In 1888 an Egyptian farmer digging in the sand near the village of Istabl Antar uncovered a mass tomb. The bodies weren’t human. They were feline—ancient cats that had been mummified and buried in holes in astonishing numbers. “Not one or two here and there”, reported English Illustrated Magazine, “but dozens, hundreds, hundreds of thousands, a layer of them, a layer thicker than most coal joints, ten to twenty cats deep.” Some of the linen-wrapped cats still looked presentable, and a few even had golden faces. Village children peddled the best ones to tourists for change; the rest were sold as fertilizer (肥料). One ship transported about 180,000, weighing some 38, 000 pounds, to Liverpool to be spread on the fields of England.
Those were the days of generously funded (资助的) explorations—that dragged through acres of desert in their quest for royal tombs, and for splendid gold and painted masks to decorate the museums of Europe and America. The many thousands of mummified animals that turned up at religious sites throughout Egypt were just things to be cleared away to get treasure. Few people studied them, and their importance was generally unrecognized.
In the century since then, archaeology (考古学) has become less of a treasure hunt and more of a science. Archaeologists now realize that much of their sites’ wealth lies in the majority of details about ordinary folks—what they did, what they thought, how they prayed. And animal mummies are a big part of that.
“They’re really displays of daily life,” says Egyptologist Salima Ikram. After looking beneath bandages with x-rays and cataloguing her findings, she created a gallery for the collection—a bridge between people today and those of long ago. “You look at these mummified animals, and suddenly you say, Oh, King So-and-So had a pet. I have a pet. And instead of being at a distance of 5,000-plus years, the ancient Egyptians become clearer and closer to us.”
1.The underlined word “peddled” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
A.examined B.displayed
C.replaced D.shared
2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A.Treasure hunting explorations. B.Egyptian Royal tombs in desert.
C.Mummified animals in museums. D.Big archaeological discoveries.
3.From the last paragraph, we can learn that Salima Ikram .
A.wishes to keep the continuity of pets over history
B.wants to identify the King’s personal belongings and classify them
C.believes that studying the remains can help modern society relate to the past
D.doubts if current society will understand the significance of Egyptian remains
4.The passage probably encourages the readers to .
A.make full use of the remains the ancestors left behind
B.become more sensitive to the ancient lifestyle of the ancestors
C.pay more attention to the historical and cultural value of ancient remains
D.understand there are more the historical remains waiting for explorations
When I was small, my mother and I would walk to our local library in Franklin Square. As we didn’t always have access to a reliable car, walking hand in hand was the most convenient way to get anywhere. It was at story time for children that both my mother and I made lasting friendships.
Today, I am fortunate to live around the corner from the Cold Coast Public Library in Glen Head and a short walk to the Sea Cliff Children’s Library. My 8-month-old son, Colin, and I find ourselves in Sea Cliff several times a week, meeting and making friends. Well, that is what many people don’t understand—a library is more than books; it’s a community.
Sure, the library in Franklin Square was the place where I was introduced to Judy Blume novels. But it was also the place where I got my first email address in 1997. At the library, friends and I learned how to research colleges and search for scholarships on the Internet. The library was the place where we sometimes giggled (咯咯笑) too loudly, and where the librarians knew us by name. Their knowing our names wasn’t a bad thing. When I came home from my first term at Binghamton University, Mary LaRosa, the librarian at the Franklin Square library, offered me my first teaching job.
I now teach reading at Nassau Community College. My students are often amazed that they can check out books via their smartphones and virtually (虚拟地) visit a variety of Long Island libraries. The app used by Nassau and Suffolk county public libraries, as well as the college library, makes their homework easier by helping them find resources. Even though they can’t always easily visit their local libraries, the library is always with them.
1.Why does the author consider herself lucky today?
A.She can walk with her mother hand in hand.
B.She has access to a reliable car now.
C.She can giggle loudly at the library.
D.She lives close to libraries.
2.The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 probably refer to .
A.socializing in a library
B.reading books in a library
C.visiting a library with family members
D.building parent-child friendship in a library
3.What is the author’s attitude to her students’ way of visiting libraries?
A.Sympathetic. B.Favorable.
C.Sceptical. D.Disapproving.
4.The author writes the passage mainly to .
