2 . Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered the remains of a lost Maya city hidden deep within the jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula.

The site, located in the Balamkú ecological reserve in the Mexican state of Campeche, contains numerous large pyramids that were built during the Classic Period of the Maya civilisation. The archaeologists named the location Ocomtún, meaning “stone column (石柱)” in Yucatec Maya language, in a nod to the many stone columns spreading around on the over 123-acre site.

The team found the city while mapping the Maya lowlands with billions of lasers shot from an aircraft flying overhead. This technique, known as light detection and ranging, is a noninvasive (非创伤的) way for researchers to understand the geography of human-made structures hidden beneath leaves. In this case, the technique revealed a Maya city with several pyramidal structures, with the tallest towering nearly 50 feet.

“The site serves as an important center at the regional level,” lead archaeologist Ivan Šprajc said in the statement, “and it is a breakthrough in Maya archeology.”

The Maya had numerous city sites spread across southern Mexico and Central America; the civilization reached its peak during the first millennium AD until it “collapsed” between 800 and 1000. In addition to finding the pyramids and columns, while on foot, the archaeologists discovered ceramics (陶瓷), three squares, a court used to play ball games and a complex comprising low and thin structures arranged almost in circles.

However, the archaeologists are still investigating how the Maya used some of the structures. “It is possible that they are markets or spaces designed for community events,” Šprajc said. “The most common ceramic types that we collected on the surface and in some test pits are from the Late Classic. However, the analysis of samples of this material will offer us more reliable data on the sequences of occupation.”

1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A．There are many stone structures dotted on the site.

B．The pyramids built by Egyptians used to be huge.

C．The stone columns cover an area of nearly 124 acres.

D．The site discovered used to be an ecological reserve.

2. What did Šprajc think of the site?

A．Frightening and puzzling.	B．Incredible and romantic.
C．Complex and fictional.	D．Invaluable and significant.

3. What can we infer from paragraph 5?

A．The Maya city was once a booming city.

B．Some tall and thin structures lay on the squares.

C．The ancient Mayas lived on ceramic manufacturing.

D．The pyramids and columns were found quite by accident.

4. Which would be the best title for the text?

A．The long-lost ancient civilization	B．Lost Maya city discovered in jungles
C．Archaeologists’ new discoveries in Mexico	D．Human-made structures hidden beneath leaves

3 . For archaeologists (考古学家) in Israel, eight prehistoric ostrich (鸵鸟) eggs-thought to be between 4,000 and 7,500 years old-proved as valuable as treasure when they were dis-covered near an ancient fire pit in the Negev, a desert region in the south of the country.

They were discovered during an archaeological excavation (挖掘) in the agricultural fields of Be’er Milka, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Thursday. The eggs’ location suggests that they were collected by the prehistoric (史前的) desert nomads (游牧民) who used the campsite, according to a press release from IAA, and further lab analysis will provide more information about their uses and ages. Although the nomads did not build permanent structures at this site, the finding allows us to feel their presence in the desert. The campsites were covered by sand, keeping the eggs exceptionally well-preserved.

Ostriches were common in the region until they became extinct in the wild during the 19th century. Their eggs were beautifully decorated and were prized items during the Bronze and Iron Ages (青铜和铁器时代). As well as being used as decorative items, ostrich eggs were also used as a source of food. One ostrich egg has the nutritional value of about 25 normal chicken eggs.

While ostrich eggs are not uncommon in excavations, the bones of the large bird are not found. This may indicate that in the ancient world, people avoided dealing with the ostrich and were content with collecting their eggs.

1. What did archaeologists find in Israel?

A．Ostriches.

B．Burnt tools.

C．Ostrich eggs.

D．The bones of ostriches.

2. What protected the ostrich eggs well?

A．The trees.

B．The fire pit.

C．The campsites.

D．The sand.

3. Why did nomads collect ostrich eggs?

A．To provide shelter for them.

B．To protect agricultural fields.

C．To get food or decorations.

D．To do some research on them.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．Ostrich eggs have high nutritional value.

B．Ostriches were found near an ancient fire pit.

C．People tended to hunt ostriches as food sources.

D．Ostriches were common in Israel in the 20th century.

4 . The story about horses in North America told in several written histories is in need of an update, according to a new study. After examining ancient remains of horses, researchers suggest indigenous(土著的) peoples had spread the animals through the American West by the first half of the 1600s—before they met Europeans.

The findings line up with oral histories from indigenous groups, which tell of interactions with horses before settlers arrived in their homelands. Meanwhile, written European texts from the 1700s and 1800s stated that horses only spread through the area after 1680.

Horses originated in the Americas around four million years ago, but by about 10,000 years ago, they had mostly disappeared from the record. Spanish settlers likely first brought horses back to the Americas in 1519. According to the new study, indigenous peoples then transported horses north along trade networks.

To find when the animals spread, researchers examined the remains of more than twenty horses discovered across the Western U.S. Rather than simply walking around the countryside on their own, the horses appear to have been part of Native American culture. Signs of teeth problems on one horse and growths on the bones of the head of another suggested people had put bridles(缰绳) on the animals. Certain chemical elements in the animals’ teeth suggested they ate maize, an indigenous plant. And another horse had a previously broken facial bone that had fully recovered, meaning it might have received medical treatment.

Researchers compared the ancient horses’ DNA with that of modern horses and found that the centuries-old horses had largely Spanish origins. Together, the findings suggest horses spread “from Spanish settlements in the American Southwest to the northern Rockies and central Great Plains by the first half of the 17th century.”

