Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient
“This is one of the most important ancient
According to Michael, future research at the site has the potential to clarify a range of topics, including the rise of one of Africa's first complex societies. Currently, they plan to do a further
2 . The Nazca Lines are a collection of giant geoglyphs (地画), located in the Peruvian coastal plain about 250 miles south of Lima, Peru. Created by the ancient Nazca culture in South America, the 2, 000 year old Nazca Lines can only be fully viewed from the air given their massive size.
There are three basic types of the Nazca Lines: straight lines, geometric designs and pictorial (图画的) representations. More than 800 straight lines are found on the coastal plain, some of which are 30 miles long. Additionally, there are over 300 geometric designs, which include basic shapes such as triangles, rectangles, as well as arrows, zigzags and wavy lines. The Nazca Lines are perhaps best known for the representations of about 70 animals and plants, some of which measure up to 1, 200 feet long. Examples include a spider, hummingbird, monkey, whale, dog, duck, flower, and tree.
More recent research suggested that the Nazca Lines’ purpose was related to water, a valuable thing in the desert. The geoglyphs weren’t used as an irrigation system or a guide to find water, but rather as part of a ritual (仪式) to pray to the gods — an effort to bring much needed rain.
The Nazca Lines are located in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nasca river basin. The desert floor is covered in a layer of deep red color rocks. The ancient people created their designs by removing the top 12 to 15 inches of rock, revealing the lighter-colored sand below. They likely began with small scale models and carefully increased the models’ proportions (规模) to create the large designs.
Given the small amount of rain, wind and erosion in the desert, the geoglyphs have remained largely unharmed throughout the centuries. But the geoglyphs aren’t completely safe. In 2009, the Nazca Lines suffered the first recorded rain damage. Five years later, the environmental group Greenpeace damaged an area near the hummingbird geoglyph during a media stunt.
1. Why should the geoglyphs only be fully appreciated from the air?| A．The geoglyphs occupy a massive area of land. |
| B．The geoglyphs are in the centre of the desert. |
| C．The geoglyphs are only accessible by plane. |
| D．The geoglyphs are so diverse in design. |
| A．To record ancient culture. |
| B．To guide water to the land. |
| C．To pray to the gods for rain. |
| D．To show ancient people’s talents. |
| A．How the geoglyphs were created. |
| B．Where the geoglyphs are located. |
| C．Why the geoglyphs were created. |
| D．What the proportion of the geoglyphs is. |
| A．The geoglyphs are damagefree. |
| B．The geoglyphs need protection. |
| C．The geoglyphs are in perfect condition. |
| D．The geoglyphs get media’s protection. |
Many pieces of beautiful pottery (陶器) were discovered in Luoyang,Henan Province,
The production of glassy pottery in China
There are a great
4 . Every year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii, Italy. They see the sights that Pompeii is famous for, like its stadium and theatres, its shops, and restaurants. The tourists do not, however, see Pompeii’s people. They do not see them because Pompeii has no people. No one has lived in Pompeii for almost 2,000 years.
Once, Pompeii was a busy city of 22,000 people. It lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered volcano. Mount Vesuvius had not erupted for centuries, so the people of Pompeii felt safe. But they were not.
In August of AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire top of the mountain exploded, and a huge black cloud rose into the air. Soon hot rocks and ash began to fall on Pompeii. When the eruption ended two days later, Pompeii was buried under 20 feet of stones and ashes. Almost all of its people were dead.
For centuries, Pompeii lay buried under stones and ashes. Then, in the year 1861, an Italian scientist named Ginseppe began to uncover Pompeii. Slowly, carefully, Ginseppe and his men dug. The city looked almost the same as it had looked in AD 79. There were streets and fountains, houses, and shops. There was a stadium with 20,000 seats. Perhaps the most important of all, there were everyday objects, which tell us a great deal about the people who lived in Pompeii. Many glasses and jars had some dark blue colour in the bottom, so we know that the people of Pompeii liked wine. They liked bread, too; metal bread pans were in every bakery. In one bakery there were 81 round, flat loaves of bread — a type of bread that is still sold in Italy today.
