Over 2,500 pieces of cultural relics dating back up to 2,200 years were unearthed in Guang zhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, local authorities said Friday. The cultural relics were unearthed at
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2 . 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. |
3 . A new study provides the earliest known evidence of amputation — the medical term for cutting off a part of a person’s body. Around 31,000 years ago, a young adult had his left foot and part of his left leg removed in what is modern-day Indonesia, the study suggests.
Scientists say the ancient surgery was performed when the person was a child — and that the individual went on to live for years. It suggests that humans were carrying out medical operations much earlier than scientists had thought.
Tim Maloney, the study’s lead researcher, said that researchers were exploring a cave in Borneo, a rainforest area known for ancient rock art, when they came across the person’s burial.
Although much of the skeleton(骨骼)remained, it was missing its left foot and the lower part of its left leg, Maloney explained. After examining the remains, the researchers concluded the foot bones were not missing from the burial or lost in an accident. Instead, the bones had been carefully removed. The remaining leg bone showed a clean cut that healed over, Maloney said. There were no signs of infection, which would be expected if the child had gotten its leg bitten off by a creature like a crocodile. And there were also no signs of a crushing fracture(粉碎性骨折),which would have been expected if the leg had been cut off in an accident.
The child appears to have lived for around six to nine more years after losing the limb, eventually dying from unknown causes as a young adult, researchers said.
The evidence suggests that the ancient people knew enough about medicine to perform the surgery without fatal blood loss or infection. Researchers do not know what kind of tool was used to perform the surgery, or how infection was prevented. But they believe that a sharp stone tool may have made the cut, and some of the plant life in the area could have been used for medical treatment.
“The discovery of this early surgery rewrites the history of human medical knowledge and developments,”Maloney said at a press conference.
1. What can we know about the ancient surgery?| A．It was discovered by accident. |
| B．It was later than scientists had thought. |
| C．Researchers have completely understood it. |
| D．The young adult died soon after receiving surgery. |
| A．The child’s miserable experience. |
| B．The reason for the child’s injury. |
| C．The evidence of amputation. |
| D．The significance of the discovery. |
| A．Living environment. |
| B．Family and relatives. |
| C．One of the unknown causes. |
| D．Left foot and part of his left leg. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. |
| C．Puzzled. | D．Critical. |
4 . Six “sacrificial pits（祭祀坑）”. dating back 3,200to 4,000 years. were newly discovered in Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan. Southwest China's Sichuan province. Over 500 artifacts. including gold masks. bronze wares. ivories. jades. and textiles. were unearthed from the site.
Sanxingdui site. first found in 1929. is generally considered as one of the most important archaeological（考古）sites along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. However. the work of excavation on the site only began in 1986. when two pits—widely believed for sacrificial ceremonies—-were accidentally discovered.
Investigation in the area around No.1 and 2 pits was relaunched in October 2019. and No. 3 pit was found in December 2019. according to Lei Yu. a researcher of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute who heads the ongoing excavation. Thirty four research universities and research institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986. More excavation followed institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986. More excavation followed in March 2020, and five more pits were found last year. And detailed research began in October. Excavation capsules with hi-tech equipment were set up in the pits in order to prevent the site from further damage.
Sanxingdui site covers an area of 12 square kilometers, and its core zone of an ancient city covers nearly 4 square kilometers. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, studies of Sanxingdui site will become a crucial project in an ongoing program Archaeology China, which tries to explain the origins of Chinese civilization and how diverse cultures communicate and come together.
1. How did archaeologists protect the Sanxingdui site?| A．By dividing the task of excavation into several parts. |
| B．By cooperating with research universities and institutes. |
| C．By conducting more experiments around the site. |
| D．By using excavation capsule armed with hi-tech equipment. |
| A．The size of the core zone is about 1/3 of Sanxingdui site. |
| B．The discovery of Sanxingdui site only began in 2019. |
| C．There are 6 sacrificial pits discovered in Sanxingdui site in all. |
| D．All sacrificial sites were discovered in the meantime. |
| A．Sanxingdui discoveries tell us more about ancient China. |
| B．Sanxingdui Site needed to be protected. |
| C．Sacrificial pits were unearthed in Sanxingdui Site. |
| D．Hi-tech helped to exploreSanxingdui Site. |
