The United Nations has 6 official (官方的) languages. Each of them has their own days with the aim to show the rich history and culture (文化) of each language. UNESCO first created (创造) Chinese Language Day in 2010 to celebrate Chinese as one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
The first Chinese Language Day was on November 12th. But since 2011, it has been on the April 20th. The date was chosen from Guyu to remember Cangjie. Cangjie is very important in Chinese culture. People believed he created Chinese words 5,000 years ago. In old stories, it’s said that Cangjie had 4 eyes and he was good at observing (观察). He often watched the sun and the moon with his upper 2 eyes, and mountains and rivers with the lower 2 eyes. His long-time observation made him create the earliest written words according to the shape of things.
On Chinese Language Day, there are different activities to celebrate the Chinese language and the theme (主题) is different each year. In 2022, “China Chic” was chosen as the theme. Chen Xu, an officer said, “Choosing this theme, we hope to spread what most of Chinese people like today so that foreigners can know more about Chinese culture and have a better understanding of China.” A video festival called “Foreigners look at China Chic” was held. In the videos, foreigners showed their love of Chinese fashion.
Chinese Language Day is an important carrier for Chinese learners, lovers, and users from all over the world to get close to Chinese. Nowadays, more than one sixth of world’s population speak Chinese as their first language—that’s more than any other population in the world! Learning Chinese is more like a key to knowing China and feeling the beauty of Chinese culture.
1. The Chinese Language Day was first created _______.| A．in 2011 | B．13 years ago | C．to celebrate Guyu | D．to remember Cangjie |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Make something cheap. | B．Make something beautiful. |
| C．Make something popular. | D．Make something traditional. |
| A．To tell some facts about a language day. |
| B．To make foreign people love to visit China. |
| C．To tell stories about a famous man Cangjie. |
| D．To show the history of the language of Chinese. |
①A Turkish proverb says. “The more languages you know, the more people you are!” There are about 35 languages spoken in Turkey, but 90% of the people speak Turkish.
②Turkish uses an alphabet that is not strange to many English speakers, but when you look at Turkish spelling, you may find it so difficult. There are 29 letters in the Turkish alphabet and six of them—c, g. t, ō, s and ü—aren’t in the English alphabet. For example, all those marks in a word like gūnes gōzlügü (“sunglasses”) can really daunt you!
③But luckily, Turkish pronunciation isn’t always as hard as it seems. In Turkish, each letter is pronounced only one way. So it can become quite easy to pronounce a new Turkish word.
④Turkish is an agglutinative language. That means it puts pieces together to make words. In Turkish, this practice can make some very long words. You can add suffixes to most Turkish root words. For example, the word ev means “house”. Add the ending ler to make evler, “houses”. Then add den, meaning “from”, to make evlerden, “from the houses”. Or add li, meaning “having” and you get evli, “having a house”. The suffix ci can mean “one who does something”. Gazete is “newspaper”; gazeteci means “a newspaper writer”.
⑤There are more facts about Turkish for you to learn. You’ll find that learning about it helps open up door to a different culture.
1. What does the underlined word “daunt” probably mean?| A．make people more excited | B．make people more tired |
| C．make people less confident | D．make people less afraid |
| A．Turkish people can speak more than one language. |
| B．Turkish uses an alphabet the same as English. |
| C．A Turkish letter can have different pronunciations. |
| D．Turkish words can get long by adding suffixes to root words. |
| A．sarkiler | B．sarkici | C．sarkili | D．sarkilerden |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．To help people learn about Turkish. | B．To ask people to visit Turkey. |
| C．To teach people how to speak Turkish. | D．To advise people to save Turkish. |
3 . Earth is home to lots of wonderful wildlife, but sadly, some animals don’t live on the earth any more today. These are called extinct animals.
