1 . When Howard Carter opened King Tut’s tomb (墓穴), it was full of gold and other valuables. When he and his team then attempted to remove King Tut’s mummy (木乃伊), they did a great deal of damage to the mummy while removing it.

Decades later, in 1968, experts conducted an examination of King Tut’s mummy using simple X-ray technology. Three important discoveries led to various theories about his death. First, the X-rays showed that bones in Tut’s chest were missing. Some guessed the damage was caused by a war injury or an accident. Plus, there was a small hole in the back of the skull (头骨), and pieces of bone inside it, causing many to believe that Tut was killed by a blow to the back of the head. Was he murdered by people wanting to take control of Egypt? Finally, a serious broken bone was discovered on Tut’s left leg. Tut was hurt a few hours before his death. This could have been the result of an accident. Could an infection from the injury have killed Tut?

In 2005, scientists under the direction of Zahi Hawass used new X-ray technology to study the mummy. They discovered that the damage to Tut’s chest was caused by Howard Carter, and the hole in Tut’s skull was made when the body was gotten ready for burial. While this ruled out the theory of murder, it still doesn’t tell us exactly how he died.

Then, in 2008, when Hawass and his team analyzed the DNA of the mummies and other tombs nearby, they made some shocking discoveries. They found Tut’s father and mother, who had similar DNA, were actually brother and sister. The DNA they passed on to Tut may have made it easy for him to catch a disease. Did an infection that started in his broken leg cause his death? No one knows for sure. But Hawass and his team hope they will someday have an answer to this age-old mystery.

2 . Geography plays a critical role in shaping civilizations, and this is particularly true of ancient Greece.

The Greek peninsula (半岛)has two distinctive geographic features that influenced the development of Greek society. First, Greece has easy access to water. This easy access to water meant that the Greek people might naturally become explorers and traders. Second, Greece’s mountainous geography led to the development of the city-state. The high mountain s made it very difficult for people to travel or communicate. Therefore, each city-state developed independently and, often, very differently from one another. Athens and Sparta are two good examples of city-states that contrasted greatly with each other.

The city-state of Athens was the birthplace of many significant ideas. Ancient Athenians were a thoughtful people who enjoyed the systematic study of subjects such as science, philosophy, and history, to name a few. Athenians placed a heavy emphasis on the arts, architecture, and literature. Athenians also enjoyed a democratic(民主的)form of government in which some of the people shared power.

Life in Sparta was vastly different from life in Athens. The rulers requested citizens to become hardened soldiers so that they could fight off potential enemies or slave revolts(奴隶起义). By age seven，Spartan boys were taken from their families and underwent severe military training. Boys lived away from their families until the age of 30 even after they more married. Men were expected to be ready to serve in the army until they were 60 years old. The devotion of Spartans to developing a military state left litte time for the arts or literature.

The differences between Athens and Sparta eventually led to war between the two city-states. Sparta and Athens fought on and off for decades because no single city-state was strong enough to defeat the other.

With war came death and misfortune. But war cannot kill ideas. Despite the eventual submission of Athens, Athenian thought spread throughout the region. After temporary setbacks. these ideas only became more widely accepted and developed with the passing centuries.

4 . The history of the school bus can date back to 1886 when the Wayne Works company made horse-drawn carriages (四轮马车) known as “ school wagons” or “kid hacks” in Indiana.     1    

In the early 1900s, the car industry was beginning to develop fast.    2     The company managed to make its carriages powered by engines. But the design remained mostly the same as that of the previous ones, with students sitting along the walls of the bus while facing inside.

In 1927, a man built the first bus that primarily used steel. Before long, Wayne Works introduced the first all-steel school bus body with safety glass windows.     3     This led to a turning point in the history of the school bus in 1939, when a conference was organised at Manhattan College to develop school bus standards.

Many new national standards were created, determining everything from seating designs to the famous yellow color that school buses still sport today. The reason why the color was chosen was simple.     4    The color is especially easy to see in the early morning and evening light when school buses usually operate.

    5     For example, a variety of changes have been made to enable the school bus to not only be safer but also have better fuel (燃料) economy, be easier to drive, etc. The most creative approach among all of these is probably a kind of stop signal arm that warns traffic of a stop in progress, which states began to require in the early 1950s.

In China, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, or “loong,” as is known in Chinese. This creature appears on many cultural artifacts     1     (pass) down through Chinese history.

Unlike Western dragons,     2     are often depicted as aggressive, fire-breathing, flying lizards, Chinese loongs     3     (traditional) symbolize strong and favourable powers. In Chinese mythology ( 神 话 ), the loong is credited with ensuring a good harvest. The unique appearance of the Chinese loong distinguishes it    4     its Western counterparts.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have respected the loong,     5     (believe) that they can bring harmony and prosperity. According to Chinese mythology, the Yan Emperor’s mother had seen a loong just before she was pregnant and soon the Yan Emperor       6       (bear). So the Chinese regard the Yan Emperor as their forefather, and they sometimes refer to     7       (they) as “descendants of the loong (龙的传人).”

At a historical site in Liaoning Province, a stone sculpture of a loong was discovered in 1994.       8       (measure) 19.70 meters in length, the sculpture       9       (date) back to more than 7,600 years ago. The idiom “龙年大吉” means “good luck in the year of the loong.” We wish all of us       10       happy and lucky Chinese New Year!

Paper-making is a reflection of ancient Chinese wisdom,     1     (regard) as one of the Four Great Inventions of China. Among various types of paper in China, Xuan paper, traditionally handmade in Xuancheng, Anhui province, is famous for its close association    2    Chinese calligraphy and ink paintings.

The     3    (early) mention of Xuan paper is in On Famous Paintings Through History, a book by a scholar from the Tang Dynasty. It listed many characteristics of Xuan paper, like its stability, its durability and its    4    (resist) to insects. Yet     5    positioned it as an ideal medium for calligraphy and painting is its capacity to display various ink shades. Such are the features of the Xuan paper    6    it has gained favor among artists and calligraphers across generations.

With the growing popularity of Xuan paper in recent years, the industry has expanded     7    (dramatic) in Anhui. Last year, large quantities of Xuan paper, to be precise, about 500 metric tons,     8    (produce) in Xuancheng,     9     engaged more than 30, 000 local people in the industry. Currently, the local government is building a Xuan paper cultural park and a Xuan paper town    10     (develop) cultural tourism.