Constructed in the third century BC, the Terracotta Army is a collection of clay sculptures presenting the forces of the First Emperor of China- Qin Shi Huang. The figures include more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses. Their varying clothes, facial features and body types have long impressed people. But historian Dan Snow says, “The amazing realism increases the great mystery surrounding these terracotta figures, where do they come from? They are nothing like any figure made in China before them, something changed. Something remarkable happened here 2,200 years ago."
Mr Snow explains historians have long believed Ancient China remained separated from the rest of the world. But the Terracotta Army could disprove that theory.
The time of the First Emperor was around 220BC. When, on the eastern edge of the Eurasian（欧亚的）landmass, was the Chinese worlds with competing mini-states over there. Over on the west of Eurasia, the Roman Empire started to expand over here and Greece was a great power,
"What's going on artistically in the East and West is very different in the third century BC. The classic Greek art is easy to recognize, with the absolute high watermark of artistic expression, beautiful—metre-and-a-half tall, human in its look. But in the Chinese world, you've got just 10cm tall, far more basic." says Mr Snow. He continues, "Then something changes, in fact, everything changes—there's a revolution. Suddenly, in 220BC you get the Terracotta Army lightyears ahead of what's gone before. It starts to look far less like before and far more like what's going on in the western world, both life-size, both lifelike, both attempts at realism."
This couldn't be more important, because it's always been assumed that China developed in isolation（隔离）. But if that's not the case, if the First Emperor of China imported western ideas and techniques to create his extraordinary arts, that forces us to completely rewrite the history books.
1.What confused Dan Snow about the Terracotta Army?
A.Why Qin Shi Huang ordered to create them.
B.Who instructed ancient people to create them.
C.Why their design was different from previous time.
D.What kind of clothes ancient people preferred to wear.
2.What do most historians think of Ancient China?
A.It was closed to the outside world.
B.Many mini-states coexisted peacefully.
C.Building army of sculptures was very common then.
D.It built a good relationship with the rest of the world.
3.What can we infer about the clay sculptures in Ancient China before 220BC?
A.They were in small size.
B.Their styles changed greatly.
C.Their facial expressions seemed real.
D.They looked similar to the Greek ones.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.The Development of Chinese Art
B.Westerners Found in Ancient China
C.The Discovery of China's Terracotta Army
D.Historians Reconsidering the Remote Past of China
Christa Barfield of Germantown starts each day by drinking a cup of hot tea. When she lifts the cup to her lips, she smells the tea gently and looks forward to the day ahead. "Drinking a cup of tea is a form of self-reflection," Barfield said." When I'm doing my praying or meditation（冥想）, drinking tea allows me to sit in the moment and be present."
Barfield, 32, fell in love with tea in 2018 after taking a trip to the Caribbean Island of Martinique where every morning with her breakfast she was served a hot cup from the couple she visited. There, the host would take live herbs from his garden, put them in a cup, and pour hot water over them. "It was very different from what we do in America," Barfield said. "The tea had a fresher taste."
When she returned to Germantown, she was inspired to start a tea company of her own. In August, she started Viva Leaf Tea, a company that sells blended（调配的）teas from herbs and plants that Barfield grows from seed. The name of the company, Viva Leaf Tea, is a nod to the fresh herbal teas she drank in Martinique.
"I started a tea company for wellness reasons." Barfield explained, "It helped me to keep my 10 years of healthcare experiences and reuse them in my own way," Before starting Viva Leaf Tea. Barfield worked in healthcare management at several private practices in Philadelphia. In 2018, she earned a bachelor's degree in healthcare administration from Saint Joseph's University.
"We take all of our herbs very seriously," she said. "There are thousands of tea companies all over the world. But you don't really know where the tea leaves come from." Barfield provides a "farm to cup" experience for her customers. With every order, customers are provided with information about the origins of the herbs used and their possible health benefits.
1.What did Barfield find from her trip to Martinique?
A.Americans' love for tea.
B.A new way to drink tea.
C.The importance of fresh tea.
D.The popularity of tea in the Caribbean.
2.What does the name of Barfield's company indicate?
A.She is devoted to making blended teas.
B.She takes great interest in growing herbs.
C.She is crazy about starting a company of her own.
D.She was impressed by the herbal teas in Martinique.
3.What does Barfield want to do through her company?
A.Share her healthcare experiences.
B.Introduce a new way to make tea.
C.Inspire people to learn tea culture.
D.Help people keep healthy in her way.
4.What does the author try to convey in the last paragraph?
A.What health benefits herbal teas have.
B.How Viva Leaf Tea advertises its products.
C.What makes Viva Leaf Tea's products different.
D.Where customers can find the origins of herbal teas.
The Walkmeter Walking & Hiking GPS has characteristics that are excellent for fitness walkers who want to improve their speed and distance. It uses your phone's GPS to measure the distance of your walks and hikes. It includes audio and voice integration（集成）so you can not only be informed of your workout statistics, but you can also listen to replies your friends send about your workout posts from Facebook and Twitter while you walk. Upgrading is less than $10 per year, far less than with some other apps, such as Endomondo.
Argus packs a lot into one lifestyle app. It functions as an all-day pedometer app. Your daily step count updates from your phone and includes active time, distance, calories, steps. and an hourly graph, It can also measure your heart rate at any time. You can easily take your heart rate during exercise and at rest. Besides, you can use the app’s food diary and sleep timer. A wide range of fitness and diet plans are also provided on it.
