The shadow play is a typical traditional entertainment that has survived and thrived over the centuries. It is taken as an earliest ancestor of modern cinema.
Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Emperor Wu of Han was very depressed about the death of his favorite concubine (妃子). To help him get over his sadness, a minister made a puppet out of cotton and silk in the likeness of the concubine and projected its shadow on a curtain for the emperor to see. The show brought the emperor some comfort. He somehow believed the shadow was his lover's spirit. This is thought to be the beginning of the shadow play.
One mouth tells stories of thousands of years; a pair of hands operate millions of soldiers. This is how the shadow puppeteer works. Nicknamed “the business of the five”， a shadow play group is made up of five people. One operates the puppets, one plays a suona and a yueqin, one plays the banhu, one is in charge of percussion (打击乐器) instruments, and one sings.
During performances, “actors” are held close to a white curtain with their colored shadows cast on it by a strong light from behind. The operator plays five puppets at the same time, each of which has three threads. Ten fingers handle fifteen threads. Moved by guiding sticks, the puppets play roles with musical accompaniment. The popularity of the shadow play in some way lies in the equipment being light and easy to carry, the small number of people needed for a performance, and the flexible requirements for performance places. The plays can be quite dramatic and, when it comes to myths or kung fu stories, the “actors” may be made to ride on clouds or perform unusual feats, to the great enjoyment of the audience, especially children.
The design of the figures follows traditional moral evaluation. The audience can tell a figure's character by seeing his mask. Like the masks in Beijing opera, a red mask represents loyalty and bravery, a black mask, integrity (正直) and selflessness, and a white one, wickedness and betrayal.
Nowadays, the shadow play has been industrialized and developed a series of tourist products for the promotion of Chinese culture and tourism.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．A love story of Emperor Wu of Han. |
| B．How to please an emperor. |
| C．The origin of the shadow play. |
| D．How to make a cotton puppet. |
| A．when roles are played without music |
| B．because the equipment is light to carry |
| C．when the puppets give lively performances |
| D．because the number of the operators is small |
| A．The Rapid Development of Beijing Opera |
| B．Shadow Puppetry: A Traditional Art |
| C．The Business of the Five: A Shadow Play Group |
| D．Traditional Characters and Masks in Beijing Opera |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Positive. | D．Unconcerned. |
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【推荐1】When you think of Chinese food in the US, fried rice, or General Tso’s chicken may first come to your mind. But a new museum exhibition in New York City is trying to expand visitors’ palates (味蕾). It features stories of famous cooks like Martin Yan and home cooks whose food represents 18 different regional cooking styles of China.
“I think it’s unfair to just classify Chinese cooking as one,” says Kian Lam Kho, an organizer of “Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America” at the Museum of Chinese in America. “Even with the same dish or same cuisine, every family has a different variation.” That’s why the organizers say if you want to taste the full range of Chinese cuisine in the US, you’ll need to go beyond restaurants and into home kitchens, which can play a central role in many immigrants’ lives.
“The kitchen itself is kind of a comfort when you come to a new country. That’s the one place where you set up as your home base, and you cook things that you remember from your past,” explains Audra Ang, another organizer.
One of the home cooks showcased in the exhibition is Ni Biying, 80, of Manhattan. She worked as a live-in babysitter for years before she could finally afford to rent a home with her own kitchen. These days, you can usually find her moving around her one-bedroom apartment as a sweet smell of vinegar and rice wine floats from her stove. For Ni, a small dinner for friends and family means preparing almost a dozen different dishes. She learned some of her techniques from her father, who made most of her family’s meals when she was a child. “I still miss the beef with stir-fried celery my father used to cook,” she says. And it’s the kind of comfort food that defines Chinese food for Ni.