Ginseppe has died, but his work continues. One-fourth has not been uncovered yet. Scientists are still digging, still making discoveries that draw the tourists to Pompeii.
1. Why do large numbers of people come to Pompeii each year?| A．To visit the volcano. |
| B．To shop and eat there. |
| C．To watch sports and plays. |
| D．To see how the people of Pompeii lived. |
| A．Because the city nearby offered kinds of fun. |
| B．Because the area produced the finest wine in Italy. |
| C．Because few people expected the volcano to erupt again. |
| D．Because the mountain was beautiful and covered with grass. |
| A．Because Ginseppe and his men dug it slowly and carefully. |
| B．Because the city was buried alive and remained untouched. |
| C．Because scientists successfully rebuilt the city with everyday objects. |
| D．Because nobody had lived in the city ever since the volcano erupted. |
5 . A city in the jungle
In the summer of 1848, in Guatemala, a man called Ambrosio Tut went out into the jungle (丛林), as he did almost every day. Tut was a gum (树胶) collector, looking for gum in the jungle.
For a long time before that day, local people had known that somewhere in the jungle there was an old Mayan city.
Seven years before Tut found Tikal, two British explorers had gone to Guatemala and had written a report about Mayan treasures in the jungle—but they hadn’t mentioned Tikal. Even earlier than this, local Indians had told people about a great city hidden in the trees, but no one had listened to them.
| A．But no one had seen it for centuries. |
| B．To do this, he had to climb the trees. |
| C．And then people forgot that it was there. |
| D．So they lost the chance to find the treasure. |
| E．Tut found many other treasures after that. |
| F．More and more scientists began to study the Mayan city. |
| G．Tut didn’t really know what he had seen but he knew it was something special. |
The Mysteries of the Maya
Extending south from parts of what we now know as Mexico into Central America, Maya civilisation
The fact that Maya society was technologically primitive makes its achievements more incredible and mysterious. Meanwhile, the rise and fall of this civilisation must also leave us
Some research seems to indicate that the Maya people themselves may have played a part in their downfall. Research also suggests that those natural
7 . Six “sacrificial pits(祭祀坑)”,dating back 3,200 to 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 excavations 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 destruction.
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 Explore Sanxingdui Site |
8 . The Sanxingdui Museum in southwest China’s Sichuan Province enjoyed huge popularity during the three-day Qingming Festival holidays by receiving nearly 20,000 visitors on the peak day after the new archaeological discoveries brought international attention.
According to media reports, the museum saw over 15,000 visitors on Saturday — the first day of the Qingming Festival, breaking its record for daily visitors. And on the next day, more visitors swarmed (蜂拥) into the museum, the number exceeding 19,800. To cope with the mighty flow of people, on Sunday afternoon, the official Weibo account of the Sanxingdui Museum released the message to remind visitors to avoid rush hours or reschedule their visiting time.
The Sanxingdui Museum showcases various kinds of precious cultural relics unearthed at the site, such as the 2.62-meter-tall standing statue, 1.38-meter-wide bronze mask, and 3.95-meter-high bronze tree. Earlier on March 20, Chinese archaeologists announced some new major discoveries made during the 37th excavation (挖掘) since the last excavation 35 years ago. The ruins were first discovered in the late 1920s and first excavated in 1934. More than 500 important cultural relics have been unearthed in the six newly-found pits. Since the new discoveries were known to the public, the number of people visiting the Sanxingdui Museum has increased sharply.
The museum says although they are open as usual, the newly-found pits have not opened to the public yet and the newly-excavated cultural relics are still under repair and cannot meet the public currently. But a hall for cultural relic conservation and restoration will be in pilot operation in April and officially open on May 18. Visitors to it can see how the relics are restored, according to Zhu Yarong, vice director of the Sanxingdui Museum.
