1 . When Sir Ector saw Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and then pushed it back, he rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe it!” he cried. Then he fell on his knees before Arthur. “Father, please do not kneel before me. Tell me what you mean!” Arthur said with great confusion.
“Listen, then,” said Sir Ector. “Years ago the wise magician, Merlin, carried a baby in his arms. That baby was you. Merlin told me to bring you up as my own son. Now I can guess. You must be the late king ⸺ King Uther’s son. Who else could have pulled out the sword? Arthur, we must let all England know you are qualified to be the new king.”
“I would rather be your son than be a king!” cried Arthur.
“On Christmas the Bishop(主教) will give everyone a chance to pull the sword. You must take your turn and show everyone that you are the only person who can pull the sword out.”
On Christmas Day the great crowd of knights(骑士) and lords gathered before the church. They pulled and pushed, but no one could make the sword move.
Down the street came Merlin. Behind him came Sir Ector with Arthur. “Who are these men?” asked the Bishop. “Here is one who will try the sword,” said Merlin. He laid his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “Here, lords of England, is the true son of King Uther!” Arthur stepped upon the stone and laid his hand on the sword. Smoothly and easily he pulled it out. He held it high so all could see.
So Arthur became King of all England. Some of the lords did not want him, and he had to fight them. As the years went by, he became stronger and greater. Knights came from all lands to be in his court. At Camelot Arthur started the famous Knights of the Round Table. These were the greatest of all the knights. They made their names famous for all time.
1. Sir Ector fell on his knees before Arthur because ______.| A．Sir Ector wanted to ask for forgiveness from the new king |
| B．Merlin told Sir Ector to respect Arthur as if he were the King |
| C．Arthur pulled the sword out and Sir Ector knew who he was |
| D．Arthur was so powerful that Sir Ector admired him very much |
| A．believable | B．unacceptable |
| C．enjoyable | D．unchangeable |
| A．Fighting the foreign countries. | B．Making the famous table. |
| C．Developing the national economy. | D．Gathering the greatest knights. |
| A．Arthur Becomes King | B．Arthur Trains Knights |
| C．Arthur Defeats Enemies | D．Arthur Loves Swords |
2 . A valuable sketch (素描) from World WarⅠhas turned up in a garage sale in Perth. It’s a sketch of soldiers playing soccer with a tin can during an unofficial truce (停战) between German and Allied soldiers on the Western Front in 1914. The artwork was drawn by an unnamed German soldier during the war on the Western Front.
The artwork was given to Private Jack Shelley, a British soldier, when he was defending the town of Frelinghien, France. The sketch is an important historical document, as it provides evidence that the tales of enemy soldiers socializing together are true. But for Private Shelley’s descendants(后代) it has even greater value, since it was his prized possession. Jessie Shelley, Jack’s great-granddaughter, has fond memories of the old man sharing stories about his experiences in the war when he came to live permanently in Australia in 1930. the family lost track of the artwork after Jack’s possessions were moved during the sale of his house when he died in 1984.
‘Great-grandpa had a tobacco tin with a dozen or so buttons from the uniforms of men from both sides. He told us all the details of every one of those buttons. To Great-grandpa they represented real people he had known, some of whom hadn’t come home from the war. He had at least two buttons from German uniforms that he told us were exchanged between the men involved in the Christmas Day Truce.’
On Christmas Day of 1914, the soldiers came out of their trenches(战壕) into no-man’s-land and shared food, drinks and cigarettes. Some even exchanged small gifts. The men even played football games together. Later, this spirit of cooperation continued in unofficial agreements between the sides to stop shooting at mealtimes and even at times when soldiers were working in the open.
This fascinating image of peace and humanity during the war has continued through the years. The sketch is a symbol of the potential for humanity, hope and kindness to exist in even the most violent circumstances.
1. In what situation was the sketch done?| A．It was done in a garage |
| B．It was done on the front line. |
| C．It was done during a formal soccer match. |
| D．It was done by a soldier fighting in Germany. |
| A．It explains the specific reason for the war. |
| B．It shows the war on the Western Front came to an end. |
| C．It proves enemy soldiers could live in peace sometimes. |
| D．It is evidence that soldiers could adapt quickly to society. |
| A．They were from German uniforms. |
| B．Some of them represented his honor. |
| C．Some of their owners didn’t survive the war. |
| D．They were collected during Christmas Day in 1914. |
| A．It brought about more truces. |
| B．It started wide information exchanges. |
| C．It led to no agreement between the sides. |
| D．It resulted in more celebrations between the sides. |
3 . Exploring the sands on the beach, Tonya III man came across a lidless boule. She picked it up, looked inside and noticed something. She turned it upside down. Out came a damp, neatly rolled piece of paper. Tonya took it home, dried and unrolled it.
