1 . That dinosaurs ate the mammals (哺乳动物) that ran beneath their feet is not in doubt. Now an extraordinary fossil newly described in Scientific Reports, unearthed by a team led by Gang Han at Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology in China, shows that sometimes the tables were turned.

The fossil -dated to about 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period-was formed when a flow of boiling volcanic mud swallowed two animals seemingly locked in a life-and-death fight. The one on top is a mammal. This animal is a herbivorous species closely related to the Triceratops (三角恐龙). Animal interactions such as this are exceptionally cam e in the fossil record.

One possibility is that the mammal was eating something already dead, other than hunting live prey. These days it is uncommon for small mammals to attack much larger animals. But it is not unheard of. And Dr. Han and his colleagues point out that those mammals which eat dead bodies typically leave tooth marks all over the bones of the animals. The dinosaur’s remains show no such marks. There is also a chance the fossil could be a fake. More and more convincing fake s have emerged, as this one did -though Dr. Han and his colleagues argue that the complexly connected nature of the skeletons (骨骼) makes that unlikely, too.

Assuming it is genuine, the discovery serves as a reminder that not all dinosaurs were enormous during the Cretaceous and not all mammals were tiny. From nose to tail, the dinosaur is just 1.2 meters long. The mammal is a bit under half a meter in length. Despite being half the size, the mammal has one paw firmly wrapped around one of its prey’s limbs, and another pulling on its jaw. It is biting down on the dinosaur’s chest, and has ripped off two of its ribs. Before they were interrupted, it seems that the mammal was winning.

1. Which idiom is closest in meaning to underlined part “the tables were turned” in paragraph 1?

A．The fittest survives.	B．The hunters become hunted.
C．Fortune always favors the brave.	D．The truth will always come to light.

2. Why does the author mention the “tooth mark” in paragraph 3?

A．To prove the fossil was fake.	B．To show the forming of the fossil.
C．To illustrate the process of hunting.	D．To suggest the dinosaur was hunted alive.

3. What makes Dr. Han think the fossil is genuine?

A．The size of the fossil.	B．The absence of fake fossils.
C．The complexity of the skeletons.	D．The consistency of the opinions.

4. What is the function of the last paragraph?

A．It offers a cause.	B．It highlights a solution.
C．It justifies the conclusion.	D．It provides a new discovery.

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。

The recent opening of a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan, in Sichuan province, made the place     1     instant tourist hot spot. The bronze heads, golden masks, holy trees and various statues reveal the    2     (mystery) faces of a culture dating back more than 3,000 years.

For those who cannot make it to Guanghan,     3     the extensive site of Sanxingdui is located, an immersive exhibition     4    (equip) with digital technology, titled Hello Sanxingdui,     5     (offer) an alternative means to be awed by the magnificence of this Bronze Age culture. It is running at the Longfu Art Museum in Beijing until Feb 29.

It provides a time-travel experience for both an educational and artistic appeal. The journey begins     6     a brief timeline of texts, photos and videos, showing how Sanxingdui was first discovered in the 1920s, when objects were found by farmers digging an irrigation ditch (灌溉沟渠); and it highlights the important moments in the past century’s continued archaeological efforts, to reveal the myths surrounding Sanxingdui and the secrets yet     7     (uncover).

On show     8     life-size reproductions of dozens of astonishing artifacts, supervised by Sanxingdui Museum, such as 2.6-meter bronze statues, 3.8-meter-wide bronze masks and “the holy tree” standing nearly 4 meters.

Images of these objects found at Sanxingdui and their     9     (pattern) have been digitalized, animated and projected on screens, leading the audience into the ancient kingdom of Shu, a     10     (civilize) that thrived for centuries in the southwest during the Zhou Dynasty, and disappeared suddenly, leaving many myths and legends.

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。

Discoveries made during the latest excavation of Pit No.1 at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, have allowed Chinese archaeologists to gain more insight into     1     the world-famous Terracotta Warriors and their weapons were made.