 The sabre-toothed cat | This dangerous cat lived thousands of years ago in America. It had two very big teeth that it used to kill animals. You could see these teeth even when its mouth was closed. People think that this cat could kill very big animals. It was extinct around 10, 000 BCE because there wasn’t enough food for it. |
 The woolly rhinoceros | This big animal lived in the middle of Europe and Asia until about 8, 000 BCE. It had two horns—the big one could be one metre long. It had a thick woolly coat to keep warm in the cold winters. But then the weather changed a lot and the woolly rhinoceros couldn’t live in the warm weather. Also, many people killed them for food. So they died out. |
 The dodo | The dodo was a bird. It lived on the island of Mauritius. Once there were thousands of them on the island. Then people from Europe arrived and started to eat them. The Europeans took animals such as dogs and cats to the island, and the animals ate the dodo eggs. Why didn’t the dodo fly away from the people? Because it couldn’t fly. In 1681, it became extinct. |
1. The woolly rhinoceros was a kind of animal that ________.
| A．lived in the middle of America | B．died out before 8000 BCE |
| C．had two one-metre-long horns | D．had to live in cold weather |
| A．other animals ate them | B．it had no place to live |
| C．people caught them for food | D．there wasn’t enough food |
| A．nature | B．travel | C．sports | D．study |
In China, people play lion dances on big days like the Chinese New Year, because they think the lion dance can bring good luck.
The lion dance started in China over 1000 years ago. In the Han Dynasty*, people from Central Asia gave lions as presents to the Chinese king. In the Three Kingdoms Period*, people began wearing lion-like clothes to celebrate festivals. It was the first lion dance. In the Tang Dynasty, it became more important.
In China, there are two kinds of lion dances - the Northern kind and the Southern kind. The Northern lion is red and yellow, and it looks dangerous, like a real lion. There is usually a father lion, a mother lion, and sometimes little lions in the Northern lion dance. The Southern lion is like a cat and it has more different colours.
The lion dance needs one man dancing the head and the other man dancing the tail. But in the Northern lion dance, there’s a dancer with a ball standing before the lion. The Northern lion dance is usually for fun, and the music is lively. The music of the Southern lion dance is exciting as well.
The lion dance is always a great art for people all over the world and the value* of it never changes* over time.
1. According to the passage, the lion dance started in ________.| A．China | B．Central Asia | C．the Han Dynasty | D．the Tang Dynasty |
| A．The Northern lion looks like a real cat. | B．Two people play a lion in the lion dance. |
| C．The two kinds of lions both have two colours. | D．There are little lions in the Southern lion dance. |
| A．To tell the history of the lion dance. | B．To teach how to play the lion dance. |
| C．To study the music of the lion dance. | D．To give information about the lion dance. |
Cathy Hackl’s son wanted a party for his 9th birthday. He wanted to hold the party on Roblox, a website where users can play and create games. Roblox is part of the metaverse. This is a virtual-reality space. There, users can interact with other people and digital environments. Virtual reality is a three-dimensional simulation of a real-life image or environment. “They hung out and played, ” Hackl said, “Just because it happens in a virtual space doesn’t make it less real.” The term metaverse has become popular. Today, people are spending more of their lives in virtual spaces.
The word metaverse comes from a science fiction book from the 1990s. But the metaverse has been around longer than that. Online communities have existed since the 1980s. We enter the metaverse through a screen. This could be through virtual reality(VR). It could also be through augmented reality(AR). Augmented reality covers computer-generated images on the real world. These experiences create a greater blending of our virtual and real lives. But these two worlds already cannot be separated and we don’t even need any headsets, such as VR glasses. Think about the Didi Taxi app. It uses location data to tell drivers where their cars are.
The metaverse is an expansion of the Internet. There are lots of Internet problems to solve already. Still, many people say it has real benefits. They say it can increase social networks and improve mental health. Hackl is a metaverse expert, and she’s African. She says, “You can encourage a lot more people to join and build social relations.” For those already spending part of their life in the metaverse, that building has begun.
Carrie Tatsu runs a business in the metaverse. But she wants her kids to spend time in the real world. “It’s so important for humans to be with humans in real life, ” she said, “I think as kids grow up in this space, it’s important for them to take part, go smell a flower here, walk on a trail, have a real conversation with a friend. Even though you can simulate that, the simulation is not the same. ”
1. How does the writer lead in metaverse in Paragraph 1?| A．By telling stories. | B．By listing numbers. |
| C．By describing people. | D．By comparing facts. |
| A．Changing. | B．Entering. | C．Mixing. | D．Reaching. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Metaverse: virtual spaces online. | B．Metaverse: a science-fiction book. |
| C．Metaverse: a popular computer game. | D．Metaverse: businesses on the Internet. |
In England, Pass the Parcel is a popular game for children. They usually play it at birthday parties. Now let’s learn how to play it and have fun with your friends on your next birthday!