What caught her eye was the year field, 18 . Though at first sceptical of finding something this old so easily, she continued reading. It began with some coordinates (坐标). Below was a request in German asking the bolded finder to put down the date and location of where it was found and return it to the nearer German embassy.
The Illmans took the note Rosa Anderson, a curator (馆长) at the Western Australian Museum. Soon Anderson called, saying he had been able to locate a 19th - century ship named Paula. Even more exciting was that experts in Germany were able to track down Paula’s logbooks and find a record by a “Captain O. Diekmann,” confirming that a bottle had been thrown overboard on June 12. 1886 - the date on the message. The sailor had also listed the coordinates of the ship’s location, which matched the ones on the note. Another evidence of the note’s truth was the logbook’s neat script (手稿), which paired perfectly with that of the handwritten message. The records also indicated that the bottle was one of the thousands thrown by the seamen back then as part of an experiment to track the water currents.
Anderson believes the note remained undamaged because it was put in a strong bottle with a narrow opening which allowed little water in, even after the lid came off. The expert guessed it had been probably washed ashore and remained buried in the thick sand.
The 131 - year - old note, now lying in the Western Australia Museum, was confirmed as the oldest message in a bottle ever discovered.
1. What’s the purpose of writing this text?| A．To advertise for the Western Australia Museum. |
| B．To praise the Illmans for their important discovery. |
| C．To explain how the note came to light and its value. |
| D．To describe the habits of the seamen in the 19th century. |
| A．Astonished. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Overjoyed. |
| A．The records in Paula’s logbooks. |
| B．The date and words written on it. |
| C．The location where it was found. |
| D．The sailor’s experiment to follow the water currents. |
| A．the note was handwritten |
| B．the lid of its container came off |
| C．the bottle had been floating in the sea |
| D．its container had stayed buried in the sand |
4 . In 1858, two men wanted to be elected United States Senator from Illinois. One was Stephen Douglas. The other was Abraham Lincoln. Douglas was already the Senator, but his term in office was up. Lincoln had once been a U.S. Representative but was then a lawyer in Illinois.
The men agreed to have seven public meetings, or debates, in seven different cities in Illinois. That way, voters all over the state would have a chance to hear what each man stood for.
The first debate was in Ottawa on August 21, 1858. The main thing the men disagreed on was slavery. Douglas believed that as new states joined the union, they should decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to be a slave state or a free state. Lincoln believed that slavery should not spread beyond the states that already had slaves. He said the United States could not survive as half-slave and half-free states.
The debates drew large crowds in all seven cities. People in the entire country were paying attention. Lincoln lost the Senate race. The debates did, however, make him well known everywhere.
In 1860, it was time to elect a new President. Lincoln won the Republican party’s nomination(提名). Douglas won the Democratic party’s nomination. The two men again faced each other to get the people’s votes. This time Lincoln won. He became the nation’s 16th President.
The slavery issue was still causing bad feelings between slave and non-slave states. By the time Lincoln took over as President on March 4, 1861, seven states had left the union. A month later, the Civil War began.
1. Why did the two men have debates in seven cities?| A．To protect themselves. |
| B．To persuade each other. |
| C．To make their views known better. |
| D．To give the voters some advice. |
| A．The new states should unite with other states. |
| B．The new states should separate from the Union. |
| C．The new states were free to keep slavery or not. |
| D．The new states should not keep slavery any more. |
| A．The debates made Lincoln famous. |
| B．Voters strongly disagreed on slavery. |
| C．Lincoln failed in the president election |
| D．Douglas drew more attention in the country. |
| A．The Northern states rose up. |
| B．Lincoln was defeated in the election. |
| C．The Southern states still kept slaves. |
| D．There was conflict between slave and non-slave states. |
5 . When you think of a typical American, who do you picture? A pretty blond white American like Taylor Swift? Or a handsome black American like basketball star Kobe Bryant? In fact, there was a time when the average American looked like neither of these people.
