1 . About 5,300 years ago, people from the grasslands of modern-day Russia and Ukraine expanded rapidly across Eurasia. Within a few centuries these “Yamnaya” left a lasting genetic mark on populations from central Europe to the Caspian Sea. Today, archaeologists call them “eastern cowboys” for their livestock herding (畜牧) and highly mobile lifestyle.

But one part of the classic cowboy picture was missing: horseback riding. Although cattle bones and solid carriages have been found in Yamnaya sites, horse bones are hard to find, and most archaeologists assumed people did not start to ride horses until at least 1,000 years later.

In a new study published in Science Advances, researchers say they’ve found the earliest evidence of horseback riding not in the bones of ancient horses, but in their Yamnaya riders. “Everyone has focused on horse remains to get an idea of early horse riding,” says co-author and University of Helsinki archaeologist Volker Heyd. “Our approach was to look at humans.”

The researchers looked at more than 150 bones unearthed in Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria — the western frontier of Yamnaya expansion. The Yamnaya were well-fed, healthy, and tall; the chemical composition of their bones showed protein rich diets consistent with herding cattle and sheep. But the bones showed signs of distinctive wear and tear. They also showed thick spots on the leg bone consistent with lots of time spent on the horse back. Healed injuries matched the kinds of damage a kicking horse might cause, or what sports medicine doctors today see in riders thrown from their horses.

“In terms of trying to identify people riding horses, I think they’ve done the best job possible bioarchaeologically,” says bioarchaeologist Jane Buikstra. “That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, or convincing, ultimately.”

More samples — including horse bones with signs of riding, such as bit marks or back bone damage from the weight of a rider — would help make the case, says CU bioarchaeologist Lauren Hosek. What the group has found “is really interesting”, she says. “But there’s a lot more work to be done when the risks of drawing the final conclusion are as high as the earliest horse riding.”

1. Why are the archaeologists looking for the horse bones?

A．To prove the Yamnaya’s rapid expansion.

B．To confirm the Yamnaya’s herding variety.

C．To further understand the lifestyle of Yamnaya.

D．To trace the origin of the classic cowboy picture.

2. How is Volker Heyd’s research different from others?

A．It includes field trips.	B．It focuses on human bones.
C．It is based on horse remains.	D．It compares the compositions of bones.

3. What do we know about the Yamnaya from Paragraph 4?

A．Their bones bore the evidence of horse riding.

B．Many Yamnaya people died from horse kicks.

C．Their lifestyle of herding led to severe injuries.

D．They mainly lived in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.

4. What is Lauren Hosek’s attitude to the research findings?

A．Objective.	B．Favorable.
C．Disapproving.	D．Unclear.

2 . Eating too much salt is one of the causes of cardiovascular (心血管的) disease, which kills an estimated 17.9 million people each year, according to the WHO.     1    .

Most people in the world consume about 10.8 grams of salt a day, more than double the level recommended by both the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While salt is an essential nutrient, sodium (钠), accounting for 40 percent of it, narrows and hardens blood vessels (血管).     2    . In fact, many health organizations suggest that consumers dramatically reduce their sodium intake.

Rather than salt from a shaker in the kitchen, the majority of sodium consumed by most Americans comes from packaged and prepared foods.     3    . Part of the reason is that years of adding too much salt to foods has reduced people’s taste sensitivity. “They don’t want to take the initiative to reduce sodium if there’s a competitor that has a higher content of salt.” the WHO’s Branca said.

    4    . They are demanded to improve public awareness around the dangers of an overly salty diet and force food producers to reduce salt levels through legal standards. The FDA also announces that it plans to change the rules for nutrition labels on food packages to indicate that they are “healthy.”

The benefits of reducing salt intake begin relatively rapidly. Blood pressure starts falling within weeks for most people.     5    . “Your tongues will adjust to a reduction in salt, and you’ll be able to better taste the other flavors,” said Branca.

A．Sensitivity to salt returns soon

B．That’s why they expect a certain amount of salt

C．Just consume no more than a teaspoon of salt a day

D．The U.N.’s health agency is calling on governments to take action

E．If more salt is kept in the body, it slowly puts up the blood pressure

F．It can also lead to brain attacks and other serious medical conditions

G．Food producers continue to add so much salt despite the known health risks

3 . Earlier this year, I moved into a suburb of Atlanta. I decided to _________ the area on foot. On my walks, as I admired the range of residential _________, I also admired another type of house: Little Free Libraries. I’d seen them all over Atlanta and _________ it’d be fun to build my own, but when I looked at the website’s official map, it turned out there were already a handful nearby. _________, I decided to seek each of them out.

