The Building of the PyramidsThe oldest stone buildings in the world are the pyramids.【46】 There are over eighty of them scattered along the banks of the Nile, some of which are different in shape from the true pyramids. The most famous of these are the "S

“Museum”is a slippery word.It first meant(in Greek)anything consecrated to the Muses:a hill,a shrine,a garden,a
festival or even a textbook.Both Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum had a mouseion,a muses shrine.Although the
Greeks already collected detached works of art,many temples—notably that of Hera at Olympia(before which the Olympic
flame is still lit)—had collections of objects,some of which were works of art by well-known masters,while paintings and sculptures in the Alexandrian Museum were incidental to its main purpose.
The Romans also collected and exhibited art from disbanded temples,as well as mineral specimens,exotic plants,
animals;and they plundered sculptures and paintings(mostly Greek)for exhibition.Meanwhile,the Greek word had slippeD.into Latin by transliteration(though not to signify picture galleries,which were called pinacothecae)and museum still more or
less meant“Muses-shrine”.
The inspirational collections of precious and semi-precious objects were kept in larger churches and monasteries—which
focused on the gold-enshrined,bejewelled relics of saints and martyrs.Princes,and later merchants,had similar collections,
which became the deposits of natural curiosities:large lumps of amber or coral,irregular pearls,unicorn horns,ostrich eggs,
fossil bones and so on.They also included coins and gems—often antique engraved ones—as well as,increasingly,paintings and sculptures.As they multiplied and expanded,to supplement them,the skill of the fakers grew increasingly refined.
At the same time,visitors could admire the very grandest paintings and sculptures in the churches,palaces and castles;
they were not“collected”either,but“site-specific”,and were considered an integral part both of the fabric of the buildings and of the way of life which went on inside them—and most of the buildings were public ones.However,during the revival of
antiquity in the fifteenth century,fragments of antique sculpture were given higher status than the work of any contemporary,
so that displays of antiquities would inspire artists to imitation,or even better,to emulation;and so could be considered Muses-shrines in the former sense.The Medici garden near San Marco in Florence,the Belvedere and the Capitol in Rome were
the most famous of such early“inspirational”collections.Soon they multiplied,and,gradually,exemplary“modern”works were also added to such galleries.
In the seventeenth century,scientific and prestige collecting became so widespread that three or four collectors independently published directories to museums all over the known world.But it was the age of revolutions and industry which produced the next sharp shift in the way the institution was perceived:the fury against royal and church monuments prompted antiquarians to shelter them in asylum-galleries,of which the Musee des Monuments Francais was the most famous.Then,in the first
half of the nineteenth century,museum funding took off,allied to the rise of new wealth:London acquired the National Gallery and the British Museum,the Louvre was organized,the Museum-Insel was begun in Berlin,and the Munich galleries were
built.In Vienna,the huge Kunsthistorisches and Naturhistorisches Museums took over much of the imperial treasure.
Meanwhile,the decline of craftsmanship(and of public taste with it)inspired the creation of“improving”collections.The
Victoria and Albert Museum in London was the most famous,as well as perhaps the largest of them.

The sentence “Museum is a slippery word” in the first paragraph means that

A.the meaning of the word didn’t change until after the 15th century.
B.the meaning of the word had changed over the years.
C.the Greeks held different concepts from the Romans.
D.princes and merchants added paintings to their collections.

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Who Built Giza ' s Pyramids（金字塔）?

1 For centuries,the pyramids of Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture.But who actually
built them? For years,we did not know for sure. But archeologists（考古学家）recently discovered an ancient
village near the pyramids. Close by,there was also a cemetery（墓地）where pyramid builders were buried.
From studying these places,archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or

foreigners.Ordinary Egyptians built them.
2 It took about eighty years to build the pyramids.According to archeologists,about 20,000一30,000
people were involved in completing the task.The workers had different roles.Some dug up the rock;some
moved it;and some shaped it into blocks.People also worked on different teams,each with its own name.On
a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid,for example,a group of workers wrote"Friends of Khufu".Teams often
competed to do a job faster.
3 Life for these workers was hard."We can see that in their skeletons（骨架）,"says Azza Mohamed
Sarry El-Din,a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs of arthritis（关节炎）,
which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time.Archeologists have also found many female skele--
tons in the village and cemetery.The damage to their bones is similar to the men'S.Their lives may have
been even tougher:male workers lived to age 40-45,but women to only 30-35.However,workers usually
had enough food,and they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.
4 The work was challenging,but laborers were proud of their work.“It's because they were not just
building the tomb of their king,"says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass."They were building Egypt. It was
a national project,and everyone was a participant."

