1 . On 15th June 1996, a huge bomb in Manchester, in the north-west of England, destroyed the city centre, causing nearly a billion pounds’ worth of damage. The bomb, which had been planted by a terrorist group called the IRA, injured over 200 people but remarkably killed no one as police had evacuated the area following a warning from the IRA.
Manchester had already undergone some changes as it recovered from the economic depression of the early 1990s that had destroyed much of its industry and created large-scale unemployment. It had won the right to host the Commonwealth Games (a large sporting event) and redeveloped some deserted areas through the building of the National Velodrome, an exhibition centre and an award-winning concert hall. However, at the time of the bombing, the city centre was still badly neglected — dominated by the Arndale Shopping Centre (once described as looking like an enormous public toilet) and squares that were run-down and affected by drug addiction. So, dreadful though the bombing was, it actually provided an opportunity to start again that might not have happened otherwise.
Within weeks of the explosion, the government had set up a public-private company to manage the recovery and launched an international competition to design the redevelopment. The winning plan involved restoring the historic buildings that had been damaged, tearing down and rebuilding some of the ugly buildings, creating new public spaces and improving life for pedestrians. Alongside this, the government reduced traffic in the centre by changing the direction of some main roads and developed an integrated public transport system, making access to the centre easier. Since these improvements, the city has attempted to boost tourism by using some of the city’s historical sites for major public events and by creating the Urbis building, which now houses the National Museum of Football. In turn, these changes have been key in attracting new investors, such as the Qatari royal family who own Manchester City Football Club.
Since 1996, the Manchester economy has grown in all areas. However, there are some concerns that inequality has also increased. Nor are all the new spaces appreciated. One new garden square designed by an international architect was rated as the worst attraction in the city. Others argue that in changing market stalls and industry for luxury consumption and glass buildings, the city has lost some of its soul.
1. What does the word “evacuate” (paragraph 1)most probably mean?| A．Looking for something in a place. | B．Estimate the losses in a ruined place. |
| C．Remove people from a place of danger. | D．Determine a numerical value of a place. |
| A．It presented an unexpected opportunity for Manchester. |
| B．It destroyed the city centre that used to be busy and crowded. |
| C．It resulted in a lot of people getting hurt or killed in Manchester. |
| D．It cost Manchester its chance to host the Commonwealth Games. |
| A．It set up Manchester City Football Club. |
| B．It organised an international competition to attract new investors. |
| C．It tore down some historical sites to make room for public events. |
| D．It developed a public traffic system to make the city center more accessible. |
| A．Damage Manchester suffered due to the IRA bombing. |
| B．The IRA bombing in Manchester and its consequences. |
| C．Challenges related to the redevelopment of Manchester. |
| D．The long-term effects of the changes made in Manchester. |
2 . The big screen is never short of films about World WarⅡ. When Nazi Germany is featured in these films, cruel Nazi officers and brutal concentration camps most often represent it. But the new Hollywood movie Valkyrie tells a different story, “a chapter of German history which is little known abroad”, according to the German Cultural Minister Bernd Neumann.
Valkyrie is based on a true incident that took place in 1944. Colonel(陆军上校) Stauffenberg had been a loyal soldier for his entire military career. However, after losing an eye, a hand, and three fingers in an Allied bombing, he reached breaking point. The destruction that his country had brought to its European neighbors had become too terrible for the colonel to bear in silence. He hoped that someone would find a way to stop Adolf Hitler, one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known. Realizing that time was running out, he decided that he must take action himself and joined the German resistance. These men drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plot to assassinate Hitler and to overthrow his Nazi government from the inside. This plot is what the film is named after and focuses on.
The Hollywood star Tom Cruise plays the lead role. “This was a very challenging film to make. We carried a huge responsibility to correctly portray history,” Cruise said.
However, the production has drawn criticism for lacking depth and for simplifying the motives behind the plot.
