1 . TOKYO-Japan marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing in its western city of Hiroshima (广岛) on August 6th amid growing calls for Tokyo to reflect on crimes the Japanese army committed during World War II. At a memorial ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui delivered the Peace Declaration,urging world leaders to stop believing in the theory that nuclear weapons can prevent war.
“They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world,” said Matsui, who also urged policymakers to “move toward a security system based on trust through dialogue in pursuit of civil society ideals”. “Mistrust and division are on the rise,” warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message readout at the ceremony.
A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time, the exact moment when an atomic bomb dropped from a US bomber and exploded over the city on Aug.6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people by the end of that year.
At the event which about 50,000 people attended, Matsui placed in a monument a list of the names of 339,227 victims, including 5,320 deaths confirmed last year. “Japan must immediately sign the Treaty (条约) on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” Matsui noted in the Peace Declaration, further urging the government to heed the wishes of survivors from the bombing and the peace-loving Japanese people.
The number of survivors of the two atomic bombings including Nagasaki with an average age of over 85, has dropped by 5,346 from a year earlier to 113,649 as of March, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke at the ceremony, saying an atomic bomb made more than 100,000 lose their lives without mentioning whether Japan would sign the treaty, let alone (更不用说) the historical background of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The prime minister was criticized for hosting the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Hiroshima in May.
While Japan inwardly looks at the tragedies it experienced at the end of WWII, historians and political minds of the international community have encouraged Japan to come to see itself not only as a victim of the atomic bombings but also as the criminal (罪犯) who was involved in these tragic incidents in the first place.
1. Why was the moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time?| A．It was the time when the atomic bombing happened in Hiroshima. |
| B．It was the time when the atomic bombing happened in Nagasaki. |
| C．It was the time when the US bomber reached Japan. |
| D．It was the time when the US bomber took off. |
| A．Make fun of. | B．Put up with. | C．Take delight in. | D．Pay attention to. |
| A．Japan's signing the treaty. |
| B．The result of the atomic bombing. |
| C．America should make up for the loss. |
| D．The background of the atomic bombing. |
| A．Number of survivors of two atomic bombings drops in Japan |
| B．Japan — a victim of atomic bombings that kill so many people |
| C．Japan marks 78th anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima |
| D．Hiroshima Mayor expresses nuclear weapons can't prevent war |
2 . In 1803, the United States acquired a huge new piece of land called the Louisiana Territory. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were given the job of leading an expedition to collect data about this uncharted territory. President Thomas Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark three tasks for the journey: Find an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, make friends with the Native Americans along the way, and gather detailed information about the plants, animals, landforms (地形), and climate of the area.
In order to discover if there was an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark attempted to travel up the Mississippi River by boat. In this way, they hoped that they would eventually reach the Pacific. Ultimately, the explorers discovered the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, but not the Pacific Ocean. The hope for an all-water route from the East to the Pacific would have to be abandoned.
Lewis and Clark’s second task was to make friends with Native Americans in the area. They packed hundreds of pounds of gifts for the indigenous people, including beads, sewing needles, cloth, yarn, and knives. Their intention was to use these items as offerings of peace and good faith. However, many tribes were hostile. They felt threatened by the Americans’ presence and refused to communicate with them. Other tribes were more welcoming and aided the explorers in finding food and navigating the new region.
The explorers’ final task was extensive and ongoing. Lewis and Clark had to take detailed notes about the landforms and climate of the different areas through which they travelled. President Jefferson also wanted samples of notable plant and animal life. They prepared animal fur and plant samples to send back to the president throughout the trip. They also kept individual journals with detailed descriptions and drawings of the environment and terrain (地势).
Up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, across the Great Plains, over the Rockies, down the Columbia River, and to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark travelled. After 3 years, Jefferson received a letter from Lewis stating, “It is with great pleasure that I announced to you the safe arrival of myself and my partner. In obedience to your orders, we have penetrated (穿过)the continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean.”
