【推荐1】In May 2020, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games(BOCOG) solicited(征集) medal designs worldwide. Hang Hai and his team set about preparing designs to submit to the BOCOG. Medals reflect the culture and creativity of the host country, and the team set two basic principles for their design:

First, it should continue to adopt the jade(玉) culture incorporated into the design of the Beijing 2008 medals to highlight Beijing’s status as the world’s first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games; second, it should be innovative.

“The medals of both the Beijing 2008 and 2022 Games are to honor the athletes and the Olympic spirit with traditional jade culture, ”said Hang. Jade was chosen because it has been treasured in China and symbolizes good virtue. “The difference is that the 2008 medals used the jade as a material, while the 2022 medals represent the spirit of China’s jade culture,” he added.

In the process of designing the medals, one team member, Lin Fan, conducted extensive research into China’s ancient bi. Lin finally chose a five-ring one associated with Fu Hao — a Shang Dynasty queen — as the prototype(原型) for the medals. In the final design, the opposite side of the medals has the Olympic rings engraved in the center, surrounded by five big concentric(同心的) rings. Auspicious(吉祥的) cloud patterns, as well as snowfakes and ice patterns are engraved between the circles. The cloud patterns are intended to maintain a cultural connection with the 2008 Games, while the snowflakes and ice patterns speak to the characteristics of the Winter Olympics.

The cases holding the medals are made of bamboo. “The International Olympic Committee inquired about the growth and processing of the bamboo to ensure it meets the requirements of a green Olympics and follows the concept of sustainable(可持续的) development,” Hang said.

The medals passed the quality test and were accepted by the Games’ organizing committee on January 7, 2022. The medals are officially named Tongxin and they are the result of many people’s efforts. However, the smile on the athletes’ faces as they wear them makes it all worthwhile.

1. What does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．The history of the Olympic medals.

B．The purpose of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

C．The basic requirements of the 2022 medal designs.

D．The significance of the 2008 medal patterns.

2. What is the difference between the 2022 medals and the 2008 medals?

A．2022 medals use the jade as a material.

B．2022 medals strengthen the idea of environmental protection.

C．2022 medals make no difference in the medal designs.

D．2022 medals reflect the spirit of China’s jade culture.

3. Why did the designers add cloud patterns to the 2022 medals?

A．To present harmony between human and nature.

B．To stress the bond with the 2008 Games.

C．To combine with the features of the Winter Olympics.

D．To highlight the charm of Chinese traditional culture.

4. What do we know about the cases holding the medals?

A．Their production shows the concept of green Olympics.

B．They were solicited by BOCOG.

C．They symbolize good virtue.

D．They spent a lot of time processing.

【推荐2】The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Minor Snow, (小雪), the 20^th solar term of the year, begins this year on Nov 22 and ends on Dec 6. Minor Snow refers to the time when it starts to snow, mostly in China’s northern areas, and the temperature continues to drop.    1    .

Light snow

An ancient Chinese book about plants explains that “in Minor Snow, the weather is cold and it is going to snow, while the earth is not frozen enough and the snow is light.”    2    . Meanwhile, in the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, the average time of the first snow falls during the Minor Snow solar term. The snow is light and frozen at night, but melts quickly during the day.

Wearing hats and scarves

In China, starting in Minor Snow, the wind blows from the northeast a lot. Because it’s still not bitterly cold, many people do not wear hats or scarves yet. In fact, according to an old Chinese saying, “the head is the place where all passages of the body gather”.    3    .

Drinking soup

During Minor Snow, indoor heating begins to work, which means the air indoors is dry and most people might find their nose and mouth feels a bit dry. According to practices in traditional Chinese medicine, this accumulation of “inner heat” in one’s body can cause problems.    4    , such as cabbage and bean curd soup, spinach(菠菜)and bean curd soup, and mutton and radish (小萝卜) soup.

    5    

After Minor Snow, the temperature declines sharply and the air becomes dry. It is the best time to start making preserved pork, which by the Chinese Spring Festival would be ready to enjoy. In the past, when storage conditions were poor, people developed many ways to store food and preserved pork is one such example. So even in the bitter winter, the whole family could enjoy meat.