1. The passage tells us that Valkyrie is _____.| A．a story written by Bernd Neuman |
| B．a chapter in a German history book |
| C．a movie about Nazi concentration camps |
| D．a movie about a plan to assassinate Hitler |
| A．He narrowly escaped being killed. |
| B．He couldn’t reach out his arm for anything. |
| C．He was rewarded for his brave attempts. |
| D．He decided to make a historic change in life. |
| A．Because he never acted in such kind of film before. |
| B．Because he knew little about this episode of history. |
| C．Because he felt it a heavy task to present the real history. |
| D．Because he was afraid that the film might draw criticism. |
| A．the reason why the film is named after Valkyrie |
| B．the comments from the movie critics on Valkyrie |
| C．the praises from audience after watching Valkyrie |
| D．the importance of the role Cruise plays in Valkyrie |
Elon Musk Tweets an Ancient Chinese Poem. Here’s What It Means.
The world’s richest man caught up in Twitter spats (小争吵), now wants some peace. In a Monday tweet, Elon Musk wrote “humankined,” followed by the Chinese poem The Quatrain of Seven Steps, a widely known classical poem used
Beans a simmer on a beanstalk flame
From inside the pot expressed their ire:
“Alive we sprouted on a single root — What’s your rush to cook us on the fire?”
The verses were attributed to Cao Zhi, the son of famous warlord Cao Cao,
Cao Zhi then made the bean-themed verses
In China, the poem is taught to primary school students and is often quoted by people to describe unnecessary rivalries. Interest users, including people in China, are confused over what Musk
| A. executive B. substantially C. borders D. minority E. fiercely F. unrest G. efficient H. move |
Ukraine, a nation whose history has experienced long periods of occupation from other countries, today wrestles(摔跤，全力应付)between war and peace, as well as between corruption and reform. The nation
Ukraine declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Its president is directly elected by voters. The prime minister is the head of the central government, which is separated along
The country’s post-Soviet political life has been controversial, disturbed by persistent charges of government corruption and fraud. Large-scale protests at the end of 2013 turned violent in 2014, leading to the ouster(罢免)of the government and
Ukraine joined into a free trade area at the beginning of 2016, and the World Bank noted that the country’s economy did begin to show signs of a weak recovery. A broader recovery has been held back, the World Bank says, by continuing conflict in the east and the need for reforms.
Ukraine entered a long-awaited agreement with the European Union in September 2017, a move that brings the country a step closer to the goal of joining the European Union and NATO.
Services, industry and agriculture are Ukraine’s three largest economic sectors. The nation
Ukraine is a member of major international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
5 . Recently-leaked historical documents revealed that there were dozens of attempts by German Resistance almost killing Hitler.
If the Munich agreements of Sept. 29, 1938 had not given Hitler the fruits of war with Czechoslovakia without war, some generals might have
Eight days later, as Hitler entered a military exhibition, an officer
A 24-year-old captain shocked by Nazi’s cruelty, instantly
If it had not been unusually hot on July 20, 1944, Hitler’s conference with Stauffenberg and others would have been held in a concrete basement, which would have
| A．resigned | B．rejected | C．rebelled | D．retired |
| A．force | B．strength | C．power | D．energy |
| A．prepared | B．assigned | C．suggested | D．scheduled |
| A．regulation | B．security | C．management | D．atmosphere |
| A．aboard | B．around | C．along | D．across |
| A．plane | B．fuse | C．bomb | D．cargo |
| A．set | B．opened | C．pulled | D．lit |
| A．nature | B．instinct | C．character | D．intelligence |
| A．agreed | B．decided | C．declined | D．admitted |
| A．in | B．by | C．at | D．on |
| A．leap | B．look | C．call | D．lean |
| A．postponed | B．canceled | C．extended | D．delayed |
| A．prevented | B．strengthened | C．reserved | D．improved |
| A．Meanwhile | B．Still | C．Instead | D．Furthermore |
| A．died | B．remained | C．departed | D．survived |
6 . Did Tea and Beer Bring About Industrialization?
Professor Macfarlane has spent decades trying to understand the mystery of the Industrial Revolution. Why did it happen in Britain at the end of the 18th century?
