1 . In most Hollywood movies, the Native American Navajos still fight on horses in the American Southwest. But during World War II, a group of Navajos made their language into weapon to protect the United States. They were the Navajo Code Talkers, and theirs is one of the few unbroken codes (电码）in military history.
Navajo was the perfect choice for a secret language. It is very complex. One vowel (元音）can have up to ten different pronunciations, changing the meaning of any word. In the 1940s, Navajo was unwritten language. No one outside of the reservation could speak it or understand it.
The Navajo Code team had to invent new words to describe military equipment. For example, they named ships after fish: lotso-whale (battleship), calo-shark (destroyer), beshloiron-fish (submarine). When a Code Talker received a message via radio, he heard a series of unrelated Navajo words. He would then translate the words into English and use the first letter of each English word to spell the message. The Navajo words tsah (needle), wol-la-chee (ant), ah-kh-di-glini (victor), and tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca) spelled NAVY.
The Code Talker kept the code a secret. They memorized everything. There were no code books. As a result, no ordinary Navajo soldiers, if captured by the enemy, could understand the code. More than 3,600 Navajos served in World War II, but only 420 were Code Talkers with the US Marines. They coded and decoded battlefield messages better and faster than any machine. They could encode, transmit, and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds. Machines of the time required 30 minutes to perform the same job.
Even after the war the code remained top secret. When they were asked about their role, Code Talkers just said: “I was a radioman.” War movies and histories came out without mentioning them. The code was never used again and was finally declassified in 1968. Only then did the secret came out.
1. What do we know about the Navajo language?| A．It had complex spoken and written forms. |
| B．It was created during the Second World War. |
| C．It was understood only by the Navajos. |
| D．It consisted of ten vowel letters in total. |
| A．They put the unrelated Navajo words in order. |
| B．They recorded the message in Navajo letters. |
| C．They submitted it to the officer immediately. |
| D．They turned It into English in a secret way. |
| A．Replaced. | B．Approved. |
| C．Made known. | D．Forbidden. |
| A．The Navajo Code Talkers can be found to fight on horses in US movies. |
| B．The Navajo language contributed a lot to the US army in World War II. |
| C．War messages were translated into English through Navajo code books. |
| D．Around 12% Navajo soldiers were taken prisoner during World War II. |
2 . On 20th July 1969, millions of people saw Neil Armstrong take his first steps in space on television. Armstrong got out of the spacecraft Apollo 11, touched the ground of the moon and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
A conspiracy(阴谋)theory has existed since the night of his lunar handing. Armstrong’s achievements were considered amazing, but people wondered if it really happened. Many people believe that the scene on the moon wasn’t real. Rumours spread throughout coffee shops, street comers, and newspapers, but it soon died down.
But theories resurfaced in 2001 Suspicion began when an American television network aired a program called Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? The show argued that NASA did not have the money for such a voyage, and that the whole scene was probably filmed in a movie studio. Many critics say that there were no stars in the background during the lunar landing, so it must have been a fake. They also point out that the American flag that was posted was waving. How could that be if there is no wind on the moon?
NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)has denied these rumours many times. They explained that now photographers can capture the brightness of the astronauts with the dimness of the stars behind them. Also, they said that the flag was waving because the astronauts were pulling it back and forth trying to get it deeper into the rock. NASA also points out that the television program fails to mention that Armstrong and his team brought back 800 pounds of rock from the moon.
Nell Armstrong is seen as a national icon in the US and his lunar landing is one of the most historic events in the country’s history. But either way, this conspiracy theory still exists today.
1. What didn’t the TV program Did We Land on the Moon? mention?| A．money | B．stars |
| C．the flag | D．rocks |
| A．It showed great anger | B．It had to accept the rumor |
| C．It turned a deaf ear to the rumor | D．It gave explanations against the rumor |
| A．the wind | B．the astronauts’ pulling |
| C．the gravity | D．the camera’s moving |
3 . In 1885, the Republic of France, important friend during the American Revolution, donated the largest statue in the world, Liberty Enlightening the World, to the United States of America. The statue would celebrate its century of independence. To ship it, the statue was broken down into 350 pieces. And now, spread across Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbour, it sat in 214 wooden packing boxes. The problem was that New York had no money to re-assemble it. Six other cities, less affected by the recent economic decline, had the money and bid to build it.
But a Hungarian immigrant, Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of America’s biggest newspaper called the World, wouldn’t let “Liberty” go. When he heard that the Statue of Liberty was about to die from lack of funds, he saw his chance.
