The Colosseum, originally known     1    the Flavian Amphitheatre (圆形露天竞技技场), is perhaps Rome's most famous attraction and is one of the best things to see in Italy. It is a     2    (history) amphitheater, the largest ever built.     3    (date) back to 70 C.E, it is one of the best-preserved ruins from the Roman Empire. Stories say the Colosseum was built to a practical design, with its 80 arched entrances     4    (allow) easy access to 55,000 audiences, who were seated according to rank.

Between 70-72 C.E., the Colosseum was commissioned by Emperor Vespasian,     5    aim was to gain popularity by staging deadly combats of gladiators (角斗士) and wild animal for public viewing. These combats were attended by the poor, the rich, and    6    (he). It     7    (complete) by his son, Titus, in 80 C.E., with later improvements by Domitian.

It was used continuously although the usage changed over the years. The Frangipani family    8    (apparent) turned the structure into a castle. By the beginning of the 20th century, nearly two-thirds of it was destroyed from natural disasters and the removal materials. It wasn't until the 1990s     9     restorative efforts really began to turn the building around. This is also     10    it started to attract thousands of tourists worldwide.

2 . A biologist from the National Park Service discovered a rare and unusual mammoth (猛犸) skull (颅骨) buried in a 13,000-year-old rock laver on the Santa Rosa Island, the second largest landmass in the Channel Islands, California. The fossil of the extinct giant animal is leaving many paleontologists (古生物学家) scratching their heads. Despite the fact that it’s possibly the best preserved mammoth skull ever found and of high scientific importance, the species of the individual it belonged to can’t seem to be identified yet — it’s too big to be a pygmy (特别矮小的) mammoth and too small to have come from a Columbian mammoth. Some say it’s a new species while others believe the truth lies somewhere in between.

The first mammoths showed up in North America around two million years ago, but it was only during the last two ice ages that the Columbian species, which could grow to be up to 14 feet tall, made its way to the Channel Islands 100 miles west of Los Angeles. Once the ice melted, many populations became trapped on the island and evolved into pygmy mammoths, an endemic species (地方物种) to the Channel Islands which grew only to six feet tall.

Judging from its size, the newly found mammoth skull doesn’t seem to fit any of the two species, Columbian or pygmy. To make things even more confusing, one of its two tusks (象牙) is nearly five feet long and coiled in a manner that resembles those of fully grown mammoths but the left tusk is shorter and sloped, more like a juvenile (青少年).

This has caused some scientists to say the Santa Rosa skull may belong to a transitional species. Whatever’s the case, a following examination of the mammoth’s teeth should out the matter to rest. The analysis will also tell us how old the mammoth was when it died, so we can tell for sure whether it was an adult or juvenile.

More interesting than the mammoth’s lineage (宗系), however, might be its story. The giant mammal lived 13,000 years ago or roughly the same timeline of the “Arlington Man”, a 13,000-year-old human skeleton also found on Santa Rosa. Some 3,000 years later humans were already spread throughout the continent and the Channel Islands’ mammoth went extinct. The present finding might help reveal a link between the two.

The remains also seem to confirm a long-held assumption that there were two mammoth migrations to the Channel Islands. “The discovery of this mammoth skull increases the probability that there were at least two migrations of Columbian mammoths to the island: during the most recent ice age 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, as well as the previous ice age that occurred about 150,000 years ago,” said USGS geologist Dan Muhs.

Archaeologists uncover 3000-year-old gold mask in southwest China

The remains of a gold mask are among a huge storage of 3,000-year-old artifacts(手工艺品) found at an archaeological site in China's Sichuan province.

    1     (weigh) about 280 grams (0.6 pounds) and estimated to be made from 84% gold, the ceremonial mask is one of over 500 items unearthed from six newly discovered “sacrificial pits”(祭祀坑). Some experts say the items may shed     2     (far) light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin(盆地)     3    it was conquered in 316 BC.

More than 50,000 ancient artifacts     4     (find) at Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when a local farmer     5     (accident) came upon a number of relics at the site.     6     major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with two ceremonial pits discovered.

Sanxingdui is believed to have sat at the heart of the Shu state,     7     historians know relatively little about due to insufficient written records.     8     (discover) made at the site date back to the 12th and 11th centuries BC, and many of the items are now     9     display at an on-site museum.

Though not yet recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanxingdui is on the organization’s “tentative list” for possible future     10     (include). Along with other Shu archaeological sites, it is credited by the UN agency as “an outstanding representative of the Bronze Age Civilization of China, East Asia and even the world.”

Thousands of people were attracted to.a 2-meter-wide lane（小巷）in Tongcheng, Anhui province this spring festival. Although     1     was impossible to count the exact number, at least 5,000 people visited it each day.

This narrow lane,     2    （call）Liuchi Lane in Chinese, won greater popularity after the story behind it was broadcast on a CCTV show. At first glance it may seem unimportant, but to those     3     know its history, Liuchi Lane means much more than its     4    （appear）. In the early Qing Dynasty it served     5     the boundary between Zhang family and Wu family. They quarreled     6    （fierce）over which family had the right to build a wall on the dividing line. After     7    （fail）to make a compromise, the Zhangs turned to Zhang Ying, a family member of Zhangs and also a top official in the emperor's court. To their surprise, Zhang Ying did not provide the support they needed. He called     8     his family to step back 1 meter from the boundary. Seeing that, the Wus agreed to move back       9     meter, thus Liuchi lane was born.

In reality, the story of Liuchi Lane is not only about how to get     10     with others, but also a guideline for all the officials in China.

8 . The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, is remembered for the many things he did during his rule. Between 221 and 210 B. C. , he started the construction of the Great Wall of China. He built a large network of roads. He introduced a new writing system, currency, and set of measurements. The emperor also ordered the construction of a huge army of life-sized terracotta soldiers. These, he hoped, would protect his tomb after his death.

Today, the soldiers in Xi'an's terracotta museum are light brown, but they weren't always this color. They began as an army of red, blue, yellow, green, white, and purple. Sadly, most of the colors did not last to the present day. Before their discovery, the clay soldiers were protected by being underground. When they were unearthed, however, the air caused the coating under the paint to fall off. The paint disappeared in less time than it takes to boil an egg, taking with it important pieces of history.

New techniques are now starting to reveal the army's true colors. Archeologists have recently discovered an area with more than a hundred soldiers. Many of these still have their painted features, including black hair, pink faces, and black or brown eyes. Chinese and German researchers have developed a special liquid to help preserve the soldiers, colors. After they find a soldier or other artifact, archeologists spray it with the liquid. They then cover it in plastic.

Archeologists are also finding colors in the dirt around Xi'an's terracotta warriors. It's important not to disturb the dirt, so the colors won't be lost. “We are treating the earth as an artifact, says archeologist Rong Bo, the museum's leading chemist. The next challenge, says Rong, is to find a way to apply the colors to the army again. Once that happens, artists can bring. Emperor Qin's army back to life in full color.

10 . A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species.

The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard Universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant.

Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石), mammoths and mastodons, the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.

The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.

There has been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.

Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.

Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950, all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”