1. Which of the following is Not among the tasks that President Thomas Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark?| A．Find a direct waterway from the U.S. to the Pacific Ocean. |
| B．Collect geographic and ecological information about the unknown area. |
| C．Locate the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide. |
| D．Build relationships with the Native Americans on the way. |
| A．Determined not to change their attitudes. |
| B．Very unfriendly or aggressive. |
| C．Not wanting to talk to other people. |
| D．Belonging to a very simple society. |
| A．The task was less challenging than the former two tasks. |
| B．The task required a wide range of knowledge and skills. |
| C．The task focused on collecting data about landforms and climate. |
| D．Lewis and Clark didn’t send back samples until they finished their journey. |
| A．Lewis and Clark had to turn back before completing their tasks. |
| B．Lewis and Clark successfully found an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. |
| C．Lewis and Clark finished the expedition without the help of Native Americans. |
| D．The expedition covered the area from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. |
3 . Each year, 150,000 people hike Scotland’s Ben Nevis — Britain’s highest mountain. Many choose to take the so-called tourist trail, the rocky path which winds its way to the peak. Few realise that this path was initially carved out in 1883 for a very unique scientific expedition.
In the late 19th century, a key question of science was how depressions, storms and other severe climatic events form in the atmosphere. By 1875 mountain observatories were being established across the US, Mexico, India, France, Germany and Russia. Keen to gather similar data for Britain, the Scottish Meteorological Society decided to build a weather station at the top of Ben Nevis.
And so began a remarkable experiment. From 1883 to 1904, a few hardy individuals lived year-round in a small stone hut, surviving on tinned food and making hourly recordings of everything from atmospheric temperature to humidity (湿度), wind speed to rainfall. In total they made almost 1.5 million observations.
“They were living in very severe weather conditions: 100mph winds were not uncommon, and the temperature would drop to -15°C at times. The main danger they faced was that they were very close to the edge of the cliff (悬崖). If you weren’t careful, you would disappear off the cliff completely,” says Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at the University of Reading.
However, by 1904, the Scottish Meteorological Society could no longer afford the observatory’s running costs. It was closed down and the data largely has remained hidden in the dusty pages of archives (档案馆) ever since.
Today, plans are underfoot to build a new modern observatory on the ruins on the former site — with automatic measuring devices rather than human data collectors. “We haven’t had any long-term observations up there for a long time now, and this would give us information straight away on how the climate at the top of the mountain has changed,” Hawkins says. “We think that the high altitude regions are some of the places where we’ve seen the largest changes in temperature. This could tell us a lot.”
1. Why was the weather station at the top of Ben Nevis built?| A．To attract visitors to Ben Nevis. |
| B．To study the formation of extreme weather events. |
| C．To provide weather forecasts for the whole Britain. |
| D．To compete with weather stations in other countries. |
| A．The geographical features of Ben Nevis. |
| B．The extreme climate on top of Ben Nevis. |
| C．The achievements made by the weather station. |
| D．The bad working conditions of the station workers. |
| A．It will take a long time to build. |
| B．It will need many human data collectors. |
| C．It will have archives for the old weather station. |
| D．It will detect climate change at Ben Nevis’ peak quickly. |
| A．To argue. | B．To inform. |
| C．To advertise. | D．To appeal. |
4 . “They tell me that you’d like to make a statue of me — is that correct, Miss Vinnie Ream?”
The deep, gentle voice helped calm the nervous girl. Asking a favor of the President of the United States was no casual matter, especially for a seventeen-year-old girl.
“Yes, sir,” she replied, her dark eyes meeting his. “I wouldn’t have dared to ask you, but my teacher, Mr. Mills, says I am ready. I plan to make it in an admirable manner.”
President Lincoln smiled.“Painters, sculptors — they’ve all tried to make the best of this ordinary face, but I’m afraid there’s not much hope. What did you have in mind, Miss Ream? A bust (半身像)?”
Before Vinnie could say yes, the President hurried on, a shade of apology in his voice. “Of course — I shouldn’t have asked. A full-length pose would be much too big a project for a young woman your size.”
Vinnie’s face turned red. She realized she looked like a child, with her tiny figure. “Small does not mean weak, sir,” she defended herself. “I was born in the country of Wisconsin. I’ve driven teams of horses and carried water. Making a full-length clay (黏土) figure would not exhaust my strength — and that is what I intend to do!”
The President’s eyes, brightened at her show of spirit. “Sorry, madam, I have underestimated you as I didn’t know your background.”
But his smile faded as he rubbed his beard with bony fingers, in thought. “Miss Ream,” he sighed, “I’d like to let you do it, but as you know, we are in the middle of a war. How could I possibly take the time to pose for a sculpture now? I hardly have a minute to myself.”
Vinnie glanced around and noted the size of his office. “I work quickly,” she said. Her voice was soft but confident as she pointed to the corner near the windows. “If I were to bring my clay here and work for three hours every afternoon, I could complete most of the project while you are at your desk.”