The findings also highlight the importance of indigenous oral traditions in understanding history. “Our cultures have been so misunderstood for so long,” says co-author Yvette Collin. “Too often history has been told around us, without us.”

1. What needs to be updated according to the new study?

A．When horses showed up in the Americas.	B．Who introduced horses to North America.
C．When Native Americans first met Europeans.	D．Who spread horses through the American West.

2. What did researchers find out about ancient horses from the remains?

A．They played a role in natives’ life.	B．They were born with tooth disease.
C．They were badly treated by natives.	D．They had hardly any Spanish origins.

3. What does Collin think of oral histories?

A．They spread easily.	B．They are of great significance.
C．They pass down traditions.	D．They unite indigenous groups.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Written texts explain human-horse interactions.

B．Oral histories help us understand Indigenous cultures.

C．New research rewrites the history of American horses.

D．Archaeological remains are the key to learning about the past.

5 . 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

A skull of the dinosaur, named Guemesia ochoai, was discovered in Argentina. Researchers said it likely belongs to a meat-eating, or carnivorous, group of dinosaurs     1     (call) abelisaurs. These dinosaurs walked on two legs and had very short arms, even     2     (short) than those of North America’s Tyrannosaurus rex. The short arms may have forced Guemesia     3     (depend) more on its powerful skull and jaws.

“Guemesia is so different     4     other meat-eating dinosaurs, which allows us to understand that we’re dealing with a     5     (total) new species,” said Agnolin Federico, the lead writer of a study on the dinosaur that was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The animals existed for a few million years before     6     asteroid (小行星) hit what is now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. That event, about 66 millions years ago, led to a series of     7     (disaster) that killed all the dinosaurs and many other animals. In total, about 75 percent of Earth’s species     8     (destroy) as a result of the asteroid.

Scientists believe abelisaurs lived on what is now Africa, South America and India. Several abelisaurs have been dug up in Argentina in the past but almost all of them were in southern Patagonia, far from the site     9     Guemesia was found.

Guemesia takes its name from Argentine independence hero Martin Miguel de Guemes and Javier Ochoa, a museum worker who made the     10     (discover).

6 . 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.

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。

A water system from more than 3,600 years ago     1     (discover) in Central China’s Henan province so far. This find will improve people’s understanding of the city design back then. According to local archaeologists (考古学家), one of the sections was built on a natural river channel, while the remaining two     2     (be) entirely artificial. About 540 meters of ditches (沟) were unearthed，with a     3     (wide) of about 12 meters at the widest point, and a depth of roughly four meters at     4     (it) deepest point. Ruins of the city covered about 25 square kilometers, and it is believed to be a former Shang capital     5     (construct) by Emperor Tang, the first emperor of the Shang Dynasty.

In one of the ditch sections, archaeologists found artificial open channels and stone facilities for water diversion,    6     (indicate) that in the early Shang Dynasty, there had already been complex functional design of the water system.    7     (remain) of handicraft workshops for copper (铜) casting and making bone objects were also found. The ditches were connected with ponds and gardens in the northern parts of the city,    8     means that water in the system supplied not only production and life in the city, but was also used for landscaping of the city.

Discovery of this water system enhanced our understanding of     9     layout of the ancient city, which is     10     great significance for in-depth study of city planning and functional zones division in the early Shang Dynasty capital.

9 . 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。

A total of 3,228 graves have been found at the ruins     1     date back more than 3, 000 years in Qinghai Province, northwest China, archaeologists said on Monday.

The ruins,     2     (locate) in Balong Township in Dulan County, are believed to be a group that combined graves and housing during the period between 1,500 BC and 1,000 BC. In 2021, the provincial research academy of cultural heritage and archaeology and Northwest University worked together     3     (launch) an excavation (挖掘).

According to Du Wei, leader of the excavation project, three graveyards     4     (cover) a total area of 120,000 square meters have been discovered, and another 52 graves     5     (dig) up so far.

“Potteries, bronze ware, jadeware, braided fabrics, human bones and     6     (remain) of animals and plants were among the unearthed items, providing a lot of materials for the study of Nuomuhong culture,” Du said.

Nuomuhong culture is a Bronze Age archaeological culture with Qinghai characteristics,     7     (large) distributed in the Qaidam Basin and     8     (it) surrounding areas.

Speaking at a meeting of experts on the ruins last week, Huo Wei,     9     professor at Sichuan University, said that the excavation had confirmed the long history of the Qaidam Basin and is     10     great significance for the research on the ancient civilization of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed a big bronze beast. It’s one of the most highly     1     (anticipate) treasures of the Sanxingdui Ruins. The bronze was discovered in July last year, but archaeologists successfully lifted it out of the pit a year later,     2     they were sorting out all other bronze objects piled on the top of the statue.

The bronze animal is the     3     (big) ever found in decades of digging at the Sanxingdui Ruins. It weighs around 150kg and has a large mouth, small waist, huge ears and four feet. A small human statue     4     (attach) to the creature’s head and appears     5     (ride) or controlling the animal. According to Zhao Hao, a Peking University archaeologist in charge of the pit that contained     6     object, all other bronze animals uncovered at the site in the 1980s measured around 20 to 30cm “But this one is very large in size, with height and width both     7     (measure) about one metre. It’s the only one at the whole site,” Zhao said.

The bronze beast can be seen as a cultural relic nonexistent before not just in China,     8     in the world. UNESCO sent     9     (congratulate) on the amazing new discovery through a video. Meanwhile, governors of Sichuan Province are preparing an application     10     (include) Sanxingdui Ruins on the World Cultural Heritage List.