1. What is the new museum exhibition mainly about?| A．Cuisine of different countries. | B．Exploration of famous restaurants. |
| C．History of Chinese immigration. | D．Stories of Chinese food and cooks. |
| A．It provides a wealthy life. | B．It brings a sense of belonging. |
| C．It helps them to accept new cultures. | D．It enables them to forget the past. |
| A．Cuisine Gains New Variations | B．Home Cooking Brings More to the Table |
| C．Immigrants Seek Their Fortune in the US | D．Chinese Restaurant Tells Immigrant Tales |
【推荐2】The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms.
Greeting Start of Summer.
The Start of Summer was originated at the end of the Warring States Period. Since it is a key time for the harvest of summer crops, ancient Chinese emperors in different dynasties attached great importance to the Start of Summer.
The custom of weighing people at the Start of Summer originated from the Three Kingdoms Period and is popular in South China today. It was believed this practice would bring health and good luck to the people weighted. It is said those who were weighed would stay healthy in the hot summer and those who weren’t would suffer illness.
Eating eggs.
In ancient China, people believed a round egg symbolized a happy life and eating eggs on the day of Start of Summer was a prayer for good health. They put leftover tea into boiled water together with eggs and the original “tea egg” was created. Later people improved cooking methods and added spices to the eggs to make them taste delicious.
Taking care of the heart.
| A．Taking exercise. |
| B．Checking weight. |
| C．The emperor encouraged his inhabitants to seize the key time to do farm work in the Zhou Dynasty. |
| D．High fat food should be avoided to lose weight. |
| E．According to Chinese traditional medicine, the Start of Summer is a key time to moisten the heart. |
| F．Today tea egg has become a traditional snack in China. |
| G．Start of Summer begins on May 6 and ends on May 21 this year. |
【推荐3】Paper cutting is one of China's most popular folk arts. Archaeological (考古学上的) finds show that the tradition started in the 6th century; it is even supposed that the beginning of paper cutting is even a few centuries earlier.
Paper cuts have special importance at festivals and on holidays. To get rid of the old and bring good luck, people put up paper cuts on the windows on the Eve the Spring Festival.
Paper cuts are not produced by machine but by hand. They are done all over China, but are different in the method in different areas. There are two methods of making paper cuts-by using scissors (剪刀) or knives. As the name suggests, scissors cuttings are made with scissors. Several pieces of paper (up to eight pieces) are placed together. The patterns are then cut with pointed scissors. Knife, cuttings are made by putting several pieces of paper on a table. Following a pattern, the artist cuts the patterns into the paper with a knife.
In the past, paper cuts were usually made only by women and girls. They used scissors and paper to cut all kinds of pictures such as apple trees, peach blossoms, mice, fighting roosters (公鸡) and rabbits eating carrots.
This used to be one of the skills that every girl was to master. Professional paper cutting artists are, on the other hand, almost always men who can make a living by working together in workshops.
1. How long has paper cutting lasted at least?| A．About 600 years. | B．About 1, 500 years. |
| C．About 2,000 years. | D．About 2, 700 years. |
| A．make them look more beautiful |
| B．show others their excellent skills |
| C．bring them good luck in the new year |
| D．sell them on the Eve of the Spring Festival |
| A．Two kinds of paper cuts. | B．Paper cuts are made by hand. |
| C．Paper cuts are made by machine. | D．The process of making paper cuts. |
| A．family members of the artists | B．sports and social activities |
| C．fights between animals | D．things in our daily life |
【推荐1】When I started researching the science of happiness a decade ago, I believed negative emotions had no place in it. It turned out that I was wrong.
Firstly, you need the full experience of human emotions, both the positive and the negative. Feeling all kinds of emotions shows that you are fully alive and that you care about what is going on. Secondly, the more you try to deny the negative emotions you feel, the more power you will give to them. Thirdly, all emotions help you to survive and develop. Positive emotions tell you when things are right. Negative emotions help guide you to feel right again in your next steps, Hence, negative emotions play an important role in your life. But that doesn’t mean they should play so loudly that they overpower the positive ones. Here is how to avoid them from happening and to get the most out of your negative emotions:
When you notice a negative emotion, become aware of it. Pay attention to it without any judgment. Simply pay attention to it for what it is. You may call it stress, fear, anxiety, sadness, or whatever it is that you are feeling. Don’t spend more time thinking about this.
