Today, pork is the No. 1 meat product in China, which even
However, before the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), it was
The turning point for pork came in the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) when
When people think of China, silk is among the first things that pop into their mind. The best place in China
Silk is a natural protein fiber. The protein fiber of silk consists mainly of fibroin,
Chinese legend gives the title Goddess of Silk to Leizu, wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor in about 3000 BC. She
Silk is the symbol of
1. When did people first celebrate books?
| A．In 1922. | B．In 1926. | C．In 1930. |
| A．Once a month. | B．Once a year. | C．Once every two years. |
| A．Alexandria. | B．New Delhi. | C．Madrid. |
4 . While many of us might long to just sleep through this entire winter, humans, unlike a lot of other mammals - don’t have the capacity to hibernate (冬眠). But researchers think they have found some tell-tale marks on the fossils, which suggests that early humans may have survived the harsh winter by hibernating.
Bears have specialized metabolic (新陈代谢的) processes to protect them from this extended sleep, but sometimes this process doesn’t quite go to plan. For example, hibernators can end up with a host of diseases after hibernation if they don’t get enough food reserves before they go down for the winter. The researchers believe this may have been the circumstance of some human ancestors whose remains with deep cracks in bones were discovered in a Spanish cave called Sima de los Huesos. This deep hole is home to an incredible number of fossils, with archaeologists having discovered thousands of early humans’ skeletal remains that are around 430,000 years old and probably the ancestors of the Sima people or others.
In a paper published in L’Anthropologie, two experts argue that the fossils found in Sima de los Huesos show seasonal variations that suggest that bone growth got interrupted for several months of each year. They suggest these early humans found themselves being in metabolic states that helped them to survive for long periods of time in extremely cold conditions with limited stores of body fat.
The researchers admit the idea “may sound like science fiction”, but they point out that many mammals including primates (灵长类动物) do this. “This suggests that the genetic basis and physiology for such slow metabolism could be preserved in many mammalian species including humans," state Arsuaga and Bartsiokas.
However, Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London pointed out that large mammals such as bears do not actually hibernate, because their large bodies cannot lower their core temperature enough. Instead, they enter a less deep sleep known as torpor. In such a condition, the energy demands of the human-sized brains of the Sima people would have remained very large, creating an additional survival problem for them during torpor.
1. Why does the author mention the example in Paragraph 2?| A．To explain the special ability of bears. | B．To provide the background to the research. |
| C．To show the basis of researchers’ evaluation. | D．To discuss a new cause of hibernating disease. |
| A．They were badly preserved with deep cracks. |
| B．Their growth discontinued temporarily for some reason. |
| C．Their appearances varied from individual to individual. |
| D．They showed signs of people living in comfort in the past. |
| A．It’s quite possible. | B．It merely appears in science fiction. |
| C．It’s an exception to human genetics. | D．It solved the mystery of humans’ evolution in Europe. |
| A．They might have developed smaller brains. |
| B．Their daily sleep quality might become poor. |
| C．Their body temperature might increase rapidly. |
| D．They might suffer from life-threatening starvation. |
Biang Biang noodles, originated in Shaanxi Province, are well known for its traditional flavor and a funny name and interesting story.
The Chinese character for Biang is one of the most complex in the Chinese language,
Unlike other noodles that are named after how they’re made like pulled noodles, story has it that the name dates back to the Qing Dynasty. The noodles had already existed for long but didn’t have a nice name. One day, a hungry scholar, living a poor life, tried his luck for a free meal.
After
Despite the fact that the scholar just wanted to give the noodle shop owner his money’s worth, the name he created was
6 . Geography plays a critical role in shaping civilizations, and this is particularly true of ancient Greece.
The Greek peninsula (半岛)has two distinctive geographic features that influenced the development of Greek society. First, Greece has easy access to water. This easy access to water meant that the Greek people might naturally become explorers and traders. Second, Greece’s mountainous geography led to the development of the city-state. The high mountain s made it very difficult for people to travel or communicate. Therefore, each city-state developed independently and, often, very differently from one another. Athens and Sparta are two good examples of city-states that contrasted greatly with each other.
The city-state of Athens was the birthplace of many significant ideas. Ancient Athenians were a thoughtful people who enjoyed the systematic study of subjects such as science, philosophy, and history, to name a few. Athenians placed a heavy emphasis on the arts, architecture, and literature. Athenians also enjoyed a democratic(民主的)form of government in which some of the people shared power.
Life in Sparta was vastly different from life in Athens. The rulers requested citizens to become hardened soldiers so that they could fight off potential enemies or slave revolts(奴隶起义). By age seven，Spartan boys were taken from their families and underwent severe military training. Boys lived away from their families until the age of 30 even after they more married. Men were expected to be ready to serve in the army until they were 60 years old. The devotion of Spartans to developing a military state left litte time for the arts or literature.
The differences between Athens and Sparta eventually led to war between the two city-states. Sparta and Athens fought on and off for decades because no single city-state was strong enough to defeat the other.
With war came death and misfortune. But war cannot kill ideas. Despite the eventual submission of Athens, Athenian thought spread throughout the region. After temporary setbacks. these ideas only became more widely accepted and developed with the passing centuries.
