Six “sacrificial pits(祭祀坑)”, dating back 3,200 to 4,000 yeas, were newly discovered in Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan. Over 500 artifacts, including gold masks, bronze wares, ivories, jades and textiles were unearthed from the site. Sanxingdui site is located in Sanxingdui Town, Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, on the south bank of Qianjiang River (Yangtze River), a tributary of Tuojiang River in the north of Chengdu Plain. The site covers an area of about 12 square kilometers, and the core area is the ancient city of Sanxingdui, with an area of about 3.6 square kilometers. It is the largest and highest-grade central site found in Sichuan Basin during the Xia and Shang period.
Sanxingdui site, first found in 1929, is generally considered as one of the most important archaeological sites along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. However, the work of excavation on the site only began in 1986, when two pits — widely believed for sacrificial ceremonies — were accidentally discovered.
Investigation in the area around No.1 and 2 pits was relaunched in October 2019, and No.3 pit was found in December 2019, according to Lei Yu, a researcher of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute who heads the ongoing excavation. Thirty four research universities and research institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986.
More excavation followed in March 2020, and five more pits were found last year. And detailed research began in October. Excavation capsules with hi-tech equipment were set up in the pits in order to prevent the site from further damage.
According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, studies of Sanxingdui site will become a crucial project in an ongoing program Archaeology China, which tries to explain the origins of Chinese civilization and how diverse cultures communicate and come together.
1. What does the underlined word “excavation” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Check. | B．Dig. | C．Protection. | D．Extension. |
| A．By conducting more experiments around the site. |
| B．By dividing the task of excavation into several parts. |
| C．By cooperating with research universities and institutes. |
| D．By using excavation capsule armed with hi-tech equipment. |
| A．There are 6 sacrificial pits discovered in Sanxingdui site in all. |
| B．The size of the core zone is about 1/3 of Sanxingdui site. |
| C．The discovery of Sanxingdui site only began in 2019. |
| D．All sacrificial sites were discovered in the meantime. |
| A．Sanxingdui site needed protecting. |
| B．Hi-tech helped to explore Sanxingdui site. |
| C．Sanxingdui discoveries reveal ancient China. |
| D．Sacrificial pits were unearthed in Sanxingdui site. |
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【推荐1】Adding to the achievements of a remarkable year, Taylor Swift has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023.
Already a superstar before 2023, Swift’s career has reached new heights thanks to the beginning of her Eras Tour that brought her 3.5-hour performance to 66 shows in 23 cities across North America, Argentina and Brazil. Promoted by her tour, Swift has been named the most-streamed female artist in the history of Spotify and Apple Music. According to Billboard, the tour made about $900 million (about 6.4 billion yuan) in 2023. In addition, the tour’s movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the biggest concert movie of all time, taking more than $250 million globally.
As she was declared (宣布) a billionaire by Bloomberg in November, a hidden “Taylor Swift economy” also promoted sales for business owners across the US. From soaps to a cruise inspired by her different “eras”, interest in Swift-related products went way up.
Apart from her financial contributions, Swift made a significant cultural impact by taking back control of her music. In 2019, her old record label, Big Machine, sold the master tapes of her first six albums (专辑) to Scooter Braun. The sale meant that she didn’t have the rights to the albums. In response to this, Swift began re-recording her first six albums, tagging (加标签于) them “Taylor’s Version”. This move stressed her belief that artists deserve to own their work. “It’s all in how you deal with loss,” she told Time. “I respond to extreme pain by resisting.”
Heading into 2024, Swift will start the Eras Tour again in Japan and Australia. As USA Today noted, “Her current top has been a long time coming, but it may also be just beginning.”
