本题是2011年上半年学位英语教材第26单元的课后阅读理解。

本题是2010年下半年学位英语教材第26单元的课后阅读理解。

本题是2008年下半年学位英语教材第26单元的课后阅读理解。

本题是2009年下半年学位英语教材第26单元的课后阅读理解。

本题是2010年上半年学位英语教材第26单元的课后阅读理解。

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 to pictures. About 5,000 years ago the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as a 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 1000 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 tem 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: drawings, 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.

It has been said that Egypt is the home of 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.

据说，埃及是连环画的发源地，然而在埃及人看来，图画还有着魔力，因此他们并没有试图去简化他们的书写形式，一般人是看不懂的。

1.According to the first paragraph, pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves because

D .both B and C

2.The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following, reasons EXCEPT that

B .the former was easy to spell

3.Which of the following statements is not true?

A .The Roman alphabet was developed form the Egyptian one.

4.In the last paragraph, the author thinks all those except that pictures B .should be made interesting.

5.The best title for this passage is        

C .Pictures and Alphabet System

【翻译】

人类绘画已有3000年历史。最早的绘画作者是一位猎人。他把自己想捕获的猎物画下来。这类图画曾在法国和西班牙洞穴的墙壁上发现。没有人知道他们为什么要画在那儿，或许他们认为那样可以帮助他们捕获到那些动物，或许是人类想用那些画来讲故事。

   大约5000年前，埃及人开始用图画当作书写。他们用简笔画或做些标志来代表一定的事物和想法，还用它们来表示他们本国的语言。这些符号就变成了字母。埃及人过去把书写和绘画放在一起来记录信息。当某个重要人物去世时，从这个人的妻子那里得来的信息就会被刻画到墓碑上。一些图画就像现代的连环画。据说，埃及是连环画的发源地。然而在埃及人看来，图画还具有魔力。所以他们不去简化他们的书写形式。普通人是理解不了的。

   直到公元前1000年，居住在地中海附近的居民已经发明了简单的书写。他们所用的符号很容易书写，而且它们比埃及的字母符号少。这是因为每个符号或字母仅代表他们本族语的一个发音。希腊人发展了这种符号系统并形成了希腊字母。罗马人借鉴了这种方法，现在罗马字母应用到世界各地。现今，我们可以不用图画就能写下故事，或记录信息。但我们还是有许多地方需要图画，比如：绘画、照片、标记和图表。这些到处可见，比如在书报上，大街上，我们居住或工作地点墙上。图画可以容易地帮助我们理解并记住一些事情，并且它能使一个故事更生动有趣。

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