1 . Several cultural relics unearthed from the Haihunhou tomb in Nanchang have been confirmed to be official documents presented to the imperial court. The three pieces already released were all written with ink, according to the Nanchang Evening News.

Based on the analysis by Zhang Yuzheng, an expert at Beijing Union University, the relics may be the oldest original copies of senior official documents in the Han Dynasty (BC 206-AD 220), which have great value for the study of ancient official documents.

Among the three publicly released relics, two of them remain fairly intact with exact date information, though the handwriting is partly damaged. Chinese characters meaning “concubine (妾)” and “Haihunhou He” can be seen on the relics, which show that they were written by the Marquis of Haihun Liu He and his concubine.

Zhang Yuzheng suggested that according to Haushu, the documents presented to the imperial court should be in two copies, with the original copy submitted to the emperor and the copy to the minister. The minister would first review the contents and then decide whether it was appropriate to be submitted to the emperor. The system was ended during the reign of Emperor Hanxuan in the Han Dynasty. The unearthed relics from Haihunhou tomb are believed to have been written on the fourth year of Yuankang during the reign of Emperor Hanxun when the system was already ended.

Therefore, Zhang holds that the unearthed relics written with date information “fourth year of Yuankang” were very likely the original copies of official documents, instead of copies.

The whole structure and content are also complete, the handwriting is quite neat, and the format (格式) is strict, consistent with the features of an original copy, according to Zhang.

1. What can we know about the three released relics?

A．They were official documents by senior officials.

B．They proved to be the oldest documents in the Han Dynasty.

C．They were recognized as Liu He and his concubine’s handwriting.

D．They were publicly released as early as on the fourth year of Yuankang.

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “intact“ in paragraph 3?

A．Complete.

B．Meaningful.

C．Organized.

D．Reliable.

3. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The valuable relics kept until today.

B．How the relics were presented to the imperial court.

C．What information should be included in the official document.

D．Something about document presentation system in the Han Dynasty.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Entertainment.

B．Sports.

C．Health.

D．History.

2 . Chinese cultural relic authorities on Thursday revealed some new discoveries from the puzzling Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province, including a gold mask, a huge bronze mask, bronze statues and ivory carvings.

A complete gold mask 37.2 centimeters wide, 16.5 centimeters high and about 100 grams in weight was unearthed from No.3 Pit. The golden mask shares a similar size and the same facial features as one of the bronze heads unearthed before. "This golden mask might be a part of the face of the bronze head," Ran Hongling, head of the Sanxingdui Institute of Archaeology (考古), told the Global Times. Meanwhile, a large bronze mask, 135 centimeters wide and 74 centimeters high, was dug up from the same pit, which is relatively well preserved and it is the largest bronze mask ever discovered at the site.

Among the newly unearthed bronze statues from No. 4 Pit, one standing figure is being jokingly called the ancient "ancestor" of the popular Japanese superhero "Ultraman" due to the pointed crown (冠) on its head and his eyes that stick out. Another bronze statue has a special hairstyle that reminded people of the crown-shaped hat worn by Zhuge Liang, a Chinese statesman living during the Three Kingdoms period. And still another bronze statue has a unique pose. The figure is kneeling down with his head turned to the right and his hands are on the front left side of his body, but most interestingly, the figure is standing on the balls of both feet with his heels high in the air. The shapes and decorations of these bronze statues make them unique as valuable resources for the research of the ancient Kingdom of Shu, some 3,000 years ago.

Currently, the third and fourth pits have produced 729 and 1,073 relics, including three relics made from unknown materials. Meanwhile, 200 ivory relics have been discovered in the eighth pit.

1. What do we know about the bronze mask?

A．It is the most complete relic ever discovered.

B．It has the largest size of its kind unearthed at the site.

C．It was dug from the No. 4 Pit of the Sanxingdui Ruins.

D．It has the same facial features as a bronze bead previously found.

2. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The significance of the bronze statues.	B．Similar images of the unearthed status.
C．The digging process of the bronze statues.	D．The characteristics of the thee bronze statues.

3. What makes one bronze statue look like "Ultraman"?

A．Its eyes and crown.	B．Its hairstyle.
C．Its unique pose.	D．Its crown-shaped hat.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．An ancient kingdom was newly discovered.

B．Mysterious Sanxingdui Ruins reveal more relics.

C．Sichuan Province is the birthplace of a new civilization.

D．New Sanxingdui pits catch the attention of archaeologists.