社会历史类 知识点题库

       Give this memory test a try. Mix up 52 playing cards. Now look at the top seven for a second. Can you remember them in order?
Players at the World Memory Championships can. In fact, the 2002 champion (冠军), Andi, memorized the order of 1196 cards after looking at them for only an hour! And a German girl, Lara, only ten years old, memorized 75 faces and names in fifteen minutes!
    In 1987, a Japanese man, Mr. Tomoyori, wanted to prove that his memory was the best in the world by remembering by heart pi (π), a number in math which starts 3.14159…This number never repeats itself or ends. He recited pi to 40,000 decimal places (小数位). It took the fifty-five-year-old man more than twelve hours to say the numbers, but he did it without making a mistake!
      To remember pi, Mr. Tomoyori connected each number with a sound. He then made up stories to help him remember the words he made from the sounds. In an interview after his achievement, he said, “I decided to go ahead and memorize the value of pi up to one thousand places. But it wasn't easy – in fact, it took me three years. To get to 40,000 decimal places it took me about ten years.”
    Unluckily for Mr. Tomoyori, his record was broken in 1995, when another Japanese man, Mr. Goto, memorized pi to 42,195 places.

阅读短文，然后根据短文内容，简要回答下列问题。

    The first people who drank tea were the Chinese, because the bush grew wild all over the south of China. The liked the taste, and found the drink could refresh (使精力恢复) them.

People living in Europe first learn edabout tea growing and drinking from a book printed（印刷）in Italy in 1599. The writer said that tea was a wonderful medicine. Although people in Europe knew about tea in 1599, It was another fifty years before the first tea from China reached Holland(荷兰).

    A few years later, tea was brought overland from China to Russia. The long difficult journey was made overmountains and across deserts（沙漠）.

    The new drink reached England in 1657. It was sold at one of the coffee houses. Only the very rich people could afford to drink.

阅读下列短文，从文后各题所给的四个选项中选出一个最佳答案。

    Venice Film Festival is considered to be the oldest film festival in the world. The first Venice Film Festival was  1  in Italy in 1932. It was 14 years earlier than the first Cannes Film Festival in France.

    At the first Venice Film Festival, there were no judges（裁判） and no 2 at all. Only a list of good films was chosen by the public. At the 3festival, prizes started to be given. The prize of the festival was the Golden 4 . The lion is a symbol of the ancient republic of Venice.

5the Venice Film Festival was first held, the government has wanted to hold it every year. But from 1938 to 1942 the festival was destroyed 6 special reasons. Also, from 1940 to 1942, the festival was not held in Venice, so it was considered to have been 7 during that time. In 1946, the festival became active again. Now the festival becomes more and more 8 . Each of the editors in the world wants to have a seat in this festival.

      Venice Film has  9  a great opportunity for people around the world. They can learn about other countries' culture by watching films. Many movie makers send their  10 to the festival and some of them hope to win the Lion Award.

阅读下列短文，从下面每小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选择最佳选项。

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a country in Northern Europe. Sweden borders (与......接壤) Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel. At 450,295 square kilometers, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.6 million. Sweden has a low population density (密度) of 21 persons per square kilometer with the population mostly living in the southern half of the country. Southern Sweden is mainly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested.

      Sweden was discovered as an independent country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country became bigger to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in Sweden was in 1814. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, remaining a largely neutral (中立的) nation. The country played a good role during World Wars I and II, taking in refugees (难民) from German occupied Europe. With the ending of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union.

阅读下列短文，根据短文内容，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

Subway

    A subway is not just an important form of transport. It is also a window for other people to learn about local cultures.

    Beijing, China

    The Beijing Subway was opened in 1969 and is the oldest subway system in China. It has added some modern technologies. All stations now have touch-screen maps. In some stations, people can also see traditional Chinese cultures. For example, on the walls of a few stations of Line 8, there are some pictures of blue and white porcelain(青花瓷）.

    Stockholm, Sweden

    The system of the Stockholm Subway has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. The first subway line for Stockholm was opened in 1950. The Stockholm Subway is well-known for its decoration of the stations. It is called the longest art gallery in the world. Over 90 percent of its stations are decorated with paintings. A few stations are decorated with red bedrocks（岩床）. This makes you feel as if you are in a cave.

