B．must-do | C．must- have | D．must-read |
9 . The concept of planning entire communities before their construction is an ancient one. In fact, one of the earliest such cities on record is Miletus, Greece, which was built in the 4th century BC. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance various planned communities (both theoretical and actual) were conceived (构思). Leonardo da Vinci designed several cities that were never constructed. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, the architect Christopher Wren created a new master plan for the city, combining park land and urban space. Several 18th century cities, including Washington D.C., New York City, and St Petersburg, Russia, were built according to comprehensive planning.
One of the most important planned city concepts, the Garden City Movement, arose in the latter part of the 19th century as a reaction to the pollution and crowding of the Industrial Revolution. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard published the book To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path for Real Reform in which he laid out his ideas concerning the creation of new economically sustainable towns. Howard believed that these towns should be limited in size and density, and surrounded with a belt of undeveloped land. The idea gained enough attention and financial backing to lead to the creation of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England. This was the first such 'Garden City'. After the First World War, the second town built following Howard's ideas, Welwvn Garden City, was constructed.
In the early 1920s, American architects Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, inspired by Howard's ideas and the success of Letchworth and Welwyn, created the city of Radbum, New Jersey. Conceived as a community which would be safe for children, Radbum was intentionally designed so that the residents would not require automobiles. Several urban planning designs were pioneered at Radbum that would influence later planned communities, including the separation of pedestrians and vehicles, and the use of 'superblocks', each of which shared 23 acres of commonly held parkland.
In America, following the stock market crash of 1929, there was great demand for both affordable housing and employment for workers who had lost their jobs. In direct response to this, in 1935 President Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration, which brought about a total of three greenbelt towns: Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin. These towns contained many of the elements of the Garden City Movement developments, including the use of superblocks and a 'green belt' of undeveloped land surrounding the community.
1. The first paragraph talks mainly about ________.| A．famous urban planners | B．the history of urban planning |
| C．the future examples of urban planning | D．problem associated with urban planning |
| A．It came just before the Industrial Revolution. |
| B．It was held back by a war and a lack of funds. |
| C．It resulted in cities that were larger than they had been before. |
| D．It was designed to address problems caused by modernization. |
| A．To reduce the danger for families living in the area. |
| B．To create something totally different from cities elsewhere. |
| C．To make sure people could park their cars close to their home. |
| D．To increase green spaces by designing houses with gardens. |
| A．Their residents were affected by the stock market collapse. |
| B．They were built for the wealthiest people in America. |
| C．They were each surrounded by natural parkland. |
| D．They were all constructed in the same year. |
Clowns (小丑)are almost everywhere in popular culture. But what they represent
Clowns began appearing in
Clowns became popular in the US in the 1960s. A happy clown
However, the image of a happy clown is largely an American creation. In other cultures, the clown character is not
Of course, there are different voices. Some people think clowns are positive, creative and imaginative. They bring people
