China now has 43 elements on the intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) list, including tea. Let’s share something about Chinese tea.
A leaf fell into the water and changed the taste of it. And tea was born.
China is known as the home of tea. Since ancient times, tea has become part of Chinese culture, leaving its smell in poems and customs (习俗). Many tea lovers enjoy tea not just for its taste, but also for the beauty of tea ceremonies (仪式).
Picking tea leaves is an important spring activity along the Yangtze River in South China. The earliest batch (批) of tea is often ready to be picked before Qingming, in early April, when the temperature begins to rise and rainfall increases. This kind of tea, highly valued for its outstanding character, is called Mingqian tea.
East China’s Zhejiang Province is regarded as a major producer of tea. White Tea in Huzhou city’s Anji county (县) and West Lake Longjing Tea in Hangzhou are two famous teas both at home and abroad. In spring, the hillsides in those places are filled with tea workers working on their land. In the high seasons, many tourists travel to see the beautiful sight of tea farms, while enjoying a freshly prepared cup of tea.
Thousands of years ago, by the hands of the Chinese people, a leaf was made into a delicious drink. It has traveled a long way and continues to play a role in our life, even today.
1. What does the underlined word “outstanding” in the fourth paragraph mean?| A．Ancient. | B．Strange. | C．Excellent. | D．Bitter. |
| A．Mingqian tea is only produced along the Yangtze River. |
| B．Mingqian tea comes as the first batch of tea in a year. |
| C．The higher the temperature is, the better Mingqian tea will be. |
| D．Anji White Tea and West Lake Longjing Tea are the best Mingqian tea. |
| A．The author considers tea as part of Chinese culture. |
| B．The author thinks that tea is more expensive than coffee. |
| C．The author believes that not many people can afford tea. |
| D．The author holds (认为) that tea used to be popular in ancient China. |
| A．The culture of tea. | B．The history of tea. |
| C．The importance of tea. | D．The introduction of tea. |
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【推荐1】The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms. The Spring Equinox(春分), as the fourth term of the year, starts on Mar. 20 and ends on Apr. 4 this year. Here are several things you may not know about the Spring Equinox.
Swallows fly north
The ancient Chinese people divided the fifteen days of the Spring Equinox into three “hous”. As the old saying goes, swallows fly back to the north in the firsthou; thunder cracks the sky in the secondhou; lightning occurs frequently in the thirdhou, which shows the climate feature during the Spring Equinox.
Egg standing games
Standing an egg upright is a popular game across the country during the Spring Equinox. It is an old custom that dates back to 4,000 years ago. People practice this tradition to celebrate the coming of spring. It is believed that if someone can make the egg stand, he will have good luck in the future.
Eating spring vegetables
Eating spring vegetables during the Spring Equinox is a common custom in many places of China. “Spring vegetables” mean seasonal vegetables that are different from place to place.HuangdiNeijingsuggests that people eat seasonal food to help keep healthy and bring good luck to people.
Honor the sun god
During the Spring Equinox, an old tradition in Beijing is offering sacrifices（祭品）to the sun god. This tradition is called the “Zhonghe Festival”. The “Sun Cake”, a round cake made from wheat and sugar, serves as the main offering.
1. Who will have good luck in the future?| A．The people who play egg standing games. |
| B．The people who can make the egg stand. |
| C．The people who eat spring vegetables. |
| D．The people who honor the sun god. |
| A．On New Year’s Day. | B．On the Dragon Boat Festival. |
| C．On the Zhonghe Festival. | D．On the Mid-Autumn Festival. |
| A．Swallows fly back to the south in the firsthou. |
| B．People believe eating spring vegetables cannot help to keep healthy. |
| C．The “Sun Cake”, a round cake, is usually sweet. |
| D．Standing an egg upright is an old custom that dates back to 400 years ago. |
| A．Some interesting stories about the Spring Equinox. |
| B．Some traditions about the Spring Equinox. |
| C．What we have to do during the Spring Equinox. |
| D．We should celebrate Chinese traditions more often. |
What is this? Japanese ikebana (花道)? No, it’s Chinese traditional flower arrangement (插花). They seem similar, but they are actually different. The art of Chinese traditional flower arrangement has a long history of over 1,000 years. Historical records show it served as offerings at temples, decorations in palaces and art at homes. Flowers, branches, and leaves are carefully chosen from the natural environment. People usually use the flowers in season to show the beauty of each season.
