1 . The Sanxingdui Ruins site is one of the greatest archaeological (考古学的) discoveries of the 20th century in the world. It is located near the Yazihe River at Guanghan City, Sichuan Province and as Sichuan is where the ancient state of Shu (蜀国) was located, it is believed that Sanxingdui was the capital of the ancient “Shu culture”.

The site was originally discovered in the 1920s by a farmer. A huge surprise came in 1986 when two sacrificial pits (祭祀坑) filled with more than 1,000 cultural relics, including gold masks, bronze sacred trees, bronze ware, jade ware and ivory, were discovered by local workers excavating (挖掘) clay for bricks.

On March 20, 2021, officials announced that they had discovered six new sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui Ruins site and have found nearly 500 important cultural relics to date. The finding quickly gained attention worldwide.

During about a year of hard work, nearly 2,000 cultural relics were unearthed in these six newly discovered sacrificial pits. In September, officials held another media briefing and announced the discovery of 1,771 cultural relics from the number three and number four pits, of which 557 relics were relatively complete and the rest are fragments.

Among the items, the gold mask is the most impressive. It was found in June. After restoration, it turned out to be the biggest complete gold mask found at the site, with fine texture and quality. Three bronze figures (雕像) with their palms pressed together and their heads twisted to the right, were also a unique find among Sanxingdui items in terms of their shape and decorative pattern.

Experts said that these new discoveries provided further material for studying the bronze casting (铸造) technology of the Shu people as well as their art, religious beliefs, social system and cultural exchanges with surrounding areas.

1. Who was the first to have discovered the Sanxingdui Ruins?

A．An official.

B．A farmer.

C．A worker.

D．An archaeologist.

2. What does the underlined word “fragments” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Large items.

B．Broken pieces.

C．Good qualities.

D．Impressive looks.

3. What makes the three bronze figures unique?

A．The religious symbols.	B．The fine texture and quality.
C．Their size and material.	D．Their shape and decorations.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The importance of the new discoveries.	B．The further studies of Sanxingdui Ruins.
C．The casting technology of the Shu people.	D．The cultural exchanges with other countries.