    London, UK

The London Underground or the Tube is the oldest subway in the world. It was opened in 1863. During World War II, it was used to protect people from German plane attacks（袭击）on London. Now, it is a symbol of the city. There is no air conditioning in the trains, so it is very hot in summer.

    New York, US

The New York City Subway has the most extensive public transportation system in the world, with 469 stations. It is also one of the world's oldest public transit systems. The New York City Subway runs 24 hours a day. It has an express train on almost every line. You can get to your destination(目的地）promptly. The trains themselves are full of fun; you will see people doing moonwalk dances like Michael Jackson, playing the guitar and singing.

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

    Long ago, people lived on wild animals，fruits and other plants and they didn't need to use money.

    As time passed, families had more products than they needed, such as animals and crops. So they needed to trade (交易）with others. They began to use money to make it easier. However, it was not like the money we use today. They used shells, rice, salt or large stones.

During the 600s BC, people began using coins as money. Because they were easier to carry than goods (货物)，countries began to make coins as their money.

    The Chinese were the first to use paper money, probably in the 11th century. An Italian traveler, Marco Polo, saw the Chinese use paper money when he visited China in the 1200s. After his travel, he told the western people what he saw. But European countries didn't start using paper money till the 1600s.

    Today we have many ways to pay for things, such as coins, paper money and cards. Some prefer to pay by card. That's because paying with a card is easier and safer than carrying around a lot of “real” money.

阅读下面四篇短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

D

    Few of us have heard of Nils Bohlin, but whenever we take a car journey his invention makes us safer. Found in almost every modern car, the three-point seat belt reduces our chances of death or injury by at least 50% . While feeling thankful to this engineer from Volvo, you may also wonder how he came up with such a great idea.

    Having worked as a plane designer before, Nils knew clearly that the pilots were willing to put on anything to keep them safe in an accident, but to his surprise, most people in the cars just didn't want to be uncomfortable for even a minute. To improve the safety for people in the cars, he decided to find a perfect system which should be simple, effective and convenient. In the end, he invented the three-point seat belt, which has been considered as one of the greatest inventions in history.

    Seat belts prevent people in the cars from serious injury in five ways.

    Keep people inside. People who are thrown out from a car are four times more likely to be killed than those who stay inside.

    Protect the strongest parts of the body. Seat belts are designed to fix your body at its strongest parts. For an older child and adult, these parts are the hips* and shoulders.

    Spread out the force* in an accident. Seat belts spread the force of the accident over a wide area of the body. By putting less stress on one area, they can help you avoid serious injury.

    Help the body to slow down, A quick speed causes injury. With the help of the seat belts, your body can have more time to slow down in an accident.[

    Protect your brain and spinal cord*. These two key parts injuries may be hard to see immediately, but they can cause death. Therefore, it's of great importance to protect these parts.

     It takes only a few seconds to buckle* up once you get in the car, but this simple action could save your life. Why wouldn't you?

阅读理解
    The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, D.C., in the United States．It was a small coffee shop that roasted its own coffee beans．The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks shops in Seattle．
    Things really began to change for the company in 1981．That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran (经营) Starbucks．Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment．He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers and he was curious about the company．Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did, and he liked what he saw．He wanted to become part of the company．In 1982, the original (原先的) Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company's head of marketing．
    In 1983, Schultz travelled to Italy．The unique atmosphere of the coffee bars there caught his eye．To Schultz it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work place, and coffee bar．His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle．
    Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable, and customers (顾客) everywhere seemed to like it． Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new shops—and that was only the beginning．In fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks shops opened somewhere around the world every day!
    Today, Starbucks has thousands of shops, including shops in twenty-six countries．One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United States is the way Starbucks works with local shops and restaurants．By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gets an understanding of customers in the city．This understanding helps Starbucks open shops in the right locations for their customers．

阅读下列短文，从下面每小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

    We drink tea every day. But more than three hundred years ago, most of the people in Europe did not know anything about tea. Some people heard about it, but very few of them knew what to do with it.

