1 . To complete the great map of the world was a strong passion for the people of early civilizations. Marco Polo’s tales inspired European explorers to search for sea routes from west to east. However, merchants search for sea routes from west to east. However, merchants and explorers from the East set sail from east to west many years before Columbus first did.
In ancient times, silk from China found its way overland to India, the Middle East, and Rome, along what became known as the Silk Road. A trading route across the sea was also extended along the coasts of the Indian Ocean, centred around Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ). Here, merchants from China and many other places met to negotiate trade deals, which also led to more awareness of each other’s cultures. Over the centuries, further trading allowed more exploration of the regions to the west China.
Later, the Ming Dynasty further developed relations with these regions. Between 1405 and 1433, seven large fleets sailed west on voyages of trade and exploration. These fleets were a sight to behold and were in a league of their own at that time. Under the command of Zheng He, they set sail from the South China Sea across the Indian Ocean to the mouth of the Red Sea, and then to the east coast of Africa. African royal families sent gifts such as giraffes as gestures of friendship in return for gold, silk, and spices. Although China withdrew from further expeditions after 1433, these land and sea routes remained active channels between other cultures for centuries.
To reach out across the sea remains a strong desire today. The ancient sea routes travelled by Zheng He are being revisited with the 2lst Century Maritime Silk Road, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The aim of this initiative is to encourage cooperation and trade across the historic Silk Road areas, and strengthen the bonds between China and the rest of the world. Trading has grown greatly in recent years, and will continue to do so in years to come.
1. How is the passage developed?| A．Cause and effect. | B．Time sequence. |
| C．Problem and solution. | D．Compare and contrast. |
| A．Impressive. | B．Worrisome. | C．Aggressive. | D．Fearful. |
| A．To expand China’s territorial area on the ocean. |
| B．To promote communication with other countries. |
| C．To strengthen further cooperation with other countries. |
| D．To encourage trade across the historic Silk Road areas. |
| A．The Maritime Silk Road | B．The great map of the world |
| C．Reaching out across the sea | D．The Belt and Road Initiative |
2 . Discoveries in Greenland indicate that Vikings ( 维 京 人) lived there for hundreds of years, trading with the European continent before they disappeared.
Settling in Greenland posed an enormous challenge. Shelter, food, and clothing were, of course, essential to survival. There were no trees large enough to produce wood for housing. These settlers had to build homes of driftwood, stone, and sod (草皮). The summer was too short to grow grain crops, so they farmed domesticated animals imported from Europe and mainly relied on secondary products, such as milk and cheese.
At some point during the fourteenth century, Greenland’s climate grew colder. Glaciers (冰川) began moving slowly over the land, bringing with them a runoff of sand, mud, and stones. These things slowly robbed the settlers of valuable grassland.
| A．Who were the Vikings? |
| B．Besides, they netted fish and hunted deer. |
| C．However, the Greenlanders learned to adapt. |
| D．Sports were also widely practiced by the Vikings. |
| E．Well, what became of these early settlers in Greenland? |
| F．Only 14 boats survived the seas, and about 450 people set foot ashore. |
| G．A central figure in this story was Erik the Red, who grew up in Iceland. |
Queen Elizabeth II was farewelled at an hour-long state funeral in London’s Westminster Abbey, with her body later moved to her final
About 2,000 people attended the funeral, most notably the Queen’s children: King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Her grandchildren,
As well as foreign royals and state
The service
On the top of the coffin (棺材) was a wreath of flowers
Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ will be buried alongside her late husband, Prince Philip.
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
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧)，并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。
修改：在错词下面划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意： 1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者从第11处不计分。
Yesterday, I read an interesting story about two men who travelled from France to England in a hot air balloon in 1784. Highly over the water, they discovered the hole in the balloon. The hole became bigger and bigger. The air keeps the balloon up was escaping quickly and the balloon was coming up. The two men threw all their equipments into the water to make the balloon light. It started to rise higher again. So it was still too close to the water. Finally, the men threw away most of his clothes to save themselves. The crowd waiting to greet with them in England were very surprised see this when the balloon landed in front of them.
The Oscars are held every March in the city of Los Angeles. Many of the
However, on March 8,2000, someone stole the fifty-five Oscar statues that
A few days
Finally Willie Fulgear received a $ 50,000 reward and the invitation to the Oscar ceremony. He didn’t receive
1. What was the main meal for people in Prussia in the 18th century?
| A．Rice. | B．Potatoes. | C．Bread. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Curious. | C．Anxious. |
| A．He was very smart. |
| B．He liked making jokes. |
| C．He was crazy about potatoes. |
8 . It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War Ⅰ. German, British, and French soldiers already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized (打得火热) with “the enemy” along two-thirds of the Western Front. German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches (战壕) with signs, “Merry Christmas.”
