1 . Scientists have uncovered a series of 3,000-year-old items at Sanxingdui in China’s Sichuan province since 2019 and identified that the creators belonged to the Shu state, a highly developed civilization united by the neighboring state of Qin in 316 BC.
One of the major finds is a 0. 6-pound gold mask that may have been worn by a churchman during religious ceremonies. About 84% pure gold, the whole piece likely weighed close to one pound in its entirety, making it one of the heaviest gold masks from that time period discovered in China to date.
Other discoveries made at the site included two kinds of silk. Silk has played an important role in China’s history. As the researchers point out, the ancient people of Sanxingdui probably wore silk clothes during religious ceremonies. The silk was thought to serve as a means of communication between heaven, earth, man and god. Besides these religious ceremonies, silk was also used to make fine clothing, fans and wall hangings. Civilizations across the ancient world, from Rome, Persia, Egypt to Greece, similarly treasured Chinese silk. Traders were sent along the Silk Road to China to obtain the highly sought-after material. The presence of silk at Sanxingdui indicates that the ancient Shu state was one of the important origins of silk in ancient China.
Other important discoveries included bronze animals and carvings that bear distinct similarities to objects found along the Yangtze River and in Southeast Asia, suggesting that the Shu civilization engaged in broad exchanges with many areas.
Since 1929 when a local farmer accidentally found Sanxingdui, researchers have uncovered more than 50,000 ancient items at the site. For example, more than 1,000 items, including well-kept bronze masks, were unearthed in 1986 alone.
1. What can we say about the gold mask found at Sanxingdui?| A．It is not made of pure gold. | B．It is the heaviest ever uncovered. |
| C．It weighs close to one pound. | D．It might be used during festivals. |
| A．The Shu people used silk just for decoration. |
| B．The Shu people brought silk to the other countries. |
| C．The Shu state was far more developed than Europe. |
| D．The Shu state might be one of the earliest silk producers. |
| A．The discoverer of Sanxingdui. | B．The timeline of the discoveries at Sanxingdui. |
| C．The long history of Sanxingdui. | D．The achievements of Sanxingdui unearthing. |
| A．To promote an attraction in Sichuan province. | B．To report the important discoveries at Sanxingdui. |
| C．To explore the relationship between Shu and Qin. | D．To evaluate the ancient civilizations in the world. |
2 . 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. |
