Nicolaus Copernicus was very frightened when he found all his calculations led to the same     1     (conclude) that the earth was not the center of the solar system. Only if you put the sun there did the movements of the other planets in the sky make sense. Yet the     2     (power) church believed God had made the world and     3     that reason the earth must be the center of the solar system.

Copernicus collected observations of the stars and used all his mathematical knowledge     4     (explain) them. But only his new theory could do that. He worked on his theory, gradually improving it. He placed     5     fixed sun at the center of the solar system with the planets going round it and only the moon still going round the earth. He also suggested that the earth was spinning as it went round the sun. In 1514 he showed his theory     6     (private) to his friends, who encouraged him to publish his ideas, but Copernicus was cautious and was afraid of getting     7     (attack) by the Christian Church.

The Christian Church rejected his theory,    8     (say) it was against God's idea. Yet Copernicus' idea is now the basis on which all our ideas of the universe     9     (build). His theory replaced the Christian idea of gravity,    10     said things fell to earth because God created the earth as the center of the universe.

The horse-head bronze statue lost from Yuanmingyuan in 1860     1     (return) to the site of the former royal resort last Tuesday.

The statue was one of 12 Chinese zodiac animals(生肖). But they     2     (rob) by the invading English and French forces in 1860. Yuanmingyuan was also destroyed at that time.

The horse-head statue is so far the first animal-head statue     3     (come ) back to Yuanmingyuan,     4     was donated by the late Macau businessman Stanley Ho to the country last year, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration recently handed it over     5     the administration of Yuanmingyuan ruins.

The statue will be     6     (regular) displayed in the Zhengjue Temple area. The temple is one of a few     7     (site) that generally remain complete to date. More than 10 million yuan ($1.52 million) was spent by the Haidian district government to improve facilities to ensure its     8     (safe).

Seven of the 12 statues     9     (include) the horse have returned to China, and the rest six are now housed in     10     National Museum of China.

A deafening boom roars through Pompeii's crowded marketplace. The ground shakes     1     (violent), throwing shoppers off balance. People scream and point toward Mount Vesuvius, a massive volcano     2     rises above them.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Pompeii was a busy southern Italian city. But in 79, the nearby Mount Vesuvius volcano erupted. Almost overnight, Pompeii and many of its 10,000 residents disappeared under     3     blanket of ash.

Pompeii was basically forgotten until it     4     (rediscover) in 1748. Thanks     5     diggings, scientists have been able to figure out almost exactly what happened on that terrible day.

After the volcano first erupted shortly after noon, the thick ash turned everything black. Some residents escaped the city, while others took shelter in their homes. But the ash kept     6     (fall). Piles grew as deep as nine feet in some places, blocking doorways.

    7     (base) on what they uncovered, scientists believe that Pompeii was a prosperous town popular with     8     (wealth) Romans. Well-paved streets had high sidewalks. To relax, people soaked in public baths and enjoyed plays in two theaters.

Pompeii may be ancient history, but scientists are pretty sure Mount Vesuvius is overdue for another major     9     (explode). Luckily the people living near the volcano today will likely receive     10     (warning) before it blows.

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano located just east of Naples, Italy. It is the only volcano on the continent of Europe that     1     (erupt) in the last one hundred years, though other volcanoes have erupted on islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Vesuvius's earliest     2     (record) eruption is now its most famous. In the year A. D. 79,     3     little or no warning, Vesuvius erupted and completely buried the ancient city of Pompeii. For two days the mountain shot     4     (volcano) material into the air, spreading     5     blanket of ash over the landscape. Pompeii, located seven kilometers from the volcano,     6     (bury) under five meters of ash. The destruction was so complete that it was not until sixteen hundred years later     7     the city was discovered. Evidence of the religion, culture, and everyday life of the Pompeiians, all     8     (leave) behind in the sudden panic of the volcano's catastrophe, are     9     (remarkable) well preserved. And everywhere there are     10     (remind) of its sudden eruption and the shadow of Vesuvius. Even the forms of the citizens remain. Their bodies lie much as they did on the day of their death almost twenty centuries ago.