1 . As archaeologists (考古学家) examined ancient tombs in Turfan in western China, they discovered some surprisingly well-preserved and familiar relics. Though hardened from over 1,000 years, there sat little dumplings.

Exactly who invented dumplings remains a mystery. But some scholars suspect they were first spread by nomadic (游牧的) Turkic peoples living in western China and Central Asia. This is thought to be the case because “manti,” meaning “dumpling” or “steamed bun” in many Turkic languages, appears to be the root word for dumpling in several other languages. Ancient Turkic people probably filled their dumplings with meat. But it’s unclear when this practice began, or whether they learned the art of dumpling-making from others. However this happened, dumplings certainly gathered steam in ancient China.

Dumplings continued to take off and diversify in China over the next thousand years. Instead of the traditional meat filling, some communities chose vegetarian (素食) dumplings. People developed new cooking methods. The relationship between Chinese dumplings and those in other areas is tricky to trace, but food historians have made their best guesses based on available clues.

Besides Turkic tribes, some scholars believe that the Mongol Empire also contributed to the spread of dumplings, perhaps introducing them to parts of Eastern Europe. These dumplings could have come by way of China or directly from some of the Turkic peoples the Mongols hired to run their empire. One theory is that this gave rise to dumplings like pelmeni in Russia, pierogi in Poland and vareniki in Ukraine. The Mongol Empire also controlled Korea and might have likewise introduced dumplings there. Later, after Chinese dumpling varieties were introduced to more countries, English speakers began calling them dumplings, which means “little lumps”. During the Second World War, Chinese “jiaozi” were brought to Japan. So what about the Italian dumpling-like pasta? Some historians think it might be brought by Arab conquerors.

It’s unlikely that all dumpling dishes came from the same root tradition. However, we can appreciate the mysterious historical web that made dumplings so various.

2 . A national park is an area set aside by a government for the preservation of the natural environment. The national parks in the United States and Canada center on the protection of both land and wildlife.     1     And those in Africa primarily protect animals.

It is widely thought that the idea of a park or nature reserve under state ownership started in the United States in 1870.     2     Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks were established in the United States in 1890. And the U. S. National Park Service (NPS)was created in 1916 to manage the parks.     3     In addition to national parks, the system included national preserves, seashores, historic parks and sites and so on.

Partly following the American example, movements supporting national parks sprang up in many other countries.     4     . And Canada set up its first three national parks in the mid-1880s. The establishment of modern national parks and nature reserves gained momentum (动力)only after World War I or, in some cases, after World War II in Europe. Great Britain established the administrative machinery for both national parks and nature reserves in 1949.     5    

But interest in parks came later in Asia and Latin America than it did in the Anglo-American countries and Europe.

Wang Anshi （1021 - 1086）, a poet and reformer of Song Dynasty, is still remembered after a long period of time. This year marked the 1, 000th anniversary of Wang’s birthday. To commemorate the occasion, China Post    1    （issue）a collection of stamps in December（2021）.

When he was young, Wang became familiar    2    the hardships of the peasants. After he passed the imperial civil service exams and became     3     official, Wang wanted to change their conditions and initiated a series of reforms.

He implemented new laws to ease farmers’ burdens, loaned grain to farmers and allowed them to repay their debts after the autumn harvest. He attached great importance to    4    （train）talents in different fields, for example, in laws.     5    （unlucky）, these policies harmed the interests of the upper classes and his reforms eventually failed.

Wang’s     6    （brave） to innovate has inspired many people. The former Chinese Premier Wen: Jiabao- quoted Wang in his speech: A true reformer should fear neither strange astronomical    7    （phenomenon）nor comments.

US politician Henry A. Wallace had a book    8    （record）Wang’s reform policies. When the Unitech States faced sudden economic depression during the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s, Wallace applied Wang’s economic principles and helped the country get through the crisis successfully.