Pulitzer set the fund-raising goal of the World at $ 100,000. In its pages he laughed at the rich, thus increasing the paper’s appeal among working-class people, and firmly planted the idea that the statue was a monument not just for New York City but, indeed, for all of America.
Perhaps Pulitzer’s cleverest trick was the promise 10 publish the name of every single contributor in the pages of the World, no matter how small the contribution. The editorial that opened the fund-raising campaign set its tone. He wrote: “The World is the people’s paper and it now appeals to the people to come forward and raise the money for the statue’s base.” The statue, he said was paid for by “the masses of the French people. Let us respond in like manner.” The circulation of the World increased by almost 50,000 copies.
African American newspapers joined in the effort, encouraging their readers to contribute to a monument that would, in part, celebrate the end of slavery. So the money poured in, as single-dollar donations from grandmothers and pennies from the piggybanks of schoolchildren.
On August 11, 1885, the front page of the World announced, “ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!” The goal had been reached, even slightly beyond, thanks to more than 120,000 contributions.
1. What does the underlined word “re-assemble” (Para. 1) probably mean?| A．Put together. | B．Take apart. |
| C．Transport. | D．Repair. |
| A．Attacking the rich people. |
| B．Celebrating the end of slavery. |
| C．Printing every contributor’s name in the World. |
| D．Persuading children to donate their pocket money. |
| A．It was a symbol of independence. |
| B．It was a monument for the whole USA. |
| C．It was a wonder in the building history. |
| D．It was a favor from the rich French people. |
| A．To protect the Statue of Liberty. |
| B．To win working-class readers over. |
| C．To expand the circulation of his paper. |
| D．To raise money for the Statue of Liberty. |
4 . Today there are policemen everywhere, but in 1700, London had no policemen at all. A few old men used to protect the city streets at night and they were not paid.
About 300 years ago, London was starting to get bigger and more and more people began to live there. The city was very dirty and many people were poor. There were so many thieves who stole money in the streets that people stayed in their homes as much as possible.
In 1750,Henry Fielding started to pay a group of people to stop thieves. They were like policemen and were called “Bow Street Runners” because they worked near Bow Street.
Fifty years later, there were 120 “Bow Street Runners”, but London had become very big and needed more policemen. So in 1829 , the first Metropolitan(or London)Police Force was started with 3,000 officers. Most of the men worked on foot, but a few rode horses. Until 1920 all the police in London were men.
Today, London police are quite well paid and for the few police officers who still ride horses, the pay is even better than for the others.
1. In 1700, the men who protected the streets were paid __________ .| A．a few | B．nothing |
| C．a little | D．a lot |
| A．wanted to leave London | B．had big houses in London |
| C．became policemen | D．came to live in London |
| A．they had no money | B．they were afraid of losing money |
| C．the city was not clean | D．they liked homes |
5 . Michael Herr, who has died aged 76, was the author of Dispatches (1977), the best book about the Vietnam War. It took Herr eight years to write Dispatches, in part because he went home from Saigon with a bad case of stress disorder. He had gone to Vietnam as a journalist for Esquire magazine. An American general asked him whether he was there to write about military fashion and humor. No. He wrote little for Esquire, but took advantage of the US government’s decision to allow journalists extraordinary access to go to war with the soldiers. He shared their discomforts and their fears, witnessed their death and recorded their language.
His own language, a stream of consciousness pulsing with energy, but masterfully controlled, captured the fear and the horror, but also the excitement, of the war in the jungle and paddy fields. He recorded with a connoisseur’s expertise (行家专长) such details as the many ways in which soldiers would wish each other good luck, and the degrees of madness that were considered acceptable.
The power of the book, perhaps, comes from Herr’s insistence on describing the war, or more precisely his own responses to it, rather than protesting against it. It also comes from the ceaseless accompaniment of two elements, drugs and music — more particularly rock music, and especially the music of Jimi Hendrix. Herr himself spent drug-fuelled weekends in a flat in Saigon, staring at an ancient French map of Indochina. He met soldiers with a left pocket full of Dexedrine, the “upper” (兴奋剂) officially administered by the army to get them into battle, and a right pocket full of “downers” (镇定剂) to get them through it.
Dispatches did not come out until 1977, when the country was beginning to have its mind on other problems, but it did more, perhaps, than any other book to freeze an image of despair and a sense of waste about the war, rather as the trench poets of 1914 —1918 did in Britain.