Say “I feel X.” rather than “I am X.” For example, “I feel anxious,” or “I feel upset.” Make sure to say “I feel upset,” rather than “I am upset,” You stress that the emotion you are feeling is fleeting but not permanent. This way of processing negative emotions reminds you that you are simply feeling it, giving it less power and making it easier to overcome.
Ask yourself, “What is making me feel this way?” Exploring the reason behind the negative emotion will make it easier for you to manage it. When did this negative emotion come about? What made it start? Allowing yourself to ask these questions and explore your negative emotion will help you to make peace with it. You will also feel more confident about your ability to handle it.
Remind yourself that happiness isn’t the absence of negative emotions but your ability to deal with them.
1. What does the author want to tell us in paragraph 2?| A．The effect of feeling positive emotions. |
| B．The important role of negative emotions. |
| C．The difference between the two emotions. |
| D．The result of denying negative emotions. |
| A．To ignore it. | B．To explain it. | C．To research it. | D．To notice it. |
| A．Brief. | B．Reliable. | C．Constant. | D．Unavoidable. |
| A．The strong belief to become successful. |
| B．The courage to face various challenges. |
| C．The ability to manage negative emotions. |
| D．The opportunity to have positive emotions. |
【推荐2】It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of the thousands of everyday perceptions, the bases for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.
Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use. It includes not only “remembering” things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed (发觉) something suspicious in the grain pile. Memory is also involved when a sixyearold child learns to swing a baseball bat.
Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain devices for strong data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instantaccess memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 “words” —ready for instant use. An average US teenager probably recognises the meaning of about 100,000 words of English. However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information which the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognise on sight.
The use of words is the basis of the advanced problemsolving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person’s memory is in terms of words and combinations of words.
1. According to the passage, memory is considered to be ________.| A．the basis for decision making and problem solving |
| B．an ability to store experiences for future use |
| C．an intelligence typically possessed by human beings |
| D．the data mainly consisting of words and combinations of words |
| A．the computer’s memory has a little capacity than a teenager’s |
| B．the computer’s memory capacity is much smaller than an adult human being’s |
| C．the computer’s memory capacity is much smaller even than a teenager’s |
| D．both A and B |
| A．only human beings have problemsolving intelligence |
| B．a person’s memory is different from a computer’s in every respect |
| C．animals are able to solve only very simple problems |
| D．animals solve problems by instincts rather than intelligence |
| A．What Would Life Be Like Without Memory? |
| B．Memory Is Of Vital Importance to Life |
| C．How Is A person's Memory Different from An Animal’s Or A Computer’s ? |
| D．What Is Contained In Memory? |
【推荐3】Chet Wisniewski walked into a Fry’s Electronics store in Las Vegas and looked through the shelves, taking some smart light bulbs and other connected devices as he went.
A research scientist, Wisniewski wanted to do research and find out whether the off-the-shelf device had major safety vulnerability (漏洞). A few days later, he had a whole collection of hacked (非法侵入的) smart devices. ”I didn’t even need to do any firmware hacking. It was easier than that,“ he said. ”Things I thought would take me a week took, like, an hour.“
Six years later, things aren’t much better, but our use of connected home products has increased a lot. More than 77 percent of households with a Wi-Fi network reported owning at least one smart home device in 2021, compared with 65 percent just one year earlier, according to research firm IDC. But some smart home devices could have vulnerable software, and shoppers have no way of knowing. Once inside your house, those products become a secret passage into your home.
The influence of a hacked smart home device could be too small to notice. Does anyone really care if a hacker turns off a light bulb or changes the temperature on a tea kettle? But real problems arise when hackers use many smart devices together. Imagine this: a hacker uses your smart light bulb to connect to your smart speakers and says “Unlock the front door.”
