1 . “They tell me that you’d like to make a statue of me — is that correct, Miss Vinnie Ream?”

The deep, gentle voice helped calm the nervous girl. Asking a favor of the President of the United States was no casual matter, especially for a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, her dark eyes meeting his. “I wouldn’t have dared to ask you, but my teacher, Mr. Mills, says I am ready. I plan to make it in an admirable manner.”

President Lincoln smiled.“Painters, sculptors — they’ve all tried to make the best of this ordinary face, but I’m afraid there’s not much hope. What did you have in mind, Miss Ream? A bust (半身像)?”

Before Vinnie could say yes, the President hurried on, a shade of apology in his voice. “Of course — I shouldn’t have asked. A full-length pose would be much too big a project for a young woman your size.”

Vinnie’s face turned red. She realized she looked like a child, with her tiny figure. “Small does not mean weak, sir,” she defended herself. “I was born in the country of Wisconsin. I’ve driven teams of horses and carried water. Making a full-length clay (黏土) figure would not exhaust my strength — and that is what I intend to do!”

The President’s eyes, brightened at her show of spirit. “Sorry, madam, I have underestimated you as I didn’t know your background.”

But his smile faded as he rubbed his beard with bony fingers, in thought. “Miss Ream,” he sighed, “I’d like to let you do it, but as you know, we are in the middle of a war. How could I possibly take the time to pose for a sculpture now? I hardly have a minute to myself.”

Vinnie glanced around and noted the size of his office. “I work quickly,” she said. Her voice was soft but confident as she pointed to the corner near the windows. “If I were to bring my clay here and work for three hours every afternoon, I could complete most of the project while you are at your desk.”

The President seemed to consider her idea seriously. He got up and shook Vinnie’s hand warmly, “I’ve heard that you are a talented young woman, and I have found you charming and intelligent as well. I cannot make my decision immediately, but you will hear from me soon.”

The very next day, Vinnie received an invitation from the President.

Six “sacrificial pits” (献祭深坑)，    1    （date）back to 3,200 to 4,000 years, were discovered in Sangxingdui site on March 20th. Over 500 artifacts     2     (unearth) from the site. Among them was a gold mark, found at the No.5 pit, with     3     area of about three square meters,     4     was the smallest pit, according to archaeologists.

Sangxingdui site, first found in 1929, is generally considered as one of the     5     (value) archaeological sites along the Yangtze River. However, the large-scale excavation (挖掘) on the site only began in 1986, when two pits widely     6    (believe) for sacrificial ceremonies were accidentally discovered.

    7     the digging process, archaeologists made full use of modern scientific and technological means     8     (build) an archaeological excavation cabin.

So far, archaeologists have dug out     9     (variety) of cultural items from four of the pits. The rest of the     10     (new) discovered pits are still under excavation.

7 . In the 1960s, African American mothers noticed something wrong in their children’s seemingly innocent class photos. Every year, youngsters tidied up in their Sunday best for their school picture, yet these treasured images didn’t ____ Black and White children equally. White children were rendered (使成为) as they look in everyday life, while African American children lost ____ of their faces and turned into ink blots (墨渍). The film could not simultaneously capture both dark and light skin. For decades, this flaw of the film remained out of ____, when Black boys and girls and white boys and girls were photographed separately. But with the integration of schools, Black mothers ____ that color film left their Black children in the shadows.

In 2015, two London-based photographers, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, wanted to find out why the film could not capture the ____ of children of all races in a school photograph. When these photographers tested the film, they found the film was optimized for ____ skin. It was this film’s hidden history that was the ____ faces in a class photo came out so differently.

All that changed, ____, when large corporations made a fuss about Kodak’s film, which they bought in bulk for advertising. A team of two unlikely businesses – furniture makers and chocolate manufacturers – ____ against Kodak’s films for discriminating against dark hues.

Kodak employees worked hard to fix the film, making new film formulations and testing them by taking photos. While the complaints from Black mothers could not change Kodak, those from these companies could. By the late 1970s, new - and more ____ - formulations of color film were in the works, and the new and improved Kodak Gold film was on the market by the following decade.

Technologies, such as photographic films, sometimes capture the beliefs and values of the times. This bias built into technology has ____ today. Today, some web cameras, following instructions from algorithms (算法), are unable to recognize a dark face, but do so ____ for a white one.

What the makers of film and cameras and other technologies have experienced is a tacit (心照不宣的) subscription to a belief of a standard. ____, they have gotten on the escalator of “this is how we do things” without asking why. Scholars would describe this type of bias as one that implicitly (完全地) and ____ accepts norms. But it isn’t the ____ fault; they are only doing what the lines of code written by humans tell them to do. These devices capture the biases that exist in our world and, in turn, speak to whom a culture values.

For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union     1    （make） the first small step into space     2     sending up a small satellite called Sputnik.

Early space activities were conducted     3    （main） by the United States and the Soviet Union. But as time went by, Europe and Japan also learned how to build     4    （they）own satellites and rockets. Today, countries such as China, India, South Korea, Israel and Brazil are also developing space industries.

During the last 60 years, unmanned probes（探测器）have been sent towards many of the planets     5    （exist） in the Solar System. Many space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been created to look at the     6    （distance） universe. They have sent back some amazing pictures taken in visible（可见的）light. And they can also observe stars that are invisible to human eyes. The flood of     7    （discovery）has changed the way we look at the universe.

More than 500 people have flown in space since Yuri Gagarin paved the way in 1961. 20 people have travelled to the moon, 12 of     8     have walked on the moon. So far, space stations       9    （build）, and astronauts have learned to live and work in space for many months     10       even years.

One important early rail line was the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line,     1     (complete) in 1909. Other rail lines then under development used Western financing and assistance,     2       Zhangjiakou was an important trading post with Russia and the Chinese government felt the line was a high priority, so it decided that construction should be all Chinese. Hence, Zhan Tianyou     3     (give) this important job. When he was 12, he was sent by the government to study in the US,     4     he graduated from high school and Yale University. On his return to China, he gained experience     5     (work) on the railroad between Beijing and Shenyang, before being given the    6     (responsible) of building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line. Through his skill, the railroad was finished two years ahead of schedule.

    7     (unfortunate), development of the Chinese rail networks     8     (be) soon stalled by war.

In the 1950s, the government began    9     renewed push to develop the networks, repairing damaged lines, filling in the gaps and lengthening lines still     10     (far) so that most of the major cities would be connected.

In September 1939, Britain declared war    1       Germany. The war, which lasted until 1945, known as the Second World War. The most important battle of the war in Europe was Operation Overlord in 1944     2    (invade) France. Operation Overlord started when boats full of soldiers     3    (land) on the beaches of Normandy in France. The operation was so dangerous that many soldiers were killed    4    they got off the boats. The soldiers of Able Company crossed    5    English Channel in seven boats early on the morning of 6 June 1944. Boat 5 was hit, so six men drowned and twenty men fell into the water and    6    (pick) up. The soldiers on Boat 1, 3 and 4 jumped out but the water was so deep that some disappeared under the water. Two thirds of the company were    7    (die). This was Able Company’s contribution to D-Day. On 6 June 2004,    8    (survive) of the D-Day landings returned to France to remember their    9    (lose) comrades. Many of them went to the cemetery and memorial,    10    are situated on a cliff overlooking the beach and the English Channel.