1. What do we know about Taylor Swift?| A．She broke a new record on her tour. |
| B．She toured South America before 2023. |
| C．Her achievements received great recognition. |
| D．Her performance began with the Apple Music. |
| A．She proved herself to be an artist. |
| B．She learned to make some products. |
| C．She got rich and regained album rights. |
| D．She sold her master tapes to a company. |
| A．She will end her music career. |
| B．She will continue her Eras Tour. |
| C．She will reach her top in Japan. |
| D．She will make a record in Australia. |
| A．Admirable. | B．Uncaring. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Critical. |
【推荐2】On February 6, 2020, American astronaut Christina Koch arrived back on Earth after 328 days in space. Her time in space is just one of the records set by herself. That’s the longest spaceflight ever made by a woman, and just one of the many things Ms. Koch achieved in space.
Ms. Koch took off from Earth for the International Space Station (ISS) on March 12, 2019. While in space, she made 5, 248 trips around the Earth, travelling 2, 237 million kilometers, which is roughly the same as 291 trips to the Moon and back. During her 11 months on the ISS, Ms. Koch took part in six spacewalks, spending over 42 hours in all outside the station. In October of 2019, Ms. Koch led the first ever all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir.
But for most astronauts, space travel isn’t about setting records. It’s about doing science. Ms. Koch took part in a wide variety of special experiments, including studying how crystals grow in space, how atoms behave in extreme cold and learning more about growing plants in low gravity. Growing plants in space could be an important way to provide food on future trips. She also tested a new way of separating liquids from gases. This experiment could lead to simple methods of cleaning water and air in space, which could be very important for future space travel.
Ms. Koch isn’t just a scientist and an astronaut. She is also being studied. She’s part of a NASA program studying how astronauts are affected by being in space for long periods of time. Her trip was only 12 days shorter than the American record set by Scott Kelly in 2016. As they did with Mr. Kelly, NASA scientists are looking carefully at ways Ms. Koch’s body has been affected by her time in space. That research is important for the longer space trips NASA hopes to make in the future, such as for a base on the moon or a trip to Mars.
1. Which of the following is an achievement Ms. Koch has made?| A．Making the longest spaceflight by herself. | B．Leading the first women-only spacewalk. |
| C．Cleaning water and air successfully in space. | D．Staying outside the ISS continuously for 42 hours. |
| A．Koch made historic breakthroughs in space. | B．Koch went through a life-threatening space trip. |
| C．Koch completed admirable tasks in the space travel. | D．Koch is the most experienced astronaut in NASA. |
| A．Astronauts are competing to set new records. | B．Koch’s team produced their own food in space. |
| C．NASA has founded a scientific base on the moon. | D．Koch’s research is significant for space exploration. |
| A．Record-Setting Astronaut Koch Returns to Earth | B．US Astronauts Carried out Experiments in Space |
| C．Spacewalks Have Successfully Been Done on the ISS | D．NASA is Studying Astronauts for Longer Space Trips |
【推荐3】“When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
On Wednesday, poet Amanda Gorman read her poem, “The Hill We Climb”, at the inauguration (宣誓就职) ceremony of President Joe Biden.
By Thursday, the 22-year-old was a superstar.
Gorman is the youngest poet in U.S. history to mark the change of presidential power. Past inaugural poets include famous writers like Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.
Gorman is a native of Los Angeles, California, and in 2017 was named the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate (桂冠). She recently completed her studies at Harvard University.
On Wednesday, Gorman offered a hopeful future for a deeply divided country.
“We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be.
A country that is bruised (瘀紫的) but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.”
Her reading — and the ceremony as a whole — took place exactly two weeks after a violent mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked and occupied the U.S. Capito Building.
Gorman says she had completed a little more than half of “The Hill He Climb” before the January 6 attack at the Capitol.
“That day gave me a second wave of energy to finish the poem,” said Gorman. She chose not to make direct note of the attack, but her references to the event were clear： “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy (民主).
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.”
Hours after the inauguration her two books — which are to be released later this year — became number 1 and 2 on Amazon, com’s sales list. Gorman’s poetry collection “The Hill We Climb” and her children’s book “Change Sings” are set to be published in September.
