1 . Every day people joined archaeologists and artists in finding some of the year’s most dramatic discoveries. Below are some examples of 2023.

“Naughty pupils”-ancient punishment method resurfaces

Archaeologists discovered 18,000 ink-carved pieces of pottery-known as “ostraca”—at the site of Athribis early this year, and among them were hundreds of fragments(碎片)with a single symbol repeated front and back.

Those scribbles(潦草的文字)are evidence of ‘naughty “pupils” being made to write lines, according to researchers a Germany’s University of Tuebingen. The fragments also included receipts, school texts, trade information and lists of names.

Van Gogh peers out in hidden portrait

There is one more known van Gogh’s self-portrait in the world, and it was hidden behind a painting of a peasant woman. People made the discovery when they took an X-ray of one of his portraits from 1885 and discovered the artist’s own image behind layers of cardboard and glue. While X-rays often reveal how artists-changed their compositions, the full self-portrait of van Gogh came as a huge surprise, who was known to reuse canvase(画布)to save money.

Another treasure collection from Sanxingdui

The Sanxingdui archaeological site has produced thousands of relics. The latest discovery, reported by Chinese state media in June includes 3,155 objects, a turtle shell-shaped box and a sacrificial altar among them. A team has been digging six places of the site, turning up more than 13,000 objects so far. Last year, the relics they uncovered included a golden mask, ivory artifacts(手工艺品)and a jade knife. The Sanxingdui culture still remains mysterious, as it left behind no written records or human remains, though many believe it to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, which ruled along the upper stream of the Yangtze River until it was conquered in 316 BC.

1. What led to the researchers’ conclusion about the fragments?

A．The repeated symbol.	B．Trade information.
C．Lists of pupils’ names.	D．The mark of ink.

2. Why did van Gogh hide his self-portrait in a painting?

A．To keep away from X-rays.

B．To save money.

C．To make his works more mysterious.

D．To help people find his composition.

3. Which is the newly-unearthed relic of 2023 in Sanxingdui site?

A．A jade knife.	B．A golden mask.
C．A written record.	D．A turtle shell-shaped box.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A stone tablet(牌匾)    1    (date) back to the year 1693, which falls within the Qing Dynasty(1644—1911), was discovered in Daming County, north China’s Hebei Province, said local authorities.

The tablet,    2     (find) in Jindong Village, measures 1.4 meters high, 0.61 meters wide, and 0.14 meters thick. Made of bluestone, it has     3     total of 307 characters on it.

The inscription(碑文)recorded the process of building the King of Medicine Temple in the county during the reign of Emperor Kangxi and     4     (describe) the grand occasions of temple fairs and humanistic stories at that time.

According to the inscription, after the     5     (complete) of the temple, the local medicine expert meeting     6    (organize) here on April 28 in most years of the Qing Dynasty, during     7     all kinds of talented people performed, and the vocal music lasted for more than ten days, said Wang Jianping, an expert in literature and history of the county.

This stone tablet is     8     (relative) well preserved with clear characters, which is significant for studying cultural and economic     9    (activity) in the southern part of Hebei during the Qing Dynasty. It also provides evidence     10     the researchers about the development of local pharmacies(制药), Wang said.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The archaeological (考古学的) remains of Yin Xu is situated on both banks of the Yellow River to the northwest of the nationally famous historic and    1    (culture) city Anyang, in Henan Province of central China. It    2     (date) from 1,300 BC and consists of two sites: the Palace and Royal Ancestral Shrines Area and the Royal Tombs Area,    3    (cover) a total 414 hectares with an enclosing buffer (缓冲) zone of 720 hectares.    4    twentieth king of the Shang Dynasty, Pan Geng, moved his capital from Yan to Yin around 1,300 BC, and established a lasting capital. It lasted about 255 years with 12 kings and 8 generations and created the splendid and brilliant Yin-Shang Civilization,    5    is of priceless value in terms     6    history, art and science.

Being one of the most important capital sites in early China, its planning and layout had an important influence on the construction and    7    (develop) of subsequent capitals of China. The Royal Tomb Area of Yin Xu is the    8    (early) large-scale royal graveyard in China. The site of Yin Xu offers the evidence     9    (track) Chinese earlier history, and conveys the social life of the late Shang Dynasty, reflecting     10    (high) developed science and architectural technology including bronze casting and a calendar system.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Chinese archeologists have successfully unearthed an animal bronze statue at the Sanxingdui Ruins in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.     1     (weigh) more than 300 grams, the mythical beast is about one meter tall and one meter long and it is also the largest animal bronze statue ever     2     (see).

The bronze statue looks like a mythical beast     3     a large mouth, slim waist and four feet. Of note, a human figure wearing a long coat stands     4     (exact) on the head of the beast. Researchers think that it may show that the person is riding or controlling the beast.