Macfarlane compares the question as a puzzle. He
Historians had noticed one interesting factor around the mid-18th century that required the
Macfarlane looked to Japan, which was also developing large cities at the same time. Waterborne diseases were far fewer in Japan than in Britain. Could it be the
| A．claims | B．rejects | C．proposes | D．suspects |
| A．objections | B．arguments | C．complaints | D．conditions |
| A．take off | B．keep up | C．look over | D．knock out |
| A．task-based | B．self-centered | C．market-driven | D．man-made |
| A．inferred | B．convinced | C．concerned | D．impressed |
| A．intention | B．discussion | C．attention | D．explanation |
| A．temporarily | B．deliberately | C．economically | D．doubtfully |
| A．predicted | B．revealed | C．concluded | D．reviewed |
| A．spreading | B．catching | C．discovering | D．controlling |
| A．introduced | B．reduced | C．uncovered | D．avoided |
| A．sacrifice | B．variety | C．quality | D．popularity |
| A．arrangement | B．expectation | C．coincidence | D．suspension |
| A．guesses | B．declares | C．boasts | D．modifies |
| A．entitled | B．deleted | C．described | D．simplified |
| A．guidance | B．observation | C．impression | D．logic |
7 . In the 1960s, African American mothers noticed something wrong in their children’s seemingly innocent class photos. Every year, youngsters tidied up in their Sunday best for their school picture, yet these treasured images didn’t
In 2015, two London-based photographers, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, wanted to find out why the film could not capture the
All that changed,
Kodak employees worked hard to fix the film, making new film formulations and testing them by taking photos. While the complaints from Black mothers could not change Kodak, those from these companies could. By the late 1970s, new - and more
Technologies, such as photographic films, sometimes capture the beliefs and values of the times. This bias built into technology has
What the makers of film and cameras and other technologies have experienced is a tacit (心照不宣的) subscription to a belief of a standard.
| A．treat | B．capture | C．reflect | D．divide |
| A．characters | B．expressions | C．features | D．colors |
| A．fashion | B．print | C．range | D．sight |
| A．recommended | B．witnessed | C．maintained | D．urged |
| A．likeness | B．frankness | C．carelessness | D．darkness |
| A．dark | B．yellow | C．white | D．black |
| A．coincidence | B．reason | C．consequence | D．result |
| A．therefore | B．however | C．furthermore | D．meanwhile |
| A．guarded | B．insured | C．went | D．protested |
| A．inclusive | B．persuasive | C．decisive | D．offensive |
| A．echoes | B．conclusions | C．objections | D．intentions |
| A．quickly | B．equally | C．easily | D．similarly |
| A．As a result | B．In other words | C．For example | D．On the contrary |
| A．inconsistently | B．unexpectedly | C．inevitably | D．uncritically |
| A．cameras’ | B．technologies’ | C．films’ | D．humans’ |
Pedestrians only
The concept of traffic-free shopping areas goes back a long time. During the Middle Ages, traffic-free shopping areas were built to allow people to shop in comfort and, more importantly, safety. The modern, traffic-free shopping street was born in Europe in the 1960s, when both city populations and car ownership increased rapidly. Dirty exhaust fumes from cars and the risks involved in crossing the road were beginning to make shopping an unpleasant and dangerous experience. Many believed the time was right for experimenting with car-free streets, and shopping areas seemed the best place to start.
At first, there was resistance from shopkeepers. They believed that such a move would be bad for business. They argued that people would avoid streets if they were unable to get to them in their cars. When the first streets in Europe were closed to traffic, there were even noisy demonstrations, as many shopkeepers predicted they would lose customers.
However, research carried out afterwards in several European cities revealed some unexpected statistics. In Munich, Cologne and Hamburg, visitors to shopping areas increased by 50 percent. On Copenhagen’s main shopping street, shopkeepers reported sales increases of 25-40 percent. Shopkeepers in Minneapolis, USA, were so impressed when they learnt this that they even offered to pay for the construction and maintenance costs of their own traffic-free streets.
With the arrival of the traffic-free shopping street, many shops, especially those selling things like clothes, food and smaller luxury items, prospered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news for everyone, as shops selling furniture and larger electrical appliances actually saw their sales drop. Many of these were forced to move elsewhere, away from the city centre. Today they are a common feature on the outskirts of towns and cities, often situated in out-of-town retail zones with their own car parks and other local facilities.
