Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the

Italians are known for them and【B1】______suggest they may have originated in the Middle East but【B2】______said Wednesday the world's oldest known noodles, dating back 4,000 years, were made in China.

"Our discovery【B3】______that noodles were first produced in China about-4,000 years ago," Lu Hou Yuan from the Chinese Academy of Science said in an interview.

The noodles were【B4】______in an overturned, sealed bowl in an archaeological site near the Yellow River in north west China.

Until the【B5】______, reported in the science journal Nature, the【B6】______writ ten account of noodles was in a book written during the East Han【B7】______in China sometime between 25 and 220.

"This is the【B8】______evidence of noodles ever found," said Lu.

【B9】______The scientists think a large earthquake and catastrophic flooding probably destroyed the ancient settlement where they were discovered.

【B10】______Wheat was not introduced from central and western Asia to north west China until about 5,000 years ago.

Prehistoric farmers knew hot to pound and grind the hard millet seeds and mix them to make noodles. The dough was probably repeatedly stretched by hand to form. long strands and cooked in boiling water to make noodles, according to the researchers.

【B11】______Lu said.

【B1】