Question

People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hun­ted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or per­haps human beings have always wanted to tell stories accord­ing to pictures.

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 comic strip stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic 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 comic 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 comprehensible

B. should be made interesting

C. are of much use in our life

D. have disappeared from our life

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.C

3.A

4.C

【解析】

試題分析：文章大意：文章介紹人類繪畫的歷史。從獵人的畫到埃及人開始用圖畫當作書寫。還有希臘人發(fā)展了這種符號系統(tǒng)并形成了希臘字母。羅馬人的字母應用到世界各地�，F(xiàn)今，我們還是有許多地方需要圖畫，比如：繪畫、照片、標記和圖表。

1. 細節(jié)題。由第一段的句子：Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals可知繪畫在巖壁上是因為這些畫被認為是捕捉動物的時候是有用的。選D

2.細節(jié)題。由文中第四段的句子：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.的分析我們知道，希臘的文字更容易寫，符號更少，每個符號只代表一個讀音。沒有提到希臘字母容易發(fā)音，選C

3.細節(jié)題。從第二段的句子：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.可知埃及的符號后來變成了一種特殊的字母。選A

4.細節(jié)題。從短文的最后一句Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.我們可以得出結論：作者認為現(xiàn)在繪畫還是很有用的，答案為C

考點：考查政治經(jīng)濟文化類短文