As early as the mid-18th century, some people began raising doubts about Marco Polo’s travels. In 1995, historian Frances Wood argued in her book Did Marco Polo Go to China? that the famous explorer from Venice never made it to pass the Black Sea. She noted that his travel journal left out the Great Wall of China, chopsticks and tea drinking among other details.
Furthermore, Chinese documents from Polo’s day made no mention of the explorer and his men. Last year, a team of Italian researchers became the latest to challenge Polo’s accounts. They said that evidence didn’t support his description of Kublai Khan’s Japanese invasions (侵略).
Now, however, research by Hans Ulrich Vogel of Germany’s Tubingen University might help prove Marco Polo was true. In a new book Marco Polo Was in China,the professor of Chinese history tries to prove that Marco Polo spoke the truth. He suggests, for example, that Polo didn’t include the Great Wall in his book because it only achieved its great importance in the Ming Dynasty several hundred years later. Vogel further explains that Chinese records from the 13th and 14th centuries avoided setting down visits from Westerners.
Historians before him have touched on these issues. But Vogel also relies on another evidence: the explorer’s very detailed descriptions of currency and salt production in the Yuan Dynasty. According to Vogel, Polo documented these aspects of Mongol Chinese culture in greater detail than any other of his time. This is a hint that Polo relied on his own powers of observation.
Will we ever know whether Marco Polo traveled to China? Perhaps not, but the consequences of his real or fictional journey are still felt across the globe. One reader of The travels of Marco Polo was Christopher Columbus, who stepped upon the New World while following his idol’s footsteps.
33. France Wood doubted Marco Polo’s travel’s to China because his description _______.
A. missed some important culture of China
B. covered so much about traders’ life
C. was full of obvious mistakes
D. seemed less detailed
34. Vogel’s trust on Marco Polo is based on the argument that _______.
a. The Great Wall didn’ t gain its importance then
b. Records in the Yuan Dynasty mentioned Polo
c. Polo mentioned the currency and salt
d. Polo’s other works are believable
e. Polo recorded what he saw in great detail
A. a, b, d B. a, c, d C. a, e D. b,c
35. Which of the following shows the structure of the text?
ACB
什么是历史文化类阅读:
本类题型常用的方式是夹叙夹议。叙述的目的是为了议,所以要把握其议才是主要方面。阅读这类文章,先弄清其引入的话题,再弄清里面人物对其不同的看法,然后理解作者本身对话题的观点看法或思考。
历史文化类阅读技巧:
【题型说明】历史文化类阅读理解文章属高考常选材料之一。这类文章常涉及历史、文化、法制、宗教等方面的文学艺术、发明创造、文化遗产保护、宗教与文化、风俗与习惯、道德与法制、中外文学名著节选、等等。这类材料的命题点往往落在主旨大意题、事实细节题上。
【答题方法】在做这类阅读理解题时,我们应注意以下几个方面:
1、采用先题后文:先读题目,再带着问题读文章。这类阅读理解文章相对来说事实细节题稍多一点,如果带着问题读文章,有利于我们抓细节。
2、先做细节题。因为做完了局部性的事实细节题后,自然会加深我们对文章的理解,这样更有利于做主旨大意题。
3、重点敲定主旨题。主旨大意题提问的形式主要有两大类:一类是Main idea型;一类是Topic或Title型。
在解答这类试题时应注意以下几点:
a.读首句抓大意。
文化教育类阅读理解文章多采用说明文、议论文体裁,而这类文章大都采用文章段落的中心,即主题句在文章开头。因此,要寻找这类文章的主旨大意就需要研究文章的首句。
b.读尾句抓大意。
有时这类文章的主题句安排在文章的结尾,作为对全篇的总结。
c.读首段抓大意。
有些文章或段落的开头和结尾部分都有主题句。这种结构是为了突出主题思想而使用两次点题的写作方法。这两个主题句在句子结构和用词上有所不同,而且在内容上前句和后句也不重复。
d.从段落中抓大意。
有些文章或段落的主题句在文章中,这种文章或段落往往以一句话或几句话引出要表达的主题,在主题句出现后,再举例子陈述细节或继续论证。
e.归纳要点抓大意。
有些文章或段落无明显的主题句,只是暗示性地体现主题。这就要求同学们在阅读过程中根据文中所叙述的事实或线索来概括总结主旨大意。
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