Following a design shown on her cell phone, Ruan Xiyue, 35, quickly sketched a manned spacecraft on a gourd (葫芦), completing the first step of gourd sculpture, an intangible (非物质) cultural her it age of northwest China’s Gansu Province.
Coming from a family engaged in gourd sculpture for almost 90 years in Lanzhou, Ruan is not satisfied with just perfecting her technique. Instead, the fourth-generation inheritor (继承人) aims to bring traditional craftsmanship closer to young people through marketing and sharing.
Dating back over 1, 600 years, gourd sculpture was first developed as a decoration on people’s portable wine pots made of gourds. The pronunciation of “gourd” in Chinese, which resembles that of “luck and fortune”, partly explains its lasting popularity.
For Ruan, the fragrance of gourds is the smell of home. Upon graduating from college, she started learning gourd sculpture from her mother, sitting for hours every day practicing calligraphy and painting, which she views as the essential training to become a qualified sculptor. Later, Ruan developed innovative products such as gourd mirrors and gourd necklaces to tap the market potential, believing they can help the craft reach more people.
Her family opened a gourd sculpting studio in 2010, displaying their works as well as a history of the art. Ruan likes talking with visitors to the studio, and their interactions inspired her to launch a curriculum for people to experience the craft in 2016. According to Ruan, around 800 people attend the courses every year. Among them are students eager to learn something new, and young parents who bring their kids along to enjoy some lovely family time. “Many participants told me that our courses enable them to know more about the history of Lanzhou, and help make the city’s memories last longer,” said Ruan.
Under Ruan’s influence, her mother is now live streaming on social media everyday sharing her stories of gourd sculpture with viewers across the country. “Sharing is inheriting,” said Ruan. “When we share our skills and knowledge with more people, the traditional culture will naturally be spread on a wider scale,” said Ruan.
1. What do we know about Ruan?| A．She is a designer of manned spacecraft on a gourd. |
| B．She took up gourd sculpture under the influence of her family. |
| C．She first sculpted on a portable wine pot made of a gourd. |
| D．She is good at teaching young people the craftsmanship. |
| A．Inspiring and touching. | B．New and memorable. |
| C．Popular and enjoyable. | D．Lovely and practical. |
| A．Spreading the gourd sculpture is to share the stories. |
| B．Stories of gourd sculpture a reviewed across the world |
| C．Live streaming on social media is the best way to share. |
| D．Traditional culture will be spread wider through sharing. |
| A．Ruan Xiyue: an Inheritor of an Intangible Cultural Heritage. |
| B．Gourd Sculpture: a Traditional Craft Popular with the Chinese. |
| C．Social Media: a Useful Tool to Share Gourd Sculpture. |
| D．Cultural Courses: an Approach to Learning Something New. |
相似题推荐
Becoming an adult is a very important life change, and Japan has a special holiday to celebrate this. The second Sunday in January is Coming-of-Age Day. On that day, everyone who had their twentieth birthday in the last year goes to their Town Hall for a special activity. Everyone dresses up, and many women wear beautiful dresses. The mayor makes a speech and gives presents to all the new adults.
Some kids are afraid to start school, but six-year-olds in Germany can’t wait. For them, Schulanfang is a big holiday. To celebrate a child’s first day of school, parents or friends give the child a Zuckertuete, a big color box filled with candy and little presents. People take pictures of the kids holding their Zuckertuete, and there is a school party later for the parents with cake and coffee.