A．Making preserved pork

B．It’s sensible to keep one’s head warm

C．The solution is to drink more hot soup

D．People can enjoy different types of soups in winter

E．Here are several things you should know about Minor Snow

F．It’s of equally great importance to wear scarves over this period

G．The temperature in most areas in the north drops to zero degrees and below

【推荐3】Nobody laughed when the UK comedy show Little Britain toured the US. Americans didn’t find the “British stereotypes(刻板印象)”funny. One character was a woman who was sick whenever she saw a foreigner.Another was a loud and rude 15-year-old girl cursing(骂)at her teachers.But back home,British people were laughing,thinking,“Yes!That’s exactly what we’re like!”

A laugh is a laugh in any language,but the reasons for it can be very different.Britons and Americans speak the same language,but humor does not always translate.

Take The Office as an example.This was originally a UK TV series but it was changed for the US.Both the US and UK series are set in a boring workplace in a boring town.But David Brent,the boss of the UK office,is not a nice guy like Michael Scott in the US version. “We had to make Michael Scott a slightly nicer guy,”wrote series creator Ricky Gervais.“He couldn’t be too mean.”

Gervais said British people are different from Americans because“Britons cruelly make fun of people we like or dislike…and of ourselves”. He believes the differences between the American and British senses of humor are because of“our upbringing”.

“Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States,”he wrote.“Britons are told,‘It won’t happen for you’.”

Things usually turn out fine at the end of every US Office episode(集). Even if they’re not perfect, the characters “learn a lesson” for the future.

But in David Brent’s office—and in lots of UK comedies—the last scene is often sad. You are often left with the feeling that things just couldn’t get worse. For British people, this seems truer to life and so much funnier.

It’s not just Britain and the US that have comic differences. Few foreigners would understand a Chinese cross-talk show,for example.

Cultural differences are no laughing matter. But comic differences can be a window into a culture.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To show that British humor is not funny at all.

B．To show that American people don't understand British people.

C．To show that Britain and America have different stereotypes.

D．To show how humor may mean different things in different cultures.

2. What's the meaning of the underlined word“mean”in Paragraph 3?

A．Unkind.

B．Great.

C．Average.

D．Ugly-looking.

3. Which of the following statements about The Office is TRUE according to the article?

A．David Brent is quite a nice guy.

B．Michael Scott is a rather mean guy.

C．Episodes in the UK version often end on a hopeless note.

D．Episodes in the US version often end in a boring way.

4. What can we infer from the article?

A．Britons do not like to make fun of others.

B．British comedy often has a moral message.

C．American people are brought up to be more positive.

D．Jokes are difficult to translate from one language into another.

5. What is the author’s opinion of comic differences?

A．They are slight differences that can be ignored.	B．They can partly show cultural differences.
C．They show stereotypes of different cultures.	D．They help people communicate with each other.

【推荐1】Street art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on building, sidewalks, street sings and trash cans from Tokyo to Paris, and from Moscow to Cape Town. Street art has become a global culture and even art museums and galleries are collecting the works of street artists. Even advertising companies also use street art in their ads due to its popularity.

Street art started out very secretly because it’s illegal to paint on public and private property without permission. People often have different opinions about street art. Some people think it is a crime with others think it’s a new form of culture.

Art experts claim that the movement began in New York in the 1960s. Young adults sprayed words and images on walls and trains. This colorful and energetic style of writing became known as graffiti(涂鸦). Graffiti art showed that young people wanted to rebel against society. They didn’t want to accept rules, and they travelled around cities to create paintings that everyone could see. In many cases, they had trouble with the police and the local government.

Many street corners in Paris show the works of Space Invader. A French artist uses small pieces of glass to make images of space creatures. He has been doing this for some years and the police have arrested him a few times. On his website, you can see many other places where he has created this form of art.

Street artists do their work for some reasons. Some of them do not like the artists who make so much money in galleries and museums. They choose street art because it is closer to common people. Some artists try to express their political opinion in their works. They often want to protest against big firms and corporations. Others like to do things that are forbidden and hope they don't get caught.

In today’s world, the Internet has a big influence on street art. Artists can show their pictures to people all over the world. Many city residents, however, say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it alive. The street art movement lives with the energy and life of a big city. There it will continue to change and grow.

1. What may be the best title for the text?

A．A New Form of Art

B．The New Trend of Street Art

C．Discovery of Global Culture

D．Street Art-New Culture of Cities

2. Why do advertising companies use street art?

A．It has a free style.	B．It has a great effect.
C．It’s popular with customers.	D．It gives the impression of youth.

