3 . That dinosaurs ate the mammals (哺乳动物) that ran beneath their feet is not in doubt. Now an extraordinary fossil newly described in Scientific Reports, unearthed by a team led by Gang Han at Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology in China, shows that sometimes the tables were turned.

The fossil -dated to about 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period-was formed when a flow of boiling volcanic mud swallowed two animals seemingly locked in a life-and-death fight. The one on top is a mammal. This animal is a herbivorous species closely related to the Triceratops (三角恐龙). Animal interactions such as this are exceptionally cam e in the fossil record.

One possibility is that the mammal was eating something already dead, other than hunting live prey. These days it is uncommon for small mammals to attack much larger animals. But it is not unheard of. And Dr. Han and his colleagues point out that those mammals which eat dead bodies typically leave tooth marks all over the bones of the animals. The dinosaur’s remains show no such marks. There is also a chance the fossil could be a fake. More and more convincing fake s have emerged, as this one did -though Dr. Han and his colleagues argue that the complexly connected nature of the skeletons (骨骼) makes that unlikely, too.

Assuming it is genuine, the discovery serves as a reminder that not all dinosaurs were enormous during the Cretaceous and not all mammals were tiny. From nose to tail, the dinosaur is just 1.2 meters long. The mammal is a bit under half a meter in length. Despite being half the size, the mammal has one paw firmly wrapped around one of its prey’s limbs, and another pulling on its jaw. It is biting down on the dinosaur’s chest, and has ripped off two of its ribs. Before they were interrupted, it seems that the mammal was winning.

Discoveries made during the latest excavation of Pit No.1 at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, have allowed Chinese archaeologists to gain more insight into     1     the world-famous Terracotta Warriors and their weapons were made.

According to a recent report archaeologists     2     (restore) more than 140 Terracotta Warriors. They discovered that the arms of these figures were created separately and then attached to the bodies and covered in a layer of fine clay. The carving of fine details was completed     3     the arms were attached.     4     (additional), the pit has yielded a variety of weapons, including long-range attack weapons, shields for defense, as well as drums and drumsticks used for commanding soldiers.

“The Terracotta Warriors used a very special mechanism to connect pieces together. Such     5     (wise) was unique to China,” Lv Qiuxia,     6     expert on ancient Chinese art, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Lv added that the way the warriors were made differed based on their social status and class. “When     7     (analyze) how they were made, we noticed that the warriors were divided into different classes. This contributes to research     8     the burial culture of the Terracotta Warriors.” the expert noted.

Through excavations, Chinese researchers have established the types and arrangement of weapons     9     (use) by the Terracotta Warriors as well as the formations and patterns of the     10     (mystery) underground army.

The earliest written evidence of a soccer-like game comes from China. During the second and third centuries B.C., Chinese soldiers took part in an activity that involved kicking a ball into a small net. Historians think the game was a skill-building exercise for the soldiers.

In ancient Greece and Rome, teams of up to 27 players played a soccer-type game. In Britain hundreds of years later, during the thirteenth century A.D., whole villages played against each other. With hundreds of people playing, these games were both long and rough. Kicking, punching, and biting were common and allowed.

In 1331, English King Edward II passed a law in an attempt to put a stop to the popular but violent game. The king of Scotland spoke against the game a hundred years later. Queen Elizabeth I, during the late 1500s, passed a law that called for a week of jail for anyone caught playing “football”, or soccer, as we call it. But the game could not be stopped.

Two hundred and fifty years later, people in Britain were still playing a game we would recognize as soccer. A well-known English college Eton developed a set of rules in 1815. A number of other colleges soon agreed to use the same rules, and those schools played against each other. Finally, 50 years later, a formal association was formed to oversee the playing of the game and its rules. In 1869, a rule against handling the ball with the hands transformed the game into the sport of soccer that is wildly popular all around the world.

Tea drinking has been a traditional custom among native Beijingers. Teahouses formed in the Tang Dynasty,took off in the Song Dynasty and were recorded in YuanQu    1     ( write) in the Yuan Dynasty. As society developed,private teahouses, tea bars and teahouses with diverse features    2     ( create). Teahouses often served as centers of social interaction where people came to discuss personal affairs or even    3     ( politics) issues.

There are different types of teahouses including Pure Teahouses, Teahouses for Storytelling, Chess Teouses,etc. In Pure Teahouses, people do nothing but drink tea, most of    4    are unoccupied persons or the young from the rich family. Teahouses for Storyelling,    5    ( normal) in the afternoon and night, are welcomed by people with an interest in novels, pingshu and storytelling. Chess Teahouses are popular among those interested in playing chess.In the Qing Dynasty, there were also Chess Teahouses that served scholars and    6    (official) near Shichahai.

The tea culture has regained its popularity after a long term of dcline. In recent years teahouses with local characteristics    7     ( appear) in Beijing with the performance of Beijing Opera, or the combination of tea culture, folk customs    8    arts.

Laoshe Teahouse, for example, is widely famous in and beyond China    9    a cultural symbol in Beijing, where a large number of tea fans gather,    10    (enjoy) its rich tea culture.

One sunny day in the late spring of 353, a party took place with 40-some poets, scholars, and artists     1     (play) a drinking game by a river in Lanting, or the “Orchid Pavilion”, a hilly southwestern suburb of Shaoxing. They floated cups of wine in the flow of the stream.     2     the cup stopped in front of a guest, he had to compose a poem.

A total of 37 poems     3     (write) that day, but it was the foreword to the poetry collection by famed calligrapher Wang Xizhi, titled “Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion”, that made this party one of the best     4     (know) in Chinese literary history. In 324 words, Wang described the event while expressing his passion     5     life. The naturally-flowing strokes, a product of his outstanding skills and the     6     (inspire) of the moment have led the “Preface” to be regarded     7     (wide) as the best semi-cursive calligraphy(行书) work ever.

Today, visitors can go to the “Orchid Pavilion” area,     8     elegant garden complex on the former site of the party,     9     includes a calligraphy museum, a pavilion, and a pond, all     10     (surround) by thick bamboo forests. In downtown Shaoxing-a world of alleyways, green canals, ancient bridges and graying whitewashed houses, one can also visit a number of scenery sites connected with Wang’s stories from his time there.

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!

A Stone Age bird sculpture     1     (cover) in China could be a “missing link” in our understanding of prehistoric art.     2     (date) back almost 13,500 years, the sculpture is now the oldest known example of three-dimensional art in East Asia.

Described     3     being in “an exceptional state of preservation,” the sculpture was found at an archeological site in Lingjing, Henan Province. It was hand-carved from burned animal bone. Researchers say the sculpture depicts (刻画) a bird on a base, pointing to deliberate marks     4     the creature’s eyes and bill (嘴) would be. It is believed that the bird’s oversized tail was made     5     (prevent) the sculpture from leaning forward when     6     (lay) on a surface. This discovery identifies a(n)     7     (origin) artistic tradition and pushes back by more than 8,500 years the representation of birds in Chinese art. The sculpture differs     8     (technology) and stylistically from other sculptures found in Western Europe and Siberia, and it could be the missing link tracing the origin of Chinese statues back to the early part of the Stone Age. Li Zhanyang, who led     9     study, has contributed to other archeological findings in Lingjing, including various ancient     10     (tool) and two skulls belonging to an extinct species of early humans.