1. What happens at Quinceanera?
| A．The birthday girl buys many gifts. |
| B．The birthday girl goes to the church. |
| C．Parents give a Zuckertuete to the child. |
| D．Parents make speeches in the church. |
| A．On one’s first day of school. |
| B．On one’s twentieth birthday. |
| C．On a girl’s fifteenth birthday. |
| D．On the second Sunday in January. |
| A．start school | B．reach the age of 15 |
| C．grow into adults | D．are born |
| A．Celebrating birthdays. |
| B．Celebrating school holidays. |
| C．Celebrating life changes. |
| D．Celebrating national holidays. |
【推荐2】In Chinese customs， red is the main color for weddings． It is used in different ways as it signifies love， joy and happiness． The bride's wedding gown（女礼服）is often red， the wedding invitations， gift boxes and envelopes are red and the bride and the groom's homes are decorated in red on the wedding day．
Before the wedding， the married couples from the groom's family visit the bride's place with gifts in red baskets and boxes． One of those baskets has milk honey． Three days before the wedding， the women from the bride's family bring return﹣gifts to the groom's family．
On the wedding day， the groom arrives at the bride's place on his way to the chapel（佛堂）． The groom has to give gifts in cash wrapped in red paper to the bride's friends for letting her go． The bride and the groom then leave for the chapel together．
The wedding ceremony is attended only by the couple's immediate relatives． Just after the wedding ceremony， the bride serves tea to her parents in﹣laws as a tradition． The couples will then go to get wedding pictures． Then a reception（宴会）will follow．
In the reception， a welcome speech is followed by a cake cutting ceremony． A Chinese wedding cake has many layers（层）， and each one represents a step to success for the newly married couples． So couples cut the cake from the bottom
Travour．com describes and provides information on the wedding traditions of the Chinese and around the world． Below are some wedding traditions performed in Italy．
1. This passage mainly talks about ．| A．some Chinese wedding traditions |
| B．colors in Chinese customs |
| C．wedding ceremonies in China |
| D．preparations for a Chinese wedding |
| A．brings |
| B．connects |
| C．means |
| D．holds |
| A．Both the groom and the bride must wear red clothes |
| B．The bride can not see the groom before the wedding |
| C．The bride serves tea to her birth parents after the wedding ceremony |
| D．The newly married couples usually cut the wedding cake from the bottom |
| A．Where the couples spend their honeymoon |
| B．Some information on other Chinese traditions |
| C．How a traditional wedding is performed in Italy |
| D．How people get married in Italy today |
【推荐3】Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. The Complete Poetry of Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48,900 poems that were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn’t cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.
Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperaments(性情). They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticized injustice in the world through poems.
In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.
Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It’s a miracle in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, which was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting, and music and dance all reached new peaks of development, Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.
1. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?| A．Why the poets created poems. |
| B．The editors of The Complete Poetry of Tang Dynasty. |
| C．Some other kinds of spiritual wealth in the Tang Dynasty. |
| D．The significance and influence of the Tang Dynasty. |
| A．rich | B．strong | C．poor | D．neighbouring |
| A．The Great Tang Dynasty |
| B．Famous Poets in the Tang Dynasty |
| C．Tang Dynasty Poetry |
| D．The Development of the Tang Dynasty |
【推荐1】When she first started learning about the climate change from one of her elders, Fawn Sharp was invited on a helicopter flight over the Olympic Mountains to survey the Mount Anderson glacier. But the glacier was gone, melted by the warming climate. Sharp had a deep sense of loss when she discovered the glacier wasn’t there anymore.
Loss is a growing issue for people working and living on the front lines of climate change. And that gave Jennifer Wren Atkinson, a full-time lecturer at the University of Washington Bothell, US, an idea for a class.
This term, she taught students on the Bothell campus about the emotional burdens of environmental studies. She used the experiences of Native American tribes (部落), scientists and activists, and asked her 24 students to face the reality that there is no easy fix—that “this is such an intractable problem that they’re going to be dealing with it for the rest of their lives.”
Student Cody Dillon used to be a climate science skeptic (怀疑论者). Then he did his own reading and research, and changed his mind.
Dillon wasn’t going into environmental work—he was a computer-science major. Yet, the potential for a worldwide environmental catastrophe seemed so real to him five years ago that he quit his job and became a full-time volunteer for an environmental group that worked on restoration (恢复) projects.
Six months into the work, he decided that Atkinson’s class was just what he was looking for — a place where he could discuss his concerns about a changing climate.
Atkinson said she hopes the class helped her students prepare themselves for the amount of environmental loss that will happen over their lifetimes.
“We are already changing the planet—so many species are going to be lost, displace or massively impacted,” she said. “The future isn’t going to be what they imagined.”
1. Why did the author mention the case of Fawn Sharp?| A．to lay a basis for Fawn Sharp’s further research. |
| B．to prove Fawn Sharp’s work is similar to Atkinson’s. |
| C．to lead into the issue of loss caused by climate change. |
| D．to show scientists’ concern about the Mount Anderson glacier. |
| A．to explore how different people deal with climate change. |
| B．to get students more concerned about the environmental issue. |
| C．to find solutions to the environmental issue of Olympic Mountains. |
| D．to teach students how to conduct research about environment. |
| A．rewarding. | B．challenging |
| C．demanding | D．interesting |
| A．It made him work as a part-time volunteer for restoration projects. |
| B．It made him realize a planet-wide climate disaster would happen. |
| C．It encouraged him to be more involved in environmental protection. |
| D．It discouraged him to work on restoration projects for the environment. |
【推荐2】NASA’s spacecraft Dart hit an asteroid (小行星) 11.3 million kilometers away at a speed, changing the asteroid’s orbit and lowered its cycle period by I5 minutes, the space organization announced on Monday.
