Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets．But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”
Mr．Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives．The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain．Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another．“We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says．“But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer．The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours．But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up．“What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics．Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”
【小题1】What can the “conversations” be best described as?

Jimmy lives in London and began swimming a few months ago.
He likes swimming, and often goes to the swimming pool near by his【小题1】_____
house with his mother and swims there for a hour or so.          【小题2】______
He was six year old last week, and his mother said, “You         【小题3】______
swim quite good now, but you have never seen the sea, my        【小题4】_____
child, haven’t you? Your father and I are going to take you        【小题5】_____
there on Saturday, and you are going to swimming in the sea.      【小题6】_______
It isn’t cold now, and it’s much nice than a swimming pool.”       【小题7】_____
Jimmy’s father and mother brought him to the sea in their         【小题8】_______
car on Saturday, but they stopped at the side of a small           【小题9】________
harbor(港口). Jimmy got out and looked at the sea for long       【小题10】______
time, but wasn’t happy. Then he said to his mother,
“Which is the shallow end, mother?”.

When I was a child ,I spent most of the time near the sea watching the ships, large and small, go in and out of the harbor. At the age of eighteen I   1   home to take a job on a passenger   2   that sailed between San Francisco and YokohamA．I was   3   about my new adventure and a little afraid, too. For over a year, I    4   the Pacific on the Rosa Lee. The brilliant blue waters were   5   in the sunlight; under stormy skies the angry   6   became dark, dangerous, and exciting. I   7   the sea in all its glorious beauty — both when it was quiet and when it was violent.   8  , I knew it was the life for me.

After a year, during a rip from Melbourne to Honolulu, I had a very strange   9  . I have never forgotten it. We couldn’t get   10   the way in time and were hit by a violent 11  . The wind grew stronger and stronger —  12   fifty miles an hour, and mountains of water   13   the Rosa Lee over on its side. The ship rolled back only to be   14   again by the next wave. All during the rain-filled night, we worked in a frantic   15   to save the ship, but there was a breakdown in the engine room and the motors   16  . We knew that there was   17   more we could do. At dawn the Captain   18   the order to leave the ship. A few minutes later Rosa Lee   19   beneath the angry seA．All that could be   20    were a few lifeboats here and there among the waves.

1．A．left          B．went          C．landed         D．forgot

2．A．bus          B．ship           C．plane           D．train

3．A．worried    B．narrow        C．excited         D．sure

4．A．struck       B．imagined        C．remarked        D．sailed

5．A．shallow     B．terrifying       C．irregular         D．beautiful

6．A．situation  B．gains          C．waters          D．management

7．A．hated        B．loved         C．improved       D．greeted

8．A．In the end B．What’s more    C．That’s to say    D．From the beginning

9．A．dream       B．practice        C．imagination    D．experience

10．A．in         B．up              C．out of         D．down

11．A．purpose  B．storm          C．soul            D．rock

12．A．up to      B．far from       C．less than         D．behind

13．A．pushed    B．pulled          C．drew           D．looked

14．A．protected        B．attacked        C．destroyed       D．applied

15．A．request    B．decision        C．sense           D．attempt

16．A．worked  B．based           C．stooped         D．finished

17．A．nothing  B．space          C．light           D．recognized

18．A．gave       B．threw          C．forced          D．recognized

19．A．floated    B．sank           C．fell            D．pushed

20．A．enjoyed  B．criticized        C．seen           D．climbed

In 1879, a group of explorers made an incredible find. They discovered paintings of remarkable beauty on the walls of a cave in Spain. Some scientists believed that these paintings were created by early humans from the Stone Age, between ten and thirty thousand years ago. Other scientists and the public did not believe the claim, but over the years, it was proven correct. Our ancestors had incredible artistic talents.

Most of the cave art that has been discovered has been found in Spain and France. A smaller number of such caves are located in Italy, Portugal, Russia, and other countries. Scientists believe that many more caves will be discovered in the coming years, and are concentrating their efforts on Africa and the area between Europe and Asia. These two regions of the world were, populated first by humans.

Cave art was carved or painted on the walls and roofs of caves, usually near the entrance. The entrance area was probably chosen to take advantage of daylight and to allow many people to view the paintings. In some cases, the art appears much deeper in caves and requires artificial light. Evidence suggests that the artists used torches or shallow bowls in which animal fat was burned.

9.What was the response of general public to the discovery of cave art made by Stone Age people?

A. They believed it at first.

B. They did not believe it.

C. They thought it was beautiful.

D. They ignored it.

10.According to the passage, what can we conclude about animal fat?

A. It does not burn.

B. Stone Age artists used it to preserve their paintings.

C. It can be burned to produce light.

D. Stone Age artists mixed it with their food.

11.. Where do scientists expect to find more cave paintings?

A. In Central and South America.

B. In Spain and France.

C. In the places where there are caves with large openings.

D. In the regions of the world first populated by humans.

12.Where would this passage be most likely to appear?

A. In a textbook about early human history.

B. In a textbook about modern art.

C. In a dictionary.

D. In an encyclopedia entry about caves.

Mr. Hall was a rich businessman and lived in a big house beside a beautiful river.
The river usually __16__ over in winter, and one year __17__ happened very early, so that by Christmas time it was covered with really __18__ ice. People could walk across it safely.
The sight of this ice gave Mr. Hall __19__. He decided to have a big Christmas party on the ice. He would have all the furniture in his living-room _ 20 _ out onto the ice. He would have pretty colored lights _ 21 _  all around, and they would have a wonderful party. So he sent out __22__ to all his important friends, and on Christmas Eve they all began to _ 23   his house and then went onto the ice. They were all in very good _ 24   and thought that it _25_a wonderful idea of Mr. Hall to have a party on the ice.
The party   26   until late at night, and as the _ 27   guests said their merry Christmas, Mr. Hall was pleased with himself for the __28   party.
He had drunk rather  29   at the party, so he did not wake up very early __30  morning. In fact, it was   31  midday when he got up and looked out of the window at the spot where the party was held last night. __32__ he saw there made him wonder whether he was still  33 _. He closed his eyes, opened them again but there was no mistake! The ice had ­­__34   up in the early sunshine and had carried all his living-room furniture out to __35  .
【小题1】

A．flows

B．flowed

C．freeze

D．froze