【正文】 ught through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama. Those who believed that drama evolved out of 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 munity did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the acting area and the auditorium. In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effectsuccess in hunt or battle, the ing rain, the revival of the Sunas an actor might. 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 elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, 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. 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. 2. What aspect of drama does the author discuss in the first paragraph?? A. The reason 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. 3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a mon element of theater and ritual? A. Dance.?B. Costumes.?C. Music.?D. Magic. 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. 5. The passage supports which of the following statements? A. No one really knows how the theater began. B. Myths are no longer represented dramatically. C. Storytelling is an important part of dance. D. Dramatic activities require the use of costumes. 1. A) 這是一道主旨題。通過閱讀文章很清楚選項 B 和 D 為錯誤陳述。通過閱讀文章第四段很清楚就知道選項 C “前者容易發(fā)音 ”在文中沒有提及，故為正確答案。 3 About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet. The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures are like modern ic strip stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the ic strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it. By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world. These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting. 1. Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because______. A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures B. the painters were animal lovers C. the painters wanted to show imagination D. the pictures were thought to be helpful 2. The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that______. A. the former was easy to write B. there were fewer signs in the former C. the former was easy to pronounce D. each sign stood for only one sound 3. Which of the following statements is TRUE? A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet. B. The Egyptians liked to write ic strip stories. C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one. D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyptians. 4. In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures ______. A. should be made prehensible B. should be made interesting C. are of much use in our life D. have disappeared from our life 1. D) 根據(jù)文章第一段第五行 “Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals.”可知古代人以為在墻上畫畫會對他們有所幫助，故選項 D為正確答案。根據(jù)第二段第三句和閱讀全文，我們很容易就可以