13.conversation between humanists and scientists on humanity would result in the _______________ of many disciplines, and even a new golden age.

In the Renaissance, the humanist thinkers and scholars tried to get rid of those old ____in medieval Europe, to introduce new ideas that expresses ____ of the rising bourgeoisie, and to recover the ____of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.

Time is the greatest discovery in the history of human beings.

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

Transportation is the movement or conveying of persons and goods from one location to another. As human beings, from ancient times to the 21st century, sought to make their transport facilities more efficient, they have always endeavored to move people and property with the least expenditure of time, effort and cost. Improved transportation had helped make possible progress toward better living, the modern systems of manufacturing and commerce, and the complex, interdependent urban economy present in much of the world today.

Primitive human beings supplemented their own carrying of goods and possessions by starting to domesticate animals — training them to bear small loads and pull crude sleds. The invention of the wheel, probably in western Asia, was a great step forward in transport. As the wheel was perfected, crude carts and wagons began to appear in the Tigris-Euphrates valley about 3500 BC, and later in Crete, Egypt, and China. Wheeled vehicles could not use the narrow paths and trails used by pack animals, and early roads were soon being built by the Assyrians and the Persians.

The greatest improvements in transportation have appeared in the last two centuries, a period during which the industrial Revolution has vastly changed the economic life of the entire world. Crude railways — horse-drawn wagons with wooden wheels and rails — had been used in English and European mines during the 17th century. Although it first appeared in England, the railroad had its most dramatic growth in the United States. By 1840 more than 4800 km of railroads were already operating in the eastern states, a figure 40 percent greater than the total railroad mileage of Europe. Since World War I, however, the U.S. railroads have been in a decline, due partly to the rapid development of private automobiles, trucks, buses, pipelines, and airlines.

The first new mode of transportation to challenge the railroad was the motor vehicle, which was made possible by the invention, in the 1860s and 70s, of the internal combustion engine. The automobile found its greatest popularity in the United States, where the first "horseless carriages" appeared in the 1890s. Two hundred million motor vehicles had been produced in the nation within 70 years of their first appearance. The automobile thus became in many ways as important to the 20th century as the railroads had been to the 19th.

During the same period intercity buses took over a large portion of commercial passenger travel, and trucks began carrying a great deal of the nation's freight.

Although the emphasis on fuel conservation waned in "the 1980s, few doubt that the issue will emerge again when oil scarcities loom, as they did in the 1970s. Future possibilities include automobiles with far greater fuel efficiency and improved mass-transit systems. Both will occur not only in response to oil-supply disruption, but also as an answer to increasing demands for cleaner air. Improvements in mass transit offer the most promise for the future. Amtrak's 1993 introduction of the Swedish high-speed "tilting train" should cut travel time between some East Coast cities by almost half, once tracks are entirely electrified.

From the first paragraph, it can be inferred that transport exerts a great influence on all the following EXCEPT______.

A．economic development

B．living conditions

C．industrial production

D．political rights

Anti-Fascist War in the 1930s and 1940s

The anti Fascist war between the 1930s and 1940s was the first just war of a global scale in human history. It ended in the Axis' unconditional surrender in 1945, 60 years ago. Over 2 billion people in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania (exceeding four-fifths of the world population at that time) were involved in the war. People who had experienced that unheard-of calamity will never forget those days when flames of battle raged everywhere.

China was the first country to fight the Fascist aggressor, experiencing the longest period of struggle, and suffering great sacrifices and heavy losses. (The death toll of Chinese people is more than 3.5 million and directly economic loss is US $ 100 billion.) An important part of the international anti Fascist war, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan was closely bound up with it.

People will never forget August 15, 1945, the date on which the Japanese government issued a note to the Allied Countries, announcing its unconditional surrender. Japanese militarism, the No. 2 war criminal in World War Ⅱ, collapsed. The Chinese people won the final victory in the anti-Japanese national liberation war through their bitter struggles.

