In China there are around 130 different languages in different cities and lots of dialects (方言). These dialects come from about eight different language groups. Each group is quite different. For example, a Mandarin( 普通话) speaker in northern China would probably understand very little Cantonese (粤语).
Dialects are necessary parts of history. Sheng Guangqi, a teacher at Shandong University, says, “We can learn about the history of a place by looking at its dialect.” For example, in Shanxi, there are still many people who call matches “qu deng”, which means “get a light”. In the old days, “qu deng” was a piece of small wood with some powder on it. People used it to make fire.
Sheng thinks that dialects are also important for us to know about the culture. They are as important as Mandarin. “Mandarin is useful in many formal (正式的) situations. But in some art performances, such as local operas and short plays, dialects play an important role.” he said.
Although it is necessary to protect dialects, Zhang Haoming, an expert from the Ministry of Education, said making Mandarin popular is still the most important thing.
“We will further promote (推广) Mandarin. At the same time, we will also protect disappearing languages and the cultural meaning behind these languages,” he said.
1. Is Mandarin more important than dialects according to Sheng Guangqi?2. How many language groups are dialects from in China?
3. What can we learn from dialects?
4. Do you think that teachers can use dialects in class? Why or why not?
Ryrkaypiy, a village with about 700 people, is located in the northeast of Russia. Standing on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, it has to brave both the Arctic’s cold weather and wild animals like polar bears. Most of the area’s polar bears live a few miles away from Ryrkaypiy. Only a few bears come near to the village now and then.
But last winter, over 50 polar bears went to Ryrkaypiy in search of food. The villagers were told to stay indoors to avoid danger. Now polar bears come to the village more often and in larger numbers than ever.
Although polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their life on the sea ice. The ice gives them a place where they can have a rest and catch fish. But as the temperature rises because of global warming, the bears have started to find their home disappearing.
Polar bears normally go onto dry land in summer, and return to the ice when the ocean freezes again in autumn. But over the past few years, the ocean has frozen later and later, and the ice area has become smaller and smaller. Unable to live on the ice, hungry polar bears have to look for food on land, including villages like Ryrkaypiy.
In some countries, polar bears are considered as endangered animals. If the earth becomes so warm that there is no longer enough ice for the bears to live on, there will probably be no polar bears.
Immediate action must be taken to protect both polar bears and humans.
1. Why did polar bears go to Ryrkaypiy last winter?2. What can polar bears do on the sea ice?
3. When do polar bears normally go onto dry land?
4. What will probably happen to polar bears if there is not enough ice?
5. What’s the passage mainly about?
Hongcun (宏村), with a history of about 900 years, is an extremely beautiful village in Anhui Province. Located under Mount Huang, the village has kept the major Chinese styles from ancient times. It’s also one of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (世界文化遗产).
Walk along the old stone streets and lanes, and you will feel like travelling back in time. All the houses with grey roofs and white walls were built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. On the front gate of each household is dotted with (点缀着) red Chinese knots and lanterns. All of them are outlined (映出轮廓) against the blue sky and reflected into the clear rivers, lakes and ponds, surrounded (环绕着) by dark green mountains. It’s a living water-ink picture.
Step into a tea house to take a rest. A piece of classical music, played by guqin, fills up the house and floats into your hearts, as if you hear birds singing, pines (松) whistling and rivers flowing. You will be lost in a world, full of peace and pleasure. Holding the tea cup, you will find some lines of poems on its out layer (层) coming into your sight:
No dust is rising on the road, wet with morning rain.
The willows by the hotel look so fresh and green.
Walk out of the tea house, and go to the open-air theatre. The actors with coloured make-ups (脸绘) are performing on the stage in special clothes. It’s a local opera called Huangmei Opera and different from others such as Kun Opera, Beijing Opera and Yue Opera. Also, you can enjoy various (多样的) quyi: crosstalk, kouji and pingshu.
If you want to feel more about the charm of Hongcun, plan a visit to it right now.
