1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. alternative             B. capacity             C. characteristic             D. extinct             E. exclude             F. identity G. increasingly       H. interacting             I. measuring                    J. narrative             K. restore

The earliest storytellers

A stunning cave painting discovered in Indonesia may be the earliest evidence of storytelling. The artwork is at least 43,900 years old, and shows that humans were depicting scenes tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

The painting is a 4.5-metre-wide hunting scene, discovered by Maxime Aubert of Griffith University, Australia and his colleagues. It depicts at least eight small human-like figures hunting two pigs and four dwarf buffaloes with spears or ropes. “It’s a(n)    1    scene,” says Aubert. He and his colleagues calculated the painting’s age by    2    the levels of uranium (铀) in stone layers that cover the images. At 43,900 years old, it could be the oldest figurative cave painting that has yet been found although we don't know what type of human made them. Until this discovery, the oldest known artworks depicting visual “stories”, with humans and animals    3    in a recognizable scene, dated from around 20,000 years ago and was found in Europe, such as the famous Lascaux paintings in France. “Now we show that at least 44,000 years ago, in South-East Asia, humans were telling stories and they were depicting them in rock art,” says Aubert.

“It’s really an exciting discovery,” says Genevieve von Petzinger at the University of Victoria, Canada, “It shows a (n)    4    timeline of how art developed. When you get a scene like this one, it opens the door a little further." The human-like figures appear to have animal    5    .” They are half human, half animal. The oldest previously known example was the Lion Man statue. Carved around 40,000 years ago, it combines a lion's head and human body. Until now, it was the earliest evidence of the ability of humans to depict things that don’t exist in nature-a(n)    6    linked to imagination and spirituality. “Now it seems the same thing was happening in South-East Asia, but even earlier,” says Aubert.

The cave painting gives us a glimpse into the minds of the people who created the Indonesian art, but we don’t yet know whether they were modern humans or one of our    7    cousins. The team hasn't found human remains in the Sulawesi cave, says Aubert, so it isn't possible to be sure of the    8    of the artists.

One possible group is the Denisovans, who may also have lived in Asia at this time. Earlier this year, while studying a site in China thought to have been home to Denisovans, a team of researchers revealed artistic engravings on a piece of bone.

“We can’t completely    9    Denisovans or another species,” says Aubert of the Indonesian cave art, “There were probably at least two other species that lived in this region at the same time as modern humans.”

The discovery comes as archaeologists    10    turn their attentions towards Asia. “People should stay tuned to Asia,” says von Petzinger, “In the next decade there will be many exciting announcements coming from this part of the world.”

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need. (1’*7=7’)

A. executive B. substantially C. borders D. minority E. fiercely F. unrest G. efficient H. move

Ukraine, a nation whose history has experienced long periods of occupation from other countries, today wrestles(摔跤，全力应付)between war and peace, as well as between corruption and reform. The nation     1    the Black and Azov seas to the south and lies next to several Eastern European nations, including Russia.

Ukraine declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Its president is directly elected by voters. The prime minister is the head of the central government, which is separated along     2    , legislative and judicial branches.

The country’s post-Soviet political life has been controversial, disturbed by persistent charges of government corruption and fraud. Large-scale protests at the end of 2013 turned violent in 2014, leading to the ouster(罢免)of the government and     3    in the heavily ethnic Russian eastern regions of Ukraine. Russia annexed(抢占)the Crimea region of Ukraine in early 2014, a     4    by Moscow that has been widely criticized by the international community.

Ukraine joined into a free trade area at the beginning of 2016, and the World Bank noted that the country’s economy did begin to show signs of a weak recovery. A broader recovery has been held back, the World Bank says, by continuing conflict in the east and the need for reforms.

Ukraine entered a long-awaited agreement with the European Union in September 2017, a move that brings the country a step closer to the goal of joining the European Union and NATO.

Services, industry and agriculture are Ukraine’s three largest economic sectors. The nation     5    relies on natural gas imports from Russia to meet its energy needs. Agricultural production and energy consumption can be made more     6    , and in doing so Ukraine could play an important role in global food security, according to the World Bank. Culturally, Ukraine is influenced by Western and Central Europe, Russia to the east and by religion— the predominant faith in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy. The country has a rich history in literature, music, architecture and folk art, including “pysanky”, Ukrainian Easter eggs. Ethnic Ukrainians form the overwhelming majority of the country’s population, with ethnic Russians serving as the largest     7    group.

Ukraine is a member of major international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Commonwealth of Independent States.