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1、 Passage One Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built. Its length is about 4 000 miles (6 400 kilometers), and it was erected entirely by hand. The wall crosses northern China between the east coast and north-central China. Over the centuries, various rulers built walls to protect the
2、ir northern border against invaders. Some of the walls stood on or near the site of the Great Wall. Most of what is now called the Great Wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Parts of the Great Wall have crumbled through the years. However, much of it remains, and some sections have been res
3、tored. The main part of the wall is about 2 150 miles (3 460 kilometers) long. Additional branches make up the rest of its length. One of the highest sections of the Great Wall, on Mount Badaling, near Beijing, rises to about 35 feet (11 meters) high. This section is about 25 feet (7.6 meters) wide
4、at its base and nearly 20 feet (6 meters) at the top. Watchtowers stand about 100 to 200 yards (91 to 180 meters) apart along the wall. The towers, about 40 feet (12 meters) high, once served as lookout posts. Written records indicate that the Chinese built walls along their borders as early as the
5、600s B.C. Emperor Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.) is traditionally regarded as the first ruler to conceive of, and build, a Great Wall. Most of the Qin wall was north of the present-day wall. Shi Huangdi had the wall built by connecting new walls with older ones. Building continued dur
6、ing later dynasties, including the Han (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) and the Sui (581-618). By the time the Ming dynasty began in 1368, much of the wall had fallen into ruin. In response to the growing threat of a Mongol invasion, the Ming government began building a major wall in the late 1400s. This wall in
7、cluded most of what remains today. Like earlier ones, it protected China from minor attacks but provided little defense against a major invasion. Through the centuries, much of the Great Wall again collapsed. However, the Chinese have done restoration work since 1949. The wall no longer serves the p
8、urpose of defense, but it attracts many visitors. Tourists from around the world come to see the wall. Historians study writing and objects found in fortifications and tombs along the structure. Scientists study earthquakes by examining parts of the wall that have been affected by these earth moveme
9、nts. Time _ (411 words) 1. The earliest wall in China was built probably around _. ( A ) (a) the 600s B.C. (b) the 210s B.C. (c) the 210s A.D. (d) the 1300s A.D. 2. Which of the following is Not true? ( A ) (a) The Chinese started building their borders in the seventh century. (b) Emperor Shi Huangd
10、i of the Qin Dynasty was the first to conceive of a Great Wall. (c) Most of the Qin wall was to the north of what is now called the Great Wall. (d) The building of the present-day wall lasted for hundreds of years. 3. The purpose of building walls was _. ( C ) (a) to attract tourists (b) to have ear
11、thquake research (c) to protect the border against invasion (d) to demonstrate the power of the ruler 4. The _ dynasty seemed to have made the greatest contribution to the building of Great Wall. ( D ) (a) Qin (b) Han (c) Sui (d) Ming 5. The wall played a(n) _ role in defense. ( B ) (a) important (b
12、) minor (c) historical (d) successful TOP Passage Two In the desert plain that rises gradually from the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan lies the ruin of an Early Bronze Age Fortified town, which some early explorers thought might be the Biblical city of Sodom. Today this site is called Bab edh-Dhra
13、, and scholars are trying to reconstruct the cultural and biological history of the people who lived there between four and five thousand years ago. Some of the most significant events in the history of Man were taking place during this period, as cities in the Near East began to develop into a domi
14、nant feature of the emerging civilizations of Sumer in Mesopotamia and Dynastic Egypt. The cultural changes associated with this development often have correlates in Mans biological history. Less than a kilometer south of Bab edh-Dhra is a large cemetery where many thousands of people were buried. T
15、he tombs and skeletons offer evidence of the cultural and biological changes occurring with the emergence of city life at Bab edh-Dhra. Earlier work had suggested three major cultural phases during the thousand years of history at Bab edh-Dhra. Between about 3150 and 3000 B.C., the people apparently
16、 were nomadic pastoralists. With a perennial water supply, however, the site was important as a meeting place for herdsmen watering their flocks; there may even have been a small permanent settlement. Even then the cemetery was an important part of the culture; much effort was expended in preparing t