根据短文内容回答问题，每小题答案不超过六个单词。
1. Where is the beautiful village, Hongcun?
2. How long has Hongcun existed (存在)?
3. Were all the houses with grey roofs and white walls built during the Ming or Qing Dynasties?
4. How will you feel after listening to the classical music played by guqin?
5. What can you enjoy in the open-air theatre?
It’s not WASTE until it is WASTED!
With the World Environment Day coming, our school is now asking every student to form a habit of sorting（分类）the waste. Here in our schoolyard we place four different colors of rubbish bins for different kinds of rubbish.
The red is for harmful waste; the blue is for waste that can be recycled（回收）; the green is for kitchen waste; the yellow is for other waste.
The followings are some instructions for you.
Glass: Empty bottles without caps can be recycled to make new glass bottles. Warning: Mirrors and light bulbs（电灯泡）must not be included in the glass waste.
Paper: Newspapers, magazines, boxes must be clean enough to be recycled. Warning: Paper tissues（餐纸）and wall paper are not recyclable as paper and should be kept separately.
PMD waste: Packaging（包装）made of Plastic or Metal and Drink boxes are used to make new packaging. Warning: Plastic pots (e.g. yoghurt pots), plastic bags must not be included with the PMD waste.
Harmful waste: out-of-date drugs, used batteries, paint and oil…
Besides, if you don’t need your old bikes at all, our school volunteers will collect them. We’re going to fix them up and then give them away to kids who don’t have enough money for a bike.
To find out more about recycling, you can visit our school website.
1. How many different colors of rubbish bins do we place in our schoolyard?2. In which color of rubbish bin can we throw the fish bones, the red one or the green one?
3. Are out-of-date drugs harmful to the environment?
4. If you give your old bike to the volunteers of our school, what will we do with it?
5. Why does the school post this passage?
How do we know about things that happened thousands of years ago when there were no videos or photos? One answer is written records. The earliest written records of Chinese civilization (文明) are known as oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文).
More than 3, 000 years ago, people in the Shang Dynasty (about 16th—11th century BC) liked to ask fortune tellers (占卜师) about the future. For example, what will the weather be like next week? Where should I go to make money? Will my wife give birth to a boy or a girl? From work to love, people asked questions about many topics. The fortune teller would write the question on an oracle bone, heat it up, and then read the cracks (裂纹) in it to find an answer.
Tens of thousands of oracle bones have been found so far. They can tell us a great deal about how people lived during the Shang Dynasty. “They help us understand the origins of Chinese philosophy (哲学) and thought, and figure out where our culture comes from,” Song Zhenhao, a leading oracle bone expert, told China Daily.
In addition to (除了) telling us about ancient Chinese culture, the oracle bones are also key to understanding the growth and development of the written form of the Chinese language. Many of the characters (汉字) we use today are similar to those used 3, 000 years ago. “The oräcte bone inscriptions, as the earliest-known mature (成熟的) form of Chinese characters, represent the beauty and uniqueness (唯一) of a language that has been passed down,” said Chen Nan, a professor at Tsinghua University.
In 2017, UNESCO added oracle bone inscriptions to its Memory of the World Register (“世界记忆”名录). They are indeed a valuable memory of ancient China.
根据上面短文内容，回答下列问题（每小题答案不超过6个单词）。
1. According to the passage, who could tell the people in the Shang Dynasty the future?
2. What does the underlined word they in the third paragraph refer to (指代)?
3. Are many of the characters we use today similar to those used 3, 000 years ago?
4. When did UNESCO add oracle bone inscriptions to its Memory of the World Register?
5. What do you think of oracle bone inscriptions?
Have you ever felt lonely even when you’re not alone? Have you ever felt lost or confused(困惑的) about your life? If so, there’s no need to get nervous. No matter how much money you make, or how popular or successful you become, you might find that there’s still something missing in your life.
Here are 3 possible reasons why you feel empty all the time.
