army, be, challenge, die, discover, keep, little, much, sad, sudden, they, touch

the Terracotta Warriors

Qin Shihuang is a widely-known emperor in Chinese history. During his rule, he ordered his men to build a huge army of life-sized terracotta warriors. These, he hoped, would guard him after his ____1____.

Today, the soldiers in Xi’an’s terracotta museum are light brown, but they ____2____ not always this color. They began as an army of red, blue, yellow, green, white, and purple. ____3____, most of the colors did not last to the present day. Before their ____4____, these soldiers were protected by being underground. When they were dug out, however, the air caused the coating under the paint to fall off. The paint disappeared in ____5____ time than it takes to boil an egg, taking with it important pieces of history.

New technology is used to protect the ____6____ true colors. Recently more than a hundred soldiers have been discovered. Many of these still have ____7____ painted features (特征), including black hair, pink faces, and black or brown eyes. Chinese and German researchers have developed a special material to make sure that the colors will ____8____. After finding a soldier, experts spray (喷洒) it with the material. They then cover it in plastic.

Experts are also finding colors in the dirt around Xi’an’s terracotta soldiers. They consider it important not ____9____ the dirt, so the colors won’t be lost. The next ____10____ thing is to find a way to apply the colors to the army again. Once that happens, artists can bring Emperor Qin’s army back to life in full color.

1.1.

A

B

C

D

解析：选death。his 后面接名词；die（动词，死亡）→ death（名词，死亡）。他希望这些兵马俑能在他死后守护他。

2.2.

A

B

C

D

解析：选were。they 指代兵马俑；后面 not always this color。现在是浅棕色，但过去并不总是这个颜色，用一般过去时，复数用 were。

3.3.

A

B

C

D

解析：选Sadly。sad 形容词 → sadly 副词，首字母大写。句意：遗憾的是，大部分色彩没能保存到今天。

4.4.

A

B

C

D

解析：选discovery。their 后面接名词；discover 动词 “发现”→ discovery 名词 “被发现”。句意：在被发掘之前，这些陶俑埋在地下受到保护。

5.5.

A

B

C

D

解析：选less。little → less（更少）。less time 更少的时间。句意：颜料消失的时间比煮一个鸡蛋还要短。

6.6.

A

B

C

D

解析：选army’s。the army（这支军队，兵马俑），army’s true colors 这支军队的真实色彩。

7.7.

A

B

C

D

解析：选their。they → their（他们的），修饰名词 painted features。句意：很多陶俑仍然保留它们的彩绘特征，黑发、粉脸，黑或棕色眼睛。

8.8.

A

B

C

D

解析：选be kept。colors（色彩）是 “被保存”，will 后面加动词原形，被动：will be kept。句意：研发特殊材料确保色彩被保存下来。

9.9.

A

B

C

D

解析：选to touch。固定句型：consider it + adj. + not to do sth 认为不做某事很重要。not to touch 不去触碰泥土。

10.10.

A

B

C

D

解析：选biggest。the next biggest thing 下一个最大的难题 解析：much 变形为 big，big 最高级 biggest。句意：下一个最大的挑战就是找到方法把色彩重新复原到这支陶俑军队上。