1 . 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 tress 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 similarities,” says Santos, a Mexican archaeologist (考古学家) 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 lime 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 digging 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 Maya civilization?| A．Their starting time. |
| B．Their historical origins. |
| C．Their cultural symbols. |
| D．Their ceremony traditions. |
| A．silk was a common clothing material then |
| B．some technologies were developed much earlier |
| C．the Bronze Age started earlier than previously assumed |
| D．the Shu Kingdom and the Mayan world had close contact |
| A．Damp weather. | B．Positioning of ruins. |
| C．High latitude. | D．Language barriers. |
| 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. |
2 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．A jade knife. | B．A golden mask. |
| C．A written record. | D．A turtle shell-shaped box. |
In 1968, many precious relics were unearthed in the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty including the Changxin Palace Lamp, which is acknowledged
The bronze lamp bears the shape of a girl on her knees
The delicate Changxin Palace Lamp provides a glimpse into China’s glorious past, showing
Located in Guanghan city of Southwest China’s Sichuan province and covering an area of 12 square kilometers, Sanxingdui Site is the remains of the ancient Shu culture, which dates back
In fact, as a cultural site, Sanxingdui had come into the notice of archaeologists as early as in the 1930s, and
After sleeping for 3, 000 years, their awakening has shocked the world. When our eyes
5 . A hungry badger (獾) searching for food seems to have uncovered what turned out to be hundreds of Roman coins in a Spanish cave, according to a new study.
Archaeologists (考古学家) first discovered several coins laying on the ground at the entrance to a small cave in the woodlands outside Grado in northern Spain in April 2021. The researchers suspect that the coins were unearthed by a badger from a nearby den (兽窝) after a heavy snow which made it harder for animals to find food. The hungry badger probably got into the cave looking for food but came across the coins instead.
After fully exploring the cave, researchers collected 209 coins dating to between the third and fifth centuries A.D. “To date, this is the largest amount of Roman coins found in n cave in northern Spain,” the researchers wrote in their paper. They described the discovery as an “exceptional find”.
In the late 1930s, a collection of 14 gold Roman coins, known as the Chapipi treasure, was also found in the same woodlands. The researchers believe that local people may have buried their coins to keep them safe during a period of intense political instability in the region. The most recent coin in the newly-discovered Grado collection dates to A.D. 430, which was after the Suebi—a group of Germanic people originally from modern-day Germany and the Czech Republic—pushed the Romans out of Spain in A.D. 409, according to El Pais.
The researchers suspect that the newly-discovered coins are part of a vaster treasure and will return to the cave for further exploration to look for more coins and evidence that the cave may also have been the home of displaced Roman people. “We want to know if it was a one-off hiding place, or if there was a group of humans living there,” lead researcher Alfonso Fanjul Peraza told El Pais.
1. Where did the researchers find the first few coins in 2021?| A．Near a Spanish cave. | B．On a Spanish playground. |
| C．At the entrance to a woodland. | D．In a badger’s den. |
| A．It’s dangerous. | B．It’s timely. | C．It’s meaningless. | D．It’s unusual. |
| A．The Romans. | B．The coins. | C．The woodlands. | D．The researchers. |
| A．More information may be revealed by the coins. |
| B．The ancient Roman people had a unique lifestyle. |
| C．The researchers doubt the former guess of the coins. |
| D．The researchers will return the coins to the Roman people. |
Located in Guanghan city of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province and covering an area of 12 square kilometers. Sanxingdui Site is the remains of the ancient Shu culture, which dates back
In fact, as a cultural site,, Sanxingdui had come into the notice of archaeologists in as early as the 1930s, and
After sleeping for 3,000 years, their awakening has shocked the world. When our eyes
7 . Scientists have solved a puzzle about modern humans, after research showed that a famous skull of a human ancestor found in South Africa is a million years older than experts thought. This discovery has changed what we know of human history.
The skull, which scientists have named “Mrs Ples”, is from an ape-like human relative from a species called Australopithecus africanus (南方古猿). It was found near Johannesburg in 1947 and, based on evidence from its surroundings, was thought to be between 2. 1 and 2. 6 million years old. This puzzled scientists, because although Mrs Ples looks like a possible early ancestor of early humans, the first true humans had already evolved by the time she apparently lived. For this reason, scientists had decided that Australopithecus afarensis, a similar species from East Africa that lived about 3.5 million years ago, was our most likely ancestor instead.
To get a more accurate age for Mrs Ples, a team led by Professor Darryl Granger of Purdue University in Indiana, US, used a new method to date the sandy rocks where the skull lay. They measured the amount of certain chemicals in rocks, which form at a steady rate when they are exposed to cosmic rays (宇宙射线) on Earth’s surface. Once rocks are buried, these chemicals stop forming and slowly disappear;the surviving amount reveals how much time has passed since the rock (or bones) were on the surface.
The new study shows that Mrs Ples and other australopithecine bones nearby are between 3.4 and 3.7 million years old. This means they lived at the same time as their East African relatives, so that either group could have given rise to modern humans. However, team member Dr Laurent Bruxelles pointed out that over millions of years, at only 2,500 miles away, these groups had plenty of time to travel and to breed with each other. In other words, the groups could quite easily have met, had children together and both been part of the history of modern humans.
