The Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院) fire has been put out, but its wooden roof has been largely damaged. The terrible accident caused a sudden sharp pain to people around the world, “What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.”
But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely via a video game called Assassin’s Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire.
What’s more, with VR technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage (建筑文化遗产).
The idea of digitizing ancient buildings, making digital models of them so their data can be saved, dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with hundreds of images, as well as measuring (测量) everything exactly, engineers can make a copy as “same” as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital replica or digital copy has great practical value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics (文物) without touching them, which helps protect them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting it in the following years. Above all, it saves all the information of the cultural relics. Even if the original ones are damaged one day, people can still know what they were like and can build a replica if desired.
Time is the biggest problem to architectural heritage. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to protect architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
1.What can we see about Notre Dame in the video game?
A.The big fire. B.Its original look.
C.The damaged parts. D.Its wooden shape.
2.What will engineers do to create a digital copy of the ancient buildings?
A.Make digital models. B.Build 3D models of full size.
C.Improve the cultural heritage. D.Measure all the parts exactly.
3.How does the writer prove the digital copy has great practical value?
A.By giving examples. B.By comparison.
C.By reasoning things out. D.By showing methods.
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.The Damage of Notre Dame
B.The Value of Digital Replica
C.Digital Technology Helps Protect Cultural Relics
D.VR Technology Helps Repair the Ancient Buildings
The Garbage (垃圾) Project started at the University of Arizona in 1973. Since then, the students and teachers in it have studied the modern garbage in different cities.
To study the garbage, the students had to travel to landfills, the places where cities bury (填埋) their garbage. While the students were studying the garbage, they wore special clothes. Students were very careful when they opened bags of garbage.
One important thing the students have learned from studying the garbage is that the garbage in landfills disappears very slowly. That was surprising to both the students and many scientists who had thought that about 70% of the garbage in landfills would disappear quickly. Even in cities where it rains a lot, the students found newspapers from 1948, 40-year-old hot dogs, and vegetables from 1970. And the students also found many more empty bottles of cola than they expected.
As society develops, there is more and more waste produced in our daily life. How to dispose of our garbage well depends on what kind of garbage it is: regular (普通的) garbage, dangerous materials, or recyclable materials, such as newspapers and glass bottles. Regular garbage goes to regular landfills. Dangerous materials are harmful to people’s health and the environment. They shouldn’t go into regular landfills. And people should try their best to reuse the resource and reduce the amount of using them. It is high time that people need to divide different kinds of waste and put them into different dustbins, which will be a great help to cleaning workers as well as the whole society.
Homes are full of dangerous waste. One kind of the dangerous waste in homes is batteries (电池). When batteries are buried directly in a landfill, they often break open. The poison inside them moves through rain water to the bottom of the landfill. Then it can pollute the natural water in the ground.
Another dangerous waste from homes is motor oil. When people pour old motor oil on the ground or throw it in the garbage, it pollutes the environment.
Our garbage problem is not new, but as the world’s population continues to grow, it will become a bigger and bigger problem.
1.To study the modern garbage, the students had to do many things except _________.
A.wearing special clothes B.traveling to landfills
C.burying the garbage themselves D.opening bags of garbage
2.The words “dispose of” in Paragraph 4 probably mean “_________”.
A.put away B.deal with C.worry about D.make up
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Old motor oil should go to regular landfills.
B.There are only two kinds of dangerous waste in homes.
C.Batteries are often broken when they are buried directly in a landfill.
D.The students found empty bottles of cola were not as many as they expected.
A Dream Chaser in a Wheelchair
Since the age of three, Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. That dream nearly ended in 2010 when Hill was in a car accident, which put the 17-year-old girl in hospital for 51 days and left her paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the waist down. For most people, that would have destroyed any hope of a dancing career. But for Hill, it was the beginning. “I want to prove to everyone including myself that I’m still normal,” she said, “whatever normal means.”
Normal for her meant dancing, so Hill did it in her wheelchair alongside her nondisabled high school dance team. Half of her body was taken away from her, so she had to move it with her hands. It took much learning and patience.
After graduation from high school, Hill wanted to expand her dance network to include women like her. She met people online who were fighting for the dream of dancing against various spinal (脊柱的) injuries, and invited them to dance with her. To reach more people in a larger city, Hill moved to Los Angeles in 2014 and formed a team of dancers with disabilities she called the Rollettes.
