Experts have found a group of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest. The cities were home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago.
Recent mapping using laser (激光) technology revealed those places to be part of a group of settlements and connecting roads. The settlements are in the forested areas near the Andes mountains.
“It was a lost valley of cities,” said Rostain, who directs research at France’s National Center for Scientific Research. “It’s unbelievable,” he added. The Upano people lived in the settlements between around 500 BC and 300 to 600 AD. That was around the same time period as the Roman Empire in Europe, the researchers found.
Ancient people built on over 6,000 earthen mounds (堆) in an area surrounded by agricultural fields with drainage (排水) canals. The largest roads were 10 meters wide and went for 10 to 20 kilometers.
While it is difficult to determine populations, the area was home to at least 10,000 people, and possibly about 15,000 or 30,000 at its highest point. That is comparable to the possible population of London, then Britain’s largest city.
It would have required a complex system of organized labor to build the roads and thousands of earthen mounds. The Incas and Mayans built with stone, but people in Amazonia didn’t usually have stone available to build — they built with mud.
The Amazon is often thought of as a wild area with only small groups of people. But recent discoveries have verified that the past was really more complex.
Scientists have recently also found evidence of complex rainforest societies that came before European contact elsewhere in the Amazon, including in Bolivia and Brazil.
“There’s always been an unbelievable diversity of people and settlements in the Amazon, not only one way to live,” said experts. “We’re just learning more about them.”
1. Which statement best describes the lost cities?| A．They are the oldest ever found in the area. | B．They were discovered by laser technology. |
| C．They were recognized in the map. | D．They are covered by a thick layer of dust. |
| A．They were engaged in agriculture. | B．They mainly made a living by hunting. |
| C．They devoted themselves to business. | D．They made use of rivers to develop fishing. |
| A．The cities’ large size. | B．The cities’ ancient history. |
| C．The cities’ large population. | D．The cities’ advanced agriculture. |
| A．Confirmed. | B．Ignored. | C．Replied. | D．Hoped. |
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【推荐1】You may have heard that bats are to blame for many disease outbreaks in recent years, including COVID-19 and SA RS. But how exactly does a disease spread from bats to humans? And with so many diseases coming from bats, you would think that bats would be sick all the time. It turns out this isn’t the case and it’s likely because of the way that bats’ immune (免疫)systems work.
Bats have very active immune systems to protect their cells from viruses. When a bat’s body notices a virus, a protein (蛋白质)is released (释放)that sends a signal to the bat’s cells to keep the virus out. In response, viruses reproduce very quickly to try to get into the cells before this immune reaction triggers (触发).Although the bats don’t get sick, these rapidly increasing viruses can jump to animals with slower immune systems and can quickly cause serious infections.
At the same time, bats are great disease carriers. Bats live in large crowded places—a perfect setting for viruses to spread. In addition, the average bat lives for around 30 years, which is a long time that an infected bat can spread the disease around its environment.
The question remains: Why are so many diseases spreading from bats to humans? Put simply, that problem may be on us. As the number of humans on Earth has increased, there are more chances for bats and humans to have contact with each other. People have taken over large areas of bats’ natural habitats due to urban development and the cutting down of trees. This leaves the bats with no choice but to live closer to us.
Even though bats can harbor dangerous diseases, we can’t blame them for getting us sick. It is only because of bats’ strong immune systems that they can carry such deadly illnesses. By studying bats, we may find ways to develop new treatments. However, the only way to do that is to protect the natural habitats of these extraordinary creatures.
1. What do viruses do when faced with the bat’s immune system?
| A．Release a protein. | B．Increase quickly. |
| C．Send a signal to cells. | D．Jump to other animals. |
| A．Larger areas taken over by bats as habitats. |
| B．The rising population of bats living on Earth. |
| C．The trees used to support urban development. |
| D．Increased contact between bats and humans. |
| A．Stopping bats from getting sick. |
| B．Protecting bats natural habitats. |
| C．Studying those who get sick from bats. |
| D．Strengthening the human immune system. |
【推荐2】Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart from other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which are different from other cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.
Time is not very important in nonindustrial societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such nonindustrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule（时间表）based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar（日历）,but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other event Frequently such a society measures days in terms of “sleeps” or longer periods in terms of “moons.”Some cultures, such as the Eskimos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration of certain animals.
Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of “telling time”. For example, when several Australian aborigines want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.
In contrast(成对比), exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies. This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently(well, quickly and without waste), for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. Therefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated（复杂的）societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all.