1. What can we learn about Mrs Ples from the first two paragraphs?| A．It is a skull found in East Africa. |
| B．It is the most possible ancestor of humans. |
| C．It is a million years older than scientists expected. |
| D．It is proved to live between 2.1 and 2.6 million years ago. |
| A．By studying the effect of cosmic rays. |
| B．By calculating the forming rate of chemicals. |
| C．By locating the sandy rocks where the skull lay. |
| D．By measuring the surviving amount of chemicals. |
| A．Modern humans came into being in East Africa. |
| B．Mrs Ples travelled and had children with East African relatives. |
| C．The history of modern humans might begin 3.5 million years ago. |
| D．Ape-like species from Africa could have interacted with each other. |
| A．Historical Puzzle Unsolved | B．Ancestor Mystery Solved |
| C．Mrs Ples: The Earliest Human Being | D．Mrs Ples: A Famous Skull |
8 . Scientists found what could be the oldest evidence of cooking at the edge of the ancient Lake Hula in Israel at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, according to a newly-published paper. The remains, especially fish teeth, were discovered near places where scientists also found signs of fire. Tests showed the teeth had been exposed to temperatures that were hot, but not super-hot. This suggested the fish were cooked slowly over a low heat, rather than being put right onto a fire.
With all the evidence together, scientists concluded that these ancient humans had used fire for cooking some 780,000 years ago. That is much earlier than the next oldest evidence for cooking, about 170,000 years ago, which showed Stone Age humans ate burnt roots in South Africa.
Scientists believe cooking started long before this, though physical evidence has been hard to come by —considering the importance of using fire to cook. Cooked food makes it easier for the body to digest and get more nutrients. When early humans figured out how to cook, they were able to get more energy, which they could use to fuel bigger brains. Based on how human ancestors’ bodies developed, scientists guess that cooking skills would have had to appear nearly 2 million years ago.
Those first cooked meals were a far cry from today’s dinners. And at that time, humans started eating not just for fuel, but for their community. In a 2010 paper, scientists described the earliest evidence of a feast(盛宴), which was a specially prepared meal that brought people together for an event in a cave. This “first feast” came at an important turning point in human history, right as hunter-gatherers were starting to settle into more permanent living situations. Gathering for special meals may have been a way to build community and reduce tensions now that people lived closer to each other. Scientists believe ancient feasts served a lot of the same social uses that modern gatherings serve: People exchange information, make connections, or try to improve their position.
1. Which is probably the earliest evidence of cooking?| A．The tools of cooking. | B．The signs of fire. |
| C．The leftover fish. | D．The burnt roots. |
| A．Food is key to keeping brains’ functioning. | B．Using fire to cook is a universal practice. |
| C．Our understanding of ancestors is limited. | D．Cooking is the driving force for human evolution. |
| A．They mark important events. | B．They have multiple functions. |
| C．They differ from modern gatherings. | D．They display excellent cooking skills. |
| A．To inform readers of a new discovery. |
| B．To explain why early humans started to cook. |
| C．To present how cooking makes us together. |
| D．To stress the importance of fire to human life. |
ZHENGZHOU—Pingdingshan University in Central China’s Henan province has found more than1,000 ceramic (陶瓷) balls used in a golf-like ball game in ancient China. The university make the
The relics are related to an ancient game called “Chuiwan” in Chinese,
Most of the balls arc about 5 centimeters in diameter. The relics date back to as early as the Tang Dynasty,
“This is the first time that China
10 . Two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman city of Caesarea had the largest harbor on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonder of engineering for its time. Then disaster struck. Written records say a huge wave destroyed the harbor. What kind of wave caused it? Did it ally happen? No one had ever found the evidence of the wave... until now.
Dr Goodman is part of a team of scientists studying samples at Caesarea to figure out what happened in the past. A sample is taken by striking a tube into the seafloor. When the tube is pulled up, it contains sediments (沉淀物) that have collected on the seafloor for hundreds or thousands of years. Looking down through the mixture of sand, stones and other sediments is like looking back in time.
That’s what Dr. Goodman was doing when she found something astonishing. It was a layer (层) of shells — all came from the time the harbor was destroyed. Dr. Goodman knew this shell layer had a story to tell.
Usually, shells are part of the mixture of sediments collected on the seafloor. A shell layer is as thin as your finger. Yet Dr. Goodman was staring at a layer nearly 1 meter thick! Almost all the shells were broken.
The thick layer of broken shells meant a sudden, powerful event swept these shells into the area. The broken shells were evidence that a huge wave really did destroy the harbor. Dr. Goodman could even tell the direction of the wave from the way the shells lined up.
Here’s what Dr. Goodman thinks happened. First, an earthquake struck north of Caesarea along the coast. Energy from the movement of rock during the earthquake caused a tsunami. This huge wave raced across the sand and kicked up shells along the way and broke them into pieces. Finally, the wave crashed into the harbor and destroyed it.
Dr. Goodman plans to gather evidence for other ancient tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast. This will help her predict what areas are likely to be struck by future tsunamis. Then people can avoid building in these areas.
1. What can be learned about the Caesarea harbor?| A．It was the largest in the world. |
| B．It was destroyed by a tsunami. |
| C．It is a mystery whether it existed. |
| D．It is studied by many engineers now. |
| A．By studying underwater. | B．By analyzing the mixture. |
| C．By digging for ancient shells. | D．By collecting sediments in a tube. |
| A．The direction of the wave. | B．The diversity of sediments. |
| C．The way the shells lined up. | D．The thick layer of broken shells. |
| A．Shells Tell the Story | B．Scientists Predict Disasters |
| C．Underwater Clues for Future | D．Sea Exploration of Mediterranean |
