In AD 79, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, in southern Italy,     1     (destroy) by a volcanic eruption that buried many of its buildings. Archaeologists have been observing it for almost 300 years but now they have a new tool — virtual reality (VR) — for understanding     2    Pompeii might once have looked like.

Researchers, Danilo Campanaro and Giacomo Landeschi, from Lund University in Sweden, used data that were collected by drones to create     3    3D computer reconstruction of one of its most amazing buildings, then     4     (feed) the reconstruction into a video game system where a VR model is made. The idea is not just to recreate the buildings     5     to understand a bit more about how Roman people might have experienced them. Campanaro and Landeschi asked     6     (volunteer) to take a virtual tour of the house in both summer and winter light. The researchers used special eye-tracking technology to record     7     (exact) which areas people looked at and for how long. From this, the team concluded that the building used clever designs     8     (draw) attention to the very objects     9     showed off the wealth and status of its owner — perhaps a man called Lucius Valenius Flaccus, whose ring was found     10     the ruins.

The five interlocked Olympic rings have become fairly familiar at this point. But do you know what they mean and the story behind their    1    (create)?

The 1912 Olympic Games, held in Sweden, were the first to include athletes from    2    were then considered the five continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and America.    3     (inspire) by what had become a    4    (true) global event, Coubertin designed the symbol of the Games: the Olympic rings. Since 1920, the Olympic rings    5    (use) in every summer and winter Games.

Given what we know about colors and their many symbolic    6    (mean), it seems like it’d be safe to assume that each color featured in the Olympic rings would stand     7    something specific, like a continent.    8    in reality, that’s not the case at all. Coubertin    9    (choose) the six official Olympic colors——blue, yellow, black, green, red and white (featured in the background)——because when he introduced the symbol in 1913, every single flag of the nations     10    (participate) in the games could be reproduced using the colors in the Olympic symbol. Or, in his own words: “The six colors thus combined reproduce those of all nations without exception.”

Written in Bone

You may never write words on an oracle bone（甲骨）or tortoise shell, but you might see them in a museum. They are what we call “the oracle bone scripts（手迹）

    1    （celebrate） the 120th anniversary of the     2     （discover） of these scripts, the National Museum of China is running an exhibition called Zheng Gu Ze Jin（证古泽今）.It runs through December 22.

According to China Daily, the exhibition addresses the     3     （significance） meaning of the oracle bones to the past and present of an ancient continually evolving civilization”.

The earliest confirmed evidence shows that more than 3.000 years ago, people in the late Shang Dynasty    4    （start） to write characters on pieces of bones and turtle shells. The oracle bone scripts are records of divinations( 占卜）and prayers to the gods from people in that era.

The scripts are pictograms（象形文字）.They come from pictures of the objects     5     they refer to. "The oracle bone scripts, as     6     earliest known and mature form of Chinese characters, present the beauty and uniqueness of a language that has been passed down     7     （continuous），" said Chen Nan, a professor of Tsinghua University's Academy of Art and Design. Apart     8     learning the past, oracle bone scripts also have an influence on today.

The society producing the oracle bone scripts shared many of the characteristics     9    （recognize） today as typically Chinese. "These valuable inscriptions from China show that the memory recorded in the documentary heritage（遗产）is an irreplaceable way of transmitting tradition, culture and historical     10    （aware）. Marielza Oliveira, director of UNESCO's Beijing office, told China Daily.

People send birthday wishes using cards and postcards in many cultures. It’s not known when and where the tradition of     1     (send) birthday cards began, however, it is believed     2     it was in England in the early nineteenth century. In those days people sent birthday cards because they couldn’t wish somebody     3     happy birthday in person.

In 1840, the first postage stamp was issued in Britain and sending birthday cards became     4     (cheap) and therefore more popular. The     5     (develop) of colour printing processes in the 1930s also helped to increase sales of cards.

Today usually cards     6     (give) with a present, even when people can send     7     (they) wishes in person. In recent times, e-cards have also become popular: many people are starting to use these instead of traditional cards as they are free, environmentally     8     (friend) and arrive more quickly. So will e-cards take the place     9     paper cards in ten or twenty years? Probably not. For young children and old people or for very formal occasions, e-cards are not proper and some people     10     (simple) don’t use the Internet.

The Great Wall of China     1     (list) in the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just     2     a huge dragon, it winds up and down across deserts, grasslands and mountains,     3     (cover) thousands of kilometers from the east to the west of China.

In ancient China, many people built walls around their states to protect their land. It was Emperor Qin Shihuang who had the walls     4     (join) up. The project cost much money and hundreds of thousands of people worked on     5     wall. On top of it, it is wide enough for four horses or ten men     6     (walk) side by side. Along the wall are watchtowers, in     7     soldiers used to keep watch. With a history of more than 2,000 years, some of the sections of the Great Wall are now in ruins or even disappeared. However, it is still one of the most     8     (attract) spots around the world because of its wonderful buildings and historical     9     (important). Many of the tourists have come to know the famous Chinese saying --- “He who does not reach the Great Wall     10     (be) not a true man.”

It was the spring of 1943 during World War Ⅱ. Standing among hundreds of new     1    (soldier）at Camp Grant, Sam, just 18 years old, waited as a truck slowly drove by.     2     full field pack was randomly thrown to each soldier.

Sam received    3     (he) After he opened the pack and looked at the things in it, he was greatly    4    （astonish）. He found his last name, Litrenti, was marked on each thing in his pack. "How strange!" Sam thought. He didn' t think the one     5     threw the field pack to him knew who he was.

So why was Sam’s last name marked on the things? You may not believe it, but it was the field pack that his father     6    （use）during World War I .

Sam     7    （certain） didn’t know that when he received it. It wasn' t until after the war     8     he found out why.

After the war, he talked     9    that with his father. After     10    .（talk）for a while, Sam's father became sure that the pack once belonged to him.

Both the father and the son couldn't believe that ! What a coincidence!