1 . “WHAT IS CIVILIZATION?” asked Kenneth Clark 50 years ago in the seminal BBC series on the subject. “I don’t know, and I can’t define it in abstract terms, yet. But I think I can recognize it when I see it, and I’m looking at it now.” And he turned to gesture behind him, at the soaring Gothic towers and flying buttresses of Notre Dame.
It seems inhuman to care more about a building than about people. That the sight of Notre Dame going up in flames has attracted so much more attention than floods in southern Africa which killed over 1,000 arouses understandable feelings of guilt. Yet the widespread, intense grief at the sight of the cathedral’s collapsing steeple is in fact profoundly human—and in a particularly 21st-century way.
It is not just the economy that is global today, it is culture too. People wander the world in search not just of jobs and security but also of beauty and history. Familiarity breeds affection. A building on whose sunny steps you have rested, in front of which you have taken a selfie with your loved one, becomes a warm part of your memories and thus of yourself. That helps explain why China is in mourning—WeChat, young China’s principal means of talking to itself, has been throbbing with the story, and Xi Jinping, the country’s president, sent a message of condolence to Emmanuel Macron, his French counterpart—while India was largely indifferent. Tourism from India to the West is a trickle compared with the flood from China.
This visual age has endowed beauty with new power, and social media have turned great works of art into superstars. Only a few, though, have achieved this status. Just as there is only ever a handful of world-famous actors, so the pantheon of globally recognizable cultural symbols is tiny: the Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s David, the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid—and Notre Dame. Disaster, too, is visual. In the 24 hours after the fire started videos on social media of the burning cathedral were viewed nearly a quarter of a billion times.
Yet the emotions the sight aroused were less about the building itself than about what losing it might mean. Notre Dame is an expression of humanity at its collective best. Nobody could look up into that vaulted ceiling without wondering at the cumulative genius of the thousands of anonymous craftsmen who, over a century and a half, realized a vision so grand in its structural ambition and so delicate in its hand-chiselled detail. Its survival through 850 years of political turbulence—through war, revolution and Nazi occupation—binds the present to the past.
The fire also binds people to each other. The outpouring of emotion it has brought forth is proof that, despite the dark forces of division now abroad, we are all in it together. When nationalism is a rising threat, shared sadness makes borders suddenly irrelevant. When politics is polarized, a love of culture has the power to unite. When extremism divides Muslim from Christian and religious people from atheists, those of all faiths and none are mourning together. An edifice built for the glory of God also represents the unity of the human spirit.
And it will be rebuilt. The morning after the fire, the many Parisians who went to the cathedral to mourn its destruction found comfort instead. Although the spire is gone, the towers are still standing and it seems likely that the whole building can be revived. The effort to rebuild it, like the fire, will bring people together. Within 24 hours, €600m ($677m) had been raised from businesses and rich people, and a rash of crowdfunding campaigns started. A high-resolution laser scan of the building, carried out recently, should help.
It will never be the same, but that is as it should be. As Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a three-volume love-letter to the cathedral: “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries. Art is often transformed as it is being made…Time is the architect, the nation is the builder.”
1. What’s the writer’s attitude towards the fact that people care more about a building than floods in Africa?| A．indifferent | B．critical |
| C．confused | D．understandable |
| A．sympathy | B．compliment |
| C．gratitude | D．agreement |
| A．Because Indians care more about jobs and security. |
| B．Because Indians have no access to social media like WeChat. |
| C．Because Indians have less familiarity with Notre Dame. |
| D．Because Indians are not fond of travelling. |
| A．People are more sad about losing the building than about what losing it might mean. |
| B．Not only does Notre Dame bind the present to the past but also binds people to each other. |
| C．Owing to the big fire, people around the world will unite forever despite their differences. |
| D．Unrest existed in history for quite a long time and it still exists now. |
| A．the high-resolution laser scan of the building helps but far from enough |
| B．it’s impossible to replicate (复制) it for lack of the cumulative genius of craftsmen |
| C．dark forces, nationalism and extremism are barriers to replicating it |
| D．time has changed and the rebuilding will change accordingly |
| A．What is civilization? | B．Why do people care about Notre Dame? |
| C．What binds people together? | D．How should we rebuild Notre Dame? |
1. What is the distance between the woman’s house and the new supermarket?
| A．One block away. | B．Two blocks away. | C．Three blocks away. |
| A．Its goods are cheaper. | B．Its environment is nicer. | C．Its workers are friendlier. |
| A．A racing club. | B．A car exhibition. | C．A driving school. |
| A．Strange. | B．Common. | C．Challenging. |
1. What do we know about the man?
| A．He was questioned by the security men. |
| B．He flew back home in the next flight that day. |
| C．He was the last passenger who boarded the plane. |
| A．The Greek didn't board the plane as he lost his boarding pass. |
| B．189 people from 35 countries died in the Ethiopian air crash. |
| C．Many people suspected Boeing of being responsible for the crashes. |
| A．A Lucky Flight. | B．A Narrow Escape. | C．A Deadly Crash. |
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卷上相应题号的横线上。
A total of 604 people injured in a chemical plant explosion on March 21 in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province were still receiving medical care in nearby medical facilities, including 19 in critical condition and 98 seriously wounded. The fire quickly spread to 16 neighboring enterprises, with the latest death toll at 64.
At the same time, rescuers were busy inspecting chemical plants damaged in the explosion for possible poisonous substance leaks. Since the explosion, six rounds of search and rescue missions have been launched, and the search area has been expanded from 1.1 square kilometers to 2 sq km. More than 4,500 medical workers and 116 ambulances have so far participated in rescue work. The National Health Commission sent 16 leading experts to treat the injured. As of the noon of March 24, victims were being treated in 16 hospitals. Specialized treatment plans had been made for every patient. Psychologists have also been sent to help the recovery of the patients, their relatives and rescuers. Workers have been sent to comfort the families of the killed. The bodies will be treated according to ethnic and religious customs where applicable.
Sang Shulou, 36, discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment, with signs of obvious injury on his face, said that he was blessed to have survived the explosion that happened just 100 meters away from him. “I was driving a car passing the explosion site when the car was pushed away fiercely by the wave,” he said.
More than 1,600 homes near the explosion site have been repaired. Owners of homes beyond repair will receive compensation and assistance in moving to new homes.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, has set up a special investigation group to look into the explosion. The investigation would be thorough. It also severely criticized the local government and the company involved for their not learning lessons from previous environmental violations and failing to make effective corrections, Official records show that the concerned company had been punished several times before for taking advantage of safety loopholes and violating environmental protection regulations. Chenjiagang Chemical Park also experienced several similar safety accidents over the past few years.
| Outline | Information about a chemical plant explosion |
| Introduction | On March 21, a chemical plant |
| Rescue work | ※ Potential poisonous stuff release was being inspected. ※ Search area has been expanded. ※ For the treatment of the injured, sixteen experts from The National Health Commission were ※ Patients have also received ※ Comfort is provided for the families of the killed, whose bodies will be treated, (75) ※ Damaged houses have been mended. Those, whose houses are beyond repair, will be assisted and (76) |
| A (77) | Sang Shulou, released from hospital, expressed he was in luck to weather the disaster, in which his car shook due to a fierce explosion wave. |
| Investigation | ※ The accident will be (78) ※ Local government and the involved company has received severe criticism for (79) ※ Chenjiagang Chemical Park underwent considerable safety accidents alike. |