However, realistically understanding the risks related to smart home devices does not have to mean one must keep away from them altogether. Smart home technologies are here to stay. We love them for their convenience and of course their novelty(新奇). Yet we as customers must be very careful when we bring them into our homes and make sure that the privacy and the safety of our loved ones are protected
1. Why did Chet Wisniewski buy so many smart home devices?| A．To live a smart life. |
| B．To study how they worked. |
| C．To check if they were safe to use. |
| D．To compare which ones worked better. |
| A．Most families are able to use a Wi-Fi network nowadays. |
| B．About 65% of families used smart home devices in 2020. |
| C．Some smart home devices come with vulnerable software. |
| D．Over 77% of families with Wi-Fi had smart home devices in 2021. |
| A．Smart speakers need to be made smarter. |
| B．Hackers can easily control one’s smart light bulbs. |
| C．Using too many smart devices at home is dangerous. |
| D．Risks of using smart devices lie in their connecting with each other. |
| A．Advantages of smart home devices. |
| B．Risks coming with smart home devices. |
| C．Safety tips for using smart home devices. |
| D．Ways that smart home devices can be improved. |
【推荐1】Large gatherings such as weddings and conferences can be socially stressful. Pressure to learn people’s names only adds to the stress. A new facial-recognition app could come to the rescue, .but privacy experts recommend going on with caution.
The app, called SocialRecall, connects names with faces via smartphone cameras and facial recognition. potentially avoiding the need for formal introductions.“It breaks down these social barriers we all have when meeting somebody,” says Bany Sandrew, who Created the app and tested it at an event attended by about 10000 people.
After receiving an invitation to download SocialRecall from an event organizer, the user is asked to take two selfies(自拍) and sign in via social median At the event, the app is active within a previously defined geographical area. When a user points his or her phone camera at an attendee’s face, the app identifies the individual, displays the person’s name, and links to his or her social media profile. To protect privacy, it recognizes only those who have agreed to participate. And the app’s creators say it automatically deletes users' data after an event.
Ann Cavoukian, a privacy expert who runs the Privacy by Design Center of Excellence praises the app’s creators for these protective measures. She cautions, however, that when people choose to share their personal information with the app, they should know that “there may be unintended consequences down the road with that information being used in another context that might come back to bite you.”
The start-up has also developed a version of the app for individuals who suffer from prosopagnosia, or“face blindness”, a condition that prevents people from recognizing individuals they have met. To use this app, a person first acquires an image of someone’s face, from either the smartphone’s camera or a photograph, and then tags it with a name. When the camera spots that same face in real life, the previously entered information is displayed. The collected data are stored only on a user’s phone, according to the team behind the app.
1. SocialRecall is designed to________.| A．invite attendees | B．identifying people |
| C．break barriers | D．introduce strangers |
| A．Why the app was created. | B．How to sign in the app. |
| C．How the app works. | D．What information the app provides. |
| A．it has caused unintended consequences. | B．it can prevent communication disorders. |
| C．it may put people’s privacy at risk. | D．its protective measures prove useless. |
| A．New App Shares Personal Information | B．New App Gets Rid of Face Blindness |
| C．New App Endangers Privacy | D．New App Helps Recognize Faces |
【推荐2】Demand for the Chinese tech company＇s devices(设备) is red hot even though the country’s overall market for smartphones is getting smaller Huawei's China sales rocketed more than 20% in the final quarter of 2018, and experts say that's partly due to the US govenment's global campaign against the company.
“The latest tension between the US and China raised the patriotism(爱国主义) in Chinese consumers， said Jusy Hong, an analyst at research firm IHS Markit
He pointed out that some Chinese companies encouraged employees to buy Huawei phones late last year. The moves were a gesture of support after the firm's chief financial officer was arrested in Canada in early December at the request of the United States.
Huawei's booming sales show how major parts of its business continue to increase even as the United States tries to persuade other countries to shut Huawei products out of 5G wireless networks and pursues(追究) criminal charges against it. The company expects to overtake Samsung as the world's biggest smartphone maker by next year.