1. How did geography affect ancient Greece?| A．Access to water led to independent cities. |
| B．The mountains led to distinctive city-states. |
| C．The mountains facilitated natural exploration. |
| D．Access to water allowed cities to communicate easily. |
| A．A people ready to fight. | B．A commitment to the arts. |
| C．A ruler exercising political power. | D．An emphasis on the beauty of the city. |
| A．Strict and violent. | B．Calm and peaceful. |
| C．Intellectual and educated. | D．Chaotic and uncontrollable. |
| A．Athenians lost the war and their culture. |
| B．Spartans achieved victory in an injustice manner. |
| C．Athenians failed militarily but their ideas spread. |
| D．Spartans won and forced Athenians into slavery |
1. What is the speaker mainly talking about?
| A．Cooling fans. | B．Air conditioning. | C．Room design. |
| A．Egypt. | B．Rome. | C．China. |
| A．Wet plants. | B．Cold water. | C．Hand fans. |
| A．A radio programme. | B．A culture magazine. | C．A history book. |
Chinese drinking vessels (器皿) have kept evolving throughout the dynasties of China,
In Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, ancient China established itself a complete ceremony system.
Drinking wine was
Jingdezhen ceramics in Jiangxi Province
9 . In ancient Maya civilization, cacao — which chocolate is made from — wasn’t just for the elites (精英). Traces of the sacred plant show up in antiques from all types of neighborhoods and in and around a former Maya city, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding suggests that, contrary to previous thinking, cacao was consumed at every social level of Maya society.
“Now we know that the ceremonies with cacao were likely played out by everyone,” says AnabelFord, an archaeologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Cacao was sacred to the ancient Maya, consumed in ceremonies and used as a currency. The cacao tree itself was linked to Hun Hunahpu, a Mayan god. Previous research found cacao in burials (墓地), suggesting that its use was restricted to those at the top.
To explore the extent to which cacao was used in broader Maya society, Ford and colleagues examined 54 antiques dating from A. D. 600 to 900. The antiques come from jars, mixing bowls, serving plates and vases thought to be drinking vessels. All the pieces were found in residential and ceremonial civic areas of varying size and status from city centers, foothills, upland areas and the valley around the former Maya city of El Pilar, on the present-day border of Guatemala and Belize.
To identify cacao, the researchers searched for theophylline, a compound found in trace amounts in the plant. The team found the compound on more than half of the samples, on all types of antiques and distributed throughout social contexts.
Future research will move beyond who consumed cacao and explore the role of farmers in managing the critical resource. “A better question is to understand who grew it,” Ford says, because those people probably had greater access to the valuable commodity.
1. What do traces of cacao found in Mayan antiques indicate?| A．Cacao was once unique to Maya society. |
| B．Cacao was only available to wealthy Mayan people. |
| C．Cacao was accessible to Mayan ordinary people. |
| D．Cacao left more traces in the Mayan city center. |
| A．There is no need to do further research on cacao. |
| B．Mayan people liked eating chocolate very much. |
| C．Mayan festivals were the same as those of the modern times. |
| D．There were some limitations in previous research about cacao. |
| A．To make copies of Mayan antiques. |
| B．To learn about the Mayan eating habits. |
| C．To find out cacao’s relationship with the religion. |
| D．To know about Mayan social groups of cacao use. |
| A．The varieties of cacao. | B．Ways cacao was spread out. |
| C．Cacao tree growers. | D．The cacao’s value. |
10 . The United Kingdom is hosting the AI Safety Summit, bringing politicians, computer scientists and big AI company leaders to a site chosen for its symbolism: Bletchley Park, the birthplace of computing and code-breaking (密码破译).
During World War II, a group of mathematicians, chess masters and other experts gathered at the Victorian country house 72 kilometers northwest of London to start a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal was to break a set of constantly changing codes produced by Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine. To do it, Bletchley Park’s wartime scientists — building on work done by Polish code-breakers — developed Colossus, the first programmable digital computer. Some historians say cracking the code helped shorten the war by up to two years.
“It has oversimplified its true contribution by describing Bletchley Park as a playground for Turing and other scientists.” said historian Chris Smith, author of The Hidden History of Bletchley Park. “Although it fits into the romantic idea that a group of smart men with a bit of wool and some yards of wire can win the war. In fact, almost 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park during the war. Three quarters of them were women. It’s basically a factory... Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. When peace came, the code-breakers returned to civilian life and promised to keep secret about their wartime work. It was not until the 1970s that the work at Bletchley Park became widely known in Britain.”
In 1994, the site opened as a museum, after local historians banded together to prevent it from being pulled down to build a supermarket. It was restored to its 1940s appearance, complete with old typewriters, phones and cups—including the one tied to a heater in Hut 8, where Turing led the Enigma team.
1. What can we learn about Colossus?| A．It was invented by Nazi Germany. |
| B．It was designed to send secret messages. |
| C．Polish code-breakers also made a contribution to it. |
| D．The project’s goal was to produce the first computer. |
| A．Women’s hard work was overlooked. | B．The secret should not be kept for so long. |
| C．The computer ought to be more powerful. | D．It is silly to say the machine shortened the war. |
| A．To highlight the government’s support. | B．To show the perfect restoration of the site. |
| C．To stress Turing’s important role in the project. | D．To tell the difficulty in collecting the lost items. |
| A．To advocate women’s equal rights with men. |
| B．To advertise a newly restored computer museum. |
| C．To show the significance of an important meeting. |
| D．To add some background to the AI safety meeting. |
