People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories in pictures.

About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet.

The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture-writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.

By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.

These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.

Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because ______.

A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures    

B. the painters were animal lovers

C. the painters wanted to show imagination

D. the pictures were thought to be helpful

The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons      EXCEPT that _______.

   A. the former was easy to write    

B. there were fewer signs in the former    

C. the former was easy to pronounce

D. each sign stood for only one sound

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.

B. The Egyptians liked to write comic-strip stories.

C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one.    

D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyptians.

In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures ___________.

A. should be made comprehensible

B. should be made interesting

C. are of much use in our life     

D. have disappeared from our life

Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change, either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.

There are several major language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families.

1. The early language had ______.

A.a lot of problems

B.words and easy grammar

C.words but no grammar

D.grammar but not many words

2.In the next few hundred years we can expect language to ______.

A.stay exactly the same

B.change a great deal

C.change only a little

D.add more words and drop some grammar

3.What this article shows is that ______.

A.languages change fast

B.languages really don’t want to change

C.language changes with changes of society

D.Spanish and English change

4. From this article we can see that ______.

A.language can change very slowly or very quickly

B.Though our life changes, our language won’t change.

C.we should give our plants new names

D.English and Spanish are the only languages that have changes

 

 

     Zhoukoudian is a small village situated about 50 kilometers to the southwest of Beijing. In the 1920s, archaeologists discovered some prehistoric human bones there which changed people’s view of China’s history. They came from an unknown species of man and were the first evidence of human life in China thousands of years ago. The remains were three teeth!

    In 1929, a complete skull was also discovered. Eventually, archaeologist found almost 200 items, including six skulls and more than 150 teeth. These discoveries proved the existence of a human species who lived in the area between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. Four sites where Beijing Man and his relatives lived were discovered on the northern face of Longgushan. They lived in the caves in the area.

     However, the life span of Beijing Man was short. About 70% of the peole probably died before the age of 14. Fewer than 5% lived to the age of 50. Ashes were found alongside the fossils which showed they had used fire for cooking food and also for light, warmth, and protection against wild animals. This is the earliest evidence of the use of fire anywhere in the world. They also made tools of bones and stones. Unfortunately, when Japan invaded(侵略) China in 1937, excavations(挖掘) at the Beijing Man Site stopped and most of the fossils disappeared, including a Beijing Man skull. After the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the work started again.

    Zhoukoudian was listed as a World Heritage Site in December 1987. It has not only given us important information about prehistoric Asian societies, but also provided amazing evidence about the process of evolution. Today, parts of the caves have been badly affected by rain. Some areas are almost completely covered in weeds, causing serious damage. Pollution from the nearby factories has also contributed to the problem. This is a very serious matter and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is trying to raise public awareness of it.

46. Archaeologists _________________.

  A. thought that Zhoukoudian was a beartiful village

  B. thought that the findings in Zhoukoudian wouldn’t change the history of China

  C. discovered some prehistoric human bounes in Zhoukoudian

  D. thought that the findings in Zhoukoudian are the first evidence of human life in Asia

47. Beijing Man used fire to do all of the following things EXCEPT _______________.

  A. light in the dark                B. keep warm

  C. make tools                    D. scare wild animals away

48. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  A. The digging was delayed by the Japanese invasion in the 1930s.

  B. These ancient Chinese were the first people to use fire in daily life.

  C. Some valuable things excavated from the site are still missing.

  D. The digging of Zhoukoudian is famous and is well-funded(得到很好的资助).

49. What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?

  A. The digging of Zhoukoudian is still under way.

  B. Zhoukoudian plays an important part in the study of prehistoric societies.

  C. Zhoukoudian is a World Heritage Site.

  D. Zhoukoudian is in great need of protection.

50. From the passage, we can infer that ______________.

  A,. the work of excavating the Beijing Man Site has not proceeded(进行) smoothly

  B. Beijing Man had a short life

  C. Beijing Man lived in the caves of Longgushan

  D. arvhaeologists found six complete skulls and more than 150 teeth in 1929.

 

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