Paragraph4____________
A:Builders of the Pramids
B:Egyptian Slaves
C:Pyramid Builders' Jobs
D:Pyramid Builders' Tough Lives
E:An Importsnt Nstional Project
F:Female Pyranid Builders: the Challenges

共用题干
Who Built Giza ' s Pyramids（金字塔）?

1 For centuries,the pyramids of Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture.But who actually
built them? For years,we did not know for sure. But archeologists（考古学家）recently discovered an ancient
village near the pyramids. Close by,there was also a cemetery（墓地）where pyramid builders were buried.
From studying these places,archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or

foreigners.Ordinary Egyptians built them.
2 It took about eighty years to build the pyramids.According to archeologists,about 20,000一30,000
people were involved in completing the task.The workers had different roles.Some dug up the rock;some
moved it;and some shaped it into blocks.People also worked on different teams,each with its own name.On
a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid,for example,a group of workers wrote"Friends of Khufu".Teams often
competed to do a job faster.
3 Life for these workers was hard."We can see that in their skeletons（骨架）,"says Azza Mohamed
Sarry El-Din,a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs of arthritis（关节炎）,
which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time.Archeologists have also found many female skele--
tons in the village and cemetery.The damage to their bones is similar to the men'S.Their lives may have
been even tougher:male workers lived to age 40-45,but women to only 30-35.However,workers usually
had enough food,and they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.
4 The work was challenging,but laborers were proud of their work.“It's because they were not just
building the tomb of their king,"says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass."They were building Egypt. It was
a national project,and everyone was a participant."

To build the pyramids,the workers had different roles and worked___________.
A:of their king
B:from taking heavy things
C:on different teams
D:by foreigners
E:of their work
F:by ordinary Ebyptians

共用题干
Who Built Giza ' s Pyramids（金字塔）?

1 For centuries,the pyramids of Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture.But who actually
built them? For years,we did not know for sure. But archeologists（考古学家）recently discovered an ancient
village near the pyramids. Close by,there was also a cemetery（墓地）where pyramid builders were buried.
From studying these places,archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or

foreigners.Ordinary Egyptians built them.
2 It took about eighty years to build the pyramids.According to archeologists,about 20,000一30,000
people were involved in completing the task.The workers had different roles.Some dug up the rock;some
moved it;and some shaped it into blocks.People also worked on different teams,each with its own name.On
a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid,for example,a group of workers wrote"Friends of Khufu".Teams often
competed to do a job faster.
3 Life for these workers was hard."We can see that in their skeletons（骨架）,"says Azza Mohamed
Sarry El-Din,a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs of arthritis（关节炎）,
which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time.Archeologists have also found many female skele--
tons in the village and cemetery.The damage to their bones is similar to the men'S.Their lives may have
been even tougher:male workers lived to age 40-45,but women to only 30-35.However,workers usually
had enough food,and they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.
4 The work was challenging,but laborers were proud of their work.“It's because they were not just
building the tomb of their king,"says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass."They were building Egypt. It was
a national project,and everyone was a participant."

