Mauritius, with its full name the Republic of Mauritius, an island country, lies

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Mauritius, with its full name the Republic of Mauritius, an island country, lies 1,200 miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, and just east of Madagascar, another African island country, which is larger by far than Mauritius. It covers 788 square miles and has a population of 1,100,000, about 750,000 Indians, 300,000 Chinese and 20,000 Whites included. They are living together peacefully, although they share such different beliefs as Hindu, Roman Catholic, Muslim and so on.
The country can be divided into many parts with different climates all because of its peculiar terrains (地形). In the center there are volcanoes (火山) several thousand feet high, and 90% of its arable land is covered with sugarcane.
There were no people living on the island before the Dutch landed on it in 1638. The Dutch relinquished it in 1710, and five years later, the French came and succeeded in planting sugarcane there. It was conquered (征服) by Britain in 1818. As a result, its official language is English. The main big cities are Beau-Bassin and Mahebourg, with Port Louis as its capital.
Mauritius has many rare and unique animals, such as the snakes, parrots and lizards. The giraffe is a type of animal with a very long neck and legs and yellow skin with dark spots. It is the tallest of all living animals.
Mauritius was extremely poor when it declared its independence in 1968. In the past ten years, obvious economic prosperity (繁荣) has shown itself in this island country. Nowadays its business, culture and tourism are developing rapidly. Every year, thousands of millions of people rush there to enjoy the silver sad beach and song and dance performances with native national characters.
小题1:The underlined word “relinquished” in the third paragraph means _______.

A．took its place	B．gave it up
C．left for it	D．held it out

小题2:The right order that shows the history of Mauritius should be _______.
a. seized by the French b. became its master
c. ruled by the Dutch d. conquered by the British

A．b, a, c, d	B．a, c, d, b
C．d, c, a, b	D．c, a, d, b

小题3: According to the passage all of the following statements are TRUE except ________.
Arable land covers 90% of the country’s total area
It was the rule of foreigners that made the Mauritius people live in poverty
More than half of Mauritius population are Indians
Britain ruled the island longer than French and Dutch

答案

小题1:B
小题2:D
小题3:A

解析

小题1:本题考查根据上下文猜测特定词语含义的能力。由下文 “…and five years later, the French came and succeeded in planting sugarcane there.”可知, 一国放弃之后，又一国相继而入。
小题2:本题考查对文章细节进行排列顺序的能力。由 “There were no people … by Britain in 1818,”这段文字可知：在the Dutch 登上该岛之前无人居住此岛，the Dutch 放弃该岛之后the French 来了，最后又被英国占领。其独立在英国占领之后。
小题3:本题考查根据文章相关信息进行正误判断的能力。由第二段 “In the center there are volcanoes several thousand feet high, and 90% of its arable land is covered with sugarcane.”可知不是毛里求斯的total area（全部地区），而是它的its arable land（适于耕种的地）90%种有甘蔗。

举一反三

Treasure hunts have excited people’s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Is-land. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues found in a book when he wrote a children’s story, Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them.
Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic，not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gaine4d an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words: “One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in misleading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.
Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth 3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.
小题1:Which of the following describes Roberts’ logic in searching for the hare?

A．Henry VIII’s six wives

B．Katherine’s burial place at Kimbolton

C．Williams’ childhood in Ampthill

D．Katherine of Argon

小题2:What is the subject discussed in the text?

A．An exciting historical event.

B．A modern treasure hunt.

C．The attraction of Masquerade.

D．The importance of logical thinking.

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She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last for ever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louver Museum(卢浮宫) where it is housed.
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state.
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision(视觉) is excellent at picking up details, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louver by a former employee, who took it out of the museum, hidden under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later. During World War Ⅱ, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.
小题1:We can infer from the text that_______

A．the Mona Lisa is proved to be able to last another 500 years

B．Mona Lisa’s beauty is fading gradually with 500 years passing by

C．the Mona Lisa has been catching people’s wide attention in the past 500 years

D．Mona Lisa does not look out of date though painted 500 years ago

小题2:Which of the following is true about the Mona Lisa?

A．It was once taken away and hidden up by German forces.

B．Its painter himself loved it greatly and always kept it in a shade.

C．Mona Lisa stops smiling when you look at her wanting to see her smiles.

D．King Francis I bought it and then returned it to Italy.

小题3:Choose the right order about the happenings onto Mona Lisa.
a. It was stolen from the Louver.
b. Its painter sold it to King Francis I
c. Its state of health was checked.
d. It was returned to France and housed in the Louver Museum.
e. It was hidden and protected against Germans.

A．b-a-d-e-c

B．d-e-c-b-a

C．d-a-e-c-b

D．b-c-a-d-e

小题4:It may add to the difficulty in repairing the painting that_____.

