1 . Cross-bridge noodles, or crossing-the-bridge noodles, are a special dish that originated (起源) in Yunnan Province. It has become such a popular part of Yunnan’s culture that in 2008, it was listed as an item of the intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) of Kunming City.
There is a story behind the first creation of cross-bridge noodles. It is said that there was a learner during the Qing Dynasty. He studied every day on an island of Mengzi City in Yunnan. His favorite food was rice noodles, and his wife brought him the noodles every day. But she was disappointed because the noodles would get cold on the way to the island. One day, she discovered that boiling the rice noodles separately could make them taste better. The chicken soup could also stay warm during the trip. It was the oil layer (层) on top of the soup that kept the cold outside and the heat inside. Realizing this, the wife then came up with an idea. She brought the chicken soup, rice noodles, and other ingredients (原料) separately and then mixed them after she arrived on the island. That way, the dish stayed hot and the noodles were fresh when they were added just before eating.
The word spread of the delicious dish and the wife’s smart way of keeping the food hot. The dish became known as “crossing-the-bridge noodles” or simply “cross-bridge noodles” in memory of the wife.
1. When were cross-bridge noodles listed as an item of intangible cultural heritage?| A．2000 | B．2008 | C．2010 | D．2015 |
| A．In Kunming City. | B．In Dali City. | C．In Mengzi City. | D．In Pu’er City. |
| A．make the noodles more delicious | B．keep the dish hot |
| C．find a quicker way to cook the noodles | D．keep the noodles for longer |
| A．clever | B．lazy | C．patient | D．kind |
| A．The Secret of Yunnan Noodles | B．The Wife’s Clever Cooking Skills |
| C．The History of Chinese Noodles | D．A Dish with a Story: Cross-Bridge Noodles |
The China-Laos Railway is a big hit for travelers, making trips between China and Laos fun and easy. This year, over 5.19 million people rode on this train, and more than 60,000 of them went across the border. People love it because it’s quick and lets them see new places. Imagine having breakfast in Kunming, China, and then enjoying coffee in Vientiane, Laos, by evening!
This train line is special because it brings different cultures together. It helps people explore and connect with new places in a cool way. In Yunnan, China, this train has made traveling easier and more exciting. It connects Kunming to many places quickly, helping more people travel inside China and to Laos.
Lots of people are choosing to travel to beautiful spots in Yunnan like Xishuangbanna, Shangri-La, Dali, and Lijiang. To make traveling even better, there are new trains and trips designed for fun experiences. One of these is the “Elephant Towards Number” train, which goes around the province and is a big hit with tourists.
The train service is also thinking about older travelers by offering special trips to big cities. This makes traveling nicer for them. Plus, there are cool trains for sightseeing, like the Jianshui Ancient City mini train and the Shipping tourist train, which lots of visitors enjoy.
The China-Laos Railway is making travel cooler and helping people see more of China and Laos in fun and easy ways.
1. Over 5 million people have used the China-Laos Railway this year.2. The China-Laos Railway reduces travel time between Kunming and Laos to less than a day.
3. The “Elephant Towards Number” train offers tours within Yunnan Province.
4. Special train trips are available for younger travellers to explore major cities.
5. The article is likely from a travel magazine or website.
3 . Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they are sure to be there. They serve you on purpose, teach you a lesson or help you find out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: your classmates, neighbors, teachers, long-lost friends or even a real stranger. But you know that every moment they influence your life in some serious ways.
Sometimes things happen to you. They may seem terrible, painful and unfair at first. But later you get to know that without overcoming those difficulties, you would have never got to know your further ability and strength. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.
The people you meet influence your life, and the success and failure you experience create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant but the most important ones.
Enjoy every day even every moment, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and really listen to them. You should set your sights high, hold your head up, and believe you are a great one.
You can make anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.
1. The people whom we meet ________.| A．all know where to find us | B．serve us on no purpose |
| C．won’t become our neighbors | D．will change us in some ways |
| A．terribly meet bad luck | B．get to know our further ability |
| C．find no success | D．possibly enjoy every moment |
| A．开心的 | B．舒服的 | C．令人沉痛的 | D．兴奋的 |
| A．In a P.E. report. | B．In an education magazine. |
| C．In a travel guide. | D．In a storybook. |
| A．Create Your Own Life | B．Hold Your Head Up |
| C．Things Happen to You | D．People You Meet in Life |
4 . Have you ever heard of the term “children of the stars”? It’s a special name for children with autism (自闭症). April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. It was started by the United Nations to help people know more about autism and offer better care and support to those who have it.