The pyramids of Giza were built___________.
A:of their king
B:from taking heavy things
C:on different teams
D:by foreigners
E:of their work
F:by ordinary Ebyptians

共用题干
第二篇

Ancient Egypt Brought Down by Famine

Even ancient Egypt's mighty pyramid（金字塔）builders were powerless in the face of
the famine（饥荒）that helped bring down their civilization around 2180 BC.Now evidence
collected from mud deposited by the River Nile suggests that a shift in climate thousands of
kilometers to the south was ultimately to blame一and the same or worse could happen today.
The ancient Egyptians depended on the Nile's annual floods to irrigate their crops.But
any change in climate that pushed the African monsoons（季风）southwards out of Ethiopia
would have reduced these floods.
Declining rains in the Ethiopian highlands would have meant fewer plants to stabilize the
soil.When rain did fall it would have washed large amounts of soil into the Blue Nile and
into Egypt,along with sediment（沉积）from the White Nile.
Blue Nile mud has a different isotope（同位素）signature from that of the White Nile.
So by analyzing isotope differences in mud deposited in the Nile Delta,Michael Krom of
Leeds University worked out what proportion of sediment came from each branch of the
river.
Krom reasons that during periods of drought,the amount of Blue Nile mud in the river
would be relatively high.He found that one of these periods,from 4500 to 4200 years ago,
immediately came before the fall of the Egypt's Old Kingdom.
The weakened waters would have been disaster for the Egyptians."Changes that affect
food supply don't have to be very large to have a ripple（波浪）effect in societies."says
Bill Ryan of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in New York.
Similar events today could be even more devastating,says team member Daniel
Stanley,a scientist from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C,"Anything humans
do to shift the climate belts would have an even worse effect along the Nile system today
because the populations have increased dramatically."

Which of the following statements is true?
A:The White Nile is the trunk of the River Nile.
B:The White Nile is the trunk of the Blue Nile.
C:The White Nile is a branch of the Blue Nile.
D:The White Nile is a branch of the River Nile.

In which way is Lenovo different from other Chinese companies？( )

A.It is a veteran of globalization
B.It has many nationalities on its senior management
C.It has succeeded in buying some foreign companies
D.It is now the world’s biggest white-goods maker

共用题干
Egypt Felled by Famine
Even ancient Egypt's mighty pyramid builders were powerless in the face of the famine that helped bring down their civilization around 2180 BC.Now evidence gleaned（搜集）from mud deposited by the River Nile suggests that a shift in climate thousands of kilometers to the south was ultimately to blame-and the same or worse could happen today.
The ancient Egyptians depended on the Nile's annual floods to irrigate their crops.But any change in climate that pushed the African monsoons（季风）southwards out of Ethiopia would have diminished these floods.
Dwindling（使减少）rains in the Ethiopian highlands would have meant fewer plants to establish the soil.When rain did fall it would have washed large amounts of soil into the Blue Nile and into Egypt,along with sediment（沉积物）from the White Nile.
The Blue Nile mud has a different isotope（同位素）signature from that of the White Nile.So by analyzing isotope differences in mud deposited in the Nile Delta,Michael Krom of Leeds University worked out what proportion of sediment came from each branch of the river.
Krom reasons that during periods of drought,the amount of the Blue Nile mud in the river would be relatively high.He found that one of these periods,from 4,500 to 4,200 years ago,immediately predated the fall of the Egypt's old Kingdom.
The weakened waters would have been catastrophic for the Egyptians."Changes that affect food supply don't have to be very large to have a ripple effect in societies,"says Bill Ryan of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory（天文台）in New York.
"Similar events today coald be even more devastating,"says team member Daniel Stanley,a geoarchaeologist from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.0."Anything humans do to shift the climate belts woulld have an even worse effect along the Nile system because the populations have increased dramatically."

Which of the following statements is true?
A:The White Nile is the trunk of the River Nile.
B:The White Nile is the trunk of the Blue Nile.
C:The White Nile is a branch of the Blue Nile.
D:The White Nile and the Blue Nile are branches of the River Nile.