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9 . An American exploration company, the Nauticos Corporation, has found the wreck of an ancient Greek ship in a very deep area of the Mediterranean Sea. It may be the deepest ancient shipwreck ever found. The discovery questions a long-held idea that ancient sailors didn’t have skills needed to guide ships in open seas.
The ancient ship lay more than 3,000 meters below the surface of the Mediterranean. The wreck was more than 489 kilometers from the Island of Corsica. Scientists believe the ship is about 2,300 years old.
The company was looking for an Israeli submarine that had disappeared more than thirty years ago. Nauticos official Thomas Dettweiler said two company ships were searching for the Israeli submarine. He supervised the operation from a ship with sonar equipment. A sonar system uses sound waves to find and identify objects under the water. A second ship carried a vehicle for deep-sea searches.
During the search, one ship’s sonar began making strange sounds. Mr. Dettweiler thought this meant they had found the lost submarine. He ordered the other ship to send down the deep-sea vehicle to search.
But a video camera on the vehicle did not show a submarine. Instead, it showed many large clay containers lying on the bottom of the sea. These containers are called amphoras. Mr. Dettweiler was excited. He says he knew that the 2,000 amphoras they had found meant they had discovered an important shipwreck. In ancient times such containers held wine, olive oil and other goods.
Nauticos and the scientists hope to do more research in the area soon. Mr. Dettweiler believes four other ancient ships may be nearby. He says finding shipwrecks from different time periods could be especially important. It could be the first evidence of continued open-sea trading in the ancient world.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true?| A．It is still believed that ancient sailors didn’t know how to guide ships in open sea. |
| B．The ancient ship was discovered by an American exploration company. |
| C．The exploration company happened to find the ancient ship in the sea. |
| D．More ancient ships were likely to be discovered in the neighborhood of the wreck. |
| A．helps people to find any object | B．can only be used to look for ships |
| C．is a technology related to sea waves | D．can only be used under the water |
| A．The sonar system began to make sounds |
| B．The video camera showed the picture of a wrecked ship |
| C．They found amphoras, clay containers for wine or oil |
| D．They found wine, olive oil and other products under the sea |
| A．the ancient ships are useful even for today’s trading |
| B．these ancient ships show the importance of trading in open seas |
| C．they are important in the Greek history |
| D．they may prove there was open-sea trading in ancient times. |
10 . Unearthing the Importance of the Life-Sized Terracotta Warriors
The unexpected unearthing of the Terracotta Army is renowned as one of the world’s greatest archaeological events. Discovered in northwestern China and dating back to its first dynasty, the ceramic(陶制的)figures have shed light on the country’s ancient artistic practices and age-old burial traditions.
In addition to offering a glimpse into Imperial China’s distinctive approach to
Here, we present the history of the Terracotta Army, including its creation in the third century BCE and its
History
In 246 BCE, Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, took
To celebrate his triumphs and
Historians theorize that the heads and bodies of the warriors were made through
Discovery
For centuries, Qin Shi Huang’s massive necropolis remained undetected. However, in 1974, workers stumbled upon a large
Designed with an impressive level of detail, each figure is a one-of-a-kind work of art. The life-sized sculptures are
| A．funerary | B．fancy | C．unique | D．routine |
| A．in relation to | B．on behalf of | C．in terms of | D．in case of |
| A．discovery | B．routine | C．description | D．origin |
| A．part | B．effect | C．over | D．power |
| A．organization | B．unification | C．exploration | D．inspiration |
| A．admire | B．reflect | C．decorate | D．memorize |
| A．defend | B．preserve | C．energize | D．challenge |
| A．position | B．destination | C．site | D．facility |
| A．self-disciplined | B．assembly-lined | C．cutting-edge | D．well-off |
| A．transported | B．dismissed | C．fired | D．improved |
| A．sculpture | B．status | C．knot | D．packaging |
| A．amazing | B．different | C．selective | D．senior |
| A．historically | B．equally | C．currently | D．realistically |
| A．In addition to | B．Other than | C．In response to | D．with regard to |
| A．Typically | B．Actually | C．Similarly | D．Contrarily |