I’ve since found six sites of these free book _________. Without them, I would never have been able to “meet” people in my community. I quickly _________ my neighbors’ reading tastes, sorting through their small boxes of books. Each library is unique and shows the _________ of the person who built it, with _________ colors and designs. These Little Free Libraries are also the perfect way to _________ conversations with strangers.

Since the pandemic began, Little Free Libraries have become a lifeline for many. They don’t __________ social distancing and everything is on an honor system. People __________ a book in exchange and some libraries have even become __________ food pantries (食品储藏柜) for people in need. In all the __________ they’ve taken on, these libraries have brought people together in a sense, especially when it feels like everything is trying to __________ us. Beyond conversation starters and personality __________, Little Free Libraries find common ground — a precious thing, pandemic or not.

1.

A．explore

B．search

C．measure

D．clean

2.

A．district

B．setting

C．development

D．architecture

3.

A．promised

B．explained

C．thought

D．proved

4.

A．Secretly

B．Fortunately

C．Naturally

D．Cautiously

5.

A．exchanges

B．giveaways

C．reservations

D．publications

6.

A．corrected

B．learned

C．improved

D．satisfied

7.

A．appearance

B．expression

C．health

D．personality

8.

A．standard

B．ordinary

C．varying

D．new

9.

A．go on with

B．strike up

C．break in on

D．act out

10.

A．require

B．permit

C．deserve

D．guarantee

11.

A．leave

B．order

C．edit

D．write

12.

A．fancy

B．traditional

C．private

D．temporary

13.

A．subjects

B．burdens

C．forms

D．risks

14.

A．inform

B．persuade

C．surprise

D．divide

15.

A．balancers

B．indicators

C．testers

D．separators

4 . The Best Writing Contests of 2023

1. What do Weekly Writing Competition and Anthology Travel Writing Competition 2023 have in common?

A．No entry fee is required.

B．Local culture is the focus.

C．There is maximum word count for entries.

D．One entry per person for each week is allowed.

2. What can be learned from Fiction Factory Flash Fiction?

A．Top prize winner will be awarded $300.

B．It is open to anyone from across the world.

C．Children’s stories on any theme are greatly appreciated.

D．Contest entries should be submitted before July 31, 2023.

3. Which contest suits you most if you are interested in climate crisis?

A．Weekly Writing Competition.	B．Anthology Travel Writing Competition.
C．Fiction Factory Flash Fiction.	D．Imagine 2200.

5 . The universe, with its countless stars and galaxies, can be visually impressive, especially when we use high-powered telescopes to peer beyond the range of human vision. But what if we could hear those objects as well? That may sound impossible at first — how can sound travel through the vacuum of space? Isn’t the universe silent?

Far from it, says Kim Arcand, an expert on data visualization at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Her team has found ways to strengthen distant sound waves that would otherwise be undetectable by human ears. They’ve also employed creative processing — taking visual data from infrared and X-ray telescopes and assigning notes to that data-to show celestial (天体的) phenomena via sounds. These “sonifications” (可听化) provide a new way for people to experience those awe-inspiring objects.

Arcand, working with colleagues at the Smithsonian, Harvard and NASA, together with a Canadian science outreach team called SYSTEM Sounds, has been making these custom-made audio tracks that bring celestial images to life. An obvious match-up is to pair brighter parts of an image with louder sounds or to present longer wavelengths of light with lower-pitched sounds, and shorter ones with higher-pitched. Now, many of the tracks can be heard on YouTube, paired up with the images that inspired them, 16 of those sonifications have been put into an album called Universal Harmonies, which will be available on CD and streaming platforms beginning March 10.

Aside from bringing science to a wider audience, Arcand also believes that sonification can bolster the science itself by allowing more people to contribute to our understanding of the universe. One of her goals, she says, is to show that “people who are blind or low-vision ... can also become part of the scientific enterprise.”

For University of Toronto astrophysicist Matt Russo, who runs SYSTEM Sounds together with musician Andrew Santaguida, sonification has been a chance to bring together his two great passions — astronomy and music. It’s both an art and a science. “It was just instantly obvious that it was fun and rewarding,” he says.

