2 . 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 excavation 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 damage.

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. What does the underlined word “excavation” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Check	B．Dig
C．Exploration	D．Extension

2. 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 using excavation capsule armed with hi-tech equipment.

D．By conducting more experiments around the site.

3. What can we infer about the pits from the text?

A．All sacrificial sites were discovered in the meantime.

B．The discovery of Sanxingdui site only began in 2019.

C．There are 6 sacrificial pits discovered in Sanxingdui site in all.

D．The size of the core zone is about 1/3 times of Sanxingdui site.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Sacrificial pits were unearthed in Sanxingdui Site.

B．Sanxingdui Site needed to be protected.

C．Sanxingdui discoveries tell us more about ancient China.

D．Hi-tech helped to explore Sanxingdui Site.

3 . Did you know that creating a product that fails terribly could get you featured in a museum? Hundreds of failed products and inventions are getting attention and appreciation in the Museum of Failure in Hollywood.

It is the brainchild of Samuel West, a Swedish psychologist who created it to change the way people think about failure. “Failure is necessary for any kind of progress,” West said. It had a traveling exhibition in Shanghai in 2019 with over 100 “failed” products from big-name companies such as Nokia, Apple and Coca-Cola. “I really hope you see that these well-known brands that everybody respects screw up too,” West told the New York Times.

West's opinion isn't new. The famed physicist Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” This idea has even been embraced by big companies in Silicon Valley. A common slogan is “Fail fast, fail often.” “The best companies are those that encourage failure, embrace out-of-the-box thinking, and allow employees to make mistakes and see what happens,” wrote Simon Custo of Forbes.

But some people are skeptical of this so-called “culture of failure”. They are worried that if failure becomes “a badge (徽章) of honor”, it may even be seen as “uncool” when someone tries to reduce the risk of failure. This may lead to carelessness and lack of effort. “Sometimes people hide behind failure, when they could have prevented,” wrote Anna Issac of The Telegraph.

So it's important that people set apart the 2 kinds of failure: the kind that shows laziness or incompetence and the kind that takes you forward. The key is whether you've learned something from your mistakes.

1. Why did Samuel West found the Museum of Failure?

A．To get himself famous all over the world.

B．To practice Albert Einstein's view on mistakes.

C．To draw people's attention to the value of failure.

D．To exhibit the failed products from big companies.

2. What does the underlined phrase “screw up” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Make a mess.

B．Bring much damage.

C．Contribute little.

D．Break the rules.

3. What can we learn from paragraph 4?

A．Acknowledgement of failure is glorious.

B．Carelessness and laziness lead to failure.

C．Learning from mistakes is the key to progress.

D．Risk of failure should be reduced with efforts.

4. What does the author think of failure?

A．Failure is a badge of honor.

B．Don't come home as a failure.

C．Face failure and find the reasons.

D．Better to fail early than to fail late.

6 . You may think you couldn’t live through summer without air conditioning. But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only way to drive the heat away.

Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2, 000 years ago. The fans came in different shapes and were made from all kinds of materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans marked the owner’s high status. Sandalwood fans could send out a sweet smell. Later, hand fans became far more than just something that could cool you down. They developed into works of art, in which Tuanshan—round fans, and Zheshan—folded fans, were the most common. In the shape of a fullmoon, Tuanshan were usually made of silk. They had beautiful embroidery(刺绣)featuring birds and flowers on them. Women, especially those in the royal palace, liked to use them. Poets in ancient China often compared an abandoned (被抛弃的) woman to Tuanshan. A poet in the Qing Dynasty, Nalan Xingde was a typical example. He wrote, “If only life were as beautiful as when we first met, why should the autumn wind bother to pity deserted painted fans?”

Meanwhile, men, especially the literati(文人), used Zheshan. The literati liked them because Zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show off their skills in literature, painting and calligraphy(书法). Many things were painted on Zheshan, but the most popular choice was usually beautiful scenery.

Today, Chinese people still use these fans, though not many people write or paint on them any more. This summer, why not paint one of your own?

1. Which fans could show a person’s social position?

A．Hand fans.	B．Palm leaf fans.
C．Feather fans.	D．Sandalwood fans.

2. Who did Nalan Xingde refer to by mentioning fans?

A．An abandoned woman.	B．A woman with a Tuanshan
C．A woman with a Zheshan	D．A woman in the royal palace.

3. Why did the literati like Zheshan?

A．They were folded fans.	B．They came in different shapes.
C．They had birds and flowers on them.	D．They gave them chances to show the talent.

4. What’s the writer’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To tell us how to make hand fans.

B．To explain why people used hand fans.

C．To introduce several kinds of hand fans.

D．To encourage people to make hand fans.

7 . A new study explores the custom of tipping in the United States. Many Americans give tips to people who perform a job for them, especially workers in the service industry. They pay a little extra to people cutting their hair, driving them across town or serving them a meal at a restaurant.

The researchers found that men give bigger tips to restaurant workers than women. And people who live in the northern US are more generous with tips than those living in the South. People who earn $ 50, 000 or more a year give bigger tips than those who earn less than $50, 000. There is one likely reason: the wealthier Americans have more money to spend.

Michael Lynn is a professor of consumer behavior and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in New York. In other words, he knows a lot about the issue of tipping. In earlier surveys, Lynn said he found mixed results on the generosity of men and women when it comes to tipping. In some studies, men gave bigger tips than women. In others, women gave more money.

Lynn’s own research in American restaurants found that men give bigger tips when the restaurant server is a woman and women give more when the server is a man. Tips are very important to service employees. People who work at restaurants often get most of their earnings from tips.

Nationwide, Americans generally tip between 15 to 20 percent at restaurants and leave from $2 to S 10 a day for the people who clean their hotel rooms. Tips of 15 percent of the reading on the meter (计价器) are also common for people who drive taxis.

But here is something to keep in mind. If you are able to give the person serving you a tip or a bigger one than what is expected, your generosity will be welcome. Many service workers do not make much money, and even an extra dollar or two can make a difference in their lives.

1. What is paragraph I mainly about?

A．A study in a restaurant.	B．A job offering a lot of tips.
C．The service industry in the US.	D．The custom of tipping in the US.

2. What is Lynn’s finding in American restaurants?

A．People give more tips to the opposite sex server.

B．People are always more generous to service employers.

C．Men give the same tips to the women restaurant servers as women.

D．Men always give more tips to the men restaurant servers than women.

3. How much tips do Americans generally pay if the reading on the taximeter is $100?

A．$2.	B．$10.
C．$15.	D．$20.

4. What is the authors attitude towards tipping?

A．Doubtful.	B．Critical.
C．Uncaring.	D．Supportive.