First, you don’t have any meaningful relationships. In everyday life, you always feel isolated and detached(格格不入的) from people around you. Because you won’t share a laugh with them or have a personal conversation, then it’s not a real relationship.
Second, you haven’t got well with your past. The emptiness you feel right now may be a sign that there are some unresolved(未解决的) feelings from your past. So you can forgive(原谅) yourself, and allow yourself to grow and be better.
Third, you don’t have any dreams in your life. If you don’t have any dreams of your own you want to achieve, it can be hard to find any meaning in life. After all, it’s simply human nature to want things for yourself.
So, take your time to understand where these feelings are coming from. It’s not easy. But it’s important because it will help you live a happier and more meaningful life.
1. How many possible reasons are mentioned in this text? (不超过5个词)2. What can you do if you haven’t got well with your past? (不超过15个词)
3. Why is it important to understand these feelings? (不超15个词)
7 . The COVID-19 epidemic (疫情) wave in China has ended. The virus did not rebound (反弹) significantly during the Spring Festival holiday and no new virus mutations (突变) were found, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report on Jan 25. The overall pandemic is at a low level.
China stopped mass testing (大规模检测) on December 8, 2022, and downgraded (降级) its management of the disease from Class A to Class B on January 8. According to the CDC report, the epidemic wave reached its highest point in late December and then fell. The number of serious cases and deaths at hospitals has continued to drop off. By late January, the epidemic had waned (减弱).
Despite the waning epidemic, officials said the countryside is the key to disease control work. Because of more cross-border travel, China will keep a close watch on virus mutations and take actions to prevent them.
根据上面短文的内容回答问题（每个小题答案不超过6个单词）。
1. Did the virus rebound significantly during the Spring Festival holiday?
2. Is the overall pandemic at a low level or a high level?
3. When did China stop mass testing?
4. What is the key to disease control work?
5. Why will China keep a close watch on virus mutations and take actions to prevent them?
8 . These years, China is making great efforts to show itself on the world stage(舞台). A computer game and a documentary are really catching eyes.
Genshin, a computer game praised twice in CCTV news, holds an honored place in players’ heart all over the world. Li Yue, a city in the game, is originated from(源自) China. Many natural views of Li Yue are copies of real China’s. Many players are amazed by the mountainous view which comes from Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and colorful lakes that come from Huanglong scenic area.
Besides, some other things in the game are spoken highly of by players. For example, a character, Yun Jin, sings an excellent Chinese opera. And some characters’ clothes and buildings are designed in ancient Chinese style. In this game, there is even a festival just like the Spring Festival. It’s called Lantern Rite. On that day, the players will watch beautiful sky lanterns.
When Genshin shines on the world stage, in 2021, a documentary called the Forbidden City also made its name on the world stage. It is divided into 12 episodes(集数). To attract more people, the documentary creates 12 songs. The lyrics of one song include a famous line written by Su Shi in Song Dynasty. And the documentary tells about Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.
Without doubt, many other sides of China are worth showing to the world, but it takes time and it’s believed that we are on the way.
1. In Genshin, is the mountainous view from Huanglong scenic area?2. When did the Forbidden City make its name on the world stage?
3. What can the world know about China through Genshin and the Forbidden City?
4. Do you support flying sky lanterns in the Spring Festival? Why or why not?
Humans are getting away from the nature gradually because of the developing technology. But now Digital Technology is offering us an opportunity to listen to the sounds in the nature in powerful ways, making us get closer to the worlds of animals and plants.
All around the nature, there are sounds that we struggle to pick up and understand. Elephants, for example, communicate with each other using infrasound, a sound far below our human hearing range. Coral in the ocean also communicates with each other through sound waves, with one purpose of attracting baby coral to areas where it can successfully grow. This is a shocking fact as coral doesn’t have any ears!