Herr also made vital contributions to two of the most influential Vietnam films Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. His work, in the book and the two films, has been seen as part of the process whereby the US came to see itself and its history no longer merely through traditional literature, but in sounds and images.
1. Why did Michael Herr go to Vietnam during the war years?| A．To join the soldiers in military actions. |
| B．To report military actions and advances. |
| C．To give an authentic account of the war. |
| D．To write about military fashion and humor. |
| A．It truly reflects Herr’s responses to the war. |
| B．Music and drugs give the author inspiration. |
| C．Its language is casually selected and organized. |
| D．It fully describes Herr’s protest against the war. |
| A．they suffered stress disorder |
| B．they were addicted to drugs |
| C．they used them to cure the wounds |
| D．they exchanged them for music records |
| A．Herr directed two influential Vietnam films. |
| B．Herr’s work played a positive role in traditional literature. |
| C．Herr stopped writing after the book Dispatches was published. |
| D．Herr’s work offered Americans more ways to know themselves. |
1812-During the War of 1812, British forces (军队) burned the new capital at Washington, D.C. They also attacked Baltimore and New Orleans and captured (占领) Detroit, which at the time was a remote military outpost (前哨基地).
1846-A brief invasion (入侵) by Mexican troops across the Rio Gande began the U. S. - Mexican War in 1846. But the remaining action in that conflict (冲突) occurred in California, New Mexico and in Mexico. California and New Mexico belonged to Mexico at the time.
1916 - Mexican revolutionaries led by Pancho Villa attacked the town of Columbus, N.M., on March 9, 1916．
1941-Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, killing nearly 2,400 people and forcing America into World War II．
1993-Terrorists (恐怖主义者) blew up a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000．
2001 - Terrorists hijacked(劫机) several planes on Sep.11, 2001. Two ploughed into (撞入) New York’s World Trade Center (WTC), toppling the two highest buildings in the city; a third seriously damaged the Pentagon (五角大楼). The fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Several thousand people were killed in the attacks.
1. During the War of 1812, British forces did the following except that _____.
| A．they captured Detroit |
| B．they attacked Baltimore and New Orleans |
| C．they attacked the town of Columbus, N.M. |
| D．they burned the new capital at Washington, D.C. |
| A．terrorists hijacked three planes |
| B．destroyed the Pentagon completely |
| C．killed six people and injured more than 1,000 |
| D．two planes knocked into New York’s World Trade Center |
| A．reaching the highest point of | B．causing to fall |
| C．knocking into | D．building |
| A．5 | B．6 | C．7 | D．8 |
7 . On December 22, 1775, two of Washington’s soldiers brought a prisoner to his headquarters (司令部). Washington thanked the soliders, then gave an order that the prisoner was to be left alone and that the soldiers were to shoot if the man tried to escape. But when the door was closed, Washington smiled.
The man standing in front of him was John Honeyman, one of the general’s most trusted men. In early November, Washington had given Honeyman orders to travel with the British army as a servant and to stay with it until he had something to tell. Honeyman now had important information. He described the situation in Trenton, giving the exact number and position of the troops there.Trenton was held by several companies (连队) of Hessians (雇佣军). The Hessians were not English soldiers.They were Germans who had been hired by the British to fight in America. According to Honeyman, the Hessians fought only for money. They had done nothing to build up their defences in Trenton. Now they were busy planning a big Christmas celebration.
Washington immediately made a daring plan. He chose Christmas Day for an attack on Trenton. At ten o'clock next morning, the attack was over. The Americans won a great victory.
1. Why did Washington smile when the door was closed?| A．Because he was glad to catch the prisoner. |
| B．Because the man was one of his most trusted men. |
| C．Because he had caught the most dangerous spy. |
| D．Because he knew the man very well. |
| A．Honeyman could make peace with the Brilhish soldiers. |
| B．He could let Honeyman have a pleasant trip. |
| C．He could catch more prisoners from the British army. |
| D．Honeyman could get important information for American. |
| A．America and Britain. |
| B．America and Germany. |
| C．Britain and Gennany. |
| D．Arnerica, Britain and Germany. |
| A．It could be that it was a lucky day. |
| B．It might be that it was the best Christmas gift for Britain. |
| C．It must be that after the day the enemy was to escape. |
| D．It could be that the enemy would enjoy their holiday but not prepare to fight. |
8 . Throughout July 1945, the Japanese mainland, from Tokyo on Honshu northward to the coast of Hokkaido, were bombed as if an invasion were about to take place. In fact, something far more threatening was at hand, as the Americans were telling Stalin at Potsdam (伯茨坦).