Huawei sold 30 million phones in China in the last three months of 2018, nearly three times as many as Apple(AAPL), according to data published this week by research firms Canalys and IDC. Apple's sales plunged almost 20%.
Huawei's success in China, the world's largest smartphone market, is more than about geopolitics(地缘政治). Chinese consumers love its flagship，high -end- phones because they have great cameras， cutting edge technology and cost less than the latest iPhones, according to analysts. And by offering a selection of cheaper phones, Huawei is able to target a bigger market.
It also benefited from the troubles this year at ZTE (ZTCOF), a rival Chinese smartphone and telecommunications equipment maker. ZTE was banned by the US government from buying vital American parts for months last year.
1. Why did Huawei's China sales increase greatly according to the article?| A．Because the company's devices are always popular worldwide. |
| B．Because Chinese consumers' patriotism was aroused |
| C．Because the government encourages people to buy Huawei devices. |
| D．Because the country's overall market for smartphones is getting bigger. |
| A．Huawei’s chief financial officer was arrested in Canada due to the US's request. |
| B．All Chinese companies showed their support to Huawei with their purchase. |
| C．Jusy Hong thought the United States arrested Huawei's chief financial officer. |
| D．Jusy Hong thought the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer is unfair. |
| A．increased greatly by. | B．reduced greatly to. |
| C．dropped greatly by. | D．remained steady. |
| A．Because Huawei has the largest smartphone market in the world. |
| B．Because Huawei's success is only limited within China mainland. |
| C．Because Huawei has the ability to target a bigger market in the world. |
| D．Because Chinese consumers are quite satisfied with Huawei smartphones. |
1. On which day of the tour, do travalers get to experience the rainforest in the day and stay in Pacific Coast for the night?
| A．Day 3. | B．Day 4. | C．Day 5. | D．Day 6. |
| A．It is priced at $1295 including tax. | B．It is only available to domestic travelers. |
| C．It was first launched to the public in 1952. | D．The tour package includes airport transfers. |
| A．remind travelers of key information | B．promote the Panama& Canal Tour |
| C．advertise a series of Caravan Tours | D．describe the appeal of Panama City |
【推荐1】A customer stands on the other side of the counter at my work, eyeing the menu. “The food here is so caloric,” she complains, and then looks at me. “You don’t eat here, do you? It certainly doesn’t look like it.” My face turned red.
I’m not quite used to how others see me. Since June 2018, I’ve lost almost 50 pounds. When I made the choice to change my body physically, everyone around me told me that I would be happier: Skinny meant pretty, and pretty meant happy and satisfied. After looking through dozens of before-and-after changes on Instagram and other social media, I was more eager to make myself smaller, to better fit into the world. But none of that happened. I didn’t feel more whole, or more peaceful. More than anything, I felt lied to.
Human health is unbelievably complex, and there’s so much more to our well-being than caloric balance. For several months, I often felt very tired and got angry easily, convinced that my body was a machine and I had to hard-wire it to look as physically perfect as possible. But at the end of the day, I realized that saying no to my body’s natural desire only left me feeling upset.
Our world is filled with losing weight. Nearly every time I listen to the radio, I hear some ads criticizing empty promises of giving you a better body, achieved only by this gym membership/ this prepackaged Keto shake/ this waist trainer. These all live by the same message: That food is dangerous, and the less we eat, the better off we are. In extreme cases, this message can lead to eating disorders, which will affect over 30 million people in their lifetimes, according to the Body Image Therapy Center.
These ideas could not be further from the truth. We eat food for a reason: It gives us energy, it keeps our body functioning, and it makes us human. I urge everybody to adopt a diet based on sustainability (可持续发展), to eat for energy, based on what makes us happy. We all deserve healthy relationships with food and mindful eating is the best place to start.