1. Which of the following is true of Amanda Gorman?| A．She is the youngest poet in U.S. history. |
| B．She is now studying at Harvard University. |
| C．She is a graduate from Harvard University. |
| D．She was named American first Poet Laureate. |
| A．National unity. | B．Race equality. | C．True freedom. | D．Free speech. |
| A．Bear…in mind. | B．Set…on fire. |
| C．Put…into practice. | D．Break…into pieces. |
| A．She became a best selling author. | B．She turned superstar in pop music. |
| C．She was attacked by a violent mob. | D．She published her book “Change Sings”. |
【推荐1】No one is sure how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near Cairo. But a new study suggests they used a little rock ‘n’ roll. Long-ago builders could have attached wooden poles to the stones and rolled them across the sand, the scientists say.
“Technically, I think what they're proposing is possible,” physicist Daniel Bonn said.
People have long puzzled over how the Egyptians moved such huge rocks. And there's no obvious answer. On average, each of the two million big stones weighed about as much as a large pickup truck. The Egyptians somehow moved the stone blocks to the pyramid site from about one kilometer away.
The most popular view is that Egyptian workers slid the blocks along smooth paths. Many scientists suspect workers first would have put the blocks on sleds(滑板). Then they would have dragged them along paths. To make the work easier, workers may have lubricated the paths either with wet clay or with the fat from cattle. Bonn has now tested this idea by building small sleds and dragging heavy objects over sand. .
Evidence from the sand supports this idea. Researchers found small amounts of fat, as well as a large amount of stone and the remains of paths.
However, physicist Joseph West, who led the new study, thinks there might have been a simpler way. West said, “I was inspired while watching a television program showing how sleds might have helped with pyramid construction. I thought, ‘Why don't they just try rolling the things?’” A square could be turned into a rough sort of wheel by attaching wooden poles to its sides, he realized. That, he noted, should make a block of stone “a lot easier to roll than a square”.
So he tried it. He and his students tied some poles to each of four sides of a 30-kilogram stone block. That action turned the block into somewhat a wheel. Then they placed the block on the ground.
They wrapped one end of a rope around the block and pulled. The researchers found they could easily roll the block along different kinds of paths. They calculated that rolling the block required about as much force as moving it along a slippery(滑的) path.
West hasn't tested his idea on larger blocks, but he thinks rolling has clear advantages over sliding. At least, workers wouldn't have needed to carry cattle fat or water to smooth the paths.
1. It's widely believed that the stone blocks were moved to the pyramid site by _________.| A．rolling them on roads | B．pushing them over the sand |
| C．sliding them on smooth paths | D．dragging them on some poles |
| A．Made the paths wet. | B．Made the paths hard. |
| C．Made the paths wide. | D．Made the paths slippery. |
| A．Because more force is needed for sliding. |
| B．Because rolling work can be done by fewer cattle. |
| C．Because sliding on smooth roads is more dangerous. |
| D．Because less preparation on paths is needed for rolling. |
| A．An experiment on ways of moving blocks to the pyramid site. |
| B．An application of the method of moving blocks to the pyramid site. |
| C．An argument about different methods of moving blocks to the pyramid site. |
| D．An introduction to a possible new way of moving blocks to the pyramid site. |
【推荐2】A large conch (海螺) shell brought little attention in a French museum for many years, but it is now quickly gaining attention. The shell is thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument. And it still works, producing a deep sound, like a horn from the distant past.
The shell was found during the exploration of a cave with prehistoric walk paintings in the Pyrenees Mountains in France. It was believed to be a drinking cup for ceremony. Scientists from the University of Toulouse recently took a fresh look at the conch shell. They now believe it was to serve as a wind instrument. They also invited a French horn player to play it.
“Hearing it for the first time, for me it was a big emotion and caused some worry.” Said archaeology researcher Carole Fritz She feared that playing the 31-centimeter-long shell might damage it, but it did not. The shell produced clear musical notes in C, C sharp and D. The researchers estimate it to be about 18,000 years old.