1. By saying “Humans are social animals”, the author means_______ .| A．they live all over the world |
| B．they are different from other animals |
| C．they live in one place, district or country, considered as a whole |
| D．they are divided into many groups |
| A．don’t have the word TIME in their languages |
| B．don’t get used to using clocks and other timepieces |
| C．don’t measure time in their daily-lives around an exact time schedule |
| D．don’t need to plan their daily lives around an exact time schedule |
| A．the change of the sun rays | B．the movement of the earth in relation to the sun |
| C．the position of the stone | D．the position of the tree or the cliff |
| A．Time and Culture | B．The Measurement of Time |
| C．Time Schedule and Daily Life | D．Clock, Calendar and Society |
【推荐3】After bikes and umbrellas are made sharable across China, some companies started eyeing the fitness market, so shared gym rooms have hit the streets in Beijing.
Unlike common gyms that provide large, open spaces for many members to share at the same time, the newly built shared gym rooms are small, stand-alone rooms for a person to use, often set up near living communities.
Every four-square-meter room is equipped with a treadmill (跑步机), an air cleaner, a mirror, a television and an air conditioner, and users can let down the curtains for privacy. When exercising, users can listen to music, watch movies and check emails by connecting to the Internet by the screen fixed on the treadmill. There’s no shower or washbasin.
Similar to using a shared bike, users can locate a shared gym room by smartphone application, book a room in advance and then need to scan a QR code for use. A refundable deposit (保证金) of 99 yuan is required, and users are charged 1 yuan every 5 minutes.
The shared gym rooms are created by Misspao, a Beijng-based technology company founded in July. Within several months since it was founded, the company has already raised over 100 million yuan, Yicai Global reports. The idea of the shared fitness experience is not entirely nascent. Last December, the Shanghai-based technology company VRUN set up shared treadmills in office and apartment buildings.
The sharing economy is still becoming popular in China. According to Yicai Global, confident investors are pouring millions into sharing start-ups. In March, the State Information Center published a report which predicts that the total value of China’s sharing economy will see a yearly growth of 40% in the coming years, and it is expected to make a great contribution to the country’s GDP.
1. What makes the shared gym room different from the common one?| A．Offering open spaces. |
| B．Standing in the living zone. |
| C．Holding one person a time. |
| D．Having some advanced equipment. |
| A．Use a smartphone. |
| B．Pay 100 yuan first. |
| C．Let down curtains for privacy. |
| D．Have a shower before exercise. |
| A．Misspao is the first to have the idea of the shared fitness experience. |
| B．VRUN set up shared gym rooms last December. |
| C．The total value of China’s sharing economy has grown by 40%. |
| D．Some investors are confident in the sharing economy. |
| A．To introduce shared gym rooms. |
| B．To advertise a technology company. |
| C．To support the shared gym rooms. |
| D．To predict the future of shared gym rooms. |
【推荐1】A group of scientists are hurrying to document and protect the ancient ruins along Puerto Rico’s coasts. They are working as fast as they can before rising sea levels destroy a large part of the island’s history.
The work started in August 2017. With the help of 3D imaging and other advanced technologies, the scientists have explored a large piece of land along Puerto Rico’s north coast and identified an ancient ceremonial center used by the Taino Indians. About 2,000 years ago, the Tainos lived on many islands in the Caribbean Sea. But after the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other Europeans, they were all killed.
Scientists also found a large living place just east of the site, which is seriously endangered by rising sea levels and other natural disasters. Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources has said the sea level around the island is rising by more than 3 mm every year,
However, climate change has more immediate effects. These include the destruction of the Puerto Rico coastline and natural habitats by storms.
Warmer temperatures in the Caribbean increase the number and strength of storms and Puerto Rico faces the possibility of storms every year for six months during the Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Maria had already washed away part of its history.
Scientists are now trying to find out how badly the hurricanes and loss of land have affected the heritage site they are studying. Eric Lo is an engineer who flew to Puerto Rico in August 2017 to start the project one month before Maria struck the island. Lo was surprised at what he saw when he returned months later.
“Pieces of land where I stood do not exist anymore. They are underwater,” he said.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To tell us what the scientists are doing. |
| B．To explain why the scientist went to Puerto Rico’s coasts |
| C．To introduce the island’s history to readers. |
| D．To lead to the topic of the passage. |
| A．Under the Caribbean Sea. | B．In a European country. |
| C．On Puerto Rico’s north coast. | D．Along Puerto Rico’s east coast. |
| A．They were killed by the Europeans. | B．They were destroyed by Hurricane Maria. |
| C．They were driven away by the rising sea levels. | D．They were moved away by their government. |
| A．The serious damage caused by storms. | B．The plan to protect the heritage sites. |
| C．The loss of natural habitats in Puerto Rico. | D．The worsening climate conditions in the world. |
| A．The Obvious Effects of Global Climate Change |
| B．Efforts to Preserve Puerto Rico’s Coastal Heritage |
| C．New Discoveries of Ancient Taino Indians’ Ruins |
| D．Technologies Used to Identify the Ancient Ruins |
【推荐2】Discoveries at the famous Sanxingdui ruins in Southwest China show that the region’s ancient Shu Kingdom Civilization shared similarities with the Maya.