共用题干
Earthquake

1.Every year earthquakes are responsible for a large number of deaths and a vast amount of destruction in various parts of the world.Most of these damaging earthquakes occur either in a narrow belt which surrounds the Pacific Ocean or in a line which extends from Burma to the Alps in Europe. Some of the destruction is directly caused by the quake itself. An example of this is the collapse of buildings as a result of the quake itself. Other damage results from landslides or major fires which are initiated by the quake.
2.There are about a million quakes a year. Fortunately,however,not all of them are destructive.The intensity of an earthquake is measured on the Richter Scale,which goes from 0 upward. The highest scale recorded to date is 8.9.Major damage generally occurs from quakes ranging upwards from 6.0.
3.The actual cause of the quake itself is the breaking of rocks at or below the earth's surface. This is produced by pressure which scientists believe may be due to a number of reasons, two of which are the expansion and contraction of the earth's crust and continental drift.
4.In order to limit the damage and to prevent some of the suffering resulting from earthquakes, scientists are working on ways to enable accurate prediction.Special instruments are used to help people record,for example,shaking of the earth.Scientists are trying to find methods that will enable them to indicate the exact time,location and size of an earthquake.
5.Certain phenomena have been observed which are believed to be signs of imminent earth-quakes.These include strange behaviors of some animals,the changes in the content of mineral water,etc.The magnetic properties of rocks may also display special pattern before major earthquakes happen.

Paragraph 2_______.
A:Earthquakes forecast
B:Historical records of earthquakes
C:Intensities of earthquakes
D:Cause of earthquakes
E:Indications of earthquakes
F: Damaging earthquakes

共用题干
Who Built Giza ' s Pyramids（金字塔）?

1 For centuries,the pyramids of Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture.But who actually
built them? For years,we did not know for sure. But archeologists（考古学家）recently discovered an ancient
village near the pyramids. Close by,there was also a cemetery（墓地）where pyramid builders were buried.
From studying these places,archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or

foreigners.Ordinary Egyptians built them.
2 It took about eighty years to build the pyramids.According to archeologists,about 20,000一30,000
people were involved in completing the task.The workers had different roles.Some dug up the rock;some
moved it;and some shaped it into blocks.People also worked on different teams,each with its own name.On
a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid,for example,a group of workers wrote"Friends of Khufu".Teams often
competed to do a job faster.
3 Life for these workers was hard."We can see that in their skeletons（骨架）,"says Azza Mohamed
Sarry El-Din,a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs of arthritis（关节炎）,
which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time.Archeologists have also found many female skele--
tons in the village and cemetery.The damage to their bones is similar to the men'S.Their lives may have
been even tougher:male workers lived to age 40-45,but women to only 30-35.However,workers usually
had enough food,and they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.
4 The work was challenging,but laborers were proud of their work.“It's because they were not just
building the tomb of their king,"says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass."They were building Egypt. It was
a national project,and everyone was a participant."

Both men and women workers suffered from arthritis which developed___________.
A:of their king
B:from taking heavy things
C:on different teams
D:by foreigners
E:of their work
F:by ordinary Ebyptians

共用题干
What Makes a Soccer Player Great?
Soccer is played by millions of people all over the world,but there have only been few play-ers who were truly great.How did these players get that way—was it through training and prac- tice,or are great players“born,not made”?First,these players came from places that have had famous stars in the past-players that a young boy can look up to and try to imitate.In the history of soccer,only six countries have ever won the World Cup-three from South America and three from western Europe .There has never been a great national team-or a really great player-from North America or from Asia.Second,these players have all had years of practice in the game. Alfredo Di Stefano was the son of a soccer player,as was Pele.Most players begin playing the game at the age of three or four.
Finally,many great players come from the same kind of neighborhood—a poor,crowded area where a boy's dream is not to be a doctor,lawyer,or businessman,but to become a rich,famous athlete or entertainer. For example,Liverpool,which produced the Beetles,had one of the best
English soccer teams in recent years.Pele practiced in the street with a“ball”made of rags.And George Best learned the tricks that made him famous by bouncing the ball off a wall in the slums of Belfast.
All great players have a lot in common,but that doesn't explain why they are great. Hundreds of boys played in those Brazilian streets,but only one became Pele.The greatest play-ers are born with some unique quality that sets them apart from all the others.

According to the author,which of the following statements is true?
A: Great soccer players are born,not made.
B: Truly great players are rare.
C: Only six countries have ever had famous soccer stars.
D: Soccer is the least popular sport in North America and Asia.

In which way is Lenovo different from other Chinese companies？( )

A.It is a veteran of globalization.
B.It has many nationalities on its senior management.
C.It has succeeded in buying some foreign companies.
D.It is now the world’s biggest white-goods maker.