·Get your parcel ready by wrapping your present in layers of paper.
·Sit in a circle and choose one of you to start the game.
·Put on some music. When the song plays, everyone gives the parcel to the one next to them. When the song stops, the child with the present takes off a layer of paper.
·When one of you takes off the final layer, the lucky child will get the present!
1. Children in England usually play Pass the Parcel when they ________.| A．sing a song | B．sit in a line | C．get a present | D．have a birthday party |
| A．Johnson takes off the last layer of paper. | B．Susan wraps the present in layers of paper. |
| C．Vivian plays and stops the music for the game. | D．Leo celebrates his 14th birthday with the game. |
| A．an English storybook | B．a science study | C．a children’s magazine | D．a travel guidebook |
La’eeb, the mascot of the 2022 Qatar World Cup in Doha, with its special look, is popular all over the world. La’eeb may be an idea born in the Middle East, but it grows up in Dongguan, Guangdong.
The design of La’eeb is a kind of traditional clothing of Arab, with a snow-white body, traditional headgear, and red printed Qatari patterns at the corner of the cloth. When it runs after a football, it looks like a jumping dumpling.
La’eeb’s special shape made the toy design slow and hard. The production of La’eeb faced two challenges: one was to make La’eeb, a mascot with no arms and legs, stand up. And the other was to make the toy fly freely. Double Train Culture, a company from Dongguan took the order. They designed decided the shape of La’eeb, then 3D printed the toy and improved it, and finally made a model.
The first toy was made in 2020, and the company improved it many times. Finally, La’eeb was accepted by Qatar 2022 Local Organizing Committee and FIFA after eight changes. “Winning the chance of producing the soccer match’s mascot feels like winning the chance of holding the FIFA World Cup,” Chen Leigang, the CEO of the company said.
With La’eeb’s popularity, the Chinese town Dongguan is successful in getting a place in World Cup history.
1. The toys of La’eeb are made by people in ________.| A．Qatar | B．Doha | C．Arab | D．Dongguan |
| A．what La’eeb can do | B．what color La’eeb is |
| C．what La’eeb looks like | D．what sport La’eeb likes |
| A．difficulties | B．choices | C．differences | D．situations |
| A．The Success of La’eeb’s Special Shape | B．Meet La’eeb and Know the Story Behind |
| C．Improve La’eeb and Hold the World Cup | D．The Meaning of La’eeb You Need to Know |
In a world where technology is king, it is getting more and more difficult to keep up with the ‘R’s— VR. AR, MR, (iPhone) XR and the list goes on.
Many people have trouble telling the differences between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) . AR and VR mean that we experience something that isn’t there, but it feels like it is. As a result, it is easy for users to be blown away and wonder what is real and what is not. In short, at the heart of AR and VR are two very similar technologies. Both offer experiences to users, most widely used in areas such as online shopping and as part of psychological treatments.
_______ The main difference lies in the way of transport. Simply put, VR ‘transports’ the user to another world instead of the real one. It uses computer technology to create a 3D environment. Users not only view a screen in front of them, but also use as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell. VR is used widely in many theme parks, like Disneyland. Imagine opening your eyes and seeing a new world created by the computer all around you; you can move in this environment and even communicate with it. That’s what VR is like. For example, VR has the power to make users feel as if they are falling. So sometimes while playing games, users become nervous and even scared.
AR, does not shut out the real world, but adds digital graphics to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone. Users would not be ‘transported’ to another world but instead, they would see graphics created by computers with what they see in real life. AR makes it possible to create many interesting apps, such as the navigation. It does not, change the whole view of what users see. unlike VR.
Thanks to new technology and successful games, AR and VR users already have a lot of choices. AR and VR are both powerful technologies which are still relatively new to many users. However, they have already begun to shake things up in the gaming world. The worlds of AR and VR aren’t just here: they’re getting bigger and better by the day.