The Sanxingdui ruins belonged to the Shu Kingdom that existed at least 4,800 years ago and lasted more than 2,000 years, while the Mayan civilization built its city-states around 200 AD.
The bronze-made remains of trees unearthed at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom resemble the sacred ceiba tree, which symbolized the union of heaven, earth and the underworld in the Mayan civilization. “They are very important similarties,” says Marco Santos, a Mexican archaeologist stressing that “the representations of tress in both cultures provide a symbolism that is very similar.”
The findings at the Sanxingdui ruins, considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, also show a new aspect of Bronze Age culture, indicating the ancient civilization already had technologies that were thought to have been developed much later.
While the time span between the Shu kingdom and the Mayan culture is great, the findings highlight the closeness between the two civilizations. They developed in areas with comparable climates and reflected their worldview through related symbols. “In the end, man is still man, independent of time and space. What we have is that, at this latitude (纬度), both the Shu people and the Mayans looked at the same sky and had the same stars on the horizon,” the expert says.
One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the cross-subject work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists, which allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains, which other types of less careful excavation methods would not have been able to register.
Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Mayan world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of ruins.
“Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is fundamental.” says Santos.
1. What is a similarity between the Shu Kingdom and Mayan civilization?| A．Their starting time. | B．Their cultural symbols. |
| C．Their historical origins. | D．Their ceremony traditions. |
| A．Digging. | B．Sympathy. | C．Platform. | D．Boundary. |
| A．Language barriers. | B．Positioning of ruins. |
| C．High latitude. | D．Damp weather. |
| A．The future of the China-Mexico cooperation. |
| B．The benefits of speaking a different language. |
| C．The importance of the exchange of cultural knowledge. |
| D．The increasing sisterhood in culture between China and Mexico. |
【推荐3】The researchers say they have discovered two huge magma chambers (岩浆库) under Wei Mountain in Heilongjiang. If it is true, it will be a surprising discovery since the volcano last erupted over 500,000 years ago.
Zhang Haijiang and his team visited nearly 100 sites across Wei Mountain. They were looking for magma, and they found an unusual signal from 15km underground, followed by another one at 8km. Their computer modelling suggested there could be two huge magma chambers with a depth of more than 9km. According to their research, 15 percent of the upper chamber is now filled with molten (熔化的) rock. Some studies have suggested that a volcanic eruption could take place when a chamber is filled to 40 percent magma.
They suggested that the volcanic activity in northeast China is likely to be in an active stage, and the active volcanic monitoring is needed to further understand the magma system in this area.
Xu Jiandong, director of the volcanic research, said seismic (地震的) stations had been monitoring this area for many years. "If there are really huge magma chambers in the area, we should have found some related seismic activities—When the lower chamber fills the upper one, there should be some movement," he said. "But so far, after decades of monitoring on the site, we've picked up almost nothing. The whole area has been very, very quiet," he added.
So did the researchers really find huge magma chambers? While the unusual signals found by Zhang's team looked like magma chambers, they could also have been caused by other things.
But what is for sure is that the area is active. It's like porridge boiling in a pot. But since the studies in recent years have suggested a low risk of immediate eruption in the area, the government has not set up seismic stations around. And it is certain that they aren't prepared for a big eruption over there.
1. What do Zhang Haijiang and his team say they've found under Wei Mountain?| A．Lots of frozen rocks. | B．Two magma chambers. |
| C．Nearly 100 volcanic sites. | D．A huge magma system. |
| A．They don't find any seismic activities. |
| B．The active volcanic monitoring is needed. |
| C．Their efforts to monitor volcanoes are useless. |
| D．Volcanic eruptions never happened in this area. |
| A．Volcanic eruptions. | B．Zhang's team members. |
| C．The seismic stations. | D．The unusual signals. |
| A．What Can Cause Volcanoes to Erupt in Northeast China? |
| B．Is Chinese Government Ready for Volcanic Eruptions? |
| C．Are There Magma Chambers Under Wei Mountain? |
| D．Is Active Volcanic Monitoring Needed in China? |
