Persian and Chinese exchanges were frequent in the Han Dynasty.

been influenced by ancient Babylonian (巴比伦) culture, Byzantine (拜占庭) art and Chinese painting since ancient times.

A、nearby

B、far

C、away

D、apart

then by the Moors of North Africa. The Europeans liked this textile and began to make cotton cloth. By the fifteenth century, the cotton industry had spread from Spain to central Europe and the Low Countries.

When Columbus arrived in the West Indies, he found the Indians wearing cotton clothes. Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of Peru, found that the Incas were growing cotton for use in the making of clothes. Magellan found the Brazilians swinging in cotton hammocks. And Cortes was so impressed by the beauty the cotton tapestries and rugs that the Aztecs made, that he sent some of them as presents to King Charles Ⅱ of Spain.

The Chinese were the first people to make silk clothing, and, for more than 2000 years, they were the only people in the world who knew how to make silk. The Chinese guarded the secret of their silk manufacture carefully. Their merchants grew rich in the silk trade with other Asian countries and Europe. Silk, in fact, was so expensive that it was known as the cloth of kings.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian of Constantinople, two Persian monks who lived in China brought silkworms to Europe. In the years that followed, western Europeans learned how to grow silkworms and use the silk from the cocoons. Silk is still one of the most useful textiles in clothing manufacture because of its extremely strong fibers. A thread of silk is two-third as strong as an iron wire of the same size and so smooth that dirt cannot cling to it easily.

Two hundred years ago, most of the people of the world had little or no clothing. Clothing was taken care of very carefully and handed down from parents to children. Many people never owned a new garment in their lives, and, except for the rich, no one had more than one outfit of clothes at a time.

Primitive man made slices long before he made permanent records on clay tablets or parchment scrolls. For many centuries, the shoemaker was interested only in covering the foot. Although he used fancy leathers and decorated shoes in many ways, he paid little attention to the fit of a shoe. In fact, it was only after 1850 that someone lit upon the idea of making differently-shaped shoes for the left and right foot.

Who introduced silkworms to Europe？

A．Two Justinian Monks.

B．Two courtiers of Constantinople.

C．Two Persian Monks.

D．Two Egyptian Priests.

currents of the Pacific. When weather prevented the Chinese from navigating by the sky their mariners(水手) used magnetized(磁化) needles to guide them. Because the sailors had no level surface on their rocking ship, they floated the needle in a shallow bowl of water, and the compass that guided explorers to day was born.

Between 1450 and 1433, Emperor Chu Ti's Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne ruled the entire south Pacific and the Indian Ocean, collecting gifts and tributes(贡品) for the Emperor throughout a territory that ranges from Korea and Japan to Eastern coast of Africa. The Admiral Cheng Ho began the first of seven voyages in 1405. The purpose of the first voyage was to hurt the former emperor who had been dethroned and escaped. The admiral's fleet, which was made up of 62 large junks and 255 smaller ships, recaptured the deposed emperor and also defeated a large pirate fleet that had been terrorizing the islands near Sumatra. Over the next 28 years, Admiral Cheng Ho increased China's trading territory to including 37 countries from the Vietnam coast to Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and eastern Africa. Cheng He's death around 1435 signaled the end of the Treasure Fleet and disappearing of China's economic domination of the South Pacific.

It is implied but not stated that ancient navigation used to sail ______.

A．with their knowledge of the winds

B．by the sky

C．by the compass

D．by the currents of the Pacific

Task 1

Directions: After reading the following passage, you will find 5 questions or unfinished statements, numbered 36 through 40. For each question or statement there are 4 choices marked A, B, C, and D. You should make the correct choice.

By the first century A. D., historians say, the Chinese had some knowledge of the winds and currents of the Pacific. When weather prevented the Chinese from navigating by the sky their mariners(水手) used magnetized(磁化) needles to guide them. Because the sailors had no level surface on their rocking ship, they floated the needle in a shallow bowl of water, and the compass that guided explorers to day was born.