During his lifetime, Wang    9    （pen）more than 1, 000 poems. Often short and plainspoken, these poems contain profound topics,     10    won him wide acclaim（称赞）both at home and abroad.

A great number of artifacts from eight tombs    1     (unearth) from an archaeological site in Hunan province several months ago. According to the provincial institute of heritage and archaeology, these artifacts, including pottery pieces and bronze    2     (knife), are believed    3     (date) back as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).

Six Eastern Han Dynasty tombs are brick tombs, three of    4     might have had owners from the same family, said Chen Bin,     5     member of the archaeological team of the tomb complex under the institute.

It is also the first time that archaeologists    6    (discover)a trench(战壕)4.5meters west of the back chamber of the largest tomb,     7     (measure) about 0.9 meters in width,     8     (approximate)15 meters in length and about 0.1 meters in depth.

“This excavation(挖掘)is    9     great significance to further understanding the funeral customs of people in southern Hunan, as well as the levels of    10     (economy)development and cultural exchanges during the period,” Chen said.

Oracle bones (甲骨) were believed to be first unearthed in Anyang, once called Yin, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Villagers then had little idea of what they had found and sold the bones to drugstores as     1    (tradition) Chinese medicines. The medicines gained the notice of historians. The discovery     2    (follow) by a series of archaeological excavations (挖掘).

Over the past 120 years, major systematic excavations have been carried     3    . A relic site museum has been built at the Yinxu site,     4    (recognize) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovering the oracle bones and inscriptions helped explore the cultures of Xia and Shang dynasties,     5     trace the origins of the Chinese civilization.

The content of the inscriptions emphasizes the respect for ancestors and other core Chinese values     6     have been passed on until today. It     7    (appeal) to not only scholars but also those outside the circles of archaeology. Chen Nan, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Arts and Design, has energized the life of these ancient symbols by     8    (feature) them in the biaoqingbao (emoticons) he developed.

“They represent the     9    (clue) to our cultural lineage (传承), ” Chen says. “I feel     10     our responsibility to communicate about the charm of the primitive inscription with the younger generations and foreigners.”

10 . While DNA from animal bones or teeth can cast light on an individual species, environmental DNA enabled scientists to build a picture of a whole ecosystem.

A core of ice age sediment (沉积物) from northern Greenland has yielded the world’s oldest sequences of DNA. The 2 million-year-old DNA samples revealed the now largely lifeless polar region was once home to rich plant and animal life — including elephant-like mammals known as mastodons (乳齿象), reindeer, hares, lemmings, geese, birch trees and poplars, according to new research published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

The finding is the work of scientists in Denmark who were able to detect and restore environmental DNA — genetic material drop into the environment by all living organisms — in tiny amounts of sediment taken from the Copenhagen Formation, in the mouth of a strait in the Arctic Ocean in Greenland’s northernmost point, during a 2006 expedition.

They then compared the DNA pieces with libraries of DNA collected from both extinct and living animals, plants and microorganisms. The genetic material revealed dozens of other plants and creatures that had not been previously detected at the site based on what’s known from fossils and pollen records.

“The first thing that blew our mind when we’re looking at this data is obviously this mastodon and the presence of it that far north, which is quite far north of what we knew as its natural range,” said study co-author Mikkel Pedersen.

The mix of temperate (温带) and Arctic trees and animals suggested a previously unknown type of ecosystem that has no modern equivalent — one that could act as a genetic road map for how different species might adapt to a warmer climate, the researchers found.

Love Dalen, a professor at the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University, said the finding “pushed the envelope” for the field of ancient DNA. “Also, the findings that several temperate species (such as relatives of spruce and mastodon) lived at such high latitudes are exceptionally interesting,” he added.

Further study of environmental DNA from this time period could help scientists understand how various organisms might adapt to climate change. “It’s a climate that we expect to face on Earth due to global warming and it gives us some idea of how nature will respond to increasing temperatures,” he explained.