The President seemed to consider her idea seriously. He got up and shook Vinnie’s hand warmly, “I’ve heard that you are a talented young woman, and I have found you charming and intelligent as well. I cannot make my decision immediately, but you will hear from me soon.”
The very next day, Vinnie received an invitation from the President.
1. How did President Lincoln first respond to Vinnie’s request?| A．Doubtful. | B．Thrilled. |
| C．Regretful. | D．Pleased. |
| A．her experience from other projects |
| B．the heavy labor she had done before |
| C．her innocent childhood in the country |
| D．the skill she picked up in Wisconsin |
| A．avoid disturbing the president’s work |
| B．keep all her tools within easy reach |
| C．observe the President at a right angle |
| D．achieve effects of natural lighting |
| A．Ups and downs make one strong. |
| B．Experience helps to promote excellence. |
| C．A strong-willed soul can reach his goal. |
| D．Devotion requires enthusiasm. |
5 . Mention the terms Italian culture and Renaissance art and one is immediately reminded of the mysterious smile of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
The Renaissance had a deep effect on the development of European culture. Having its beginnings in Italy, by the 16th century, it had spread to the rest of Europe. Its influence was felt in different fields such as philosophy, literature, religion, science, politics, and, of course, art. The scholars of the Renaissance period applied the humanistic method to every field of study, and wanted to have human emotion and realism in art.
Renaissance scholars studied the ancient Latin and Greek texts, searching the libraries of Europe for works of ancient times that had become obscure, in their hunt for reforming and perfecting their worldly knowledge. However, that does not mean that they refused religion. In fact, many of the greatest works of the Renaissance period were devoted to it, with the church supporting a lot of the works of Renaissance art. However, there were slight changes in the manner in which the scholars began to treat religion, which affected the cultural life of society, which in turn influenced the artists of that period and therefore was reflected in their art.
In Raphael’s The School of Athens, for example, some well-known people were described as classical scholars with Leonardo da Vinci given as much importance as Plato in his time. Giotto di Bondone, 1266-1337, a Florentine, who is regarded as the greatest Italian painter just earlier than the Renaissance period, is thought to be the first artist who treated a painting as a window into space.
However, it was only after the writings of Filippo Brunelleschi, 1377-1446, who is considered the first great builder of the Italian Renaissance, that perspective (透视法) was formally accepted as an artistic technique.
1. What makes Italy stand out in a way in world history?| A．Its artists during the Renaissance were numerous. | B．It was the center of the European countries. |
| C．It had many famous inventors in different fields. | D．It was home to the Renaissance. |
| A．meaningless and hard to recognize | B．clear and meaningful to guiding people |
| C．unclear and difficult to understand or see | D．easy to understand but having little meaning |
| A．After the completion of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. |
| B．After Leonardo da Vinci’s being compared to Plato. |
| C．After Giotto di Bondone’s paintings were respected. |
| D．After Filippo Brunelleschi’s completing his writings. |
| A．Italy’s Renaissance art and artists | B．the famous artists in Italy’s history |
| C．Italy’s influence on the world in culture | D．the hardships during the Renaissance in Italy |
6 . There were many battles that took place during the American Revolutionary War (1775—1783), but perhaps so ne of the worst battles involved. the American Continental Army versus(对抗) the winter at Valley Forge in 1777 and 1778. Here many people believe was where the American Army was born. Valley Forge is located about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania.
General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and he decided to setup winter camp at Valley Forge. It was close to Philadelphia, which was where the British had been camping out for the winter. This allowed him to keep a watchful eye on their movements. There were high areas in Mount Joy and Mount Misery where the army could make fortifications(防御工事). Nearby was also the Schuylkill River, which was used as a barrier to the North.
The army's stay at Valley Forge turned into a time of training. Besides Washington, two other leaders included General Friedrich von Steuben and General Marquis de Lafayette.
Steuben was born in Prussia and arrived at Valley Forge with a recommendation letter from statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin. He trained the Continental Army using the daily drill(操练), even in the extremely cold weather. In fact, he was responsible for writing the army's Revolutionary War Drill Manual, which served as the standard United States drill manual(手册) until the War of 1812.
Lafayette was a French military leader, working for no pay, and asking for no special treatment. He later became an important commander in several key battles during the war.
