题型：阅读选择 题类： 难易度：普通
辽宁省铁岭市西丰振兴中学2024年中考一模英语试题
Mesa Verde National Park, in Colorado, America, has many "cliff dwellings"— places that are built into the cliffs（悬崖）where people once lived. They look almost impossible to get to. Who lived in them, and why did they live there?
People lived there about 800 years ago. Americans call them the Ancestral Puebloans（古普韦布洛人的祖先）. They grew food on the mesa （平顶山）, the flat land on top of the cliffs. They kept animals on the mesa too. They travelled over the mesa to trade with each other. Why didn't they build homes on the mesa?
One reason was the weather. Winters were getting colder and colder. The mesa was flat and open. There was no protection from the cold winds. Most of the cliff dwellings face south or south-west from the cold north wind. Another reason people did not live on the mesa is that there were more and more people to feed. Homes on the mesa would use land that was needed to grow food. Some people say a third reason was for safety. They say different groups of Ancestral Puebloans were fighting each other. The cliff dwellings were hard to get into. so they kept the people who lived there safe. Other people don't believe it. They say the groups tract ed too much to have seen fighting. Everyone agrees that these people were the skillful builders, who used every bit of space in the cliffs to make their homes.
Chinese opera is one of the oldest art forms in the world. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Different parts of China have their own local opera and there are more than 300 different kinds. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Actors in Sichuan opera wear specially painted masks on their faces in many different colors. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They will suddenly change completely, and all the time, the actor is dancing beautifully with many difficult movements. Some actors can change face ten times in twenty seconds, and yet you never see their fingers touch their face.
Of course, you realize that the actor has many different masks, one on top of the other. They are made from very thin silk in bright colors. If the actor turns his back to you, you think he is changing his mask while you cannot see him doing it. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Then he shakes his head suddenly and that mask has changed, like magic, into another one! You cannot believe your eyes, and yet it has happened!
To be able to change the masks without being seen is a very special skill. It takes much time to learn it perfectly. The exact method used by the actors is a closely guarded secret that is only passed on from father to son or master to apprentice（学徒）. As China's influence develops around the world Chinese culture travels too. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}
A. Different colors have different meanings. B. Its history goes back many hundreds of years. C. But when he turns again to face you, it's the same mask. D. This old art form is making new friends all over the world. E. One of the most interesting and exciting forms is Sichuan opera. |
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