2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填人1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Papermaking technology is one of the four great     1     (invention) in ancient China. Before it was invented, the Chinese people carved or     2    (write) characters on tortoise shells, animal bones, bamboo slices, wooden plates or thin tough silk. Tortoise shells, animal bones and wooden plates were too heavy to use while silk was too expensive.

Till the Eastern Han Dynasty an official named Cai Lun created a kind of paper,    3     (use) bark (树皮) along with old fishnets, rags and hemp waste.     4     paper was suitable for writing and was also very cheap, so it became very popular. Therefore, Cai Lun’s contribution    5     the papermaking was great.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the papermaking technology was gradually improved. And then other materials such as bamboo and straw could also be used to make paper. Due to different material various types of paper were produced for different uses. For example, the Xuan paper     6    (make) in Xuanzhou of Anhui Province belonged to the high-quality paper     7    (special) adapted for use in Chinese calligraphy (书法) and painting.

Later, the technology     8    (introduce) to many countries. The invention of paper provides a more     9    (convenience) way for the storage and communication of information,    10     it also has great significance on the development of global civilization.

4 . Scientists have solved a puzzle about modern humans, after research showed that a famous skull of a human ancestor found in South Africa is a million years older than experts thought. This discovery has changed what we know of human history.

The skull, which scientists have named “Mrs Ples”, is from an ape-like human relative from a species called Australopithecus africanus (南方古猿). It was found near Johannesburg in 1947 and, based on evidence from its surroundings, was thought to be between 2. 1 and 2. 6 million years old. This puzzled scientists, because although Mrs Ples looks like a possible early ancestor of early humans, the first true humans had already evolved by the time she apparently lived. For this reason, scientists had decided that Australopithecus afarensis, a similar species from East Africa that lived about 3.5 million years ago, was our most likely ancestor instead.

To get a more accurate age for Mrs Ples, a team led by Professor Darryl Granger of Purdue University in Indiana, US, used a new method to date the sandy rocks where the skull lay. They measured the amount of certain chemicals in rocks, which form at a steady rate when they are exposed to cosmic rays (宇宙射线) on Earth’s surface. Once rocks are buried, these chemicals stop forming and slowly disappear;the surviving amount reveals how much time has passed since the rock (or bones) were on the surface.

The new study shows that Mrs Ples and other australopithecine bones nearby are between 3.4 and 3.7 million years old. This means they lived at the same time as their East African relatives, so that either group could have given rise to modern humans. However, team member Dr Laurent Bruxelles pointed out that over millions of years, at only 2,500 miles away, these groups had plenty of time to travel and to breed with each other. In other words, the groups could quite easily have met, had children together and both been part of the history of modern humans.

1. What can we learn about Mrs Ples from the first two paragraphs?

A．It is a skull found in East Africa.

B．It is the most possible ancestor of humans.

C．It is a million years older than scientists expected.

D．It is proved to live between 2.1 and 2.6 million years ago.

2. How did scientists get the accurate age of “Mrs Ples”?

A．By studying the effect of cosmic rays.

B．By calculating the forming rate of chemicals.

C．By locating the sandy rocks where the skull lay.

D．By measuring the surviving amount of chemicals.

3. What can we infer from the new study?

A．Modern humans came into being in East Africa.

B．Mrs Ples travelled and had children with East African relatives.

C．The history of modern humans might begin 3.5 million years ago.

D．Ape-like species from Africa could have interacted with each other.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Historical Puzzle Unsolved	B．Ancestor Mystery Solved
C．Mrs Ples: The Earliest Human Being	D．Mrs Ples: A Famous Skull

5 . 阅读短文, 在未给提示词的空白处仅填写一个适当的单词, 在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给的词的正确形式填空。

“Chinese Joan of Arc, ” Qiu Jin (1875-1907) , was a women’s rights activist and the leader of revolutionary army. She fearlessly challenged traditional gender roles and demanded equal rights and     1     (opportunity) for women. On January14th, 1907, she     2    (found) “Chinese Women’s Journal” in Shanghai, advocating women’s rights. She was the first women     3    (lead) an armed uprising against the Qing Dynasty, for which she was arrested and killed. Qiu Jin     4    (honor) as a national heroine today.

6 . We think of history as a time line — a series of events stretching thousands of years into the past. It’s time to think bigger. Instead of a line, imagine a web of endless connections interacting over billions of years, linked together to create everything we’ve ever known. From the clothes we wear to the rise and fall of empires (帝国) to the revolution of language, it’s the horse that links them all.

6, 000 years ago, the early people in central Asia spoke an ancient language known as “Proto-Indo-European.” Their words would eventually spread, change and develop, branching into French, Italian, Spanish, Greek Russian, Hindi, German, and English, giving us the languages spoken by nearly half the world. The reason is that these are the first people on earth to ride horses, which creates highway for their words.

2, 000 years ago, Romans traditionally wore tunics, but it’s hard to ride a horse in clothes like this. As Romans moved north to conquer the barbarians (野蛮人), they noticed their enemies wore something different into battle: pants. Pants are warmer and a lot more comfortable to wear on horsebacks The Roman army made the switch and soon so did men everywhere. Horses are a key reason why millions of people around the world wear pants.

For 6, 000 years, horses have been the primary way of conquering, making large empires possible. Horses helped Rome expand from Britain to North Africa. But why didn’t these enormous ancient empires grow even bigger? The evidence suggests a surprising theory that ancient empires have a size limit determined by the horse. If the borders of an empire are more than 14 days’ ride from the capital, it becomes a struggle to continue control. Speed of communications is essential for an empire. You must be able to get messages to and from the border within a reasonable time. If you can’t do that, you can’t respond to attacks.

On the scale of big history, it’s hard to think of any other mammal that’s had such an influence on human history as the horse.

1. What do we know about “Proto-Indo-European”?

A．It was the first language in the world.

B．It was spoken only by the horse riders.

C．It constructed a highway between France and Germany.

D．It developed into languages used by about half the world.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 4?

A．Ancient empires could grow as big as they wished.

B．Horses determined the location of empires’ capitals.

C．Horses had little impact on the expansion of ancient empires.

D．Timely messages are vital for ancient empires to keep control.

3. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To express the author’s love for horses.

B．To introduce the development of clothes.

C．To provide a new way of looking at history.

D．To encourage the interaction between animals.

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。

In general, doctors in those days had two contradictory theories to explain how cholera spread. One theory was that bad air caused the disease. Another was that cholera     1     (cause) by an infection from germs in food or water. Snow subscribed to the second theory. It was correct, but he still needed proof.     2     (consequence) ,when an outbreak of cholera hit London in 1854, Snow began to investigate. He discovered that in two particular streets the cholera outbreak was so severe that more than 500 people died in ten days. He was determined to find out     3    .

10 . 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。

Lanzhou, 9 August 2017. A group of researchers and scientists from China and other countries are working together to help increase knowledge and     1     (appreciate) of China’s ancient cultural heritage. They are recording and collecting digital images of cultural relics from the Mogao Caves, which were     2     key stop along the Silk Road throughout China’s ancient history. Nearly 500,000 high-quality digital photographs have been produced     3     the international project started in 1994.