At the beginning, written Chinese was a picture-
In ancient times, silk from China found its way overland to India, the Middle East and Rome, along what became known as the Silk Road. A trading route across the sea was also
Later, the Ming Dynasty further
3 . Macaques don’t use the sharp flakes they create for anything, Luncz adds, noting that the monkeys have sharp teeth and don’t need cutting tools. The similar ancient stone tools collected from some of the earliest known sites, however, show evidence of being used for cutting tasks. For example, in Oldowan, a site dating between 3.3 million and 1.5 million years ago, researchers analyzed use-wear patterns on the tools and found that some of the flakes showed damage along their edges, indicating that they had been used for cutting. Cut marks on some fossils revealed that hominins had used stone tools for butchering the animals, making it clear that the sharp stone tools were anything but unintentional by-products of other pounding activities.
Why does the author mention the Oldowan site in paragraph 3?A.To provide specific proof. | B.To clarify a complex concept. |
C.To present an interesting fact. | D.To make a detailed comparison. |
4 . Remote controls are one of the most common symbols of our modern technologies. In fact, remote controls are an invention born in the 1800s. Famous inventor Nikola Tesla created one of the world’s first wireless remote controls, which he exhibited in public at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1898.
Tesla called his system a “teleautomaton”, which could be used to control a mechanical device. For his demonstration, Tesla employed a minitype boat, which had a metal air wire that could receive exactly one radio frequency. He showed how his remote-controlled boat worked and whole process attracted many people. However, financially, Tesla’s remote-controlled boat was a failure. His intended client, the U.S. Navy, thought the technology was too easily damaged during use. But the concept of remote control caught on and quickly spread to many other types of equipment.
In the 1930s and 1940s, a new consumer electronics, such as garage door openers and model airplanes, arrived with remote controls. In the mid-1950s, Zenith engineer Eugene Polley designed his Flashmatic TV remote control, which used directional flashes of light to control the television. In 1956, Polley’s colleague, Robert Adler, created the Space Command control, which employed high-frequency, ultrasonic (超声的) sounds instead of light. This style of remote control increased the price of a new TV by a third, but that didn’t stop people from buying in mass quantities. Remote controls kept evolving, too. Ultrasonic sound remote controls were the standard for TVs until the 1980s, when remote controls began using the infrared (红外线) light signals that are very common today.
These days, you can find remote control capability built into a huge array of products such as toy cars and helicopters, video game consoles (控制台), ceiling fans, etc. There’s a good chance you can find a version that’s controlled by remote control. You can even buy a remote-controlled toilet.
Remote controls have allowed humans to perform many tasks that would be difficult, if not impossible. And although remote controls have a long history, they are anything but over. As we continue to introduce technology to every aspect of our lives, it’s very likely that we’ll need remote controls to keep things under control.
1. What made the U.S. Navy think poorly of Tesla’s remote-controlled boat?A.Its high cost. |
B.Its unsatisfactory quality. |
C.Its damage to people’s health. |
D.Its inaccuracy in sending signals. |
A.Directional flashes of light. | B.Infrared light signals. |
C.Various metal air wires. | D.High-frequency, ultrasonic sounds. |
A.To advertise some modern inventions. |
B.To prove the rapid evolution of kids’ toy. |
C.To show the wide application of remote controls. |
D.To show the principle of some high-tech products. |
A.Human are too dependent on technology. |
B.Remote controls are necessary in our life |
C.Humans are trying to keep everything under control. |
D.Remote controls will probably fade away in the future. |
A.The history of remote controls. |
B.The developments of our modern technologies. |
C.The achievements of some great inventors. |
D.The popularity of remote controls in our daily life. |
5 . There are many interesting stories about Chinese fans in historical records, novels, and legends.
The reason why fans evolved into artwork was largely related to men of letters, who liked to paint or write poetry on fans, and gave them to their friends as gifts.
It has been popular to draw fans or write poems about fans, and paint or write on paper fans. There is a story about Wang Xizhi, known for his Chinese calligraphy. Wang once saw an elderly lady selling fans. The business was not so good. She looked very upset, so Wang decided to help her.
It has been popular to paint on fans since Tang Dynasty. Artwork on fans is also a unique type of Chinese painting. As space is limited, the painters pay close attention to the composition on the half-circle fan.
For thousands of years, Chinese people never stopped innovating fan design, and adopted different materials such as bamboo, paper, bones. They made fans of many shapes, such as circular and square shapes.
A.They asked for better decoration of fans. |
B.Feather fans are famous due to Zhuge Liang. |
C.Wang taught the old woman to draw on fans. |
D.In ancient times, fans served as the symbol of social classes. |
E.Some famous ones are the feather fan held by Zhuge Liang. |
F.He wrote a few characters on each fan and told her to raise the price. |
G.So the creation of imagery or scenery requires extra skill and accuracy. |
6 . Lisa St. Coeur Cormier, a high school science teacher in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, found a tree root. When she took a closer look, she found the shape was very strange. She realized it wasn’t a tree root though it shared the same color. She felt it was hard to break and noticed an impression of bones of what looked like some kind of animal.
Cormier sent a photo of the find to Laura MacNeil who used her knowledge in this field to confirm that what Cormier had seen really was a fossil (化石). MacNeil runs tours of sites where prehistoric fossils have been found and also helps people identify fossils. She visited the site of Cormier’s find to take more photos of it.
MacNeil contacted John Calder, a scientist, who examined the fossil and led a team of scientists to study it. John Calder said it could be as much as 300 million years old. He said it’s probably from a reptile (爬行动物) of some kind — likely one that is unknown to scientists. Scientists spent 5.5 hours carefully digging out the fossil from the ground so they could study it more in-depth and find out exactly what kind of animal it is. That research could take a year or more.
“This is an important discovery here on Prince Edward Island. It is the second of the only two articulated skeletons (关节相连的骨头) found on PEI,” Laura MacNeil said. “This creature lived about 300 million years ago. This find tells us there is a great possibility for future scientifically important fossils that could be discovered on PEI. It will lead to more researchers paying a visit.”
1. How might Cormier feel when looking at the root carefully?A.Satisfied. | B.Surprised. | C.Concerned. | D.Proud. |
A.The scientists will have a detailed study on the fossil. |
B.The scientists have identified the species of the fossil. |
C.The scientists will keep the fossil under the ground. |
D.The scientists discovered the first articulated skeleton. |
A.Its long history. | B.Its wide popularity. |
C.Its scientific value. | D.Its economic importance. |
A.A scientist’s research on fossils | B.PEI is attracting more researchers |
C.Cormier’s unforgettable tour in PEI | D.A science teacher discovered a fossil |
The Chinese couplet (对联) refers to two poetic lines obeying certain rules, often
As a form of Chinese literature, the couplet
Chinese couplets originated in the Five Dynasties, and since then they
It was said that the
The couplet has two equal-length lines. However,
8 . 听下面一段较长对话,回答以下小题。
1. How old are the paintings?A.About 500 years old. | B.About 1,000 years old. | C.About 17,000 years old. |
A.A professor. | B.A tour guide. | C.A painter. |
A.In a cave. | B.In a hotel. | C.In a college. |
There was a state
But the king didn’t agree with him. “I think we should treat the prisoners of war
Then another one said, “Your majesty, I think all the prisoners should be set free and sent back home to work in the fields and support
The king thought the official’s proposal was quite reasonable so he accepted and followed it. As a result,
Among the many arts in China are the performing arts. Like paintings, sculptures, carvings and other physical arts, the performing arts in China have a long history. The performing arts range from martial arts like kung fu
The performing arts in China date back to ancient times
The performing arts
Chinese art has