People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were p

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.
【小题1】Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because .A．the hunters wanted to see the picturesB．the painters were animal loversC．the painters wanted to show imaginationD．the pictures were thought to be helpful【小题2】The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that .A．the former was easy to writeB．there were fewer signs in the formerC．the former was easy to pronounceD．each sign stood for only one sound【小题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.【小题4】 In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures .A．should be made comprehensibleB．should be made interestingC．are of much use in our lifeD．have disappeared from our lifeD

(答案→)D 解析：文章大意：文章介绍人类绘画的历史。从猎人的画到埃及人开始用图画当作书写。还有希腊人发展了这种符号系统并形成了希腊字母。罗马人的字母应用到世界各地。现今，我们还是有许多地方需要图画，比如：绘画、照片、标记和图表。【小题1】细节题。由第一段的句子：Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals可知绘画在岩壁上是因为这些画被认为是捕捉动物的时候是有用的。选D【小题2】细节题。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.的分析我们知道，希腊的文字更容易写，符号更少，每个符号只代表一个读音。没有提到希腊字母容易发音，选C【小题3】细节题。从第二段的句子：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.可知埃及的符号后来变成了一种特殊的字母。选A【小题4】细节题。从短文的最后一句Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.我们可以得出结论：作者认为现在绘画还是很有用的，答案为C

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