3. What’s the author’s attitude toward street art?

A．Objective.	B．Subjective.
C．Doubtful.	D．Supportive.

【推荐3】Ancient Chinese folk paintings and many other art styles have been passed down from generation to generation, and are still practised in different parts of China. Here's a look at four unique Chinese folk art forms.

Chinese Opera (戏剧) is the traditional form of Chinese drama. According to incomplete statistics, in China's various ethnic regions there are about more than 360 kinds of operas. The most famous ones include Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yueju Opera, Yuju Opera, Sichuan Opera, Fujian Opera, Hebei opera, Huangmei Opera arid so on, in total more than 50, among which Peking Opera is the most popular in China.

Shadow Play (皮影戏) dates back to Western Han Dynasty in Shaanxi more than 1,000 years ago. The moving figures, usually carved out from leather, are operated by folk artists, accompanied by music and singing. It is the world's first dubbed (配音的) motion picture art form, thus considered the "ancestor" of modern film. Today this art form is still popular in northern China.

Paper-cutting (剪纸) is one of the most popular traditional decorative arts in China with a long history. Paper-cutting can be seen across China and it has even developed into different local genres (流派). They are usually used to decorate gates and windows during festivals.

The Kite was invented by Chinese people. According to legend the earliest kite in China was a wooden bird by Mo Di in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Later his student Lu Ban improved the tech and used bamboo as material to make a kite. Today, various kite-flying activities can be found in different regions of China. Shandong Weifang Kite Festival is held every year and attracts lots of kite lovers and travelers.

1. Which Chinese Opera is the most popular in China?

A．Peking Opera.	B．Kunqu Opera.
C．Yueju Opera.	D．Yuju Opera.

2. Why is Shadow Play considered the ancestor of modern film?

A．It has a history of more than 1,000 years.

B．It was operated by ancient folk artists.

C．It is accompanied by music and dances on the stage.

D．It is the world's first dubbed motion picture art form.

3. What does the underlined word "They" in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Different local genres.

B．Traditional decorative pictures.

C．Paper-cutting art works.

D．Popular Chinese handwriting.

4. What was the earliest kite made of in China?

A．Paper.	B．Wood.
C．Bamboo.	D．Leather.

5. What is the main topic of this article?

A．Chinese folk art.	B．Chinese folk paintings.
C．Chinese operas.	D．Chinese folk plays.

【推荐1】One day, our teacher talked about the stereotypes (固定看法) of different people. I learned the stereotypes of Mexicans: they are poor and lazy. I was ashamed of who I was because I am a Mexican and thought that it would be hard for me to be successful.
One day in the eleventh grade, we had a discussion in history class. The kid next to me said, "You look like one of those Mexicans who sell food in the street." I told him that he was also a Mexican. He said, "I don't look as Mexican as you. I have light skin." That was the first time that I'd heard someone say, "I don't look as Mexican as you." Could it be that the people who succeed in this country are those who look like an American?
Towards the end of the eleventh grade, I was asked to write a restaurant review. When I went to a restaurant, I saw the waiter talking to the chefs (厨师) and thought they were judging me. I felt nervous but I couldn't leave because I had to write the review. Minutes later, the waiter stopped talking and took my order. He was happy to serve me. I started asking him questions about his restaurant and I guessed that he liked that because he gave me a free dish. After I left the restaurant, I thought, "That's wasn't bad at all." Not all people think of me as a failure.
Now, I am running for the school president in my senior year. I am not sure if I can win, but I tell myself that if I want to be successful, I have to stop despising (鄙视) myself. I want to prove that Latinos can be successful. I do belong to the United States. An American is a person who overcomes struggles to become successful and that is what I'm doing.
1. In Paragraph 2, what the kid said to the author made him doubt whether ______.

A．he should laugh at the kid

B．the kid was a real Mexican

C．he should sell food in the street

D．the color of one's skin really mattered

2. The author's experience of finishing his restaurant review helped him realize that         .

A．he could succeed easily if he tried his best

B．the waiters in America were all very friendly

C．not everyone in American looked down on Mexicans

D．he was actually popular with people around him

3. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Where one was born matters a lot.

B．Being a Mexican is hard in America.

C．Other people's opinions are very important.

D．It is what he does that makes him an American.

