1 . A Michigan farmer Bristle was digging with a backhoe (反铲挖土机) in one of his wheat fields when — bang — it struck a large bone.
Bristle contacted Fisher, a paleontology (古生物学家) professor at the University of Michigan. Fisher rushed to the farm and identified the bone as a fossil of an Ice Age mammoth (猛犸象). Since it was harvest season, Bristle gave Fisher and his students only one day to remove the rest of the fossils from the ground. The team found 20 percent of the animal’s bones, including its skull, tusks, pelvis, and shoulder blades as well as some teeth, ribs, and other bones.
The age of a mammoth can be determined by counting the rings in one of its tusks. Like the rings in a tree trunk, each ring stands for one year of a mammoth’s life. Fisher thinks that the bones are supposed to belong to male mammoth around forty years old. It was probably a rare hybrid of a woolly mammoth and a Colombian mammoth that lived between 11,700 and 15,000 years ago during the Pleistocene lee Age, when ice sheets covered much of Earth’s land.
The bones appeared to have been cut up and some of them were missing, leading Fisher to conclude that early humans must have killed the animal and stored its meat so they could return to it at a later time. Some other indications of human activity include a stone flake (薄片) that might have been from a cutting tool and the arrangement of the neck bones in order. If the mammoth had died naturally, its bones would have scattered randomly.
In the US, fossils found on private property belong to the owner of the land. However, Bristle donated the fossils to the University of Michigan for further study. Fisher hopes to display the bones at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, possibly combined with fiberglass models of bones from other Michigan mammoths to form a complete Mammoth skeleton (骨架).
1. Why was Fisher’s time limited to one day?| A．Because the mammoth was a small one. | B．Because it was easy to remove the bones. |
| C．Because it was the time of gathering crops. | D．Because Bristle was busy planting in the field. |
| A．By counting the bones. | B．By judging the living age. |
| C．By measuring the ice sheets. | D．By numbering the tusk rings. |
| A．How the mammoth died. | B．Where the missing meat was. |
| C．How the stone flake was made. | D．Whether the neck bones scattered. |
| A．To own the fossils. | B．To study the mammoth. |
| C．To complete the skeleton. | D．To promote the university. |
2 . Researchers have found a group of lost cities in the Amazon rainforest. The cities were home to at least 10,000 farmers around 2,000 years ago.
Stéphen Rostain, one of the researchers, first noticed the earthen mounds (土墩) and buried roads in Ecuador more than twenty years ago. But at the time, he wasn’t sure how it all fitted together. Recent mapping using laser (激光) technology revealed those locations to be part of a group of settlements in the forested areas near the Andes mountains and connecting roads.
This LIDAR image provided by researchers in January 2024 shows complexes of rectangular (矩形) platforms arranged around low squares along wide dug streets at the Kunguints site, Upano Valley in Ecuador. “It was a lost valley of cities, and it’s incredible” said Rostain.
The Upano people lived in the settlements between around 500 B. C. and 300 to 600 A. D. That was around the same time period as the Roman Empire in Europe. Ancient people built on over 6,000 earthen mounds in an area surrounded by agricultural fields with drainage (排水) canals. The largest roads were 10 meters wide and went for 10 to 20 kilometers. While it is difficult to estimate populations, the area was home to at least 10,000 people, and possibly about 15,000 or 30,000 at its highest point. That is comparable to the estimated population of Roman-era London, then Britain’s largest city. The Amazon is often thought of as a wild area with only small groups of people. But recent discoveries have shown us how much more complex the past really is.
Scientists have recently also found evidence of complex rainforest societies that came before European contact elsewhere in the Amazon, including in Bolivia and Brazil. “There’s always been an incredible diversity of people and settlements in the Amazon, not only one way to live,” said Rostain. “We’re just learning more about them.”
1. What does Rostain think about the finding?| A．Unreasonable. | B．Understandable. | C．Unforgettable. | D．Unbelievable. |
| A．The lost cities’ long history and complex civilization. |
| B．The lost cities’ relationship with the Roman Empire. |
| C．The Upano people’s similarities in lifestyle with London. |
| D．The Upano people’s advanced agriculture and transport. |
| A．People have learned enough about the complex societies. |
| B．Much remains to be discovered about the lost societies. |
| C．The rainforest societies are as complex as ever thought. |
| D．European contact with the lost cities dates from long ago. |
| A．The Loss of Complex Rainforest Societies |
| B．The History of Complex Old Settlements |
| C．Researchers Discover Lost Cities in Amazon |
| D．Scientists Find Incredible Diversity of People |
3 . Walt Disney: A Legacy of Dreams
The name “Disney” evokes a rush of images: from the enchanted kingdom of Disneyland to the heartwarming tales of Bambi and Simba. For almost a century, Disney, initiated by Walt Disney himself, has been synonymous with storytelling, imagination, and dreams-come-true. But what’s the journey behind this global empire of happiness?
Founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy O. Disney, the company started as a small animation studio in the back of a real estate office in Los Angeles.
Disney’s first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in 1937.
Disneyland, opened in 1955, was Walt’s most ambitious venture (经营项目).
