Long ago, in 331 B.C., Greece conquered(征服)Egypt and built Alexandria(亚历山大港).Th

is city was named after Alexander the Great’King of Greece.After Alexander’s death, a great general named Ptolemy became ruler of Egypt.

The Greeks loved learning.Ptolemy believed that people needed to have written records of their thoughts and ideas.They needed to have a place to collect their books.For the first time in history, Ptolemy tried to collect together all the Greek books that had been written.To do this, he built the largest and the best library in ancient world.

Before this time, great writings were often hard to find, and many had been lost.Books were then written by hand on a kind of paper called papyrus.Sheets of papyrus were rolled around wooden sticks.The papyrus(纸莎草制的纸)rolls were stored in deep shelves on the library walls.

All books brought in Egypt were taken to the library.There,scholars studied them and corrected any mistakes.The books were copied over so they would be easier to read and store.They were listed in catalog(目录).

The library at Alexandria grew to have over a half million books.It was a center of learning for over 700 years before it was destroyed by fire in A.D.391.

1.Alexandria is the name of a() while Alexander was the name of a ().

A.place in Egypt; king in Greece

B.place in Greece; king in Egypt

C.king in Greece; place in Egypt

D.place in Greece; king in Egypt

2.In this passage the word“scholars”means ().

A.people who fought as soldiers

B.people with much learning

C.people who taught in schools

D.people who wrote the Greek books

3.The passage does not say so, but it makes you think that ().

A.it was hard to make papyrus

B.copying books took a long time

C.no one ever read the books at Alexandria

D.Books from all over the world were brought to the library

4.Why did Ptolemy build a large library at Alexandria？()

A.Because he thought it would make him as famous as Alexander the Great.

B.Because he wanted a safe place to collect all Greek books.

C.Because he wanted a new way to print books.

D.Because he wanted to correct all the mistakes in the books.

5.Which of the following does the passage lead you to believe？()

A.The library at Alexandria only had a few hundred books.

B.There were many libraries in Egypt at that time.

C.The great library helped to make Alexandria famous.

D.The scholars corrected all the mistakes in the books.