1. How did the author feel when hearing the customer’s words?| A．Quite proud. |
| B．A bit angry. |
| C．Rather guilty. |
| D．A little embarrassed. |
| A．She was laughed at by others. |
| B．She got encouragement from her family. |
| C．She was attracted by pictures on the Internet. |
| D．She got tired easily when being overweight. |
| A．It made her disbelieve others. |
| B．It did harm to her well-being. |
| C．It helped lift her confidence a bit. |
| D．It taught her about determination. |
| A．They are far from creative. |
| B．They hurt human’s relationships with food. |
| C．They cause many people to do too much exercise. |
| D．They mislead some youths into having wrong ideas of beauty. |
【推荐2】A bronze relic, which is said to have been stolen from China in 1860, has been sold for 410,000 British pounds at an auction (拍卖会) in the United Kingdom despite strong opposition from China, reports Chinanews.com.
According to the Canterbury Auction Galleries, Tiger Ying, a rare Chinese bronze water vessel (容器) with its spout and lid cast with models of tigers, dates back some 3,000 years. The vessel was recently rediscovered by Alastair Gibson, a British art dealer, along with three other bronzes from the Qing Dynasty as well as a photo and a letter that connect the bronzes to the sack (抢劫) of Yuanmingyuan by British and French armies in 1860. In the letter dated October 21, 1860, Harry Lewis Evans (1831-1883), a Royal Marines Captain during the Second Opium War, explains to his mother how he took the Tiger Ying vessel from Yuanmingyuan. Talking to media, Gibson stated that he never imagined that he would come across such a valuable relic when a friend asked him to look at his small private collection. The dealer emphasized that the Tiger Ying was an unparalleled (无双的) valuable piece since it describes a tiger, considered to be the king of beasts in Chinese culture.
A statement by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Tuesday said it "firmly opposes and strongly condemns" the auction, and promised to help bring back cultural relics illegally removed from China. It also called for an international boycott of the auction，after a request to the Canterbury Auction Galleries to stop the sale was refused.
The relic was sold on Wednesday (April 11, 2018) as planned，and for more than twice the expected price of 120,000 to 200,000 pounds.
Some Chinese experts have questioned the authenticity of the auction house’s description of the relic, saying that they can’t just rely on a letter to confirm the history of the bronze. The experts also doubt the auction house’s claim that only seven such bronzes still exist.
1. What’s the attitude of China towards the auction in the UK?| A．Opposed. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Concerned. |
| A．the Canterbury Auction Galleries |
| B．the statement |
| C．the bronze relic |
| D．China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage |
| A．The vessel was taken by Alastair Gibson from Yuanmingyuan in 1860. |
| B．The relic was sold for 410,000 British pounds as expected. |
| C．The auction house’s description of the relic isn’t reliable for lack of solid evidence. |
| D．There are only seven such bronzes in the world at the present time. |
| A．How a Chinese relic was stolen from Yuanmingyuan. |
| B．A Chinese relic has been sold at an auction in the UK. |
| C．China made efforts to stop the sale of Tiger Ying. |
| D．A Chinese bronze relic was rediscovered by a British art dealer. |
【推荐3】“Old wives’ tales” are beliefs passed down from one generation to another. For example,most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things. Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking,but others have not passed the test of time.
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration. Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%. Garlic is good for you,too. It can kill the type of virus that causes colds.
Unfortunately, not all of Mom’s advice passed the test of medical studies. For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating. But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so. Do sweets cause tooth problems?Well, yes and no. Sticky sweets made with grains(谷物) tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars.
Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold_water,_there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated (积累) from thousands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?| A．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth. |
| B．Eating garlic is good for our eyes. |
| C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous. |
| D．Carrots prevent people from catching colds. |
| A．by cause and effect |
| B．by order in space |
| C．by examples |
| D．by order in time |
| A．to be valuable |
| B．to be believable |
| C．to be admirable |
| D．to be suitable |
| A．Subjective(主观的). |
| B．Objective(客观的). |
| C．Dissatisfied. |
| D．Curious. |