Between 1450 and 1433, Emperor Chu Ti's Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne ruled the entire south Pacific and the Indian Ocean, collecting gifts and tributes (贡品) for the Emperor throughout a territory that ranges from Korea and Japan to Eastern coast of Africa. The Admiral Cheng Ho began the first of seven voyages in 1405. The purpose of the first voyage was to hurt the former emperor who had been dethroned and escaped. The admiral's fleet, which was made up of 62 large junks and 255 smaller ships, recaptured the deposed emperor and also defeated a large pirate fleet that had been terrorizing the islands near Sumatra. Over the next 28 years, Admiral Cheng Ho increased China's trading territory to including 37 countries from the Vietnam coast to Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and eastern Africa. Cheng He's death around 1435 signaled the end of the Treasure Fleet and disappearing of China's economic domination of the South Pacific.

It is implied but not stated that ancient navigation used to sail ______ .

A．with their knowledge of the winds

B．by the sky

C．by the compass

D．by the currents of the Pacific

that surprises happen. A year ago futures contracts predicted today's price would be ＄25. A second is that the economy has grown less vulnerable to oil "shocks". Compared with 1973, we now use almost 50 percent less energy for each dollar of output. New industries (software, theme parks) need less than the old (steel, chemicals). But the largest lesson is depressingly familiar. Americans won't think realistically about oil. We consider cheap fuel a birthright, and when we don't get it, we whine—rather than ask why or what we should do.

If prices rise, we blame a conspiracy of greedy oil companies, OPEC or someone. The reality is usually messier. Energy economist Philip Verleger Jr. attributes the present price run-up to massive miscalculation. Oil companies and OPEC underestimated global demand, particularly from China. Since 2001 China's oil use has jumped 36 percent. This error led OPEC and companies to underinvest in new production capacity, he says. In 2002 the world had 5 million barrels a day of surplus production capacity; now it has little. Unexpected supply interruptions (sabotage in Iraq, civil war in Nigeria) boost prices.

Verleger says prices could go to ＄60 next year or even ＄80 if adverse supply conditions persist. No one really knows. Analyst Adam Sieminski of Deutsche Bank thinks prices may retreat to the low ＄30s in 2005. A slowing Chinese economy could weaken demand. But the uncertainties cannot obscure two stubborn realities. First, world oil production can't rise forever; dwindling reserves will someday cause declines. And, second, barring miraculous discoveries, more will come from unstable regions—especially the Middle East.

We need to face these realities; neither George Bush nor John Kerry does. Their energy plans are rival fantasies. Kerry pledges to make us "independent" of Middle East oil, mainly through conservation and an emphasis on "renewable" fuels (biomass, solar, wind). Richard Nixon was the first president to promise energy "independence". It couldn't happen then— and can't now. The United States imports about 60 percent of its oil. A fifth of imports come from the Persian Gulf. Even if we eliminated Persian Gulf imports, we'd still be vulnerable. Oil scarcities and prices are transmitted worldwide. The global economy—on which we depend—remains hugely in need of Persian Gulf oil.

Bushes pitch is that we can produce our way out of trouble. No such luck. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with possible reserves of 10 billion barrels, might provide 1 million barrels a day, or 5 percent of present U.S. demand. Fine. But the practical effect would be to offset some drop in production elsewhere. American oil output peaked in 1970; it's down 34 percent since then.

A groundbreaking study from the consulting company PFC Energy illuminates our predicament. The world now uses 82 million barrels of oil a day; that's 30 billion barrels a year. To estimate future production, the study examined historical production and discovery patterns in all the world's oil fields. The conclusion: The world already uses about 12 billion more barrels a year than it finds. "In almost every mature oil basin, the world has been producing more than it's finding for close to 20 years," says PFC's Mike Rodgers. That can't continue indefinitely.