1. Both AR and VR _______.| A．are only used in online shopping | B．improve psychological treatments |
| C．create unreal environments for users | D．let users experience something already there |
| A．In a way, AR and VR create different worlds for users. |
| B．Besides, AR and VR will be widely used in different areas. |
| C．What’s more, AR and VR offer their users different games. |
| D．However, AR and VR can be quite different in many ways. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Technology is king. | B．Thanks to technology. |
| C．Get close to AR and VR. | D．The development of AR and VR. |
“Am I an ‘I’ person or an ‘E’ person?” It is a popular topic among young people around China today. Many people are crazy about it so that they take a personality test named Myers-Briggs test to find out the answer.
Many people find the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Test Indicator) useful. It groups people into 16 types, which start with the letter “I” or “E”, such as “ENTJ, INFP” or more. “E” is short for “Extroversion” while “I” is for “Introversion”. “I’m an ‘E’ person. I should go to the party and make more friends. ” “I’m an ‘I’ person. I’d like to work by myself. I could be a writer in the future. ” They believe different types can help them make decisions for activities, jobs or even life choices more quickly.
But there are also problems. Some people take the test for a second time and get different results. Some people find it hard to answer some questions. “I like watching TV by myself. But I also enjoy playing with friends. Am I an ‘I’ or an ‘E’? ”
When you take a personality test, you may think, “Oh, that’s me.” That’s because the descriptions are generic. They can be used to describe many people. Research has found that over 50% of people get a different score when they retook the MBTI just five weeks later. Personalities can change with time, and they are not black-or-white, scientists say. You may be introverted now but become extroverted when you get older. Or, you can be both an “I” and an “E”. Don’t label yourself! Studies have also shown that the test is not real at telling people’s success in different jobs. So, don’t take it too seriously.
1. MBTI is a test _______.| A．without a hot topic | B．with the same answer |
| C．about young people in China | D．for your personality type |
| A．like to read books in the library on vacation |
| B．like to cook simple meals at home on weekends |
| C．like to watch movies with a pet dog on Friday night |
| D．like to celebrate different festivals with different people |
| A．common | B．special | C．clear | D．simple |
| A．To introduce what MBTI is. | B．To tell whether MBTI is useful. |
| C．To explain how people use MBTI. | D．To list how many people use MBTI. |
10 . Recently, an online poll was held to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World. Over 100 million people voted. Here are four of the seven winners.
 | Chichen Itza, Mexico This was an important city for the Mayans. It was built between about 700 CE and 1000 CE. A symbol of Mayan culture, it was a centre for business in things like cloth, honey and salt. Most photographs show a 24-metre high pyramid. It’s amazing for tourists to see it in person. |
 | Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazil Built between 1922 and 1931, the statue has become a well-known sight of Brazil. The statue is about thirty metres high and the arms measure 28 metres end to end. Designed by a Frenchman and built by a local artist, it attracts thousands of visitors every year. |
 | The Colosseum, Italy This famous amphitheatre, built between 70 CE and 80 CE, was used by the Romans for about 500 years for all kinds of public performances. Now it is almost a complete ruin, as a result of earthquakes and the passage of time, but some parts can be visited. The Colosseum has become one of the most famous buildings of Italy. |
 | The Great Wall, China This amazing structure was built over a period of more than two thousand years, ending in the 16th century. It was built in order to keep out the enemies of Mongolia on the other side. The Great Wall is not actually just one continuous wall, but a succession of many different ones. At around 6, 500 kilometres, it’s one of the longest man-made wonders on the planet. |
1. According to the passage, ________ is the newest building.
| A．The Colosseum, Italy | B．Chichen Itza, Mexico |
| C．The Great Wall, China | D．Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazil |
| A．Chichen Itza is a center of tourists. |
| B．Christ the Redeemer statue was built by a Frenchman. |
| C．The Colosseum is used for all kinds of public performances now. |
| D．The Great Wall of China is one of the longest man-made wonders in the world. |
| A．IT. | B．Society. | C．Travel. | D．Business. |
