For travellers who want to experience some of the history and mystery of the ancient world, here is a list of cool destinations for your next holiday.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Built in the 12th century, Angkor Wat (meaning “capital monastery”) was a temple in the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor. It is Cambodia’s best-known tourist attraction and is famed for its beautiful architecture and reliefs. You’ll need at least three days to fully discover the delights of this magnificent site.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu was built high in the Andes Mountains of South America by the Inca in the 15th century. Although well preserved its exact purpose is unknown. It is famous throughout the world not only for its incredible design but also for the natural beauty that surrounds it. Give yourself a week to explore this magnificent site.

Stonehenge, England

The entire Stonehenge site was constructed over thousands of years. But why and how it was built remains a mystery. As the weather can be pretty bleak in winter and the crowds huge in summer, we suggest autumn should be the best time to visit these monster rocks.

Pompeii, Italy

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., Pompeii was buried under many layers of ash, preserving the city exactly as it was when the volcano erupted. Because so many objects were preserved, scientists and visitors are able to better understand daily life in the ancient Roman Empire.

1.Why may people want to visit Machu Picchu?

2.When is the best time to visit Stonehenge according to the passage?

3.Which location offers the most direct view into daily life in the ancient world?

4.Where would you probably read such an article?

Dinah is one of the most good-natured children that ever lived, but she is very, very lazy. There is nothing she likes, or used to like, so much as to curl up in some warm corner in the sun and do nothing.

Dinah’s mother wished very much that her child should learn to read, but the lady who tried to teach her soon give it up. “It is no   16  ,” she said, “Dinah   17  not learn. She is not stupid, but too lazy.”

It happened soon that a young man from Massachusetts came to the house where Dinah lived. He brought with him something no one else in the neighborhood had ever seen before－a pair of roller-skates.

When Dinah saw the young man going rapidly up and down the piazza (广场) on his skates she was so   18 . She ran after him like a cat, her black eyes shining.

One day the young man allowed her to   19  the skates. The child was too happy for words. Of course she fell down, but did not   20  at all.

“Look here, Dinah,” said the young man, “I understand that my aunt has been trying to teach you to read. Why didn’t you learn? Now, if you can read, I will send you a pair of good roller-skates.”

For a moment she said  21 , then exclaimed decidedly, “I’ll have those skates, sure.”

And she did. When she   22  her mind on her work, she could always do it well,  23  it was.

The lady who had before this found her   24   difficult a child to teach, now had no trouble. If Dinah showed the least   25  of her former laziness, the word SKATES was enough to draw her attention back to her lesson instantly.

On New Year’s morning she received a box marked in large printed letters:

MISS DINAH MORRIS,

Care of Mrs. Lawrence Delaney,

NEW ORLEANS, LA.

If she can read what is on the outside of this box she can have what is inside.

And as Dinah read every word clearly and quickly, of course she had the fine roller-skates the box held. And now sitting curled up in the sun, doing nothing, is not the thing she likes to do best.

The Touchstone

    When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read little, bought it for very little money.

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.

The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days continued over a long period if time.

One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.

    So it is with opportunity. Unless we are cautious, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.

The man bought the book because          .

      A．he wanted to read it B．it was very interesting

       C．there was a secret in the book  D．he wanted to find the touchstone

We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is         .

       A．pure  B．cold  C．magic       D．big

Why did the man throw the pebbles into the sea?

       A．Because he didn’t want to get the same pebbles.

       B．Because he didn’t want others to pick them up.

       C．Because he didn’t like their ordinary looks.

       D．Because he didn’t like the cold feelings.

What does the author want to tell us in the passage?

       A．We about orate opportunities in our life.

       B．We should seek for opportunities in the world.

       C．We may seize opportunities when we are watchful

       D．We may discover opportunities when forming habits.

A newspaper, published usually on a daily or weekly basis, has the main function of reporting news. Many newspapers also furnish their readers with other pieces of useful information, such as weather reports, TV program broadcast, and other kinds of information. They provide commentary on politics, economics, arts and culture. In nearly all cases and in different degrees, newspapers depend on commercial advertising for their income.

A survey said that nearly six out of ten adults in the United States and Canada read a newspaper every day, and seven out of ten read a paper each weekend. By the time they see a newspaper, most people have already heard about breaking news stories on TV or on the radio. Readers depend on newspapers to provide detailed information and analysis (分析) which TV and radio almost don’t offer. Newspapers not only tell readers that an event has happened but also help readers understand what led to the event and how it will affect the world.

The members of a large newspaper work under the nonstop pressure of deadlines to bring news to readers as quickly as their minds, bodies and the technology they use permit. Reporters, photographers, artists, and editors find the materials and form articles and graphics (图片) —sometimes in just a few hours. Page designers combine articles, photos, advertisements, and eye-catching headlines into page layouts (版面), then quickly print the paper out. Printing system may work through the night to print out more than 60,000 copies per hour.

68. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A. How many people read newspapers.         B. Why many people read newspapers.

C. How a newspaper comes into being.        D. How newspapers affect us.

69. The underlined word in Paragraph 1 means “______”.

A. offer        B. review            C. found     D. produce

70. What can we learn from the passage?

A. All the income of a newspaper comes from ads.

B. Canadians depend on newspapers more than Americans.

C. The staff of a newspaper must meet deadlines from time to time.

D. Only by reading the newspaper can readers get the latest news.

71. According to the passage, what affects the pace of a newspaper’s publication?

A. The editors.                                    B. The printers.    

C. Its human resources and technology.        D. The reporters.

Johann Gutenberg, who worked as a goldsmith (金匠), took what had already been discovered, and created a small invention that changed history. He created a machine that allowed him to move small blocks of letters in such a way that written material could be printed and mass-produced. Few people could read before Guttenberg made the invention, but once books became less expensive, more Europeans could read and write.
Block printing existed long before Gutenberg. The Chinese had been using wood blocks to print books as early as 868, but a new set of woodcuts (木刻印版) had to be made for each book. Producing one book was not easy; producing all kinds of books was more difficult.
Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. Gutenberg used an oil-based printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time. We don’t know much about Gutenberg because he was not famous during his lifetime. He was born in Germany about 1400. In 1448, Gutenberg developed signatures for each number, letter, and punctuation mark (标点符号). He then built the molds (模型) to hold the signatures in place. Gutenberg published the first mass-produced book: a 1,282 page Bible. To this day, more copies of the Bible have been printed than any other book.
Copies of Gutenberg’s invention spread throughout Europe, but the German goldsmith did not get rich from his invention. Some officials denounced the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas. By 1500 there were 1,700 printing presses in Europe. The presses had already produced about 20 million volumes (册) of 40,000 different books.
【小题1】What happened after Johann Gutenberg’s invention?