A young woman called Zhang Yan has learned Chinese traditional flower arrangement for many years. Zhang said, “If people know about the history of it well, they would take pride in its centuries-old history and try to make it well-known.” Now, she hopes to do her part to introduce the art form to the world.
As it was included in the second batch of National intangible Cultural Heritage (国家非物质文化遗产), more and more people including Zhang’s own daughter now are learning Chinese traditional flower arrangement. “Whether she makes it her career or not, I hope she can continue to hold an ability to enjoy the beauty around her,” Zhang added.
“Today’s people often ignore the really important things in life,” said Zhang. The arranger must decide on what is truly necessary in his or her work and remove the rest. Sometimes learners are touched to tears because they began to think about what is truly necessary in their lives. The healing (治疗) power of Chinese traditional flower arrangement is realized when the arranger know what they truly want.
In Zhang’s view, besides the healing power, and the key lies in the exploration of traditional Chinese culture. So our task now is to carry on and develop traditional Chinese culture.
1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?| A．The styles of Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| B．The design of Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| C．The advantage of Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| D．The introduction to Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| A．To pay no attention to. | B．To take notice of. |
| C．To be crazy about. | D．To be interested in. |
| A．Zhang Yan hopes her daughter can make it as her career. |
| B．It doesn’t have the healing power on people’s daily lives. |
| C．People can realize what is really important in their lives by learning it. |
| D．Everyone is proud of its long history and hopes to introduce it to the world. |
| A．To show the process of Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| B．To make more people explore and spread traditional Chinese culture. |
| C．To share the joy of exploring Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
| D．To discuss the best way of learning Chinese traditional flower arrangement. |
【推荐3】The Chinese lunar calendar (阳历) divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气). Awakening of Insects (惊蛰) is the third. It falls on March 5 and lasts until March 19 this year. Awakening of Insects marks the start of spring and brings a rise in temperature and rainfall, waking animals from their winter sleep. It is also an important time for farmers to start spring agricultural (农业的) activities.
During this period of time, the sound of spring thunder can be heard. In China, there is a saying that if the first thunder comes before Awakening of Insects, there will be unusual weather that year. Spring thunder happens because the earth becomes humid (湿润的), and hot air rises, creating a lot of winds. This period is also important for weather forecasting (预报).
Sleeping animals and fish are awaken during this period, making it a good time for fishing. Fishing provides mental and physical relaxation, especially for people living in the city. They can enjoy the outdoors, sunshine, and the beauty of the nature.
The Awakening of Insects is a busy time for farmers as it marks the beginning of the busiest time for agricultural work. The temperature rises above 10°C, and there is more sunshine, providing good natural conditions for farming. As old Chinese sayings go, once the Awakening of Insects comes, spring ploughing (耕种) never rests. As the weather becomes warmer, eating pears during Awakening of Insects is a common practice in China. Pears are sweet, juicy and cold, helping people who cough a lot.
1. How many solar terms are there in the Chinese solar calendar?| A．Twelve. | B．Twenty-four. | C．Three. |
| A．The first spring thunder means there will be unusual weather that year. |
| B．The Awakening of Insects must be the busiest time for agricultural work. |
| C．Eating juicy and sweet pears at this time is considered good for our throat. |
A． | B． | C． |
| A．In a story book. | B．In a guidebook. | C．In a cultural book. |
【推荐1】Nowadays, more and more students go abroad to learn English. It’s true that studying in an English-speaking country is a good way, but it’s not the only way. There are some other good ways.
____________
The only way to learn to speak a language is by speaking. You may study for years and learn all of the grammar rules, but unless you actually speak it, you will never speak well. When you are practicing speaking, remember to do it out loud.
Talking to yourself
When you learn a foreign language, it’s common for you to develop listening skills more quickly than speaking skills. This is why so many language learners may be able to understand a foreign language a lot better than actually speak it. A good way to solve this problem is to talk to yourself as much as possible.
Using the mobile app—Duolingo
For beginners, the app can help you learn verbs, phrases and sentences. Depending on your selection (选择), the app will make you go through a test. And Duolingo will provide learning materials according to your ability.
If you make a mistake, the app will use a game to help you learn and correct it. If you still make the same mistake, it will use a different game to further help you understand.
Reading out loud
Try reading out loud. You will get a lot from reading. As a beginner, you should read aloud as much as possible. You may not feel it right away, but all those hours of reading out loud to yourself will help you speak well.