Charity Miles gives your walking a purpose, because it turns your exercise into donations to a certain cause. Open up this free app（iOS or Google Play）and choose a charity. Start a workout, choosing walking, running, or cycling. For each completed mile, you’ll have earned a donation for your chosen charity. The basic rate is 25 cents for walking and running miles and 10 cents for cycling miles, subject to a periodic cap. When you finish your walking, you must post to Facebook or Twitter to earn money for your charity.
1.What can users do with the Walkmeter Walking & Hiking GPS while exercising?
A.Upgrade the app for $10. B.Check comments of friends.
C.Reply to friends’ posts online. D.Make personalized fitness plans.
2.What is special about Charity Miles?
A.It is free of charge. B.It can earn you money.
C.It offers a new way of donating. D.It is connected to social software,
3.Where is the text probably taken from?
A.A website on app ratings. B.An online fitness course.
C.A medical report. D.An advertisement for phones.
根据下列提示为21st Century Teens写一篇题为 Development of agriculture in China的小短文。（词数120左右）
1. 中国是一个有十三亿人口的大国。
2. 在过去的二十多年间，中国发生了巨大变化，尤其在农业方面。
3. 中国仅有世界7%的土地，却成功地养活了世界22%的人口。
4. 其耕地(farming land)的灌溉面积是世界上最大的。种植了世界三分之一的大米。渔业也非常重要，淡水鱼随处可见。
5. 废弃的蔬菜(vegetable waste)被用来养猪、养鸡；人和动物的粪便(waste)产生的气体被用来供热和做饭。
6. 如果世界上其他地方也像中国一样重视和发展农业，就不会再有饥饿。
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Only three local students won Chinese Blog (博客) Competition. And 15 of the 18 awards went to students from China.
170 students' task: to get a fully-designed blog up and running, complete with many positions based on a theme of choice--- to food blogs.
The entries were judged on Language proficiency(熟练程度) and the quality of writing, as well as the design and level of exchanging ideas with readers.
Academics from the National University of Singapore and the SIM University, IT experts, and a journalist from Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore made up the judges.
In the end, only three Singaporean students make it to the award list---the rest of the awards were swept up by students from China.
"No surprise," said Mr. Chow Yaw Long, 37, teachers-in-charge from Innova Junior College, which organized the event, "Although the topics were local subjects, the foreign students were generally better because of the content of the posts and their grasp of the Chinese language."
One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao, 19, from the Saint Andrew's Junior College, who spared no effors in researching for and writing her blog. Each entry took her between five and seven days to produce, complete with pictures and even podcasts (播客).
Her advice for bloggers is: Be responsible.
"Some bloggers out there only seek to blame the authorities and other bloggers." Said Miss Gao, "I think they lack responsibilities and there is no value to their posts."
1.The competition was organized by________.
A.the National University of Singapore B.Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao
C.Innova Junior College D.the Saint Andrew's Junior College
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Chinese students won most of the awards.
B.Not all the themes were about local subjects.
C.The blogs could be written in Chinese or Singlish.
D.The judges were from universities in Singapore and China.
3.What Miss Gao said suggests that ________.
A.she likes to blame the authorities. B.she has a sense of resposibility
C.she thinks highly of the others' blogs. D.she loves to read valuable posts.
4.The passage is in mainly about______.
A.how Chinese students won the awards in the competition
B.why bloggers should take responsibility for their blogs
C.how Miss Gao won the first prize in the competition
D.what the result of the competition was
Like you and your pet dog, plants are living things: they eat, drink, and grow. Unlike you and your dog, they can't run away, use fists or teeth, or hide under the covers when they're threatened. But they can fight back.
Why would a plant need to fight back? To avoid being eaten, of course! Plants have several ways of protecting themselves. A plant can grow in a hidden or hard-to-get-to place. Think of plants you've seen growing on steep, rocky cliff (悬崖). Or, a plant could make only some parts of itself attractive to hungry insects and animals. For instance, if a plant produced really tasty leaves, herbivores (creatures that eat only plants) might eat the leaves instead of the seeds, which the plant needs for making more plants. Some plants have sharp or slippery (滑的) parts that discourage insects and other animals from getting too close, like the thorns(刺) on a rosebush.
But the most interesting way that plants fight back is by using chemicals. Plants take minerals from the soil and combine them into chemicals that do a lot of work. For example, plants produce chlorophyll(叶绿素), which helps convert sunshine and water into the sugars that plants eat.
They also produce chemicals to help protect themselves. One kind of tobacco plant releases a chemical into the air whenever small bugs begin to eat it. The chemical signals large bugs, saying "Dinner's ready!" The big bugs come to eat the little ones and save the plant.
Most plants use chemicals in a more direct way against their enemies. In other words, plants make poison.
1.What does the underlined word "convert" mean?
A.Change B.Separate
C.Form D.Produce
2.What do we know from the passage?
A.Some plants hide under the covers when faced with threat.
B.A plant grows in a hard-to-get-to place to draw people's attention.
C.Some plants produce tasty leaves to protect their seeds.
D.Plants produce chemicals to meet the needs of big bugs.
3.What may be talked about following the last paragraph?
A.Different effects that different plant poisons cause on plant eaters.
B.Different kinds of plants in the world.
C.Why plants make poison?
D.How to protect plants?
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Plant information. B.Plant enemies.
C.Plant poisons. D.Plant protection.