    There is a story about an English sailor. He went to countries in the east, the west and the south. He went to India and China. One day he came home and brought some tea as a present for his mother. She told her friends about the present and asked them to a "tea party". When her friends came to the "tea party", the old woman offered (给) them brown tea-leaves. The old woman's friends began to eat them. Of course, nobody liked the tea-leaves.

    At that time the sailor came in. He looked at the table and said, "Mother, what have you done with the tea?"

    "I boiled (煮) it, as you said."

    "And what did you do with the water?"

    "I threw it away, of course." answered the old woman.

    "Now you may throw away the leaves too." said her son.

阅读理解

    In Germany, there is a special museum. It is the only one of this kind in the world and few people know it. Every year，the number of people who come to visit the museum is only one thousand. What kind of museum is it?

    It is a museum about taxes (税收).In this museum，you can see the history of taxes and all kinds of taxes in different countries in the world. After visiting the museum，people can draw a conclusion(得出结论).That is from 3000 B.C.(公元前)，the kings，dictators(独裁者)and finance ministers(财政部长)could tax people freely. They taxed people heavily because of such things as wars，weddings(婚礼)or road building. They needed money and they got money by taxing their citizens (公民).In the early times of Egypt，farmers had to pay heavy taxes if the water level(水面)of the River Nile rose. The kings said that if the water level rose，there would be much more earth in farmers' fields. So the farmers could get a good harvest and they should pay more taxes.

    A strange kind of tax—Window Tax appeared(出现)in England. It lasted more than one hundred years. How? If there were more windows in the wall，the people must pay more taxes. So in those years, people built as few windows as possible in the wall.

    Russian people once paid a tax for their beards (胡子).The people who had paid this tax would get a special piece of paper. But what about the people who didn't pay for their beards? Of course，their beards would be cut. But without a beard for a man is a way to scorn(蔑视)God. He would also be punished.

Choose the best answer.

Atlantis

    More than two thousand years ago, in 360 BC, the Greek writer, Plato, described a beautiful city. He said that it was lost somewhere under the ocean. He called this city Atlantis. This was the beginning of the legend(传说) of Atlantis.

    Plato said that the people of Atlantis had been rich and happy. There were amazing palaces and ports in the city. The houses had fountains with hot and cold water, and the walls were covered with silver and gold. Farmers grew food for all the people outside the city. It was sad to think that no one would go there again.

    For two thousand years, everybody thought that Atlantis was just a fantastic story. They thought that Plato had invented it. But then in 1882 an American called Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book about Atlantis. He believed that there was really a beautiful lost city under the ocean. Thousands of people read his book and wanted to find the lost city.

    A lot of people believed that Atlantis was on an island in Greece called Santorini. Santorini used to be much bigger than it is today. About 3,500 years ago, a huge volcano (火山) erupted(爆发) and most of the island sank under the ocean. Some people say it was in Spain, Asia or even in England. People have been looking for the lost city for more than a hundred years, but nobody has ever found it.

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。

    Experts believe that there are more than 8 million restaurants in the world today. So it might surprise you to learn that restaurants, as we know them, have only existed for a few centuries. Before 1765, there were no restaurants. That is, there were no places that provided the restaurant experience. There was nowhere in which a waiter brought you food and drink that you picked from a menu. In fact, there were no menus anywhere.

    There were eating places travellers could go to centuries before that. The countryside was full of inns that would serve food. And there were taverns where one could get drinks. The rich could also eat special meals prepared by private cooks. But none of them could be called a "restaurant".

    A man called Boulanger changed that. In 1765, he opened a place in Paris that sold soups(汤). On his sign he used the word "restaurant" to describe what he was selling. At that time, soups were considered something that could help "restore"(恢复)your health- in French the word "restore" is "restaurer"- so he called the soups "restaurants". Soon, people started buying Boulanger's soups even when they were not ill. And over time, people began to use the word "restaurant" to refer to a place selling soup rather than the soup itself. More "restaurants" opened in France, and people began to buy soups more often.

    Later, restaurants in Paris began to serve other food besides soup. In the 1790s, menus started to appear. By the mid-1800s, there were many types of restaurants throughout the world. The United States offered coffee shops. Tea houses became popular throughout China. Paris created  beautiful restaurants for the rich. The British began to copy the French, and the restaurant idea spread throughout the British Empire.