“You no shoot, we no shoot.” Thousands of troops streamed across a no-man’s land filled with dead bodies. They sang Christmas carols, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared rations, played football, and even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced (拥抱) men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed to warn each other if the Generals (将军) forced them to fire their weapons, and to aim high.
It shocked the high command on either side. Here was disaster in the making: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this peacemaking to be wrong. Fifteen million would be killed.
Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce. On Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston Globe mentioned that a local FM radio host played “Christmas in the Trenches” several times and was surprised by the effect. The song became the most requested recording during the holidays in Boston on several FM stations. “Some callers even telephone the host deeply moved, sometimes in tears, asking, ‘What the hell did I just hear?’”
You can probably guess why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be and says, “This really happened once.” It reminds us of those thoughts we keep hidden away, ou of range of the TV and newspaper stories that tell us how trivial (微不足道的) and mean human life is. It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really could be different.
1. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?| A．Troops celebrated their victories. | B．Generals forced their army to fight back. |
| C．Soldiers made peace with their enemies. | D．Soldiers decided to give in to their enemies. |
| A．A fierce war. | B．Many deaths. | C．A peaceful world. | D．Many heroes. |
| A．They experienced the war. | B．They lost loved ones in the war. |
| C．They valued the life in peace. | D．They desired to protect their motherland. |
| A．Being against wars. | B．Cherishing today’s happiness. |
| C．Remembering heroes. | D．Showing no respect for life. |
1. 中美两国球员之间的 “乒乓外交” 始于 1971 年日本名古屋 (Nagoya) 世乒赛，并直接促成了尼克松 (Richard Nixon) 总统 1972 年的访华破冰之旅；
2. 邀请他在方便的时候来中国进行训练和比赛。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇： the Ping-Pong Diplomacy 乒乓外交
Dear Mike,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
10 . After seemingly endless waiting, news finally reached President Abraham Lincoln. The North had won at Gettysburg. The citizens of Pennsylvania created a national cemetery（公墓）for the soldiers who lay dead at Gettysburg. A ceremony was planned. Lincoln received an invitation to attend. He was not asked to give the major speech of the day. That honor was given to a New England statesman and professional speaker named Edward Everett. The president was asked instead to say “a few words”.
As the day approached, Lincoln’s wife asked him to reconsider. Their son, Tad, had fallen ill. Mary Lincoln was near crazy. On the morning of the day, Tad was so sick that he could not eat. Lincoln felt unwell himself, but he decided to go anyway.
On Thursday, November 19, for two hours, Everett held the audience spellbound with his rich voice and inspiring words. Then Lincoln rose to speak. “Four score and seven years ago,” he began in his high pitched（声调高的）voice. He spoke for barely three minutes.
As Lincoln sat down, some eyewitnesses recalled little applause（掌声）. Others heard “not a word, not a cheer, not a shout”. A person taking notes asked Lincoln, “Is that all?” Embarrassed, Lincoln replied, “Yes--for the present.” A photographer in the crowd had not even had time to take a picture.
Lincoln thought his speech was a failure. Some newspapers considered it as “silly” and “boring”. But Everett correctly predicted that the Gettysburg Address would “live among the history of man”. A few days after both of them had spoken at Gettysburg, he wrote to Lincoln, saying that he wished he had come “as close to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes”. Lincoln replied, telling Everett how pleased he was that “the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”
Indeed it was not. It gave the North new hope and purpose as to why it was fighting the war. Today, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is remembered as one of the greatest speeches of all time.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Lincoln was asked to give a mini speech. |
| B．Lincoln was elected President on the victory of Gettysburg. |
| C．Lincoln’s speech was given to celebrate the end of the War. |
| D．Lincoln ordered the construction of a cemetery in Gettysburg. |
| A．To show the disappointment of the audience. |
| B．To show the greatness of Lincoln’s speech. |
| C．To laugh at Lincoln for his unsuccessful speech. |
| D．To tell us that Lincoln was very sad about his speech. |
| A．Sympathy. | B．Criticism. |
| C．Appreciation. | D．Embarrassment. |
| A．Because it was distinctively well constructed. |
| B．Because it was concise and delivered in a rich voice. |
| C．Because Everett, a great speaker, sang high praise for it. |
| D．Because people got hope and a sense of purpose from it. |