To pick up sounds humans are normally unable to hear, scientists have placed listening devices in these environments. Researchers have attached tiny microphones to honeybees and turtles, and stuck listening posts that can receive different sound waves from coral reefs and trees. These devices are controlled by computers and networked with digital sensors and satellites. When interconnected, these digital devices work like a hearing aid: enabling humans to observe and record nature’s sounds beyond the limits of our own listening ability. After the sounds are recorded, AI is then able to determine their meanings.
With this technology, humans can not only understand the animals, but also communicate back to them. For example, a team of researchers in Germany decoded the honeybees’ behavior with AI. Then they taught tiny robots how to do the honeybee dance. Using these dancing machines, the scientists were able to order the honeybees to stop moving, and to communicate where to fly to collect a specific nectar. In addition to the possibility of speaking with animals, the research could also be used to create a form of healing for animals and plants. That’s to say, in the near future, scientists might be able to get coral to grow in certain areas by playing “healthy reef” sounds, which could help to heal some of the damage we have caused.
Now, Digital Technology provides a new way for humans to listen to the vivid sounds all around us. The dream of allowing humans to socialize with different animals and plants throughout the nature is being on its way.
1. According to the passage, now people can use Digital Technology to ________.| A．see coral’s ears | B．listen to the sounds of trees |
| C．play with elephants | D．dance with honeybees themselves |
a. Analyze the meanings with the help of AI. b. Place listening devices into the nature world.
c. Collect the sounds from the animals or plants. d. Connect the devices with computers and networks.
| A．b→d→c→a | B．b→c→d→a | C．c→b→a→d | D．c→d→b→a |
| A．More people will choose to live in the nature. |
| B．There will be much fewer animals in the nature. |
| C．People can protect the environment more easily. |
| D．Robots can be used to communicate with anything. |
| A．Digital-tech: An Invention to Change People’s Life |
| B．Digital-tech: A Suggestion to Rebuild the Nature World |
| C．Digital-tech: An Aid to Enable People to Hear Everything |
| D．Digital-tech: A Skill to Help People to Talk with the Nature |
10 . Sweden produces about 4. 4 million tons of waste a year, but only 1% makes its way to the landfill. When it comes to waste management, Sweden is ahead of its time. How has Sweden done it?
In Sweden, everyone works hard to make the environment free of waste. People are taught to recycle from a very young age. They are asked to return cans and bottles to supermarkets. The government places recycling stations no more than 300 meters from homes, schools, and offices. These all help waste management in Sweden much easier and more practical.
The country also rewards those who recycle. In 1984, Sweden started the panta system. It encourages people to recycle bottles in exchange for money. The process is very simple. People put their items into a machine. Each piece has a small barcode that tells the machine how much it is worth. People can collect a voucher for that amount by pressing a green button, or they can donate the money to charity by pressing a yellow button. In 2021, the Swedish recycled 1.8 billion bottles and cans by using panta system.
Sweden recycles nearly 50% of what it throws away. But what about the other half? ________ Altogether Sweden has 34 waste-to-energy plants that provide 1, 445, 000 homes with heat and 780, 000 homes with electricity. Changing waste into energy has reduced Sweden’s CO2 emissions by 2.2 million tons a year. In 2016, Sweden had started running out of trash, so it began importing waste from other countries. It not only keeps the plants working, but also lets Sweden make much money. That is what makes Sweden different from the other countries.
Sweden’s waste management has made a great success. But still, the country is wondering how it can do more. They hope to see a day when landfills are a thing of the past.
1. The word “These” in Para. 2 refers to the ________ that help to recycle the waste.| A．plans | B．meanings | C．actions | D．reasons |
| A．find recycling stations easily | B．sell bottles to supermarkets |
| C．change the waste into energy | D．get rewards from machines |
| A．This waste is recycled by Swedish at home. |
| B．This waste goes to landfills and is burnt there. |
| C．This waste is put into machines and is sold abroad. |
| D．This waste goes to plants and is changed into energy. |
| A．celebrate the success of waste recycling in Sweden |
| B．advise other countries to ask for help from Sweden |
| C．introduce the Swedish method of waste management |
| D．show Sweden earns much money by recycling waste |