1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Patterns of sound waves.	B．Advantages of visualization.
C．Processes of data analysis.	D．Approaches to sonifications.

2. How did Arcand’s team turn the images of universe into sounds?

A．By uploading images onto streaming platforms.

B．By pairing images with sounds through creative technology.

C．By identifying and connecting different sound waves.

D．By processing audio data with the help of SYSTEM Sounds.

3. What does the underlined word “bolster” probably mean in paragraph 4?

A．Support.

B．Prove.

C．Mirror.

D．Lead.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．How Does Sound Come into Being?	B．What Does the Universe Sound Like?
C．Universe: The Mystery Uncovered	D．SYSTEM Sounds: A Pioneer in Space

6 . 假定你是某国际学校学生会主席李华，为迎接世界献血日，你校将组织相关活动。请你拟一则通知，内容包括：
1. 活动时间与地点：6月14日 (星期三)上午9点至11 点，学校体育馆;
2. 活动内容：看宣传片、听讲座、献血登记和采集;
3. 有关提醒。
注意：1. 词数80左右;
2. 请在答题卡的相应位置作答。

World Blood Donor Day Activity Notice

Dear all,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . Dressed in a shiny metallic suit, Katia Krafft’s small frame is overshadowed by the red curtain of molten rock that bursts from the ground before her. The dramatic moment was captured (捕捉) in a photo taken atop Iceland’s Krafla volcano in 1984, during the final breathing of a multi-year-long eruption. Looking at the image, one can almost feel the volcano’s heat, hear its roar, and sense Krafft’s heart pounding as the volcanologist does what she loves most: bearing witness to our planet’s strong anger.

Katia Krafft was a fearless pioneer in volcanology, studying the explosive peaks at a time when there were few women in the field. She was born in the Rhine valley of northeast France in 1942, curing the height of World War II. The chaotic human world drove both Katia and her husband, Maurice Krafft, also a volcanologist, to seek comfort in nature. The moment a volcano exploded, they dropped everything to analyze and capture the beauty and mystery of each event.

The Kraffts used their videos of explosive eruptions to explain the complex risks and uncertainties of these disasters. It changed the ability to communicate volcano science. Their videos are credited as one of the primary reasons that officials in the Philippines took the warning signs of Mount Pinatubo’s eruption in 1991 seriously. Yet the Kraffs didn’t live to see that eruption. The couple died less than two weeks earlier in Japan during a monstrous eruption, which claimed 41 other lives.

Katia’s impact on volcanology has reached far beyond her death and has encouraged many young women to study our restless planet. “Katia Krafft is definitely the reason why I’m doing this job,” says Carla Tiraboschi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minster, Germany. Tiraboschi first saw Katia in a documentary when she was just six or seven years old and has been crazy about volcanoes ever since. She now studies the processes at work deep below the volcanic peaks.

1. What does the author want to tell us in paragraph 1?

A．The importance of volcanology.	B．The damage of a volcanic eruption.
C．The difficulty of filming volcanoes.	D．Katia Krafft’s passion for her work.

2. What can we know about the videos of explosive eruptions?

A．They prevented a natural disaster.	B．They served as a warning in Japan.
C．They helped spread volcano science.	D．They covered Mount Pinatubo’s eruption.

3. How did Katia influence Carla Tiraboschi?

A．Katia’s death made her restless.	B．Katia helped her with her research.
C．Katia’s deeds inspired her career choice.	D．Katia taught her to make a documentary.

4. Which of the following best describes Katia Krafft?

A．Creative and honest.	B．Brave and enthusiastic.
C．Ambitious and outgoing.	D．Determined and generous.

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。

In recent years, shared vegetable plots (地块) have been appearing in Shanghai’s suburban districts as more white-collar workers turn to farming to relax and escape the pressures of city life.

Among these individuals     1    (be) Yang Rui, who, on weekends, drives his family from their home in downtown to the All-Happy City,     2     shared ecological farm in Minhang, where he has rented a 20-square-meter vegetable plot for 1,600 yuan per year. The family tends carrots, lettuce and other vegetables they have planted. When they aren’t around during the week,     3    (professional) take over the work and perform whatever chores     4    (need).

This farm has about 200 members, some of     5     even raise chickens and ducks that wander in the fields.

