Scientists in Peru have discovered the skull(颅骨) of an ancestor of modern-day whales. The fossilized skull is believed 【小题1】(be) about 36 million years old. Researchers say the discovery suggests that the animal lived in an ocean once 【小题2】(cover) Peru’s southern Ocucaje desert.

The scientists reported the skull was in good condition when 【小题3】(dig) up last year. It has a series of long, pointy 【小题4】(tooth), said Rodolfo Salas, chief of paleontology at Peru’s National University of San Marcos.

Scientists say the ancient mammal was a basilosaurus, which is in the cetacean(鲸目) family. The name basilosaurus means “king lizard(蜥蜴)” and the animal 【小题5】(think) to have been about 12 meters long. But it was not a reptile(爬行动物) although 【小题6】(it) long body might have moved like a large snake.

Salas called the animal “a marine monster” that may belong 【小题7】 a new species of basilosaurus. “When it was searching for its food, it 【小题8】(sure) did a lot of damage,” he added.

Salas explained that when the ancient basilosaurus died out, its skull likely sank to the bottom of the ocean, 【小题9】 it was quickly buried and remained.

“Back during this age, 【小题10】 conditions for fossilization were very good in Ocucaje,” Salas said.

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed a big bronze beast. It’s one of the most highly 【小题1】 (anticipate) treasures of the Sanxingdui Ruins. The bronze was discovered in July last year, but archaeologists successfully lifted it out of the pit a year later, 【小题2】 they were sorting out all other bronze objects piled on the top of the statue.

The bronze animal is the 【小题3】 (big) ever found in decades of digging at the Sanxingdui Ruins. It weighs around 150kg and has a large mouth, small waist, huge ears and four feet. A small human statue 【小题4】 (attach) to the creature’s head and appears 【小题5】 (ride) or controlling the animal. According to Zhao Hao, a Peking University archaeologist in charge of the pit that contained 【小题6】 object, all other bronze animals uncovered at the site in the 1980s measured around 20 to 30cm “But this one is very large in size, with height and width both 【小题7】 (measure) about one metre. It’s the only one at the whole site,” Zhao said.

The bronze beast can be seen as a cultural relic nonexistent before not just in China, 【小题8】 in the world. UNESCO sent 【小题9】 (congratulate) on the amazing new discovery through a video. Meanwhile, governors of Sichuan Province are preparing an application 【小题10】 (include) Sanxingdui Ruins on the World Cultural Heritage List.

ZHENGZHOU—Pingdingshan University in Central China’s Henan province has found more than1,000 ceramic (陶瓷) balls used in a golf-like ball game in ancient China. The university make the 【小题1】 (discover) while 【小题2】 (sort) out its ceramic collection.

The relics are related to an ancient game called “Chuiwan” in Chinese, 【小题3】 shares various features with modern golf, such as knocking balls into holes using sticks; and is 【小题4】(wide) known as the ancient “Chinese golf”.

Most of the balls arc about 5 centimeters in diameter. The relics date back to as early as the Tang Dynasty, 【小题5】 more than l,800 such balls made in the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties.

“This is the first time that China 【小题6】 (find) so many Chuiwan balls, providing important materials for 【小题7】 (refer) when it come to studying the origin and development of the ball game.” said Cui Lequan, a researcher. 【小题8】 (locate) between the two ancient capitals of Luoyang and Kaifeng, the Pingdingshan area boasted a highly 【小题9】 (develop) porcelain handicraft industry in ancient times. 【小题10】was likely a large production base for Chuiwan balls, said Cui.