1 . A cast net is a kind of fishing net (渔网) that is designed to be thrown out into the water and then pulled back with fish.     1     Some objects from ancient Greece, Rome, and China can prove the long history of them.

A basic cast net is a big circle of netting with weighty edges (边缘). As a general rule, a cast net is designed to be thrown by hand, but it’s also possible to use a net thrower, especially for big nets.     2    

Cast nets are designed for use in water which isn’t deep and is free of objects such as plants and rocks. To use a cast net, the fisherman throws the lightweight net out onto the water, where it spreads out.     3    As the net nears the bottom of the water, it’s pulled closed and pulled back with a lot of fish.

    4     These nets are easy to tangle (缠结) if they are not used and stored carefully. They also have to be checked often for holes requiring repair. And one needs to be fairly strong to pull the net back since the net can get very heavy with a lot of fish.

Nowadays, people can use more advanced tools to catch fish.     5    They think it can be pleasant to work with a cast net once one has learned the skills. Besides, some people have an interest in old-fashioned fishing ways.

Guan Yu, an ancient general known for his loyalty and bravery in battles, has been widely worshipped (敬奉). The Temple of Guan Yu in Xiezhou, North China’s Shanxi Province, is the     1    (large) one among countless temples worshipping the general across the country and also a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level.

In 2020, a research institute     2     studied the culture behind this folk belief in Guan Yu was founded in Xiezhou, and eight graduate students were hired. This summer, researchers of     3     institute are compiling chronicles (编年史) for the temple, and studying the fine elements of traditional culture contained in the temple.

Across the country, historical and cultural heritage sites are protected and studied to discover and learn about traditional Chinese culture, amid the nation’s efforts     4    (build) a modern Chinese civilization.     5     total, there are 5,058 major historical and cultural sites protected at the national level. “    6    (witness) the long history and splendid culture of the Chinese nation in the past years, the historical and cultural sites offer     7    (we) rich ‘spiritual nutrients’ in the midst of building a modern Chinese civilization,” said Gao Jiangtao, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In Shanxi, with local protection work     8    (trouble) due to understaffing, a project was started in 2022 to enroll a total of 600 students for a span of five years,     9    (specific) for 117 localities across the province in need of protection professionals. These students will     10    (offer) general education on relics protection during college.

5 . Scientists have discovered a bit of hand-made string (线绳) that’s around 50,000 years old in Neanderthal remains. The first Neanderthal remains were found in the Neander Valley in Germany, which is where the name comes from. Neanderthals may have lived mainly in caves and made stone tools, but recent discoveries have given hints that Neanderthals developed some advanced skills that people used to think impossible. For example, Neanderthals knew how to make glue from the bark (树皮) of a tree.

Now, scientists report they’ve found a piece of string on a stone tool made by Neanderthals. Before this, the oldest known piece of string was one made by humans about 19,000 years ago. The string is about a quarter of an inch long. Almost all things made from plants during that time have broken down and disappeared, so it’s very special to find this bit of string.

The scientists don’t know whether the string was attached to the tool. But that doesn’t interest them as much as the fact that Neanderthals knew how to make string. Bruce Hardy, the lead scientist on the project, says that knowing how to make string was meaningful for humans. “We wouldn’t really be here today without that technology,” he says.

Making string is a very arduous process. This string was made from the inside bark of an evergreen tree. To make string that is strong enough, the string must be made of several smaller fibers twisted (缠绕) together in a special way. For the Neanderthal string, several fibers needed to be twisted together into something like yarn. Then three pieces of yam needed to be twisted together in the opposite direction to make the final string.

The scientists Aren’t sure what the string was used for, but they say that string like. the bit that was found could be used to make bags, baskets, traps, or other things. The researchers also suggest that because Neanderthals needed to make pairs and count fibers to make the string, the bit of string may also tell us something about the kinds of math that Neanderthals could do.

7 . British English and American English have many differences. The difference also exists in the letters of the alphabet (字母表). Or, more specifically (具体地), the last letter of the alphabet. Z is pronounced as “zed” in Britain while in America, it is pronounced as “zee”.    1    It’s what you’ll hear in every English-speaking country, except for the United States.

    2     Many of our modern letters come directly from the Greek alphabet, including a letter which looked just like our “z”. The Greeks called it “zeta”. “Zeta” gradually developed into the French “zede”, which in turn gave us “zed” as English was shaped by Romance languages like French.

“Zee” showed up on the scene in modern English. Dr. Adam Crowley, an associate professor of English in Husson University’s College of Science and Humanities, suggests that the popularity of “zee” grew because it rhymes (押韵) with so many other letters, like B, C, and P.    3     So, again, this makes sense.

After the Revolutionary War, Americans were trying to set up an identity separate from the British, and words and language played a big role in this.    4     He, sure enough, chose “zee” as the “official” American pronunciation.

And then, there’s The Alphabet Song. In the song, z is pronounced as “zee”.    5     Indeed, teachers in England and other countries sometimes have to re-teach children how to pronounce z after they’ve already learned “zee” from hearing the song.

8 . A mile is a common unit of measurement for distance. We, at times, need to convert (转换) miles into other units of measurement. The most popular, of course, is converting to kilometres, when you want to convert something like MPH (miles per hour) to KMPH (kilometres per hour). Other popular units of conversion include feet, yards, and inches.

Long, long ago, when the Romans ruled over British lands, they used a measurement unit that was known as the “mille passuum”, which meant nothing but a thousand paces. This was measured by soldiers marching a thousand paces, or 5,000 Roman feet. By traditional standards, this measures out to be about 1,479 metres, or about 1,617 yards, and is today known as the Roman Mile.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the British came up with their own system of measurement. In their system, they used a “furlong”,which was the distance a horse could travel pulling a plow before stopping for rest, to measure distances. 1 furlong was equal to about 660 feet, making the mile 8 furlongs.

These and other similar methods led to a varied measurement of the mile. This was solved,to some extent, with the adoption of the international yard and pound measurements, which were agreed upon by 6 countries. There were exactly 1,760 yards in a mile using this system. While the US follows the International Mile, they also use the US Survey Mile or the Statute Mile,which measures 1,609.347 219 metres, or about 3.2 mm longer than the International Mile.

The statute mile was defined by an English Act of Parliament during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. It states:“A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and a half.” This also works out to be about 1,760 yards, 5280 feet, or 1,609 metres.

Besides these, there is the Metric Mile, which is used in sporting events where distance is to be measured, like track and field events. The Nautical Mile is a measurement used in sea and air travel.