In 1939 physicists in the United States had learned of experiments in Germany showing the possibility of atomic power and understood the coming damage of an atomic bomb. On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt of the danger of Nazi Germany’s advances in development of the atomic bomb. Eventually, the U.S. Office of Scientific Research Development was created in June 1941 and given combined responsibility with the War Department in the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear bomb. After four years of research and development efforts, an atomic device was set off on July 16, 1945, in a desert area at Alamogordo, New Mexico, producing an explosive power equal to that of more than 15,000 tons of TNT. Thus, the atomic bomb was born. Truman, the new U.S. president, believed that this terrible object might be used to defeat Japan in a way less costly of U.S. lives than an ordinary invasion of the Japanese homeland. Japan’s unsatisfactory reply to the Allies’ Potsdam Declaration decided the matter.
On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb, carried from Tinian Island in the Mariana in a specially equipped B-29 was dropped on Hiroshima, at the southern end of Honshu. The combined heat and explosion destroyed everything in the explosion’s immediate neighbourhood , produced fires that burned out almost 4.4 square miles completely, and killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people, in addition to injuring more than 70,000 others. A second bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, killed between 35,000 and 40,000 people, injured a like number and ruined 1.8 square miles.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| B．After research and development efforts, an atomic bomb was born. |
| C．An invasion was about to take place with the use of the atomic bomb. |
| D．The birth and use of the atomic bomb ended the Second World War. |
| A．Nazi Germany’ success in making an atomic bomb |
| B．the possibility of atomic power from Nazi Germany |
| C．Japan’s unsatisfactory reply to the Allies’ Potsdam Declaration |
| D．destruction of everything from the explosion of the atomic bomb |
| A．Truman’s becoming the president of the United States. |
| B．The great destruction power of the atomic bomb. |
| C．Reducing the cost of its lives. |
| D．Not being content with Japan’s reply. |
| A．Between 105,000 and 120,000 people. |
| B．Between 35,000 and 40,000 people. |
| C．Between 70,000 and 80,000 people. |
| D．Between 140,000 and 150,000 people. |
Probably the greatest deficiency (不足) of the Titanic was that she was built 40 years before the widespread use of the wonderful invention radar (雷达). Her only defense against icebergs and hidden obstacles was to rely on manned lookouts. On that fateful night the eyesight of trained lookouts only provided 37 seconds of warning before the collision.
Traveling at nearly 30 miles an hour, the Titanic was moving far too fast to avoid the huge iceberg. The warning did prevent a head-on collision as the officer on the bridge managed to turn the ship slightly.
The last ship to which it could send an SOS message was the California. She was within ten miles of the Titanic during the disaster, but her radio operator went to bed at midnight and never received any of the SOS messages from the Titanic. That was one of the important lessons learned from the catastrophe, the need for 24-hour radio operators on all passenger liners.
Another lesson learned was the need for more lifeboats. The Titanic remained afloat (漂浮) for almost three hours and most of the passengers could have been saved with enough lifeboats.
1,500 passengers and workers died in the 28 degree waters of the Atlantic. Out of the tragedy, the sinking did produce some important maritime reforms. The winter travel routes were changed to the south and the Coast Guard began to keep an eye on the location of all icebergs. The new rules for lifeboats were obvious to all. There must be enough lifeboats for everybody on board.
The most important lesson learned was that no one would ever again consider a ship unsinkable—no matter how large or how well constructed. Never again would sailors place their faith in a ship above the power of the sea.
1. The text mainly tells us ______.
| A．the reason why the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean |
| B．how the unsinkable ship of Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean |
| C．the lessons that we could learn from the accident of the Titanic |
| D．the things we should do to protect the lives on the ship |
| A．If the captain had been more careful, he could have had the chance to save the Titanic. |
| B．If radar had existed 40 years ago, the Titanic would have never disappeared from the world. |
| C．If the lookout had had much more experience, he could have had the time to save the Titanic. |
| D．If there had been enough lifeboats on the Titanic, the Titanic would not have sunk in the Atlantic. |
| A．Lessons from the Titanic | B．Technology is Important |
| C．Demands of Passengers | D．Power of Sea |
| A．They think there really exists the unsinkable ship. |
| B．They think ships could eventually defeat the sea. |
| C．They think there is no power that could control the sea. |
| D．They think the bigger the ship is, the safer it is. |