Conch shells have been used widely in musical and ceremonial traditions, including in ancient Peru, Japan and India. The shell instrument found in the Marsoulas cave is now the oldest known example. Earlier, Gilles Tosello, another archaeologist in Toulouse, said a conch shell instrument found in Syria was estimated to be about 6,000 years old.
The latest discovery was made after a recent inventory (盘货) at the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. The researchers noticed some unusual holes in the shell. Especially important is that the end of the shell was broken off. That created a hole large enough to blow through. Careful examinations with a microscope showed that the opening was made by humans.
Using a model of the shell, the archaeologists plan to continue studying the horn’s sounds. Tosello hoped to hear the ancient instrument played inside the cave where it was found. He said it was wonderful when an object was forgotten somewhere and suddenly it came again into the light.
1. In what case was the conch shell found?| A．On an exhibition in a French museum. | B．In a research on prehistoric wall paintings. |
| C．During the exploration of a cave in mountains. | D．In the observation of a ceremonial drinking cup. |
| A．To produce a deep sound. | B．To make it look more beautiful. |
| C．To create a hole to blow through. | D．To show it was unusual in design. |
| A．It gained attention as soon as it was discovered. |
| B．It could produce several unclear musical notes. |
| C．It was played by a French horn player and damage. |
| D．It was about 12,000 years older than the one found in Syria. |
| A．The oldest instrument can still be played | B．A research focuses on old shell instruments |
| C．A conch shell serves as a musical instrument | D．An ancient instrument comes into the light again |
【推荐3】Archaeologists in Germany have uncovered some of the earliest evidence of the use of clothing, with newly discovered cut marks on a cave bear’s paws suggesting the prehistoric animal was skinned for its fur some 300,000 years ago.
The discovery in Schöningen, northern Germany, is exciting because despite the written records of cave men and women covered in fur in some popular cultures, very little is truly known about how early humans clothed their bodies. Fur, leather and other organic materials typically can’t be preserved beyond 100,000 years.
“The study is significant because direct evidence of prehistoric clothing is scant and we know relatively little about how humans in the deep past were protecting themselves from cold winters. From this early time period, there are only a handful of sites that show evidence of bear skinning, with Schöningen providing the most complete picture,” said study author Ivo Verheijen from Tübingen University in Germany.
Cave bears were large animals, about the size of polar bears, that went extinct about 25,000 years ago. The cave bear’s fur, which has long outer hairs that form an airy protective layer, and short, dense hairs that provide good insulation (隔离), was suitable for making simple clothing or bedding.
The clothing in the site probably wrapped the human body without careful tailoring. The eyed needles needed to sew more excellent designs didn’t emerge in the archaeological record until about 45,000 years ago.
“We found the cut marks on the cave bear’s hands and feet where very little meat or fat is present on the bones, which argues against the cut marks originating from the butchering of the animal,” Verheijen said. “In these locations, the skin is much closer to the bones, which makes marking the bones inevitable when an animal is being skinned.”
The Schöningen site in Germany is most famous for the discovery of the oldest known wooden weapons that were used to kill prey 300,000 years ago.
But it’s still challenging to figure out exactly when ancient humans began wearing clothing. Genetic studies of lice (跳蚤) indicate that clothing lice separated from their human head louse ancestors at least 83,000 years ago and possibly as early as 170,000 years ago, which suggests humans were wearing clothes before major migrations out of Africa. Bone tools found in what’s now Morocco suggest that humans were processing animal skins 90,000 to 120,000 years ago.
1. What did archaeologists find in Schöningen?| A．Fur of a cave bear. | B．Bones with cut marks. |
| C．Pieces of prehistoric clothing. | D．Evidence of prehistoric hunting. |
| A．Not correct. | B．Not very much. |
| C．Not valuable. | D．Not clear enough. |
| A．To give an explanation. | B．To provide some examples. |
| C．To offer more details of the study. | D．To show the importance of the study. |
| A．Previous studies on human clothing. |
| B．The process of studying human clothing. |
| C．Other new discoveries of human clothing. |
| D．An unsolved mystery about human clothing. |