Autism affects how a person grows and learns. It usually starts to show in the first three years of life. The official name for this condition is “autism spectrum disorder (自闭症谱系障碍).”
Doctors use a handbook called DSM-5 to diagnose (诊断) autism. It talks about two main autism signs: problems with talking and being with others and doing the same things over and over again.
“When I talk to my daughter or ask her to do something, she won’t pay attention to me,” said MengLingdi. Her daughter was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. “She doesn’t make as much eye contact with people as other kids do.”
Children with autism also feel physical pain. “Many of them have epilepsy (癫痫) because their brain activity is different from that of other kids,” said Sun Zhongkai at Beijing Stars and RainEducation Institute for Autism (Stars and Rain).
We don’t know exactly what causes autism. But scientists think it might be a mix of things like how we grow, our genes (基因), and our environment. If a family has a child with autism, the chance of their other children having autism is about 10 times higher than usual.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The term “children of the stars”. | B．The disease called Autism. |
| C．World Autism Awareness Day. | D．The better care and support. |
| A．Before birth. | B．On April 2nd. | C．At the age of 12. | D．In the first three years. |
| A．They can communicate with people easily. | B．They do the same things over and over again. |
| C．They pay attention to what their parents say. | D．They make much eye contact with people. |
| A．Autism won’t affect a person’s growth. | B．Doctors use DSM-5 to diagnose autism. |
| C．Children with autism cannot feel physical pain. | D．Scientists have found out what causes autism. |
| A．Nature. | B．Sports. | C．Health. | D．Travel. |
5 . March 22 is World Water Day. Believed to be the source (源头) of all life, water plays a great role in the beginning of Chinese civilization (文明) and has inspired wise ideas in Chinese philosophy (哲学).
Chinese civilization is one of the world’s ancient river civilizations. It began thousands of years ago along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, linking the culture to water from its beginning.
However, the way people and water get along has two sides. Water is highly important for life and growing things, but if we can’t control it, it can cause big problems. Knowing the strong power of water, Chinese people have always tried to use it in the best way possible. For example, Yu, the first ruler of the Xia Dynasty (朝代), controlled floods by changing and digging the waterways so that the water could easily go into the sea.
The Dujiangyan irrigation (灌溉) system in Sichuan was cleverly built. It makes full use of the natural features of the area without harming the environment.
Water is also given philosophical meanings to educate Chinese people and rule the country. According to Xunzi, Confucius (孔子) believed water had qualities such as justice and courage. He once said that: “He who is wise loves water; he who is virtuous loves mountains.” So, Confucianism suggests that people should learn from water and train their sense of morality (道德感). Inspired by water, Laozi gave birth to the idea of “overcoming hardness with softness and non-action”. These ideas later inspired rulers to follow the rules of nature and respect the will of the people.
1. When is World Water Day?| A．March 12. | B．March 22. | C．May 1. | D．May 20. |
a. Water is really important for life and growing things.
b. Water only plays an important role in Chinese philosophy.
c. If people can’t control water, it can cause big problems.
d. It’s impossible for people to control water.
| A．ab | B．bc | C．ac | D．bd |
| A．Yunnan. | B．Hainan. | C．Shanxi. | D．Sichuan. |
| A．智者乐水，仁者乐山。 | B．所谓伊人，在水一方。 |
| C．海纳百川，有容乃大。 | D．上善若水，水善利万物而不争。 |
| A．Laozi’s Ideas about Water | B．Water Plays A Great Role in China |
| C．Confucianism Influences China | D．The First Ruler of the Xia Dynasty |
Spring is here, and it is time to enjoy West Lake Longjing tea. Usually, we think of workers picking tea leaves by hand. But now, some Longjing tea is being picked by smart tea-picking robots!
In a Hangzhou tea garden, a smart tea-picking robot developed by Zhejiang SciTech University begin to work for the first time. “We took thousands of pictures of new tea buds (芽) and put them into the robot for it to learn. The robot uses an AI model to recognize (识别) the buds it needs to pick,”said Professor Chen Jianneng, Party branch secretary (党支部书记) of the research team. This lets the robot find the right tea buds about 90% of the time.