A.recall the days of childhood in the libraries
B.discuss the differences of the libraries
C.explain the changes of the libraries
D.express her love for libraries
Stories Behind Famous Company Names
| Inventor Caleb Bradham had originally wanted to be a doctor but started working in a pharmacy when he returned home to North Carolina. In 1893, he made up what he first called “Brad’s Drink,” a mix of water, sugar, caramel, lemon oil, nutmeg, and other flavors. Five years later, he renamed it Pepsi-Cola. He claimed the drink could help with digestion(消化), or dyspepsia, the term from which Bradham adapted the name Pepsi. |
| This luxury car maker combined elements from the Ford and Oldsmobile companies when it was started in 1902 and later became known for its innovation and high quality. The company was named after the French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit in 1701. |
| Company co-founder Gordon Bowker has said that while brainstorming names, someone brought out a map that featured the old mining town of Starbo. That may have led him to think of Starbuck, the first mate in Herman Melville’s famous novel, Moby Dick. Not only the company name but also the origin of its logo has aroused great curiosity. |
| The inventor of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, was looking to make an elegant, yet precise, wristwatch. He wanted a name that was easy to say, worked in different languages, and looked good on the watches. He settled on Rolex in 1908. |
1.Which company name has a close relationship with literature?
A.Pepsi B.Cadillac
C.Starbucks D.Rolex
2.Which of the following statements is True?
A.Caleb Bradham aimed to cure dyspepsia with Pepsi.
B.Hans Wilsdorf intended Rolex to be universally accepted.
C.Cadillac was named after the founding father of the company.
D.Starbucks was used due to the co-founder’s love for his hometown.
3.From the passage, we can learn that .
A.a famous company name is easy to spell
B.a special story can make a company famous
C.a company name usually has a special meaning in it
D.a company name is related to the founder’s profession
The Deep Roots
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any_____ I’d ever known. Every time I saw him, he wore ______ and a straw hat. I remember him as someone who was a lot ______ than most of the adults in our community.
When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t ______ lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a ______.
The good doctor had some ______ theories concerning plant care and growth. He _____watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional ______. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled (宠坏) them so that each ______ would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things ______ for them and weed out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for ______ roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in ______ of water. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he ______ it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s ______.
Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d ______ him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and strong since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden swung in a cold wind although I had ______ them for several years.
It seems that ______ benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought. Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the ______ and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be ______. But I think that it’s time to ______ my prayer because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship.
1.A.gardener B.farmer C.doctor D.professor
2.A.uniform B.overcoat C.suit D.dress
3.A.nicer B.tender C.richer D.stronger
4.A.encouraging B.discovering C.saving D.protecting
5.A.landmark B.castle C.yard D.forest
6.A.interesting B.embarrassing C.puzzling D.expecting
7.A.usually B.never C.sometimes D.always
8.A.labour B.dignity C.habit D.wisdom
9.A.generation B.structure C.resource D.pressure
10.A.sensitive B.particular C.rough D.positive
11.A.shallow B.intensive C.muddy D.flexible
12.A.search B.charge C.case D.control
13.A.cover B.beat C.push D.clean
14.A.permission B.admiration C.expectation D.attention
15.A.heard B.helped C.made D.watched
16.A.planted B.watered C.burdened D.firmed
17.A.surroundings B.sufferings C.suggestions D.opportunities
18.A.marking B.sharing C.sailing D.rising
19.A.brave B.successful C.easy D.confident
20.A.observe B.reveal C.change D.mind
阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
As we live in social groups, there 1. (be) many benefits of friendship that we can enjoy. Generally speaking, close friendships have three “fruits”: they may comfort the heart, advise the head and help us achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Through friendship, we can become happier, wiser, and more 2. (satisfy) humans. It should be pointed that 3. (enjoy) the company of a crowd is not the same as being with friends. So friends should be carefully chosen 4. relationships should be well developed.
阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
The World Health Organization has said the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) does not spread as 1. (effective) as flu. As the WHO gathers more data, the organization understands more about the novel coronavirus, 2. causes more severe disease than seasonal flu. At the moment, there is no specific treatment for the new virus. Globally, about 3.4 percent of people with reported COVID-19 cases have died. In comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far 3. (few) than 1 percent of those infected (感染).
