1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The Antonine Plague (瘟疫)

The year was 166 C. E., and the Roman Empire was in its prime (鼎盛时期). The successful Roman troops, under the command of Emperor Lucius Verrus, returned to Rome after defeating their Parthian enemies. As they marched west toward Rome, they carried with them more than the spoils of Parthian temples; they also carried an epidemic that     1     (ruin) the Roman Empire over the course of the next two decades.

The Antonine Plague,     2     was known later, would reach every corner of the empire and is     3     most likely claimed the life (夺取生命) of Lucius Verrus himself in 169 — and possibly     4     of his co-emperor Marcus Aurelius in 180.

The effect of the epidemic on Rome’s armies was obviously destructive. Closeness to sick fellow soldiers and bad living conditions made it possible for the outbreak to spread rapidly throughout the troops, such as     5     who were based along the northern frontier at Aquileia. Troops elsewhere in the empire     6     (strike) in the same way. To reverse their shrinking soldiers, they sent the sons of soldiers to troops. Army discharge certificates (退伍证书) from the Balkan region suggest that there was an obvious decrease in the number of soldiers who were allowed to retire from military service during the period of the plague.

The effect on the civilian population was evidently by no means less severe. In his letter to Athens in 174, Marcus Aurelius loosened (放宽) the requirements for membership to the ruling council of Athens,     7     there were now too few surviving upper-class Athenians who met the requirements he     8     (introduce) before the outbreak.

It has been estimated     9     the death rate over the 23-year period of the Antonine Plague was 7 - 10 percent of the population. Besides the practical consequences of the outbreak, the psychological impact on the populations could not be ignored. It is easy to imagine the sense of fear and helplessness     10     ancient Romans must have felt in the face of such a ruthless, painful, disfiguring and frequently fatal disease.

2 . It was in the archives(档案室) of the Archbishop of York that Matthew Collins had a sudden insight: He was surrounded by millions of animal skins.

Another person might say they were surrounded by books and manuscripts written on parchment, which is made from skins, usually of cows and sheep. Collins, however, had been trying to make sense of animal—bone fragments from archaeological digs, and he began to think about the advantages of studying animal skins, already cut into rectangles and arranged neatly on a shelf. Archaeologists consider themselves lucky to get a few dozen samples, and here were millions of skins just sitting there.

In recent years, archaeologists and historians have awakened to the potential of ancient DNA extracted from human bones and teeth. DNA evidence has enriched—and complicated—stories of prehistoric human migrations. It has provided clues to epidemics such as the black death. It has identified the remains of King Richard III, found under a parking lot. But Collins isn't just interested in human remains. He’s interested in the things these humans made; the animals they bred, slaughtered, and ate; and the economies they created.

That’s why he was studying DNA from the bones of livestock—and why his lab is now at the forefront of studying DNA from objects such as parchment and beeswax. These objects can fill in gaps in the written record, revealing new aspects of historical production and trade. How much beeswax came from North Africa, for example?

Collins splits his time between Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen, and it’s hard to nail down exactly what kind of -ologist he is. He has a knack for gathering experts as diverse as parchment specialists, veterinarians, geneticists, archivists, economic historians, and protein scientists (his own background). “All I do is connect people together,” he said. “I’m just the ignorant one in the middle.”

However, it didn’t take long his group to hit their first culture conflict. In science and archaeology, destructive sampling is at least tolerated, if not encouraged. But book conservators were not going to let people in white coats come in and cut up their books. Instead of giving up or fighting through it, Sarah Fiddyment, a postdoctoral research fellow working with Collins, shadowed conservationists for several weeks. She saw that they used white Staedtler erasers to clean the manuscripts, and wondered whether that rubbed off enough DNA to do the trick. It did: the team found a way to extract DNA and proteins from eraser pieces, a compromise that satisfied everyone. The team has since sampled 5,000 animals from parchment his way.

Collins is not the first person to think of getting DNA from parchment, but he’s been the first to do it at scale. Studying the DNA in artifacts is still a relatively new field, with many prospects that remain unexplored. But in our own modern world, we’ve already started to change the biological record, and future archaeologists will not find the same treasure of hidden information in our petroleum - laden material culture. Collins pointed out what we no longer rely as much on natural materials to create the objects we need. What might have once been leather or wood or wool is now all plastic.

1. How is Collin’s study different from the study of other archaeologists?

A．He studies human skins and bones.

B．He is the first person to study animal skins.

C．He studies objects related to humans and their lives.

D．His study can provide clues to previous epidemics.

2. The word “-ologist” in paragraph 5 most probably refers to ________.

A．a subject covering a wide area

B．an area to explore

C．a person with special expert knowledge

D．a method to carry out research

3. Collin thinks of himself as ignorant because ________.

A．his major doesn’t help his research

B．he can’t connect experts of different fields

C．he finds it hard to identify what kind of -ologist he is

D．his study covers a wide range of subjects beyond his knowledge

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Destructive sampling is not allowed in the field of science and archeology.

B．Collin made a compromise by only studying copies of books made of animal skins.

C．Book protectors were opposed to Collin’s study because his group tracked them for several weeks.

D．It is difficult for future archeologist to study what society is like today due to plastic objects.

5. What may be the appropriate title of this passage?

A．A new discovery in archaeology

B．A lab discovering DNA in old books

C．Archaeology on animals seeing a breakthrough

D．Collin's contributions to the identification of old books