Besides the freezing weather, it was consistently cold, wet, and snowy at Valley Forge. In addition, food was lacking, and there were very few warm clothes, shoes, or blankets. The log cabins they lived in were crowded, cold and damp, and allowed diseases to easily spread. Of the 10,000 men at Valley Forge, 2,500 died before the break of spring mostly from diseases.
Following the winter at Valley Forge, under Washington's leadership, a better-disciplined, trained, and more powerful army, in high spirits, left on June 19, 1778. Nine days later, their first victory against the British occurred at the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey.
1. Why was Valley Forge chosen as the site of a winter camp?| A．It was key to the effective conduct of war. | B．It was an ideal place for military training. |
| C．It was very far from the British camp. | D．It was an area with adequate supplies. |
| A．Benjamin Franklin. | B．George Washington. |
| C．Marquis de Lafayette. | D．Friedrich von Steuben. |
| A．Strange. | B．Tough. | C．Favorable. | D．Relaxing. |
| A．It was taken over by the American Army. | B．It won more support from the people. |
| C．It had many more soldiers. | D．It became a stronger army. |
7 . Rosie the Riveter was a World War II nickname for women who worked in factories and shipyards all across the country. The two women talked about here were not like Rosie. They, and four others, were working on a machine at the University of Pennsylvania, called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). It was designed to do difficult calculations related to ballistics (弹道), but the war ended before ENIAC was put into use.
Work on it continued, though. The room-sized computer was completely electronic, so it should have been far faster than the other big war-time calculator, the Mark I, developed by IBM. The Mark I, driven by electricity, had moving parts that slowed it down but its instructions could be stored on a paper tape, which gave it a big advantage. In ENIAC, however, every calculation involved putting cables (电缆) into a board.
To program ENIAC, the women had to first analyze hundreds of equations (公式) involved in a particular calculation. Then, they determined which cables should go where, so the machine would do the right steps in the right order. They understood both mathematics and the machine.
Programming was in its early stage in the 1940s; in fact, the term, “to program95 came from the ENIAC team. Women held many of these early jobs. The six ENIAC programmers had been selected from a group of women with degrees in mathematics who worked on other big war-time calculators. Today, computer jobs are controlled by men. Women hold only a quarter of the tech jobs in the United States, though they account for half the workforce. Only 18 percent of computer science graduates today are women. Often the explanation is that girls don't like math, or don't do well in it, but the experience of these earlier women proves otherwise.
1. What can we learn about ENIAC from the first two paragraphs?| A．It was much more advanced than the Mark I. |
| B．It could do calculations of ballistics all by itself. |
| C．It was invented by the University of Pennsylvania. |
| D．It never served its original purpose during the war. |
| A．They stored instructions on a paper tape. |
| B．They corrected errors of a particular board. |
| C．They learned hundreds of equations by heart. |
| D．They decided where to put cables in calculations. |
| A．Women were not so interested in computer science. |
| B．Women are good at computer programming like men. |
| C．Women are always in the minority of the workforce in US. |
| D．Women were not as well-accepted as men in programming jobs. |
8 . Looking around your city, it may be hard to imagine that there might be a time when it will disappear. But that's exactly what happened to these communities.
Hashima Island, Japan
Hashima Island was formerly one of the most populated cities in the world. The 6 hectare island provided jobs to more than 5000 people, many of whom made their living at the island's underwater coal mines. When the mines were closed, Hashima Island was abandoned.
Consonno, Italy
Consonno was a tiny town with a population of less than 300 and roots dating back to the middle ages. Then Mario Bagno came along and decided to turn the area into the Las Vegas of Italy. He knocked down nearly every building. Then landslide struck, burying the access road and the project was never finished. Today, Consonno has been abandoned.
Eastern Settlement, Greenland
Eastern Settlement in Greenland isn't just an abandoned city, it's also a mystery. Once the most populated area in Greenland, the area was abandoned and no one knows why. The last known writings from the area applied to a wedding in 1408 and offered no clues. It remains one of many ancient mysteries researchers can,t explain.
Troy, Turkey
Troy was regarded immortal （不朽的）in Homer's epic poem, The Iliad. For many years, the Troy of Ancient Greece was merely the stuff of legend but in the 1800s its location was discovered in what is now Turkey. The site contains layers of ruins archaeologists are still studying.
