1 .

The tracks found at New Mexico’s White Sands National Park are turning upside down past assumptions on when humans first came into North and South America. They look like they were left behind just moments ago by a barefoot teen visitor to New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, each footprint freshly defined (描出外形) by sand. But this is no tourist track. These footprints are among the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas, marking the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that challenges when and how people first got into this unexplored land.

According to the research team, the footprints were pressed into the mua near an ancient lake at White Sands between 21, 000 and 23, 000 years ago, a time when many scientists think that huge ice sheets walled off human passage into North America.

Exactly when humans populated the Americas has been heatedly debated for nearly a century, and until recently, many scientists insisted that this first occurred no earlier than 13, 000 years ago. A growing number of discoveries suggest people were in North and South America thousands of years before. These include the Monte Verde site in Chile that is as old as 18, 500 years and the Gault site in Texas that is up to 20,000 years old. But each find kicks up a firestorm of controversy among scientists.

While the White Sands discovery doesn’t close the book on these debates, it is stirring excitement. “A discovery like this is very close to finding the Holy Grail (圣杯),” says Ciprian Ardelean, an archacologist at the Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico, where researchers believe they have evidence for human activity in the Americas as early as 30,000 years ago.

If confirmed, the discovery of people in the Americas during the last glacial maximum (末次盛冰期)would require a major change in scientifie thinking about how people arrived in the New Werld.

1. What is the previous conclusion on the first arrivals of Americas?

A．Humans came into Americas about 23, 000 years ago.

B．Humans first appeared in Americas to explore the land.

C．Humans didn’t arrive in Americas until 13, 000 years ago.

D．Humans couldn’t enter Americas because of White Sands.

2. Why are the Monte Verde site in Chile and the Gault site in Texas mentioned?

A．To add evidence.	B．To introduce the background.
C．To give data.	D．To end the debate.

3. What does the underlined word “controversy” mean?

A．Excitement.

B．Argument.

C．Disagreement.

D．Interest.

4. What does Ciprian Ardelean think of the discovery in Paragraph 4?

A．Trustworthy.

B．Questionable.

C．Inspiring.

D．Disappointing.

5. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Humans populated the Americas for nearly one hundred years.

B．The tracks were found at New Mexico’s White Sands National Park.

C．The footprints are among the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas.

D．Surprising footprints push back human arrival in Americas by thousands of years.

2 . 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。

Several large wooden constructions     1     ( date) back to the Neolithic era（新石器时代) were unearthed at the Jijiaocheng ruins site, a prehistoric cultural site located in Changde City, central China's Hunan Province.

First discovered in 1978,the site used     2     ( be) a city from the Qujialing culture period (3300 BC-2600 BC) - a Neolithic civilization,     3     had roots in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River primarily     4     (find) in today's Hunan and Hubei provinces.

Researchers     5     (conduct) three excavations(挖掘)at the southwestern part of the city wall since 2020. More than 30 housing sites were discovered at the 721 -square-meter area,     6     a number of wooden architectural relics unearthed that were built 4,800 years ago. Researchers think they are the most complete and     7     (early) wooden structure building foundation in China. Besides, remains of rice husks (外壳) were also found at the site, covering     8     area of 80 square meters.

Researchers believe     9     ( strong) the new findings will enrich the architectural history of prehistoric China. " The     10     ( discover) helps us understand the overall architectural style of the Yangtze River Basin," said Zhao Hui, a professor at Peking University School of Archaeology and Museology.

3 . 语法填空

It seems inhuman to care more about a building than about people. That the sight of the Notre Dame's     1    (go)up in flames has attracted more attention than floods in southern Africa which killed over 1,000 has aroused understandable feelings of guilt. Yet the widespread sorrow is     2    (definite)human—and in a particularly 21st-century way.

It is not just the economy that is       3    (globe)today, it is culture too. People wander the world in search not just of jobs and       4    (secure)but also of beauty and history. Familiarity breeds affection. A building     5     whose sunny steps you have rested or in front of which you       6    (take)a selfie with your loved one, becomes a warm part of your memory. That helps explain why the whole world is in deep sorrow.

However, the emotions are less about the building itself than about     7     losing it might mean. Notre Dame is an expression of humanity, having experienced 850 years of political turbulence(动荡)—through war, revolution and Nazi occupation.

And it will be rebuilt. It will never be the same, but that is as it should be.     8     Victor Hugo wrote in The Hunchback of Notre Dame,     9     three-volume love-letter to the cathedral: “Great buildings are the work of centuries. Art     10    (transform)as it is being made. Time is the architect; the nation is the builder.”