Every year Hill holds a dance camp called the Rollettes Experience for wheelchair users to help them bring out their acting talent. In 2019, 173 participants from ten countries attended. For many, it was the first time they’d felt they belonged. Edna Serrano said, “I didn’t know I could do so many things that my fellow teammates had taught me. It’s so powerful to have my teammates in my life, because they’re my teachers. I have more confidence.”
Chelsie Hill got what many of us never will: her childhood dream. She has been chasing her dream in the wheelchair. She’s a dancer. The Rollettes have helped her find something else just as fulfilling.
1.What happened to Chelsie Hill in 2010?
A.She lost her hope of dancing.
B.She got backache and stayed in hospital.
C.She was seriously disabled in a car accident.
D.She realized her dream of becoming a dancer.
2.Why did Chelsie Hill set up the Rollettes in 2014?
A.To expand her social network.
B.To enlarge her dance business.
C.To encourage more people like her.
D.To look for more opportunities to dance.
3.Which of the following words can best describe Chelsie Hill?
A.Modest and professional. B.Cooperative and faithful.
C.Responsible and creative. D.Strong willed and inspiring.
An English teacher has introduced a play to her class.
Characters:
Benny, student, 14 years old
Jerry, student, 15 years old
Susie, student, 14 years old
Grace, student, 14 years old
Time: One Sunday afternoon.
Place: By the river near their houses.
(The four teenagers have just finished the picnic. They are tidying up.)
Benny: Wow! That was a great picnic. I’m so full that I can hardly move.
Grace: That’s no excuse for not tidying up, Benny. Come over here and help me pack(包装) up the leftover food. Jerry, can you put out the fire, please? And clean up the place.
Jerry: (Speaking unhappily to himself.) How can I always get the dirty and difficult jobs? It’s not fair.
(Jerry throws a bit of water on the fire. Then he picks up the ashes (灰烬) with an old newspaper and wants to throw them into the long grass.)
Susie: (Sounding surprised) What are you doing, Jerry? That’s d....
Jerry: Whoops ... the paper has caught fire.
Susie: And the grass ... Benny, Grace, help! Help!
(Benny and Grace come over quickly. They help put out the fire completely.)
Jerry: Oh, no. Oh, no! What have I done?
Grace: You know that we should do everything carefully, don’t you?
Jerry: (With his head in his hands.) Yes. What have I done? What have I done?
1.How does Jerry feel about his jobs?
A.Clean and easy. B.Dirty and difficult.
C.Great and interesting. D.Helpful and careful.
2.What word do you think Susie would say in the sentence “That’s d....”?
A.dirty B.difficult C.different D.dangerous
3.What are the four teenagers doing in the play?
A.They are tidying up after they have had the picnic.
B.They are reading the play after their teacher has introduced it.
C.They are having a picnic together after they have put out the fire.
D.They are helping put out the fire after they have had the leftover food.
It’s been nearly 40 years since I became a member of the navy (海军). You may be wondering how I have won so many honors as a commander-in-chief (最高统帅). In fact, it all began from the half a year’s basic training, which I will never forget. The training included midnight swims in the cold water, days without_________and long painful runs in the soft sand. I always felt cold, wet, hungry and painful.
The training also needed to find those who could_________in an environment of stress, mess, failure and hardships. To me, the basic training was a lifetime of challenges that lasted six months. And today, I’d like to talk about one little thing.
Every morning in the training, my instructors (教官) would appear in our rooms. The first thing they did was to_______our beds. The corners would be square if we did it right. The covers would be pulled tight, and the pillow would be centered just under the headboard.
It was a difficult task. But every morning we were required to make our beds_________. It seemed a little funny, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proved to me many times over.
If you make your bed every morning, you will have completed the first task of the day. It will bring you a small_________of success, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another and another. And by the end of the day, one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will prove the fact. If you can’t do the_________things right, you will hardly be able to do the big things right.
Changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. I can make sure that it doesn’t matter whether I ever _______ a day in uniform (制服,军服). Even now, I still start my day with making the bed to perfection. So if you have an awful day by accident, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.
In general, if you want to change the world,_________off by making your bed. I hope all of you will have a brighter future!
1.A.water B.sleep C.food D.air
2.A.doubt B.lead C.separate D.hurry
3.A.check B.clean C.mend D.make
4.A.differently B.quietly C.comfortably D.perfectly
5.A.gift B.task C.exam D.sense
6.A.important B.interesting C.little D.hard
7.A.chose B.served C.remembered D.celebrated
8.A.start B.run C.get D.take
— Mike, could you tell me ____________?
— Next Friday.
A.when we had the English party
B.when did we have the English party
C.when we are going to have the English party
D.when are we going to have the English party
