New discoveries at Sanxingdui Ruins

Chinese archaeologists announced the discovery of over five hundred     1     (culture) relics, during an ongoing excavation at the Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan, Sichuan. The relics     2     (uncover) in six sacrificial pits( 坑) that date back over 3,200     3     (year). Among the important cultural finds are gold and bronze masks, bronze ware, ivory tusks, textiles and jade among other artifacts. Some of     4     bronze ware items were decorated with dragon and ox patterns. The Sanxingdui Ruins is regarded as one of the world's              5     (great) archaeological discoveries of the     6     (twenty) century. The site was     7     (original) discovered by a farmer who worked in the fields in the 1920s. A huge surprise came in 1986     8     two sacrificial pits filled     9     more than 1,000 relics,     10     (include) gold masks, bronze sacred trees, bronze ware, jade ware and ivory, were discovered by local workers excavating clay for bricks.

For many of us, a used tea bag is something to be thrown away. But Ruby Silvious from the US, has found a    1    (create) way to change used tea bags into wonderful works of art.

She uses the small bags as canvases (画布) for her watercolor paintings. Those paintings    2    (inspire) by beautiful places around the world and her everyday life. Each tea bag painting is amazing. “As    3    artist, you’re always trying to find special ways of    4    (show) your art, and I think this is where all these ‘waste’materials come to light”, Ruby said.

It was over tea with her sister when Ruby first    5    (come) up with the idea. From there, she started her creation. Ruby has used tea bags of all shapes, sizes and colors. She creates different    6    (painting) accordingly. For example, she once used a yellow tea bag    7    (paint) a scene of sunset.

Creating the paintings on tea bags is    8    (extreme) difficult. Ruby has lots of failed paintings. But she never throws them away and she recycles them. She enjoys the work so much that it has led    9    the success of her two books. Ruby also put her paintings online. They made a big hit quickly. She now has a website    10    fans can buy her works of art, as well as her books.

Chinese photographers earned amounts of    1     (applaud) after they were honored the top prize winners at the 14th Astronomy Photographer of this year’s competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London.

Over 3,000 enthusiasts coming    2    67 countries and regions stood out. Chinese photographers featured prominently (大放异彩) and    3    (win)quite many prizes in three categories and one of the individual awards. The most notable success went to the young talent award, jointly    4    (share) between two adolescents, both aged 14. Their work, with the name of Andromeda Galaxy: The Neighbor,    5    tracked one of the Milky Way’s closest and largest neighbors, is described as a fascinating photo, also    6    best ever shot, just as Judge, Laszle Francsics, put it. Another winner picture, The Eye of God, an image of the helix nebula (螺旋星月), looks like a giant eye    7    (stare) down on Earth.

One of the main functions of astro-photography is to inspire more young people to fall in love with astronomy by showing our    8    (beauty) universe, said one top winner.

“The winning standard is    9     (terrible) high, to be frank,” commented Ed Bloomer, one astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich.   “It’s satisfying for us    10    (see) how many people are challenging themselves while taking shots of the amazing events in space.”

I am a nature photographer and have to brave the elements. But despite the wind and the rain I still enjoy working outside in    1     wild. I can observe animals in their    2    (nature) environment. My favorite place    3    (take) photos is Yellowstone National Park,     4    is famous for the variety of its wildlife but is probably best known for     5    (it) bears.    6    (weigh) up to 300 kilograms, the bears can run at about 64 kilometres per hour and are also excellent swimmers. Last spring I followed a path through dark forest. I     7    (enjoy) the breathtaking view when I felt I was being watched. Slowly I turned and     8    (freeze). Only metres away was a bear, with water    9    (fall) off its hair. Though I was very frightened, I pressed the button. A second later, the bear ran back into the forest and I got a photo of it. I realized that it is we who are the visitors     10    their world.