The study is no doomsday exercise. Rodgers says that future discovery and recovery rates could be better—or worse than assumed. With present rates, he expects global oil supply to peak before 2020 at about 100 million barrels a day. Whatever happens, the world will probably depend more on two shaky regions., the Persian Gulf and the former Soviet Union. The Gulf now supplies a quarter of the world's oil; PFC projects that to rise to a third in a decade.

Although the future is hazy, what we ought to do isn't. We need

A．George Bush' s

B．john Kerry's

C．neither George Bush's nor John Kerry's

D．both George Bush's and John Kerry's

Kuwait, a small country in the Persian Gulf, is ______ in petroleum deposits.

A．adequate

B．sufficient

C．accumulative

D．abundant

A.Egyptian

B.Israeli

C.Persian

D.Canaanite

A.British

B.Russian

C.U.S.

D.Persian

Passage 2

Among China"s greatest art treasures are the Buddhist caves near Dunhuang. Their ancient frescoes and sculptures have survived wars， environmental damage， antiquities hunters， and the chaotic Cultural Revolution.

Today domestic tourism is the biggest threat: the UNESCO World Heritage site has an optimal capacity of 3，000 per day， but peak times can see twice that many visitors.

The Mogao Grottoes are especially vulnerable to mass tourism. Their ecosystems are fragile. A buildup of humidity and carbon dioxide from visitors" breath can lead to flaking and discoloration of wall paintings.

To preserve the caves， the Dunhuang Academy is pioneering a project to digitize the site.

Recently， the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington， D.C.， offered a tantalizing glimpse at the undertaking. Donning 3-D glasses， visitors were transported into a breathtaking "virtual" Dunhuang grotto， known as Cave 220. The 3-D， interactive experience is flooded with vivid color， close-up details， moving images of flying bodhisattvas， even sound， "Dunhuang ranks as the single most important repository of early Chinese art. Here the great cultures of the World——Greek and Roman，Persian and Middle Eastern， Indian and Chinese——constantly interacted for over a millennium，"said Mimi Gates， who formed the Dunhuang Foundation. "High-resolution digitization will provide a lasting record of this artistic treasure for all mankind and can make it accessible beyond China."

A dozen years ago， the Dunhuang Academy began cooperating with foregoing institutions to conserve the treasures. Among the projects， one used a camera to create a digital archive of the caves. The results will be used in the academy which planned ＄40 million state-of-the-art visitor center which will present virtual tour of the caves to save the real site wear and tear. The scope of the project is daunting. It requires 20 minutes or so to record a 9-square-meter fresco， and there are 492 caves with murals inside. But the Sackler exhibit proved how enthralling the single virtual cave CaB be.

Real caves provide no lightbulbs. Once they reach critical levels of moisture and temperature，they are shut to the public. Only a few dozen caves are accessible at any given time. But the Sackler"s virtual tour was different. One of the most popular features was the "magnifying glass"，which can zoom in on， say， a zither depicted in a mural. The instrument appears to pop out of the wall， enlarge， and then rotate in space. Visitors can also "flip" back and forth between the intricate Tang-dynasty mural and a later， cruder Sung-dynasty fresco.

To help Cave 220"s Tang dancer paintings magically come to life， two Chinese performers were flown to the Applied Laboratory for Interactive Visualization and Embodiment （ALIVE） in a Hong Kong university. For three days the dancers were filmed performing intricate steps， fluid movements， and careful manipulation of long， sinuous ribbons. They appeared in the Sackler tour，dancing as if in midair， clad in brightly colored Tang costume. ALIVE"s project manager said while he"s become intimately familiar with the images Cave 220， he hasn"t been there yet. "I can"t wait to visit the real thing."

Which of the following factors mentioned in the article may cause a severe damage to the Buddhist caves today？ 查看材料

A.Antiquities hunters.

B.Environmental damage.

C.The optional number of tourists.

D.Visitors exceeding the optimal number.