China's War of Resistance Against Japan was a righteous struggle against a war of aggression provoked by Japanese militarists against the will of the Japanese people. As for the Chinese, it was an anti-aggression war to defend state sovereignty and vindicate national honor.

The War of Resistance Against Japan was a turning point in modern Chinese history. It ended the divided situation in which China found itself since the Opium War of 1840. It aroused the Chinese people, filled them with a common hatred against the enemy, and enhanced their traditional national spirit as never before.

The War of Resistance Against Japan was not merely a struggle between the Chinese people and the Japanese militarists or merely a local war between China and Japan. Viewed from the general situation of the international anti-Fascist struggle, China's War of Resistance Against Japan was an important part of the war against aggression Waged by people throughout the world, and the China theater was a major theater of decisive importance to World War Ⅱ. China's War of Resistance strongly supported the anti-Fascist struggle in the European and Pacific theaters, disrupted the overall plan of the Japanese imperialists who attempted to dominate the world, thwarted Japan's "northern march" plot to invade the Soviet Union, and delayed its "southern march" schedule for unleashing the Pacific War. More important still, the Chinese people through great sacrifices pinned down Japan's million troops on the Chinese battlefront so that it could not enhance its military forces in the Far East and the Pacific Ocean. As a result, it greatly reduced the pressure on the Allied forces. When the Pacific War broke out, Japan's military strength totaled 2. 1 million soldiers, of which 1. 4 million were sent to the Chinese theater. At this time less than 400,000 Japanese soldiers were fighting on the several million-square-kilometer Pacific battlefield. Thus, 67 percent of the total Japanese military strength was tied up in China during the most dangerous period of the Pacific War. In other words, the Japanese military force that China (one nation) resisted trebled what more than 10 nations headed by the United States resisted. The leaders of the Allies knew this well. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then US President, once commented that without China, or if China had been defeated, many more Japanese divisions would have been deployed to other areas and they would have been able to occupy Australia and India immediately without any trouble, and then push to the Middle East.

In the spring of 1942, the United States proposed to establish a China War Zone, and invit

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage ?

A．The basic task for humans and other forms of life on this planet is to deal with their conflicts successfully.

B．James Madison said that the varied interests in civilized nations divide them into different classes with different views.

C．To exist without conflict would mean fear and danger of death.

D．Conflict exists when people live in complete isolation.

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage ?

A．The basic task for humans and other forms of life on this planet is to deal with their conflicts successfully.

B．James Madison said that the varied interests in civilized nations divide them into different classes with different views.

C．To exist without conflict would mean fear and danger of death.

D．Conflict exists when people live in complete isolation.

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?

A．The basic task for humans and other forms of life on this planet is to deal with their conflicts successfully.

B．James Madison said that the varied interests in civilized nations divide them into different classes with different views.

C．To exist without conflict would mean fear and danger of death.

D．Conflict exists when people live in complete isolation.

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?

A．The basic task for humans and other forms of life on this planet is to deal with their conflicts successfully.

B．James Madison said that the varied interests in civilized nations divide them into different classes with different views.

C．To exist without conflict would mean fear and danger of death.

D．Conflict exists when people live in complete isolation.

Geography is the study of the relationship between people and the land. Geographers compare and contrast various places on the earth. But they also 【B1】 beyond the individual places and consider the earth as a whole. The English word geography means "to describe the earth. " 【B2】 geography books focus on a small area like a town or city. Others deal with a state, a region, a nation, or an 【B3】 continent. Many geography books deal with the whole earth. Another 【B4】 to divide the study of geography is to distinguish between physical geography and cultural geography. The former focuses on the natural world; the 【B5】 starts with human beings and studies how human beings and their environment act 【B6】 each other. But when geography is considered as a single subject, 【B7】 branch can neglect the other. A geographer might be described as one who observes, records, and explains the 【B8】 between places. If all places 【B9】 alike, there would be little need for geographers. We know, however, that no two places are exactly the same. Geography, 【B10】 is a point of view, a special way of looking at place.

【B1】

A．pass

B．reach

C．go

D．set