2 . 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.     1     One day, he got to the top of one tree and something caught his eyes. He looked out across the trees and saw the tops of some old buildings.

    2     He ran to tell the local governor excitedly, and together they walked into the jungle. There they found Tikal, the city that the Mayans had built, many hundreds of years before. The two men saw pyramids (金字塔), squares and houses.

For a long time before that day, local people had known that somewhere in the jungle there was an old Mayan city.     3     Between 200 and 900 AD, the city of Tikal had been the centre of Mayan civilisation (文明) in the area, but then the Mayans left it—nobody knows why! After 1000 AD, the jungle began to cover it.     4    

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.     5     Now the lost city had been found again, and people went there immediately to see it.

On the north bank of Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province sits a straw-hat-shaped mountain     1     (call) Maotian Mountain,     2     a 512-hectare site is praised as a “world-class treasure trove of fossils” by the international scientific community. On July 1,1984, young paleontologists in China discovered a fossil of the arthropod (节肢动物化石) with a long tail in Maotian Mountain. “    3     we had studied in China were just shell of fossils. The arthropods, lifelike fossils with legs, which belonged to fossils of soft-bodied animals, are     4     game changer in the research of China’s paleontology (古生物学)”, Hou Xianguang, a paleontologist said.

Scientists have obtained a large number of research results on Chengjiang Fossil Site. The reason why Chengjiang fauna (动物群) is     5     great significance is that it is closely related to the emergence of the animal tree of life.

Up to now, more than 20 phyla and more than 280 species     6     (record)in the Chengjiang Fossil Site, of which, 80% are new species. On July 1, 2012, the Chengjiang Fossil Site     7     (be) inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO,     8     (become) China’ s first World Heritage Site for paleontological fossils.

The UNESCO evaluation says the Chengjiang Fossil Site is one of the     9     (early) records of a complex marine ecosystem of the early Cambrian communities. The property displays excellent quality of fossil     10     (preserve). It presents an exceptional record of the rapid diversification of life on Earth during the early Cambrian period.

4 . A waterworks maintenance team discovered a possible one-of-a-kind Roman road in a field in Worcestershire that may date back 2,000 years.

If asked to name a place where you might make a once-in-a-lifetime archaeological (考古的) discovery, your mind may go to the pyramids of Egypt or the peaks of the Andes...not a field in Worcestershire. But a field in Worcestershire is exactly where workmen recently discovered what is thought to be a Roman road up to 2,000 years old！

The road was discovered during routine (常规的) waterworks maintenance by Severn Trent. Archaeological experts from Wychavon District Council were called to the scene and immediately recognised the find’s significance.

Wychavon District Council’s archaeology officer Aidan Smyth said, “When I first saw it, it took my breath away. If proven to be from the first century AD, it would be beyond rare.”

Experts say it is constructed in a traditional Roman technique, with similar roads only being found in Rome and Pompeii. Ruts (车辙) in the stones show that it was used by carts for a long time. A team from Historic England is expected to investigate further to determine the exact origin of the structure.

This is actually not the first significant historical discovery in Worcestershire. A number of possible forts have been suggested in Worcestershire since the 1950s, and Worcestershire is thought to possibly have been the site for the Roman town of Vertis.

It is too early to say without 100 per cent certainty that the road is Roman, but even if it is a road in the Middle Ages, it will still be a nationally significant discovery. If it is indeed a first-century Roman road, then it is the only one of its kind in Britain.

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.

An ancient culture dating back more than 5,000 years proved China’s early exchanges with other societies, experts say.

Experts believe the Majiayao culture had a close     1    (connect) with other various cultures. They put it forward at a recent meeting     2     was held in Gansu Province. With more than 5,000 years of history, it plays an important role in the development of the Chinese civilization (文明). This culture spread to Central Asia through     3     is now China’s Xinjiang Province,     4    (bring) rice from China to the west.

Swedish expert Johan first     5    (investigate) cultural sites in 1924. In the 1940s, Xia Nai named the sites after the Majiayao, with painted pottery (彩陶) as     6    (it) most special feature. Some experts point out that the Majiayao culture     7    (obvious) shares similarities with the cultures of some parts of the Black Sea. People from these cultures used pottery     8    (make) human head sculptures.     9     addition, some Central Asian features also appeared on the painted pottery of the Majiayao.

Actions     10    (take) to protect the Majiayao culture by building museums, organizing meetings and doing more research so far.