【推荐2】One of the biggest problems when we are talking is the awkward silence. Encountering this situation is so uncomfortable that you would avoid meeting new people in the first place. In the past, I struggled with this and I even thought it had to do with my DNA or something… But later I learned that once you know how to keep those words flowing, you can meet and talk to anyone you like, which helps create great possibilities for friendship, fun and shared activities that you would otherwise have missed out on.

After studying this in depth, I had different opinions and found that one of these common behaviors is the habit of filtering (过滤) — holding back from saying something until you’ve “checked” to make sure that what you’re about to say is cool, impressive and interesting. Another problem is not learning to get in the mood for conversation. If you don’t know how to change from subjects, then it can take a lot of time to warm up.

It is the reflex (习惯性思维) that allows you to say whatever goes on in your mind. It’s fun to realize that you’re allowed to say whatever is on your mind. As long as you don’t say anything that could land you in jail (监狱).

All of the “Oh! That’s interesting…” “Hmm, I’ve never heard of that” “Hmm, cool!” expressions are reactionary bits of conversation that prove to the other person that you’re really listening. This works 99% of the time. So, if you show some interest, they’ll hang around and want to talk to you even more.

Everyone knows that stories juice-up conversations, but most people only talk about stories of their own lives. When someone mentions something related to any of them, just tell the story, even if it’s not from your life. The more interesting, stranger or more frightening they are, the harder they are to forget.

1. If people can deal with the awkward silence, they can ________.

A．promote their working skill	B．improve their life quality
C．enrich their social life	D．establish their working relationship

2. According to the passage, what do the speakers care much about?

A．The attractive topics of conversation.	B．The atmosphere of the conversation.
C．The listener’s experiences and tastes.	D．The listener’s curiosity and concern.

3. What does the underlined part “juice-up conversations” mean?

A．making conversations more difficult

B．making conversations livelier

C．making conversations faster

D．making conversations more relaxing

【推荐3】

When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn’t very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn’t catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, “Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish.” I remember being even more upset then because “I’m not a fish!” I didn’t know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, “How could what I think influence what a fish does?”

As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water—the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don’t have any eyelids and the sun hurts their eyes. The more I understood fish, the more I became effective in finding and catching them.

When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, “We all need to think like sales people.” But it didn’t completely make sense. My dad never once said, “If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman.” What he said was, “You need to think like a fish.” Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need was to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.

1. Why was the author upset in fishing trips when he was nine?

A．Because he could not catch any fish.

B．Because his father was not patient with him.

C．Because his father did not teach him fishing.

D．Because he could not influence a fish as his father did.

2. What did the author’s father really mean by saying “think like a fish”?

A．To read about fish.	B．To learn fishing by himself.
C．To understand what fish think.	D．To study more about fish.

3. In what kind of area can fish most likely be found according to the author?

A．In deep water on sunny days.	B．In deep water on cloudy days.
C．In shallow water under sunlight.	D．In shallow water under waterside trees.

4. What did the author find after entering the business world?

A．It was easy to think like a customer.	B．His father’s fishing advice was inspiring.
C．His first boss’ sales ideas were reasonable.	D．It was difficult to sell services to poor people.

【推荐1】In our daily lives, we probably make silly mistakes. While these moments can be worrying, they can also be handled with humor. When we share a laugh at our mistakes, we can calm ourselves down with a thread of understanding and acceptance.

When one morning in a rush to school, I spilled (泼洒)my cup of orange juice. I immediately thought of the precious minutes I would have to spend in cleaning up the floor. I raced back and forth to the sink(洗碗槽)with a kitchen cloth soaked (浸透)with juice to wash off. My legs were shaking as I watched from my window the school bus coming to my street. Within a minute, I had thrown the orange juice-soaked cloth to the sink and ran outside to join the group of kids in entering the bus. When thinking about my morning rush to clean up the spilled juice on the bus, I realized how much unnecessary stress and worry I put myself through. I ended up smiling to myself about my minor nervousness over spilled juice.

These days I don’t usually spill orange juice, but I do sometimes spill a bit of spaghetti sauce on my pant or put on my sweater backwards when I’m really tired and in a hurry for school. In each of my mistakes, I try to remind myself not to take myself so seriously. It takes me a minute to calm down, take a deep breath and smile at my carelessness. It is the ability to see mistakes in a different way that enables me to find humor in everyday moments.