According to a recent report archaeologists     2     (restore) more than 140 Terracotta Warriors. They discovered that the arms of these figures were created separately and then attached to the bodies and covered in a layer of fine clay. The carving of fine details was completed     3     the arms were attached.     4     (additional), the pit has yielded a variety of weapons, including long-range attack weapons, shields for defense, as well as drums and drumsticks used for commanding soldiers.

“The Terracotta Warriors used a very special mechanism to connect pieces together. Such     5     (wise) was unique to China,” Lv Qiuxia,     6     expert on ancient Chinese art, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Lv added that the way the warriors were made differed based on their social status and class. “When     7     (analyze) how they were made, we noticed that the warriors were divided into different classes. This contributes to research     8     the burial culture of the Terracotta Warriors.” the expert noted.

Through excavations, Chinese researchers have established the types and arrangement of weapons     9     (use) by the Terracotta Warriors as well as the formations and patterns of the     10     (mystery) underground army.

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。

Oracle bones (甲骨) were believed to be first unearthed in Anyang, once called Yin, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Villagers then had little idea of what they had found and sold the bones to drugstores as     1    (tradition) Chinese medicines. The medicines gained the notice of historians. The discovery     2    (follow) by a series of archaeological excavations (挖掘).

Over the past 120 years, major systematic excavations have been carried     3    . A relic site museum has been built at the Yinxu site,     4    (recognize) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovering the oracle bones and inscriptions helped explore the cultures of Xia and Shang dynasties,     5     trace the origins of the Chinese civilization.

The content of the inscriptions emphasizes the respect for ancestors and other core Chinese values     6     have been passed on until today. It     7    (appeal) to not only scholars but also those outside the circles of archaeology. Chen Nan, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Arts and Design, has energized the life of these ancient symbols by     8    (feature) them in the biaoqingbao (emoticons) he developed.

“They represent the     9    (clue) to our cultural lineage (传承), ” Chen says. “I feel     10     our responsibility to communicate about the charm of the primitive inscription with the younger generations and foreigners.”

5 . 阅读短文内容，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

When it comes to ancient civilizations, most people think of the Greeks and Romans. It’s understandable as both     1     (shape) modern society in some way so far, whether it be their social, cultural, or political influences. However, dozens of civilizations had been around long     2     the Greeks and Romans, the lesser-known Jiahu people     3     (include).

The Jiahu settlement is located in the central plain of ancient China,     4     area known today as the Henan Province. The people created the country’s oldest recognized civilization. The area is rich in artifacts,     5     (make) it an archaeologist’s dream. Apart from the usual finds, people have uncovered records of the earliest examples of Chinese writing and proof     6     they were producers of the world’s oldest wine. Another remarkable discoveries was the oldest working bone flutes (长笛).     7     (typical) carved from the wing bone of a crane, they were most likely used in special ceremonies. Rough weaving tools and bone needles also     8     (unearth) from the site, indicating that Jiahu residents may have possessed basic weaving and sewing skills 8,500 years ago.

The settlement’s end came around 5700 BCE when the nearby rivers overflowed and flooded the area. It is assumed that the Jiahu people left their home     9     (settle) elsewhere, even though there is no indication as to     10     that might have been.

6 . 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.

2. The findings at the Sanxingdui ruins have proved that ______.

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

3. What is a common challenge for the conservation of both ruins?

A．Damp weather.	B．Positioning of ruins.
C．High latitude.	D．Language barriers.

4. What is the focus of Santos quote in the last paragraph?

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.

7 . 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.

8 . 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。

Several large wooden constructions     1     ( date) back to the Neolithic era（新石器时代) were unearthed at the Jijiaocheng ruins site, a prehistoric cultural site located in Changde City, central China's Hunan Province.

First discovered in 1978,the site used     2     ( be) a city from the Qujialing culture period (3300 BC-2600 BC) - a Neolithic civilization,     3     had roots in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River primarily     4     (find) in today's Hunan and Hubei provinces.