A．experts haven’t noticed changes in its shape as visitors do

B．it is likely to be stolen again when it’s under repair

C．it is uncertain which country, Italy of France, should take charge

D．experts aren’t sure about the materials and the chemical state of its oil paint

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If we are asked exactly what we were doing a year ago, we might have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a book and written in it an account (陈述) of what we did each day, we should be able to give an answer to the question.
It is the same in history. Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them. Sometimes men did keep a record of the important happenings in their country, but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war. Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write. For example, we know a great deal about the people who lived in china 4,000 years ago, because they could write and leave written records for whose who lived after them. But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in central Africa, because they had not learned go write.
Sometimes, of course, even if the people cannot write, they may know something of the past. They have heard about it from older people, and often songs and dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings, and those have been sung and acted and told for many generations, for most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past. This we may call ‘remembered history’. Some of it has now been written history, because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing. But where there are no written records, such spoken stories are often very helpful.
小题1: Which of the following ideas is NOT talked about in the passage above?

A．“Remembered history” is less reliable than written history.

B．Written records of the past played a most important in our learning of the human history.

C．A written account of our daily activities helps us to remember what we have done

D．Where there are no written records, there is no history.

小题2:Remembered history”refers to .

A．history based on a person’s imagination

B．stories of important happenings passed down from mouth to mouth

C．history written down in books

D．what we have learned and remembered in history lessons

小题3:“Remembered history”is regarded as valuable only when .

A．it is written down	B．there is no written account
C．is proves down	D．people are interested in it

小题4: It can be inferred from the passage that we could have learned much more about our past than we do now if our ancestors had .

A．kept a written record of every past event

B．not fought against one another in wars

C．told exact stories of the most important happenings

D．produced and taught more songs and dances

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Narcissus was a beautiful looking boy. He had long, flowing, blond hair, beautiful, bright, blue eyes and even, white teeth. Many young ladies fell in love with him including the nymph（女神）: Echo.
Nymphs were lively spirits who lived near streams and lakes and protected trees in the forest. Echo had upset the Queen of the Gods; Hera. As a punishment Hera made Echo unable to speak except to repeat the last three words of the person she was talking to.
Poor Echo fell in love with Narcissus but could never tell him how she felt. Narcissus teased her and she ran away with tears pouring down her face. Aphrodite, the goddess of love saw what happened and decided to punish Narcissus. As he came to a pool of water Narcissus saw his reflection (影子)and fell in love with the vision he saw. It was of course his own reflection.
Poor Narcissus watched his own reflection, every time he tried to touch the face of the vision he loved it broke up on the shimmering surface of the water. Narcissus stopped eating, lost his beautiful looks and desired to get his love. In the end he anguished gradually and died.
Aphrodite took pity on him and made a flower grow in his place on the bank of the lake. Narcissus flowers (水仙花) can be found to this day growing wherever you can find water and trees.
小题1:Echo fell in love with Narcissus because_________.

A．Narcissus was good-looking.

B．Echo was a lively spirit

C．Narcissus loved her, too.

D．Echo took pity on Narcissus

小题2: Why did Aphrodite, the goddess of love, punish Narcissus?

A．Aphrodite envied Echo because she loved Narcissus

B．She thought Narcissus didn’t respect and made Echo sad.

C．Narcissus fell in love with the vision, not Echo.

D．Echo was trapped in love and didn’t protect trees in the forest any longer.

小题3:What does the underlined word “anguished” in the fourth paragraph mean?

A．become increasingly thin and weak

B．become very hungry

C．become very fat

D．become out of mind

小题4:What is the main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To tell people a sad love story

B．To tell people how Narcissus flowers came

C．To tell the true meaning of beauty and ugliness

D．To tell people not affect others’ love

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There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama came from ritual (宗教仪式). The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the seasonal changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then kept and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths (神话), coutinued to exist and provided material for art and drama.
Those who believe that drama came from ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the “acting area” and the “watching area.” In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in performing, religious leaders usually undertook that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often imitated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and used gestures about the desired effect, success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival (复活) of the Sun. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.
Another theory traces the theater’s origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view, tales about the hunt, war, or other feats are gradually added in detail, at first through imitation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely-related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.
小题1:What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．The origins of theater.	B．The role of ritual in modern dance.
C．The importance of storytelling.	D．The variety of early religious activities.

小题2:What aspect of drama does the author discuss in the first parapraph?

A．The reason why drama is often unpredictable.	B．The seasons in which dramas were performed.
C．The connection between myths and dramatic plots.	D．The importance of costumes in early drama.

小题3:Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a common element of theater and ritual?

A．Dance.

B．Costumes.

C．Music.

D．Magic.

小题4:According to the passage, what is the main difference between ritual and drama?

A．Ritual uses music whereas drama does not.	B．Ritual is shorter than drama.
C．Ritual requires fewer performers than drama.	D．Ritual has a religious purpose and drama does not.

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