(一)People have been painting pictures for at least30,000 years. The earliest pictu res were painted bypeople who hunted animals. They used to paintpictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill.Pictures of this kind have been fou nd on the walls ofcaves in France and Spain. No one knows why theywere pai nted there. Perhaps the painters thoughtthat their pictures would help them t o catch theseanimals. Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell st ories in pictures.About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East bega n to use picturesas kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to repr esent things and ideas, and also torepresent the sounds of their language. Th e signs these people used became a kind of alphabet.The Egyptians used to r ecord information and to tell stories by putting picture writingand pictures tog ether. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life werep ainted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of the se pictures arelike 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 p ower. So they did not try to make their way ofwriting simple. The ordinary pe ople could not understand it.By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea haddeveloped a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were ver y easy to write, and therewere fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. Th is was because each sign, or letter,represented only one sound in their langua ge. The Greeks developed this system and formedthe letters of the Greek alp habet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet isnow used all over the world.These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using p ictures. But westill need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find themeverywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where welive and work. Pictures help us to und erstand and remember things more easily, and they canmake a story much more interesting.?1. 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?2. The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the follo wing reasonsEXCEPT 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?3. 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.?4. 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参考答案:1. D) 根据文章第一段第五行“Perhaps the paintersthought that their pictures would help them to catchthes e animals.”可知古代人以为在墙上画画会对他们有所帮助,故选项D为正确答案。
?2. C) 在做此类题时要注意题干的要求。
通过阅读文章第四段很清楚就知道选项C “前者容易发音”在文中没有提及,故为正确答案。
?3. A) 可用排除法来做本题。
通过阅读文章很清楚选项B和D为错误陈述。
选项C “罗马字母是从埃及字母发展而来的”根据文章第四段第四,五句可知为错误论述,因此只有选项A为正确答案。
4. C) 文章最后一段讲述了图画在今天的用途,故选项C为正确答案。
(二)As the merchant class expanded in the eighteenth?century North American C olonies, the silversmith and the coppersmith businesses rose to serve it.Only a few silversmiths were available in New Yorkor Boston in the late seventee nth century, but in theeighteenth century they could be found in all majorcolo nial cities. No other colonial artisans rivaled thesilversmiths’prestige. They h andled the mostexpensive materials and possessed direct connections to pros perous colonial merchants. Theirproducts, primarily silver plates and bowls, re flected their exalted status and testified to theircustomers’ prominence. Silve r stood as one of the surest ways to store wealth at a time beforeneighborhoo d banks existed. Unlike the silver coins from which they were made, silver arti cleswere readily identifiable. Often formed to individual specifications, they always carried the silversmith’s distinctive markings and consequently co uld be traced and retrieved.Customers generally secure the silver for the silv er object they ordered. They saved coins, tookthem to smiths, and discussed the type of pieces they desired. Silversmiths complied with theserequests by melting the money in a small furnace, adding a bit of copper to form a stron ger alloy, and casting the alloy in rectangular blocks. They hammered these ingots to the appropriate thickness by hand, shaped them and pressed desi gns into them for adornment.Engraving was also done by hand. In addition to plates and bowls, some customers soughtmore intricate products, such a s silver teapots. These were made by shaping or casting partsseparately and t hen soldering them together. Colonial coppersmithing also come of age in the early eighteenth century and prospered in northern cities. Copper’s ability to conduct heat efficiently and to resist corrosion contributed to its attractive ness. But because it wasexpensive in colonial America, coppersmiths were ne ver very numerous. Virtually all copperworked by Smiths was imported as sh eets or obtained by recycling old copper goods. Copperwas used for practical i tems, but it was not admired for its beauty. Coppersmiths employed it tofashi on pots and kettles for the home. They shaped it in much the same manner as silver or melted it in a foundry with lead or tin. They also mixed it with zinc to make brass for maritimeand scientific instruments.?1.According to the passage, which of the following eighteenth century develop ments had strong impact on silversmiths? ?A. A decrease in the cost of silver. ?B. The invention of heat efficient furnaces. ?C. The growing economic prosperity of colonial merchants. ?D. The development of new tools used to shape silver. ?2.In colonial America, where did silversmiths usually obtain the material to make silver articles? ?A. From their own mines. ?B. From importers. ?C. From other silversmiths. ?D. From customers.3.The passage mentions all of the following as uses for copper in Colonial Am erica EXCEPT ?______?.?A. cooking pots ?B. scientific instruments ?C. musical instruments ?D. maritime instruments4.According to the passage, silversmiths and coppersmiths in colonial America were similar inwhich of the following ways? ?A. The amount of social prestige they had.?B. The way they shaped the they worked with. ?C. The cost of the goods they made. ?D. The practicality of the goods they made.参考答案:1. C) 根据文章第一句“As the merchant classexpanded in the eighteenth?century North AmericanC olonies,...”可知,随着在十八世纪的北美殖民地商人阶级膨胀起来,也就是说那时的商人财富有了很大的发展,银匠铜匠们有机会发挥他们的专长了,这与选项C正好相符。