Zhao Hao, the researcher in charge, explains that since the excavation of the Sanxingdui Ruins first started in 1986, all the animal statues     5     (be) small, around 20-30 centimeters long, but the     6    (discover) of the new bronze statue sets a new record, and as of now, is     7     only large-sized animal statue.

The chest of the beast also sports the image of a tree. “This tree,     8     was directly cast on the beast, reflects a fact that indicates that the Sanxingdui people regarded     9     (tree) as a kind of remarkable thing,” Zhao said.

So far, nearly 14,000     10     (culture) relics have been extracted from the sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui.

5 . A child’s tooth discovered from a French cave has revealed the earliest evidence of humans—Homo sapiens (智人)—living in western Europe. The discovery of the molar from Grotte Mandrin in southern France, along with hundreds of stone tools dating back about 54.000 years ago, suggests that early humans lived in Europe about 10.000 years earlier than archaeologists had previously thought.

What’s more, the Homo sapiens’ tooth was sandwiched between layers of Neanderthal remains, showing that the two groups of humans coexisted in the region. These findings challenge the opinion that the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe caused the extinction of Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and parts of Asia for about 300,000 years before disappearing.

“We’ve often thought that the arrival of modern humans in Europe led to the pretty rapid death of Neanderthals, but this new evidence suggests that both the appearance of modern humans in Europe and disappearance of Neanderthals is much more complex than that,” said study coauthor Chris stringer, a professor and research leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London.

It’s the first time archaeologists have found evidence of alternating (交替) groups of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals living in the same place, and they took turns rapidly, even abruptly, at least twice, according to the study that published in the journal science Advances on Wednesday. Previously, the arrival of early humans in Europe was dated to between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago, according to remains found in Italy and Bulgaria—not long before the last surviving Neanderthal remains dating back 40,000 to 42,000 years ago were found. Humans and Neanderthals, who we know from genetic analysis encountered one another and had babies, resulting in Neanderthal traces in our DNA, overlapped (重叠) for a much longer period in Europe, this study suggests.

1. What does the underlined word “molar” mean?

A．Cave.

B．Tooth.

C．stone.

D．Human.

2. What’s the previous opinion about Neanderthals?

A．Neanderthals could date back to 300,000 years ago.

B．Neanderthals once lived in Europe and Africa.

C．Homo sapiens and Neanderthals once lived together.

D．Homo sapiens led to the disappearance of Neanderthals.

3. What can be inferred from Chris stringer’s words?

A．People should analyze the loss of Neanderthals carefully.

B．Modern humans in Europe led to the death of Neanderthals.

C．Homo sapiens in Europe made Neanderthals extinct.

D．The new evidence shows the process of human evolution.

4. What can we learn about Homo sapiens and Neanderthals from the last paragraph?

A．They lived in the same place at the same time.

B．They treated each other as the enemies.

C．They had some sort of complicated relations.

D．They lived in Italy and Bulgaria 40,000 to 42,000 years ago.

9 . Archaeologists (考古学家) in Italy are learning more and more about the everyday life of the people who lived in Pompeii nearly 2,000 years ago. Most recently, they’ve carefully uncovered a well-preserved street snack bar.

Pompeii is an ancient city that’s famous for being suddenly covered under the ground in the year 79 by the nearby volcano, Vesuvius. Though thousands of people got away from it, over 1,100 people were killed almost suddenly by the great heat. They were quickly covered by small rocks, ash, and dust from the volcano. Archaeologists have found theaters, swimming pools, gyms, hospitals, and many different kinds of stores. They’ve also found restaurants, including about 80 “fast food” restaurants.

In a restaurant, the scientists found many large clay jars as well, which held food and drinks. Two jars held fish and meat. At least one of the jars held wine. “It was so strong we could smell it through our masks,” said one of the archaeologists. The scientists expect to learn even more after the things in all the jars are studied carefully in the laboratory. The archaeologists also found the skeleton (骨骼) of a small dog, as well as the bones of at least two people. One of the people was a man who was about 50 years old. He appeared to have been asleep when he was killed by the volcano.

1. What have archaeologists in Italy found recently?

A．A street.

B．A city.

C．Some snacks.

D．A bar.

2. What is the purpose of the second paragraph?

A．To offer some evidence.	B．To show some reasons.
C．To offer the background.	D．To draw a conclusion.

3. What does the underlined part refer to in the last paragraph?

A．The meat.

B．The wine.

C．The fish.

D．The bones.

4. Which of the following is true of the jars?

A．The archaeologists will continue to study the jars.

B．The jars contain a dog’s skeleton and two people’s bones.

C．The jars are in pieces when the archaeologists found them.

D．The archaeologists are not interested in them to begin with.