Back in the year 1500, the average American was a brown-skinned hunter-gatherer who probably rode a horse and wore clothing made from animal skins. Today, these people－who usually identify themselves based on their individual tribes such as Iriquois, Apache and Navajo－are broadly referred to as “Native Americans”, “American Indians” or simply “Indians”.
There’s a chance that you’ve never even heard of American Indians. That‟s because there aren’t very many left. When the European settlement of North America began, there were fierce conflicts between the settlers from overseas and these native peoples. After the British government and military were expelled (驱逐) in the Revolutionary War, conflicts with natives continued as the states were created that would later make up the US. In these conflicts, millions of natives were killed.
In 1830, president Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This act required all Indians to migrate to the west of the Mississippi River to allow for the expansion of the US. American Indians were treated as a military “enemy” until 1924, when the few Indians still alive at that point were granted （准予）US citizenship. That was the first time that the US government formally recognized the rights of Indians.
While the story of the American Indians has been a sad one, these peoples’ legacies (遗产) are still felt every day in the US. Many US geographical names come from Indian languages, such as Ohio, Topeka, Kansas, and the Potomac River. At the same time, there are numerous successful academics and other important US leaders who are descended（是……的后裔）from Indians. And nowadays, more and more history classes in US public schools are educating students about how Indians suffered during the settlement of the US.
Although what happened cannot be undone, we can learn at least one thing from the sad history of the Indians: If we want a better future, we must look carefully and honestly at the past.
1. What is the article mainly about?| A．The history of the settement of the US. |
| B．What a typical American is like. |
| C．The sad story of American Indians. |
| D．American Indians‟ economic impact on the US. |
| A．were driven from the US by the British government |
| B．were regarded as a military “enemy” of the US |
| C．were finally granted US citizenship |
| D．were required to live along the Mississippi River. |
| A．There are few influential American Indians in US history. |
| B．Some of their languages are still used today. |
| C．The majority of them lived in the states of Ohio and Kansas. |
| D．American youths are becoming more informed of the suffering of the Indians. |
| A．It’s miserable to be reminded of it. |
| B．It’s important to learn from it. |
| C．He doesn’t have much interest in it. |
| D．Every school should teach classes about it. |
6 . The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago. The Eiffel Tower had been a great success for the fair in Pairs in 1889, and they wanted something like that.
George Ferris handed in drawings of a giant wheel that people could ride on. At first everyone laughed at his strange idea. But Mr. Ferris didn’t give up, and finally the idea was accepted. The ride opened in June of 1893.
That first wheel had thirty six enclosed cars, each holding sixty passengers. When filled it carried 2,160 people. During that summer in Chicago one and a half million people rode the Ferris wheel, which was named after Ferris. Six platforms were used to pick up and drop off passengers. Each ride was two full turns of the wheel. On the first turn, it made six stops for loading. Then the second turn was a nonstop nine-minute ride. Each car had five large glass windows in front and in back, giving everyone a great view of Chicago and Lake Michigan.
After the fair the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel. In 1904 it was moved again—this time to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the fair in St. Louis closed, the wheel stood unused. In 1906 it was finally sold to a company for scrap(废弃材料）metal. It took 200 pounds of dynamite to bring it down.
Fortunately a Chicago bridge builder, W. E. Sullivan, figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together. In 1906 he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today.
But whenever you ride one remember that it all began with George Ferris’ very strange idea.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．Large designs are more successful than small ones. |
| B．Riding a Ferris wheel is the best way to travel around the world. |
| C．World fairs attracted millions of visitors to Chicago from all around the world. |
| D．Ferris’ design was so successful that Ferris wheels are still around today. |
| A．make George Ferris well-known worldwide. |
| B．attract visitors to an event in Chicago. |
| C．match the Eiffel Tower in Paris |
| D．bring fun to people in Chicago |
| A．He showed great creativity in the Ferris wheel design. |
| B．His Ferris wheel design was impractical. |
| C．He was a leader in the amusement industry. |
| D．He did a lot better than W. |
| E．Sullivan. |
| A．To persuade the reader to ride a Ferris wheel. |
| B．To describe the success of the 1893 World’s Fair. |
| C．To inform the reader about the first Ferris wheel ever built. |
| D．To entertain the reader with a story about World Fairs in the US. |
7 . 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. |
8 . 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 |
