This year marks the 92nd anniversary of the September 18 Incident.
On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops
The incident marked
The 14-year Japanese invasion resulted in over 35 million victims among Chinese troops and civilians. By commemorating the September 18 Incident, the Chinese people reaffirm (重申) their
The commemorations serve as a reminder for the Chinese people
2 . 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. |
After 1028 days of detention (拘押)，Meng Wanzhou, the CFO (首席财务官) of Huawei Technology Company, finally returned to China.
On Dec 1, 2018, Meng was detained by the Canadian police at the request of the US, accused of violating US sanctions (制裁) against Iran.
According to a statement issued by one of the lawyers
The news of Meng’s release has aroused a strong reaction among Chinese internet
“As an ordinary Chinese citizen who
The Vikings, whose ancestors came from Scandinavia, were the first Europeans
Later a man, Biarni set sail from Iceland in search
In the year 1002, Leif, Eric the Red’s son, followed Biarni’s directions and sailed to
5 . The switch from water-powered to coal-powered factories in 19th-century Britain may be a result of droughts that made water power less reliable and coal more attractive.
Previously, it was thought that industrialists ran out of attractive places along rivers to build the waterwheels that powered many of their factories in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Past analyses of the water power available to early industrialists relied on 20th-century precipitation (降水) patterns, but these are unreliable for assessing historical water power, says Tara Jonell at the University of Glasgow in the UK.
Jonell used previous precipitation records combined with elevation (海拔) data to create a more accurate model of the flow in Britain’s rivers and streams at the time. She found that industrialists in England, Scotland and Wales had barely tapped potential water power when they made the change to coal. Concentrated development had completely filled a few places, such as regions along the River Spodden near Manchester, but overall “ there was still plenty of water power that existed”, says Jonell.
“This supports the argument that coal power was neither more plentiful nor more productive than water power at the time,” says Brett Christophers at Uppsala University in Sweden. “ It adds another nail to the coffin of the old belief. ”
One possibility is that a series of droughts may have made water power less reliable than coal, says Jonell. But Andreas Malm, who wasn’t involved with this work, says it is unclear whether actual droughts took place at the time. He says workers’ movements in the 1830s and 1840s may have prevented industrialists from relying on labour to make up production shortfalls that could have been driven by changing precipitation patterns. The mobility of coal was also a factor in this power change, he says. Relying on coal meant factories could be built near cheap labour or convenient transportation, instead of being limited to places along rivers.
1. What was the cause of the industrial revolution according to the previous belief?| A．The increased energy demand. |
| B．The insufficient water resources. |
| C．The lack of suitable areas for waterwheels. |
| D．The difficulty in building waterwheels. |
| A．By analyzing previous data. |
| B．By comparing water and coal power. |
| C．By referring to other studies. |
| D．By remodeling precipitation patterns. |
| A．It leads to a controversial conclusion. |
| B．It stresses the effect of droughts. |
| C．It agrees with the conventional thought. |
| D．It provides good evidence for the new finding. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Cautious. | D．Objective. |
1. What happened to boats and ships in the Bermuda Triangle?
| A．They caught fire without reason. |
| B．They crashed into each other. |
| C．They disappeared. |
| A．A famous explorer. | B．A popular writer. | C．A well-known reporter. |
| A．In the 15th century. | B．In the 20th century. | C．In the 17th century. |
| A．All of the reports on it are untrue. |
| B．It is a dangerous area in the ocean. |
| C．It is completely safe at the moment. |
7 . 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 |
The beans cry in the pot
We grow from the same root (根)
Why should we boil each other with such impatience?
The poem is thought to be written by Cao Zhi, one of Cao Cao’s sons, Cao, who lived between 192 and 232 during the Three Kingdoms period.
It is said that after Cao Cao’s death, his oldest son Cao Pi became the emperor. Cao Pi was jealous (嫉妒的) of his younger brother Cao Zhi’s talent, so he wanted to find an excuse to kill him. One day, Cao Pi ordered Cao Zhi to make a poem about their relationship within seven steps, and was determined (决定) to have the younger brother killed if he failed. Cao Zhi then made the poem in front of him, which showed Cao Pi’s cruel idea to kill his own brother. Cao Pi, feeling ashamed, let Cao Zhi go in the end.
In China, the poem is taught to primary school students and is often used by people to describe unnecessary competitions or fighting between people, businesses, or organizations who are in the same area or want the same things.
The poem was posted on Tweeter by the CEO of Tesla and Space X Elon Musk, and it was given a title Humankind on purpose by Musk. The post drew tons of attention on both Western and Chinese social media, and internet users have been guessing what it was used for. People thought it could be an answer to the director of UN food organization, who mentioned that world hunger could be stopped if Elon Musk could give away 2% of his wealth.
1. The poem is said to be written by ________.| A．Cao Cao | B．Cao Zhi | C．Cao Pi | D．Elon Musk |
| A．Cao Zhi was one of his brothers |
| B．Cao Pi was jealous of Cao Zhi’s talent |
| C．Cao Zhi refused to follow Cao Pi’s orders |
| D．Cao Pi wanted to become the only son of Cao Cao |
| A．his brother was cruel to him | B．he was not afraid of his brother |
| C．the beans were close to its stalks | D．the beanstalk should die for its beans |
| A．Elon Musk posted the poem on Tweeter for fun. |
| B．Only Western internet users noticed the poem. |
| C．The purpose of the poem became a hot topic. |
| D．Elon Musk is mean and doesn’t care about others. |
A decade after America
Many returned with post-traumatic stress disorder (创伤后精神紧张性障碍). They still felt
The Time Capsule of Colorado Springs
In 1901, the citizens of Colorado Springs in the USA decided to collect everyday items and to seal (密封) them in a steel box. The box, marked “To be opened after midnight, December 31st, AD 2000”,
One hundred years later, on the appointed day, 300 people gathered to watch the opening of the box. Many in the crowd were the descendants (后代) of people who
When the box was opened after midnight, the contents were
Many of the letters
Colorado College Library has scanned the materials and put them on a website. Cecil Muller,
In April 2001, a committee filled the time capsule with items from modern Colorado Springs and