    Today cities are filled with all types of restaurants. Diners have millions of options from which to choose.

阅读理解

     The balalaika, also called the "Russian guitar", is a traditional Russian musical instrument. It has a long neck, a wooden triangle-shaped body and strings. It is usually used to play Russian music by plucking* the strings with fingers or a pick.

Russians like the balalaika. The music played with it can be cheerful, as if the farmers were dancing happily to celebrate their harvest It can also be energetic, as if the workers were working hard to make their country richer and stronger. If a Russian moves to live or work abroad, he will probably take a balalaika with him. When he feels lonely and sad, he will play it to cheer himself up.

     The balalaika was originally played by the poor in Russia. At that time, balalaikas were made by the players themselves. They were rough, simple and cheap with different numbers of strings, from two to even six. Later a Russian musician Vasily Vasil'yevich Andreev (1861-1918) improved the balalaka. He created a whole family of balalaikas of different sizes, all with three strings. The smallest balalaika is called Prima. It is 60-70cm long. The biggest, Contrabass, is almost 2metres high with a leg to sit on the floor. Andreev founded the first balalaika orchestra* in the world, mainly using balalaikas to perform. He gave concerts at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889, which was a great success.

     Today, there are blalaika groups performing around the world. More and more people get to know the balalaika and are attracted by its Russian style music.

阅读下面短文，按照句子结构或上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。

    Recently, a foreign student in China gave a very touching answer to the question: What should China be proud of? It was (wide) spread online.

    Emma is from Canada. She came to China four years ago. Now she is University student in Ningbo. The following is China in her eyes.

    ＂ (find) a job in China can be really simple. There are more job (chance) here than any other country in the world. "

    ＂Its public security is great. I (travel) many countries so far, and I think China is really safe. ＂

    ＂About 400 million Chinese are studying English. China has become the country has the greatest number of English speakers in non-English speaking countries. "

    ＂The speed of Chinese trains is high. On my (three) visit to my friend in Beijing. I took a train there. From Ningbo Beijing. The train runs 1,365 kilometers for only seven hours. "

    ＂I think there (be) many more things China should be proud of. I believe China must be much (good) than other countries. "

任务型阅读

    Cai Lun was the first recorded inventor of paper. He did much for the spread of papermaking technology in China. In 105 AD, he presented paper to the emperor. It was a big success and his paper began to be used all over China.

    Even after people in China began to use paper, it took another thousand years before paper was used all over Eurasia (欧亚大陆), In 400 AD, people in India began to make paper,

    In 751 AD, there was a big fight in Samarkand, where the Chinese and the Arabs were fighting for control. The Arabs caught some Chinese men. Some of these Chinese men knew how to make paper, so they explained how to make paper to the Arabs as the price of their freedom.

    By 1271 AD, the Italians had learned to make good paper. They sold it all over Europe. In 1338, French monks began to make their own paper. After more than 70 years, people in Germany began to produce their own rag paper. At that time, people in China were using paper in many different ways. They used it for kites, and even for toilet paper!

完形填空

    Do you know One Belt, One Road? We also call it the Modern Silk Road. And Zhang Qian was an early traveller of the Ancient Silk Road. He was probably the first1to bring back good information about the central Asian lands to China.

    In 138 BC, Han Wudi sent Zhang Qian to the Yue chi people to ask for their2against the Xiongnu who often infringed(侵犯) them.3, on the way to the Western Regions, he was caught by the Xiongnu people. Zhang had to stay with them4about 10 years before he got away. When Zhang finally5the Yue chi in the North India, he was6to find that they didn't want to fight against the Xiongnu people.

    On7return journey, Zhang Qian and his men were8again. It was not until 125 BC that they returned to China.9Zhang didn't finish his job, he learned a lot about the places, people, customs and cultures of the 36 kingdoms (王国) in the Western Regions.

    Later Han Wudi sent Zhang to the West again. Zhang's journey to the West Helped10international trade, especially in silk, between China and the West. That's the Ancient Silk Road.

阅读理解

    In northern Scotland there is a long, deep lake called Loch Ness. More than 200 metres deep, it is one of the largest lakes in the UK. People say a big monster(怪兽) lives in its dark, cold waters.

