1 . The discovery of the ruined palace in the Mosul Dam reservoir on the banks of the Tigris River inspired an archeological dig that would improve understanding of the Mittani Empire, one of the least-researched empires of the ancient Near East, a team of German researchers said. “The find is one of the most important archeological discoveries in the region in recent decades,” Kurdish archeologist(考古学家) Hasan Qasim said.

The palace would have originally stood just 65 feet from the river on a terrace(梯田). A terrace wall of mud bricks was later added to make the building stable. Ivana Puljiz, an archeologist from the University of Tübingen’s Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies, describes the palace, known as Kemune, as a carefully designed building with mud-brick walls up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) thick.

The team also found wall paintings in shades of red and blue, which were probably a common feature of palaces at the time but have rarely been found preserved. “Discovering wall paintings in Kemune is an archeological sensation,” Puljiz said in a press release, “Kemune is only the second site in the region where wall paintings of the Mittani period have been discovered.”

Ten clay tablets covered in cuneiform, an ancient system of writing, were also discovered and have been sent to Germany for translation. “From the texts we hope to gain information on the inner structure of the Mitani Empire, its economic organization, and the relationship of the Mittani capital with the administrative centers in the neighboring regions,” Puljiz added.

Archeologists first became aware of the site in 2010 when water levels in the reservoir were low, but this is the first time they have been able to dig. However, the site was submerged(淹没) shortly after the dig, Puljiz said, adding“It is unclear when it will come out of water again”.

1. The function of the archeological dig is to ________.

A．attract people to travel to the Tigris River

B．help people know the Mittani Empire better

C．show ways of rebuilding the Mosul Dam reservoir

D．provide some clues about research on the Near East

2. Why was the mud-brick terrace wall built later?

A．To make the palace firmly built.	B．To offer tourists a place for rest.
C．To give tourists a good view.	D．To make the building better designed

3. What can we infer from Puljiz’s words in paragraph 3?

A．Kemune is different from any other palace.

B．Wall paintings were an important discovery.

C．Kemune is famous for its special wall paintings

D．Wall paintings were first discovered in the Mittani Empire.

4. What made the dig difficult for archeologists?

A．Translating the cuneiform into English	B．Knowing relationships between regions.
C．Waiting for the water level to drop.	D．Understanding the structure of the empire.