1 . An individual from an unknown hominid (原始人类) species walked across a field of wet, volcanic ash in what is now East Africa around 3.66 million years ago, leaving behind a handful of footprints.

Those five ancient footprints, largely ignored since they were partly unearthed at Tanzania’s Laetoli site in 1976, show features of upright walking by a hominid, a new study finds. Researchers had previously considered them hard to classify, possibly produced by a young bear that took a few steps while standing. But the latest analysis refutes that suggestion.

McNutt, DeSilva, who started the new investigation as a Dartmouth College graduate student, and their colleagues fully dug out and cleaned the five Laetoli footprints in June 2019. Then they measured, photographed and 3-D scanned the ancient tracks. McNutt’s group focused on two footprints that were particularly well-preserved. Foot shapes, sizes, and walking characteristics of the Laetoli individual differed in various ways from those of other hominid individuals at the same site. The prints also didn’t match those from modern black bears and modern chimps (黑猩猩) walking upright.

The Laetoli individual possessed a wider, more chimplike foot than humans, the researchers say. Its big toe stuck out slightly from the second toe (脚趾), but not to the degree observed in chimps. On one step, the Laetoli individual’s left leg crossed in front of the right leg, leaving a left footprint directly in front of the previous track. People may cross-step in this way when trying to regain balance. And bears and chimps assume a relatively wide standing due to knee and other bone arrangements that prevent them from walking like the Laetoli individual and probably from cross-stepping, the scientists say.

Given that only two of the ancient footprints are complete enough to analyze thoroughly, the possibility that a chimp other than a hominid made the Laetoli footprints can’t be ruled out, says William Harcourt-Smith, a scientist at Lehman College. But evidence of cross-stepping is enough to prove that it was a hominid track maker, he says.

1. What does the underlined word “refutes” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Objects to.

B．Supports.

C．Puts forward.

D．Criticizes.

2. Why do researchers think the footprints were unlike those of bears or chimps?

A．They are less chimplike.	B．They have toes sticking out.
C．They show a wider standing.	D．They get features of cross-stepping.

3. What does William think of the new research finding?

A．Challenging.	B．Convincing.
C．Confusing.	D．Conflicting.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To share a new discovery.	B．To describe a major event.
C．To settle a huge disagreement.	D．To introduce an unknown species.

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（一个词）或括号内单词的正确形式.

The UK is also called Great Britain, Britain or England. Many people are     1    (confuse) by these different names. In fact, they are shortened names for     2     United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In the 16th century, Wales was joined     3     the Kingdom of England and with Scotland joining in the 18th century, the Kingdom of Great Britain came into being. In the 19th century, the Kingdom of Ireland was added       4    (create) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. However, the southern part of Ireland       5    (break) away from the UK in the following century, and thus the name of the country was     6     (final) changed into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,     7    is still in use. 

In the UK, it is easy to collect evidence of the four     8     (group) of people who took over at different times. The UK has     9    (interest) history and culture, and     10    (it) capital London is the typical city which is well worth exploring.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Cuju was an ancient Chinese competitive game involving kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It first appeared in the famous ancient Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), which described cuju as a form of     1     (entertain) among the general public.

Later, cuju was commonly played in the army     2     military training purposes, during the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD). Emperor Hangaozu Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, was a cuju fan,     3     not only liked watching cuju games, but always tried his footwork on the playground. Liu Che. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, used cuju as a way of training soldiers.

”The earliest record of women cuju players can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. We can see from the paintings females with their hair     4    (tie), waving their long sleeves and looking smart when playing cuju.

As a way of national culture protection, cuju     5    (list) into the first batch of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritages in 2006.