1. What can be put back into the blank (空格)?| A．Learning grammar rules. | B．Developing your studying skills. |
| C．Trying to be perfect. | D．Practicing speaking. |
| A．Find a partner. | B．Read more books. | C．Talk to your mother. | D．Talk to yourself. |
| A．If you want to speak a language, you should first learn the grammar rules. |
| B．Duolingo can correct learners’ mistakes by using different games. |
| C．The passage tells us five kinds of ways to learn English. |
| D．It’s not a good way to learn by going to English-speaking countries. |
| A．What you get from reading. | B．The mobile app. |
| C．The English-speaking country. | D．The writing skill. |
| A．To encourage us to learn English. | B．To explain the reason to learn English. |
| C．To give some ways to learn English. | D．To show how to make friends with native (本族语的) speakers. |
【推荐2】Hip-hop dancing (街舞) is popular with many young people today. They like it because they can invent their own moves. They use this dance to show their love for life. It also shows that they feel good about life, that they just want to be themselves and enjoy life, and that they are not afraid of problems.
Hip-hop dancing has a history of more than 20 years. It first began in the 1980s in the USA. In early times, in New York and Los Angles, many young black people often danced to the music in the streets. They used their legs, arms, heads and even shoulders to dance. Many young people still use most of these moves today.
Hip-hop dancing became popular all over the world because of the 1983 film Flashdance. Some people performed (表演) Hip-hop dancing in the movie. People enjoyed their performance. They began to dance like them. Then it became popular. There are two kinds of Hip-hop dancing: new school and old school. More and more young people are learning Hip-hop dancing. People believe that it is a good way to exercise their bodies, and that it is good for their health.
1. Young people like Hip-hop dancing because_______.| A．It has a story of more than 20 years. |
| B．It first began in the USA. |
| C．They can invent their own moves |
| D．Many young black people often dance it. |
| A．in movies | B．in streets |
| C．in old schools | D．in new schools |
| A．legs | B．heads |
| C．arms and shoulders | D．A, B and C |
| A．in the 1970s | B．in1983 |
| C．50 years ago | D．in early times |
| A．It’s not a good way to exercise. |
| B．It shows that young people feel bad about life. |
| C．Young people use their dance to show their love for life. |
| D．It shows that young people are afraid of problems. |
【推荐3】Human activity is changing the surface and temperature of our planet. But new research shows it is also changing the sound of oceans and seas. Scientists say these changes affect （影响）many sea animals—from very small fish to huge whales.
Sound travels very far underwater. For fish, sound is a better way to sense their environment than light. They use sounds to communicate with each other. Sounds also help some ocean animals find food and avoid their hunters. Sounds help fish and other sea animals survive（生存）.
However, increased noise from humans is making it harder for these animals to hear each other. The noise comes from shipping traffic, underwater oil and gas exploration, and other noisy human activity. For many sea animals, their efforts to communicate are being masked （被掩盖）by sounds that humans have introduced. Experts explain the term masking, which happens when one or more noises in the water block sound important to an ocean animal’s life.
The Red Sea is one of the world’s most important shipping passages. It is full of large ships traveling to Asia, Europe, and Africa. Some fish and other animals now avoid the noisiest areas. Also, the overall number of sea animals has gone down by about half since 1970. In some parts of the ocean, scientists now record fewer animals singing and calling than in the past.
Experts say that effects of noise on sea animals are not well understood. However, some studies suggest that noise may cause hearing loss. The stress from human noise might also affect the immune（免疫）system-an animal’s natural defense system. Many sea animals are showing higher levels of stress because of noise.
When people think of threats（威胁）facing the ocean, we often think of climate change, plastics, and overfishing. But noise pollution is another necessary thing we need to be monitoring. When it comes to something humans can do for the ocean, we need to think about how to make it quieter. Sound pollution may be easier to deal with than other ocean threats. You can reduce or turn off sound immediately. It’s not like plastics or climate change, which are much harder to undo.
1. According to the passage, sounds can help sea animals in many ways except ________.| A．blocking the sunshine outside | B．searching for something to eat |
| C．getting away from their hunters | D．communicating with each other |
| A．Noise does more harm to sea animals than humans realize. |
| B．Plastic pollution is the biggest threat facing oceans and seas. |
| C．Fish sense their environment better through light than sound. |
| D．The Red Sea is one of the most popular fishing areas in the world. |
| A．to involve the effort | B．to promise the result | C．to cancel the effects | D．to forget the influences |
| A．Why Are Ocean Animals So Noisy? | B．Helpful Ways to Save Ocean Animals. |
| C．Humans Are Making Oceans Too Noisy. | D．Which Threat to Oceans Is the Biggest? |
