【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 tools or instruments or machines. Archaeologists then try to reconstruct, sometimes with the help of puter technology, what these ancient buildings and objects must have looked like, and how they might have been made. Sometimes historians are lucky and find an ancient document with a written description of these ancient buildings and objects. We can understand, then, why Chinese historians were so excited when they found cave paintings which show ancient science. They found these paintings in the worldrenowned Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang City, in Northwest China39。s Gansu Province. There are 500 manmade caves and they have survived for at least 1,600 years. Almost all of these caves have paintings on their ceilings or walls and they date from the 4th to 14th centuries. Wang Jinyu is an expert on these cave paintings (also called frescoes) and he says: We discovered frescoes containing scientific and technological content in almost all of the caves which have frescoes. What is remarkable about these cave paintings according to the Xinhua News Agency is that they provide evidence of scientific and technological inventions by ancient Chinese in maths, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, agronomy, architecture, textiles, traffic and transportation, arms and military equipment and medical sciences. Among the discoveries experts have made are cave paintings showing ancient techniques of pottery making and wine production and paintings showing ancient weaving machines and then toothbrushes! The paintings also give some evidence of the lifestyle at the time with, for example, pictures of people boiling milk over 1,000 years ago. Experts believe that there is more evidence to be found, but even now the caves are a wonderful natural museum. If the walls and ceilings of the caves were all put together they would form a tapestry 20 kilometers long and 2 meters high! It won39。t be possible to travel back in timethat only happens in filmsbut visiting these caves would be the nearest experience you could get to travelling back in time.（1）Why were Chinese historians excited when they found cave paintings showing ancient science? A.Because they had rarely seen cave paintings.B.Because they could make the place a tourist attraction.C.Because they could learn about ancient science through them.D.Because they would be given lots of money for the discovery.（2）The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang City______. A.have 500 manmade cavesB.have been there for at most 1,600 yearsC.help us to know little about ancient scienceD.have paintings on their ceilings in every cave（3）Experts had discovered cave paintings showing the ancient techniques of ______. A.pottery making and wine productionB.weaving machines and toothbrushesC.boiling milk over 1,000 years agoD.architecture and weaving（4）The article is more likely to be selected from the magazine ______. A.Modern CountriesB.Business WorldC.Network WorldD.Popular Science【答案】 （1）C（2）A（3）A（4）D 【解析】【分析】本文是一篇記敘文，講述了科學家們在中國甘肅的敦煌莫高窟的洞穴中發(fā)現(xiàn)了反映古代科學的壁畫。 （1）考查細節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第二段中的What is remarkable about these cave paintings according to the Xinhua News Agency is that they provide evidence of scientific and technological inventions by ancient Chinese in maths, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, agronomy, architecture, textiles, traffic and transportation, arms and military equipment and medical sciences可知，這些壁畫為中國古代在數(shù)學、物理、化學、天文，地理、建筑以及農(nóng)學等領(lǐng)域的科技發(fā)明提供了證據(jù)，由此可知科學家們對此感到很興奮的原因是他們可以通過這些壁畫了解古代的科學，故選C。 （2）考查細節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第二段中的There are 500 manmade caves and they have survived for at least 1,600 years.可知，敦煌莫高窟有500個人工洞穴，故選A。 （3）考查細節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第三段中的Among the discoveries experts have made are cave paintings showing ancient techniques of pottery making and wine production and paintings可知，科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)壁畫中展示了古代制陶和釀酒技術(shù)，故選A。 （4）考查推理判斷?？v觀全文可知，本文介紹了科學家們在中國甘肅敦煌莫高窟的洞穴中發(fā)現(xiàn)了反映古代科學的壁畫，這屬于科學范疇，因此文章最有可能出自科學雜志，故選D。 【點評】本題考點涉及細節(jié)理解和推理判斷兩個題型的考查，是一篇故事類閱讀，要求考生準確掌握細節(jié)信息，并根據(jù)上下文進行邏輯推理，從而選出正確答案。5．閱讀理解 During the period from 1660 through 1800, Great Britain became the world39。s leader. Language itself became submitted to rules during this period. This need to fix the English language is best illustrated (描述) in the making of The Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson. Guides to the English language had been in existence before Johnson began his project in 1746. These, however, were often little more than lists of hard words. When definitions of mon words were supplied, they were often unhelpful. For example, a horse was defined in an early dictionary as a beast well known. Johnson changed all that, but the task was not an easy one. Renting a house at 17 Gough Square, Johnson began working in the worst of conditions. Supported only by his publisher, Johnson worked on the Dictionary with five assistants. Compared to the French Academy39。s dictionary, which took forty workers fiftyfive years to plete (16391694), Johnson39。s dictionary was pleted by very few people very quickly.Balanced on a chair with only three legs, Johnson sat against a wall in a room filled with books. Johnson would read widely from these books, mark passages illustrating the use of a particular word, and give the books to his assistants so that they could copy the passages on slips of paper. These slips were then stuck to eighty large notebooks under the key words that Johnson had selected. Fixing the word by this method, Johnson could record a word，s usage and its definition. How many passages were used? According to Johnson39。s modern biographer Walter Jackson Bate, the original total number could have been over 240,000. How many words were defined by the lexicographer? Over 40,000 words appeared in two large books in April of 1755. Did Johnson fully understand the huge task he was undertaking when he began? As he told his contemporary biographer James Boswell, I knew very well what I was undertaking and very well how to do it — and have done it very well.（1）What is the problem of early English dictionaries? A.They only offer simple pictures.B.They list just a few foreign words.C.They simply give some translations.D.They add no more than some big wo