Researchers     5     (conduct) three excavations(挖掘)at the southwestern part of the city wall since 2020. More than 30 housing sites were discovered at the 721 -square-meter area,     6     a number of wooden architectural relics unearthed that were built 4,800 years ago. Researchers think they are the most complete and     7     (early) wooden structure building foundation in China. Besides, remains of rice husks (外壳) were also found at the site, covering     8     area of 80 square meters.

Researchers believe     9     ( strong) the new findings will enrich the architectural history of prehistoric China. " The     10     ( discover) helps us understand the overall architectural style of the Yangtze River Basin," said Zhao Hui, a professor at Peking University School of Archaeology and Museology.

9 . A previously hidden corridor buried deep in the 4500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt has been mapped in detail for the first time-and researchers have also taken a glimpse inside using tiny camera called endoscopic camera (内窥镜照相机).

The corridor was first discovered in 2016,but researchers didn’t want to damage the monument to gain access. The pyramid is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and was, for millennia, the world’s tallest human-made structure at 146 metres. It was built around 2560 BC during the reign of the pharaoh (法老) Khufu.

Using a technique called cosmic-ray muon radiography (宇宙射线μ子成像), an international team of researchers was able to certify that the corridor was 9metres long, with across section of about 2 metres by 2 metres.

Cosmic-ray muon radiography tracks the level of muons (μ介子) passing through the pyramid. In the technique, researchers use muon detectors which are placed at various points around the monument. Muons are partially absorbed by the stone used to build the pyramids, which means the method allows researchers to identify cavities (洞) inside the structure.

This approach has been used to map the internal structures of pyramids since 1971,when it was first used at Giza. Using their precise map of the corridor, the researchers identified an opportunity.

“We knew the cavity was there, but of course it’s totally different when you see it,“ says Procureur. “We felt strange when we saw this.” Still, Procureur was glad of one thing. “It’s a controversial opinion, but I’m relieved the cavity was empty. I wouldn’t have liked to participate in opening a tomb.”

1. Why didn’t the researchers want to damage the monument to gain access to the corridor?

A．Because it is the world’s tallest structure.

B．Because it is the largest pyramid in the world.

C．Because it was built around 2560 AD during the reign of the pharaoh Khufu.

D．Because it is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing.

2. What does the underlined word “certify” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Confirm.

B．Imagine.

C．Approach.

D．Reach.

3. What do you know about the cosmic-ray muon radiography?

A．It was first used at Giza in 1917.

B．It tracks the size of muons passing through the pyramid.

C．It has been used to map the external structures of pyramids.

D．It allows researchers to identify cavities inside the structure.

4. What can you infer from the last paragraph?

A．There was nothing in the cavity.

B．The corridor was the same as previously thought.

C．Procureur was interested in participating in opening a tomb.

D．The cavity used to be the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu.

10 . 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 cultural relic authorities on Thursday revealed some new discoveries from the mysterious Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province.    1    (recognize) as one of the significant ancient remains in the 20th century, the 3000-year-old Sanxingdui is a national treasure buried with a variety of jade，bronze(青铜) and gold objects. Among the excavated artifacts(出土文物)， a complete gold mask about 10 grams in     2     (weigh),37.2 centimeters wide,and 16.5 centimeters high    3     (unearth)from No.3 Pit a few days ago. The gold mask is    4       (basic)the same size as one of the bronze heads dug from the same pit. Therefore, experts assume it was initially attached     5     the face of a bronze head.

Meanwhile,     6    big bronze mask was excavated from the pit. It is the     7     (large) bronze mask ever discovered at the site. The bronze mask has struck the fancy of Chinese netizens,    8     comments on the hairstyle reminded them of the crown-shaped hat worn by Zhuge   Liang , a Chinese statesman and military strategist that lived during the Three Kingdoms period.

Totally; the archaeologists(考古学家)    9    (discover)more than 500 pieces of relics over the last few months, impressed with the historical     10     artistic value.