1. What do the four communities have in common?| A．They were deserted. | B．They were capital cities. |
| C．They were tourist spots. | D．They were thickly populated. |
| A．Hashima Island. | B．Consonno. |
| C．Eastern Settlement. | D．Troy. |
| A．It disappeared for no obvious reason. |
| B．It's a place where weddings were held. |
| C．It's a place for visitors to experience history. |
| D．It existed as one of the oldest towns in Greenland. |
9 . Dancing until you drop is a wellknown saying, but would you really be able to dance until you dropped dead? In 1374, in some European towns, people did exactly that. They were struck by a dancing plague (瘟疫) that forced them to dance.
This phenomenon (现象) was reported to have happened throughout parts of Western Europe, affecting people from the 14th to the 17th century. Hardly stopping to eat or even sleep, they would dance, sometimes for days on end, making this one of the strangest sicknesses in Western history.
Over the next century, there were only a few outbreaks. However, in the summer of 1518, it reappeared in the city of Strasbourg, France. It all began with a woman called Mrs. Troffea, who started to dance crazily in the street.
She was soon joined by 34 people within a week; by the end of the month, the crowd had increased to 400, most of whom were women. Again, people were dancing until they could no longer continue, with some finally dying from heart attacks or exhaustion. One report shows that the plague was killing around 15 people per day.
As the plague worsened, concerned nobles (贵族) turned to the advice of local doctors, who said that the plague was a “natural disease” caused by “hot blood”. So the nobles encouraged more dancing.
The reason behind their actions was they believed the dancers could only recover if they danced continuously night and day. The nobles even paid for musicians to keep the moving.
Then, as before, it disappeared almost as suddenly as it had come.
While these events may sound highly unbelievable, there is clear written evidence that it did happen.
Now, historians and scientists are still trying to find out the true cause of this phenomenon.
1. What do we know about the plague?| A．It cost some people's lives. |
| B．It took place twice in history. |
| C．It affected people of all ages. |
| D．It stopped in the 16th century. |
| A．To see the hot blood. |
| B．To kill the dancing people. |
| C．To free people of the plague. |
| D．To prove the doctors' words. |
| A．For no reason. |
| B．With local doctors' help. |
| C．With Mrs. Troffea's help. |
| D．Because of some natural power. |
| A．To show the history of dancing. |
| B．To introduce a wellknown English saying. |
| C．To provide information on the dancing plague. |
| D．To explain the reason behind the dancing plague. |
10 . World War II began when the UK and France declared war on Germany, after German troops led by Adolf Hitler had invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 to claim land there as their own. Hitler had already invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia, so the war began over his plan to take more land for Germany.
The Siege of Leningrad is a famous event during World War II. For 900 days—from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944—the city of Leningrad in Russia was surrounded by German troops. That meant everyone inside the city had to stay there, and that there wasn't any way for food or other sources like medicine to get in. Many hundreds of thousands of people died during this time because there wasn't enough food or heating to go around, but the people who lived in Leningrad refused to surrender to the Germans.
In 1940, the French port of Dunkirk was the location of a big turning point for the Allie：in World War II. Hitler's armies bombed Dunkirk heavily, and many Allied troops were waiting on the beach to be rescued because they didn't have the resources they needed to fight back. From 26 May to 4 June, over 550, 000 troops were ferried to safety across the English Channel-the code name for this was 'Operation Dynamo'. Some British civilians（people who weren't in the army）even used their own boats to help save as many people as they could. The rescue operation helped to boost morale（士气）in Britain, where they really needed some good news. This helped in going into the next major event in World War II, the Battle of Britain.
June 6,1944 is also known as D-Day. On that day, the Allied forces launched a huge invasion of land that Adolf Hitler's Nazi troops had taken over. It all began with boats and boats full of Allied troops landing on beaches in the French region of Normandy. They broke through the German defences and carried on fighting them back through Europe for the next 11 months until they reached Berlin, where Hitler was then hiding.
1. What led to the outbreak of the second World War?| A．UK and France's declaring war on Germany. |
| B．German troops' invading Poland in 1939. |
| C．Hiter's starting an attack on Austria. |
| D．Hiter's plan for occupying more land. |
| A．This event lasted about two and a half years. |
| B．German troops cut all the supplies to Leningrad. |
| C．Many people were killed by German soldiers. |
| D．Leningrad was finally occupied by Germans. |
| A．The Siege of Leningrad. | B．Operation Dynamo. |
| C．The Battle of Britain. | D．The D-day Landings. |
| A．Causes of WWⅡ. | B．Hitler's Invasion. |
| C．Great Wars in WWⅡ. | D．War and Peace. |