With Walt’s death in 1966, there were doubts about the future of the company.
Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
| A．The transformation from a humble beginning to a global business came with both achievements and challenges. |
| B．Each turn in the park promises a leap into fantasy, ensuring the magic is felt at every corner. |
| C．This venture greatly changed the landscape of cinematic history. |
| D．Though faced with initial skepticism, the park became an instant success. |
| E．Over the decades, it has redefined entertainment, proving that stories have no boundaries. |
| F．However, despite initial uncertainties in leadership and direction, the enterprise continued to grow. |
| G．It’s a universe of stories, where every character, every song, and every ride have a heart and soul. |
4 . Every day people joined archaeologists and artists in finding some of the year’s most dramatic discoveries. Below are some examples of 2023.
“Naughty pupils” — ancient punishment method resurfaces
Archaeologists discovered 18,000 ink-carved pieces of pottery — known as “ostraca” — at the site of Athribis early this year, and among them were hundreds of fragments (碎片) with a single symbol repeated front and back.
Those scribbles (潦草的文字) are evidence of “naughty pupils” being made to write lines, according to researchers at Germany’s University of Tuebingen. The fragments also included receipts, school texts, trade information and lists of names.
Van Gogh peers out in hidden portraits
There is one more known Van Gogh’s self-portrait in the world, and it was hidden behind a painting of a peasant woman. People made the discovery when they took an X-ray of one of his portraits from 1885 and discovered-the artist’s own image behind layers of cardboard and glue. While X-rays often reveal how artists changed their compositions, the full self-portrait of Van Gogh came as a huge surprise, who was known to reuse canvases (画布) to save money.
Another treasure collection from Sanxingdui
The Sanxingdui archaeological site has produced thousands of relics. The latest discovery, reported by Chinese state media in June includes 3,155 objects, a turtle shell-shaped box and a sacrificial altar among them. A team has been digging six places of the site, turning up more than 13,000 objects so far. Last year, the relics they uncovered included a golden mask, ivory artifacts (手工艺品) and a jade knife. The Sanxingdui culture still remains mysterious, as it left behind no written records or human remains, though many believe it to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, which ruled along the upper stream of the Yangtze River until it was conquered in 316 BC.
1. What made the researchers link the discovery with an ancient punishment?| A．Hundreds of fragment. | B．The repeated symbol. |
| C．The mark of ink. | D．Lists of names. |
| A．It was hidden behind a peasant woman. |
| B．The X-ray discovered the composition of the cardboard. |
| C．Van Gogh hid his self-portrait in this way to save money. |
| D．Van Gogh in the self-portrait looks outside. |
| A．An artificial altar. | B．A jade knife. |
| C．Human remains. | D．A turtle shell-shaped box. |
The United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, England—many people are
The United Kingdom has a long and interesting history to explore. Some of the Romans’ great
1. What do we know about Beowulf?
| A．Its writer is unknown. | B．It is a famous novel. | C．It is easy to understand. |
| A．Between about AD 800 and AD 1066. |
| B．Between about AD 1066 and AD 1150. |
| C．Between about AD 1150 and AD 1500.. |
| A．An English historian. | B．A Middle English poet | C．A modern English writer. |
| A．Modern English. | B．Middle English. | C．Old English. |
China has nearly 5,000 years of
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the furniture was hand-made using high-quality hardwood
Classical furniture is mostly made by hand. Modern machines cannot
The most delicate aspect of Chinese classical furniture is the structural part of the furniture-mountains-and-treetops (榫卯) work. Combining pieces of wood together,
Ancient Chinese
Originally constructed around 256 BCE by the State of Qin
During the Warring States period, people who lived along the banks of the Min River
1.人物事迹简介；
2.给我们树立的榜样。
注意：1.写作词数应为80个左右；
2.题目自拟。
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10 . Globalization is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place. Globalization also captures in its scope the economic and social changes tat have come about as a result
When did globalization begin?
Unquestionably, these types of exchanges were accelerated in the Age of Exploration, when European explorers seeking new sea routes to the spices and silks of Asia bumped into the Americas instead.
The web of globalization continued to spin out through the Age of Revolution, when ideas about liberty and equality spread like fire from America to France to Latin America and beyond.
With the Information Age globalization went into overdrive. Advances in computer and communications technology launched a new global era and redefined what it meant to be “connected.” Modern communications satellites meant the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo could be watched in the United States for the first time.
| A．Along with Chinese silk, Roman glass, and Arabian spices, many ideas and the secrets of paper- making also spread via these pathways of trade. |
| B．This digital revolution massively impacted economies across the world as well: they became more information-based and more interdependent. |
| C．It rode the waves of industrialization, colonization, and war through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, powered by the invention of factories, railways, steamboats, cars, and planes. |
| D．The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes across China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean used between 50 B. C. and 250 C. E. , is perhaps the most well-known early example of exchanging ideas, products, and customs. |
| E．Trade and idea exchange now extended to a previously unconnected part of the world. |
| F．Again, technology played an important role in the maritime trade routes that flourished between old and newly discovered continents. |