    6    (found) by Chen Yougui in October, the shared farm has an area of 13.33 hectares     7     comes with shared vegetable plots and leisure areas. According to Chen, the monitoring system     8    (cover) the entire farmland allows members to view their vegetables and fields remotely through their phones. The farm also uses technology to ensure that the chickens and ducks raised     9     customers don’t go missing or end up in someone else’s plot — each animal comes with its own QR code.

Chen notes that many of his customers are parents who rent plots     10    (primary) to teach their kids about science and nature and how farming works.

9 . Around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens (智人) left Africa and travelled across the world; around the same time, all the other species began to disappear. Why the other humans died out may be the biggest confusion of the early Palaeolithic age. The common explanation is that H. sapiens was brainier than other species. These humans had better communication skills and fighting ability.

According to Jonathan Kennedy, the author of Pathogenesis, there is a better explanation for why H. sapiens won out: their immune systems were superior. As their populations expanded, genetic (基因的) diversity increased and, since they lived in Africa, much closer to the equator (赤道) than other humans, H. sapiens would have been exposed to a greater range of animals carrying a variety of virus.

As H. sapiens moved across the world, they would have been protected against the diseases carried by the other humans they met. The converse was not true, however, meaning other humans were less resistant to the diseases carried by H. sapiens.

From there, Mr Kennedy goes on to rewrite much of the history of life, with virus at the forefront. Human civilisations have been shaped by diseases and infections. Some of his most striking stories come from the Spanish defeat of the Americas. The popular story here is that the Europeans had better technology and weapons with which to beat the less advanced societies in the Americas. That’s not entirely true, Mr Kennedy says. The introduction of infectious diseases from Europe, he writes, resulted in a 90% fall in the population in the Americas.

There is a clue of pattern about this book: as soon as a new set of characters is introduced, you know infection appears. But that is just a minor criticism in a convincing account of the role of viruses in world history. It helps that Mr Kennedy’s epidemiological writing is dotted with pop-culture references: The Lord of the Rings, 2001: A Space Odyssey and so on. Despite the big ideas, therefore, his book is an entertaining read.

1. What is essential to H. sapiens’ survival according to Jonathan Kennedy?

A．Their communication skills.	B．Their immune systems.
C．Their physical fitness.	D．Their intelligence level.

2. What does the underlined word “converse” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Opposite.

B．Change.

C．Conclusion.

D．Talk.

3. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Mr Kennedy goes on to rewrite the history of virus.

B．Mr Kennedy acknowledges the popular story.

C．The Americas were defeated mainly for infectious diseases.

D．The Americas had advanced technology and weapons.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards Mr Kennedy’s book?

A．Critical.

B．Admiring.

C．Doubtful.

D．Unclear.

10 . Most of us associate awe (敬畏) with something rare and beautiful: nature, music or a spiritual experience. But people can waken awe too, and not just public heroes. Research shows that we can be awed by our nearest and dearest — the people sitting next to us on the couch, chatting on the other end of the phone, looking back at us over Zoom.     1    

Often, interpersonal awe is a response to life’s big, sweeping changes, such as witnessing a baby’s first steps.     2     John Bargh said he was “truly awestruck” — by his 5-year-old daughter while dining in a McDonald’s. When she heard another child crying, she grabbed the toy from her Happy Meal, walked over to the boy and handed it to him.

Though we can’t make someone else behave in a way that’s awesome, we can prepare ourselves to notice it when they do and boost the emotion’s positive effects.

Question your assumptions. Do you believe your partner is insensitive or your sibling is selfish? There may be a little truth to that, but it’s never the whole tale.     3     To increase your chances of feeling awed by the other person, ask yourself what’s going on in his or her life that you don’t know about.

Name awe when you see it. Speaking out “Wow, that was awesome!” is a simple way to help you identify and remember a special experience. Savor (品味) it in the moment and then tell others about it. This will reinforce your positive emotions.     4     Studies show that you will feel awe again simply by remembering an awe experience.

    5     This makes the other person feel good and can give your relationship a boost. And it will help you too: Studies show that people who practice gratitude have significantly higher levels of happiness and psychological well-being.

A．Thank the person who awed you.

B．And recall it or write about it later.

C．Psychologists call this interpersonal awe.

D．It’s easy to forget that it can be awesome too.

E．But interpersonal awe does happen in smaller moments.

F．Here’s why you should recognize those moments of interpersonal awe.

G．The story you tell yourself gets in the way of catching people at their best.