Deep in the jungle, the Maya built an empire (帝国). And now, scientists are unlocking more secrets about this ancient civilization with the     1     (discover) of 417 cities dating back to 2,000 years ago, said The Washington Post. The cities were found to be connected by 110 miles (177 kilometers) of “highways” in May. They     2     (consist) of the “world’s first-ever extensive system of highways”. The “highways”, as Reuters reported, were     3     (space) stone roadways. Plus, scientists also found pyramids, ball game courts and water     4     (engineer).

The Maya civilization was “far more advanced than we thought”, noted The Washington Post. The new findings showed that they were already busy     5     (create) cities in world history at the time, CNN reported. They did all this in a jungle environment,     6     is rare and impressive. They had to clear rainforest areas     7     (farm) and built large underground reservoirs to store rainwater.

    8    , by 900 BC, many Maya cities were abandoned, calling an end     9     the empire. Scientists still don’t know why. With new forms of technology, maybe this mystery and others could     10     (uncover), telling us even more about this fascinating civilization.

A great number of artifacts from eight tombs    1     (unearth) from an archaeological site in Hunan province several months ago. According to the provincial institute of heritage and archaeology, these artifacts, including pottery pieces and bronze    2     (knife), are believed    3     (date) back as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).

Six Eastern Han Dynasty tombs are brick tombs, three of    4     might have had owners from the same family, said Chen Bin,     5     member of the archaeological team of the tomb complex under the institute.

It is also the first time that archaeologists    6    (discover)a trench(战壕)4.5meters west of the back chamber of the largest tomb,     7     (measure) about 0.9 meters in width,     8     (approximate)15 meters in length and about 0.1 meters in depth.

“This excavation(挖掘)is    9     great significance to further understanding the funeral customs of people in southern Hunan, as well as the levels of    10     (economy)development and cultural exchanges during the period,” Chen said.

Papermaking technology is one of the four great     1     (invention) in ancient China. Before it was invented, the Chinese people carved or     2    (write) characters on tortoise shells, animal bones, bamboo slices, wooden plates or thin tough silk. Tortoise shells, animal bones and wooden plates were too heavy to use while silk was too expensive.

Till the Eastern Han Dynasty an official named Cai Lun created a kind of paper,    3     (use) bark (树皮) along with old fishnets, rags and hemp waste.     4     paper was suitable for writing and was also very cheap, so it became very popular. Therefore, Cai Lun’s contribution    5     the papermaking was great.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the papermaking technology was gradually improved. And then other materials such as bamboo and straw could also be used to make paper. Due to different material various types of paper were produced for different uses. For example, the Xuan paper     6    (make) in Xuanzhou of Anhui Province belonged to the high-quality paper     7    (special) adapted for use in Chinese calligraphy (书法) and painting.

Later, the technology     8    (introduce) to many countries. The invention of paper provides a more     9    (convenience) way for the storage and communication of information,    10     it also has great significance on the development of global civilization.

“Chinese Joan of Arc, ” Qiu Jin (1875-1907) , was a women’s rights activist and the leader of revolutionary army. She fearlessly challenged traditional gender roles and demanded equal rights and     1     (opportunity) for women. On January14th, 1907, she     2    (found) “Chinese Women’s Journal” in Shanghai, advocating women’s rights. She was the first women     3    (lead) an armed uprising against the Qing Dynasty, for which she was arrested and killed. Qiu Jin     4    (honor) as a national heroine today.

In general, doctors in those days had two contradictory theories to explain how cholera spread. One theory was that bad air caused the disease. Another was that cholera     1     (cause) by an infection from germs in food or water. Snow subscribed to the second theory. It was correct, but he still needed proof.     2     (consequence) ,when an outbreak of cholera hit London in 1854, Snow began to investigate. He discovered that in two particular streets the cholera outbreak was so severe that more than 500 people died in ten days. He was determined to find out     3    .