Dating back about 3,000 years, the Sanxingdui Ruins have shed light on the ancient Shu civilization and cultural origins of the Chinese nation, and have been regarded as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.
1. What mainly brought about the surge in tourists visiting the Sanxingdui Museum?| A．Tourists’ enthusiasm. |
| B．Sichuan Province’s policy. |
| C．The Qingming Festival holidays. |
| D．New archaeological discoveries. |
| A．The official Weibo account linked the museum with the public. |
| B．Newly-excavated cultural relics on display attracted tourists very much. |
| C．The Sanxingdui Museum reacted immediately to the large flow of tourists. |
| D．Tourist numbers reached the peak on the first day of the Qingming Festival. |
| A．Experimental. | B．Private. |
| C．Official. | D．Personal. |
| A．The Sanxingdui Museum gives tourists insights into Chinese history |
| B．Chinse people make full use of the Qingming Festival holidays to travel |
| C．The Sanxingdui Ruins are a perfect tourist attraction over the Qingming Festival |
| D．New discoveries make the Sanxingdui Museum more popular during the Qingming Festival |
9 . A perfectly preserved wreck (沉船) that has lain unnoticed in the icy Baltic Sea for over 500 years has finally been confirmed. The European ship was first observed in 2009,when a sonar (声呐) exploration by the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) indicated a large object in the area. However, it was not until early 2019 that researchers from Soton and MMT found evidence of the sunken ship using underwater robotic cameras.
When the team observed the pictures of the 60-foot-long shipwreck, they were surprised to discover it was 99 percent complete. The scientists considered that the wreck’s good condition is due to its place in the Baltic Seabed, where the oxygen levels are low. Oxygen is key to most ocean life’s survival. Therefore, such an environment where the shipwreck stays reduces or completely removes the creatures that feed on rotting wood.
So although this ship is contemporary to the times of Christopher Columbus, it shows a remarkable level of preservation after 500 years at the bottom of the sea. Dr. Pacheco-Ruiz, who led the MMT effort, said, “It’s almost like it sank yesterday. It’s a truly astonishing sight.”
The scientists are unsure what let the ship sink. However, the ship’s guns, which are in their “ready to fire” positions, indicate it may have been the victim of a naval battle. Since the ship dates back to the early 16th century, historians predict it may have sunk during Sweden’s three year independence war with its Danish rulers between 1521 and 1523.Alternatively,it could also have been involved in the border dispute (争端) between Russia and Sweden from 1554 to 1557.
The ship is by far the best-preserved shipwreck ever found from the Age of Exploration, when Europeans explored the world by sea.
What’s more exciting is that the ship is similar to the Pinta and La Nina, which Columbus famously sailed toward North America. The scientists, who continue to observe the shipwreck hope the boat’s design will expose some of the technologies available to the Italian explorer during his 1492 voyage of discovery.
1. What scientific achievement did Soton’s and MMT’s researchers make?| A．Discovering a wreck using sonar. | B．Getting the wreck out of icy water. |
| C．Identifying the object found by SMA. | D．Making the ancient wreck well preserved. |
| A．It is generally unfit for creatures to live in. | B．It is tough for scientists to do research. |
| C．It contains too many harmful gases. | D．It is filled with rotting wood. |
| A．His curiosity about the time when the ship sank. |
| B．His amazement at the ship’s previous grandness. |
| C．His surprise at the wreck’s well-preserved condition. |
| D．His shock at the sinking of the great European ship. |
| A．The damage to the ship. | B．The causes of the ship’s sinking. |
| C．The construction of the ship. | D．The possible function of the ship. |
A great number of artifacts from eight tombs
Six Eastern Han Dynasty tombs are brick tombs, three of
It is also the first time that archaeologists
“This excavation(挖掘)is