    It weighs more than 1, 000 kilos and is at least ten metres long. Some people say it has a head like a horse. Others say it looks like a snake. Many people travel to Loch Ness to look for this strange monster, but only a few people have seen it. At least, they say they have seen it.

    The Loch Ness Monster is a famous legend(传说). The first story about a monster in Loch Ness was told over 500 years ago, but the legend of the monster spread widely only in the twentieth century. In 1933, a husband and wife reported that they saw a big monster in the middle of the lake. Since then, a number of people have said that they have seen a monster in Loch Ness.

    Several people have taken photos, but at least one of them was a hoax(骗局). During the 1960s, a team was formed to look for the monster. They took many photos and made movies, but they were never able to find a monster. There is no real fact that a monster lives in Loch Ness, but there is also no fact that one doesn't live. One thing is true about Loch Ness: there are a lot of tourists there.

阅读理解

An American asks on his own Twitter. "Why do you like living in China?" Let's read the answers from people around the world.

—A traveler from Italy: I have travelled to many countries, they are good places for short stays, but China is better for permanent residence.

—A French writer: Different kinds of cultures make China look like an endless book.

—An English bus driver: Most people follow the rules on the road, and taxis are very cheap and the driver don't take you around.

—An Australia businessman: Life is so convenient that your phone can help you with anything.

—A teacher from Canada: Most people have good relationships. They are easier to communicate with.

—A volunteer from Japan: Chinese people are ready to help others. People around me make me feel like I am a helpful man.

—An American cook: The delicious food is served on time and you don't need to pay more money for the service. However, it isn't the same as in America.

—An actor form Russia: Traffic (交通) run to all over the world. The high-speed trains can take you anywhere.

—An Indian reporter: You don't need to worry about going out in the middle of the night.

—A student from Korea: You can find a place to eat 24 hours a day.

Foreign people have found the reasons to stay in China, do the Chinese who think foreign countries are better have new understanding?

阅读理解

What was life like in China 3,500 years ago? Was it very different to life now? What did people do? How did they live? Let's find out!

◎The Kings

From 1700 until 1100 BC, the area of China around the Yellow River was ruled by a family of kings called the Shang. They were rich and very powerful. The king and his family lived in large palaces, decorated with beautiful objects. They had many servants who made them food and did all the work in the palace. When a king passed away, they buried him in an underground tomb and filled it with expensive objects—jewellery (珠宝), works of art and weapons.

◎The People

The richest people of ancient China were priests (僧侣) and warriors. They lived in cities with very high walls. The houses were large and made of wood or brick. They wore beautiful clothes.

Other people lived outside the walls, in houses made of mud. They were businessmen and craftsmen, so they worked for their living.

Most of the people during this time were farmers. They lived in villages in the countryside. They worked in the fields with tools made of stone, grew rice, and kept animals. The best place for farming was by the Yellow River. Here the warm, wet conditions were perfect for growing rice. Farmers lived in small houses made of mud or bamboo. Inside, there wasn't any furniture, and they slept on the mud floor. They were very poor and lived a very hard life.

◎▲     

During the time of Shang, there were some interesting inventions. The Chinese discovered how to make bronze, by mixing other metals together. Bronze is an important metal because it is strong and lasts for a very long time.

But perhaps the most important development was writing. Once a civilization can write, people can pass on information about themselves, their lives and what they believe. Although the Chinese started writing at this time, they didn't have paper yet, so people wrote on animal bones, on stones, on bamboo, and even on turtle shells!

So far, life for people in ancient China was quite different from our lives today.

阅读理解

Shenzhen is a city in South China. It is not very big, but it has attracted people of the whole country and the whole world as well.

Just about thirty years ago, it was only a small fishing village. There were not many people there. Most of them lived on fishing. Things have greatly changed since the 1980s. It became the first special economic zone（经济特区） in China.

Because of the opening policy（政策）, economic changes between China and the outside world have increased greatly. People can come and go easily between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Both foreigners and Chinese have built a lot of factories, companies and tourist attractions there. People all over the country have come to find jobs. Many of them have settled down in this new booming（兴起的） city.

Shenzhen is developing so fast that it has become a well—known metropolis（大都市） in China.