Some said the move shows the world might now be able to prevent asteroids — the kind that made the dinosaurs extinct — from hitting the Earth. The asteroid that was controlled belonged to a double-asteroid system. It had a 160-meter diameter while the other asteroid’s diameter is over 500 meters. The bigger asteroid can be compared to the one that ended the dinosaur era 67 million years ago. A hit from an asteroid that size can cause unimaginable destruction.
However, it is too early to assert that the world has gained the ability to prevent asteroids from hitting us. The asteroid that was controlled was only 160 meters in size. Its cycle period was changed, without changing its orbit significantly. It is still not clear if the orbit of a much larger asteroid headed toward the Earth can be changed successfully.
In brief, NASA’s success in changing the course of a harmful asteroid is definitely praiseworthy, but much more needs to be done before we can say the world’s security from some unpredictable asteroid is guaranteed.
It should be noted that changing the orbit of an asteroid involves more than just sending an object into space and commanding it to hit the asteroid. While it is hard enough to hit an asteroid, it is even more difficult to lock onto one in the first place. It means having the ability to observe approaching asteroids, measuring their respective speeds, and deciding which ones might pose a danger to the Earth.
Therefore, there’s more to Dart hitting the asteroid than meets the eye. And these are key areas where global scientists need to work harder in the future.
1. What was the latest news about NASA?| A．Its new program failed. |
| B．Its manned spaceship hit an asteroid. |
| C．Its spacecraft changed an asteroid’s orbit. |
| D．Its spacecraft saved the earth from being destroyed. |
| A．Advise. | B．State. | C．Promise. | D．Admit. |
| A．It was comparatively small in size. |
| B．Its orbit was changed significantly. |
| C．It travelled at a higher speed than before. |
| D．It was powerful enough to end dinosaur era. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Pessimistic. | D．Not mentioned. |
【推荐3】Dyson, a company best known for its innovative(创新的) line of vacuums and fans, is apparently also interested in providing urbanites with a convenient way to filter(过滤) air pollution. The company recently applied for a patent (专利) in the UK for a pair of headphones that takes in polluted air through ear cups and directs the filtered product to an integrated mouthpiece. Dyson’s engineers behind the invention describe it as a more convenient alternative to traditional face masks.
“In locations with particularly high levels of air pollution, many people have recognized the benefits of reducing their exposure to these pollutants and have therefore taken to wearing face masks with the aim of filtering out at least a portion of the pollutants present in the air before it reaches the mouth and nose,” the inventors write in the invention summary. “However, as these face masks typically cover at least the users mouth and nose, they can make normal breathing more laborious.”
So how does Dyson imagine this equipment working? As you might have guessed for a company that specializes in innovative ways to move air, the ear cups contain small fans that spin at 12, 000 rotations per minute. This provides enough suction(抽吸) to draw in about 1.4 liters of air per second. The air is then filtered to remove pollutants and pushed to a partially-transparent mouthpiece at the front of the user. As a way to reduce the noise of the fans, the headphones also include adaptive noise canceling with an integrated microphone and speakers.
While it’s unknown whether this patent will ever develop into an actual product, it's unfortunately something that many people could use. In its “state of Global Air 2019” report, the non-profit Health Effects Institute ( HEI) listed air pollution as the fifth leading cause for death worldwide, ahead of malnutrition, alcohol use, and physical inactivity.
So are Dyson’s air-purifying headphones straight out of some dystopian(反乌托邦的) science fiction films? You bet. But it’s increasingly our reality that much of the world is living and breathing in cities where that unthinkable future is already playing out. Necessity in the face of such awful man-made pollution will eventually push something similar to market. Whether humanity takes the hint(暗示) and does something to make them useless is sadly less certain.
1. What is the disadvantage of tradition face masks according to Dyson’s engineers?| A．They keep fresh air out. | B．They need regular cleaning. |
| C．They make breathing difficult. | D．They take too long to filter the pollutants. |
| A．To show the necessity of the new invention. | B．To show its contribution to the new invention. |
| C．To explain why people tend to go after new things. | D．To explain why people worldwide have a shorter life. |
| A．Air-purifying headphones are not new. | B．Dyson’s invention will be of little use. |
| C．Human action should come before the technology. | D．Dyson's engineers got inspiration from sci-fi films. |
| A．A pioneer of innovation is in a dilemma. |
| B．Risks that could lead to death are still rising. |
| C．Air pollution is no longer an age-old problem. |
| D．A high-tech product might be needed in smoke-choked cities. |