Humor, however, doesn’t always have to arise from silly mistakes. Kids may have a good laugh at comic books, classic jokes and stories told by friends and parents. What matters more is not where you find the humor in life, but that you can appreciate it.

1. When we make mistakes in our daily lives, we ________.

A．should treat them properly	B．may try to enjoy ourselves
C．must know the value of them	D．had better forget them in time

2. We can learn from Paragraph 3 that the author ________.

A．makes many mistakes now and then

B．tries to keep himself calm with humor

C．has been used to being busy every day

D．always makes other people around happy

3. What does the author intend to tell us?

A．We should try to find where humor lies.

B．We can be happy by enjoying humor.

C．It is natural for us to make mistakes.

D．Reading is a good habit for every person.

【推荐2】When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China.

When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now.

Still, her answer surprised me, “Green tea.”

As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea.

I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story. My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses.

At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indians. It was a strange country.

How things change! And how soon!

Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”. And everyone is talking about China.

The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done. A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investments (投资) and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．

But it’s a two-way street. I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software. Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China.

No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, was expected to hit about $15 billion for last year and $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments.

No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian (中印) century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year.

But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.

1. Why did the mother ask for Chinese green tea?

A．She was tired of Indian tea.

B．She had a son working in China.

C．She believed it had a curing effect.

D．She was fond of Chinese products.

2. What does the author mean by “it’s a two-way street” in   Paragraph 10?

A．China and India have different traffic rules.

B．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China.

C．Chinese products are popular in both China and India.

D．The exchanges between India and China benefit both.

3. What do we know about the Indian IT industry?

A．It will move its head office to Shenzhen.

B．It is seeking further development in China.

C．It has attracted an investment of $15 billion.

D．It caught up with the US IT industry in 2008.

4. In the text the author expresses ________.

A．his concern for his mother’s health

B．his support for drinking Chinese green tea

C．his surprise at China’s recent development

D．his wonder at the growth of India’s IT industry

【推荐3】For the longest time, I thought successful parenting in general would look something like this:

At least two healthy and happy children involved in a variety of out-of-school activities. No McDonalds. Screen time? Minimal. Languages? They would speak three, just like my husband and me.

As for me, I would be a stay-at-home mother with a sense of professional fulfillment. I would prepare organic home-cooked meals for my children. My husband and I would make time for regular date nights.

Once I became a parent and experienced life with a kid for a couple of years, I realized I had to change my expectations.

I understood this when my son, who was not yet at school, told us he would only be wearing superhero T-shirts from now on.

Another clue came after a date with my husband. Nowadays, my vision of a perfect date night is watching movies with my husband. We do try to get out of the house from time to time, but not to eat out in fancy restaurants. Working parents know how much it takes to run a household with young children. So I felt like I needed to slow things down and find a better life balance.

As it turns out, being a stay-at-home parent has done wonders for the family’s wellbeing. But it wasn’t easy. We had to sell our car. We rented our apartment to increase our income.

So my vision of success has evolved. I realize that “successful parenting” has nothing to do with how many languages your child speaks. It doesn’t matter if your kid likes the Hulk. As a society, we are so focused on performance. We put so many expectations not only on ourselves as parents, but also on our children. All my husband and I can do is try our best to raise a healthy, confident and kind child.

I’ve finally realized that being a “successful mother” means doing my best, not what family, friends and society in general expect of me. I just need to love hard and provide a safe and healthy space for my family to flourish (茁壮成长). Revising my view of successful parenting has taken a couple of years. Actually, I don’t think I even want to use the term “successful mother” anymore. I just want to be a mother. I am a mother.

And I am enough.

1. What can we learn about the author from the first three paragraphs?

A．She liked cooking very much.	B．She hoped to be an ideal mother.
C．She was unhappy with her job.	D．She comes from a rich family.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A．Being a stay-at-home parent.	B．Increasing the family’s income.
C．Taking care of the whole family.	D．Finding a better life balance.

3. Which of the following would the author agree with?

A．You can eventually achieve your goals if you try hard.

B．It does good to society if parents try to meet its expectations.

C．A successful child works hard to do better than others.

D．It matters most that parents try their best to make a good family.

4. What is the main purpose of this article?

A．To share the author’s thoughts about parenting.

B．To stress the importance of being a good parent.

C．To give advice on how to be a successful mother.

D．To tell readers what a happy family is like.