The robot’s arm pulls and sucks (吸) up the tea buds. These buds are quickly moved into a special box. After the robot collects all the buds from the area it’s working at, it moves the buds from the box to a main box.
The robot was made because there are not enough people to pick tea leaves. In Zhejiang, about 400,000 more pickers are needed now. “Picking is the biggest challenge for the development of the tea industry,” said Professor Wu Chuanyu, who leads the research team.
“Tea-picking robots are a trend (趋势) of the future,” said Wu. About five years from now, the robots will do the job of picking West Lake Longjing tea instead of people, Wu added.
1. Spring is a time to enjoy West Lake Longjing tea.2. In a Lincang tea garden, some Longjing tea is being picked by robots.
3. The robot uses an AI model to find out the right tea buds it needs to pick.
4. In Zhejiang province, about 40,000 more pickers are needed now.
5. The text mainly talks about robots are created to help pick tea leaves.
7 . Computer scientist Mary has an idea for a new robot to help her work with children. How should it look? The robot should have arms to be able to lift things. And if it is going to communicate with people, it will also need a face. Scientists believe that giving a robot a face can make it seem more friendly. Humans would also like to pay more attention to robots with faces. But what kind?
For Mary, she wants to make sure that her new robot doesn’t look too much like a human. She wants people to just treat it as a machine-person. If it looks more like a human than a machine, she thinks users might find it a bit creepy and feel afraid. Mary also believes that robots’ faces don’t need to look a lot like ours. Her research shows that we can enjoy communicating with robots whether or not they look like humans, because our brains are able to look for faces. Just put two circles on top of a robot’s body, and we will see a face.
Dave feels differently. He believes that although at first we might be afraid when seeing a robot with a lifelike face, we may soon get used to it. If robots are going to work closely with humans, they should look as much like us as possible. After all, faces are an important part of the way we communicate.
To make his robots look as much like real people as possible, Dave invented a special skin (皮肤) for their faces. With this skin, robots can show human-like expressions and appear to be angry, sad, happy or surprised. Dave’s robots are also programmed to copy expressions. How? Just imagine his robot is looking at you. The cameras in its eyes send pictures of your face to its central computer!
1. Why do scientists think a robot needs a face?| A．It can do more housework. | B．It should be more good-looking. |
| C．It can look after children. | D．It can better communicate with people. |
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Two. | D．One. |
| A．毛骨悚然的 | B．和蔼可亲的 |
| C．活泼好动的 | D．聪明伶俐的 |
| A．People should look like a machine-person. |
| B．Robots need to express their own feelings. |
| C．Robots shouldn’t look too much like humans. |
| D．People can never accept robots with a human face. |
| A．To explain the reasons why robots should have faces. |
| B．To suggest what humans can do with robots with faces. |
| C．To share ideas on what kind of faces robots should have. |
| D．To show how scientists invent robots with different faces. |
8 . The world uses about a thousand million (百万) tons of water a day. Water is a human right and everyone should have their share. Yet more than 700 million people around the world have trouble getting clean, safe water.
Treating wastewater is a good way to provide fresh water for us. And it also helps the environment by keeping waste out of rivers and oceans. 80% of wastewater around the world is not treated at all, and it is running into oceans. But now we have got the technology to treat and reuse the wastewater.
While 75% of our planet is covered with water, only about 2% is fresh water—that comes from rivers, lakes, ice and snow. The rest, 98% of the water, is in seas and oceans. It is too salty to drink. Then desalination businesses come in. More than 19,000 factories have been built around the world, mostly in coastal countries. They process (加工) more than 92 million tons of water every day. But the technology they use requires a lot of energy.
Scientists are working to create a less costly technology. They want to produce 20 times more clean water and make sure everyone has enough. But for now, the world still faces each day with not having enough water for everyone.
1. Where is the fresh water on our planet from?| A．Rivers and lakes. | B．Rivers and oceans. |
| C．Lakes and seas. | D．Seas and oceans. |
| A．storing waste in ice and snow |
| B．letting waste run into oceans |
| C．keeping waste out of rivers and oceans |
| D．sending waste to coastal countries |
| A．远洋运输 | B．潮汐发电 |
| C．食盐销售 | D．海水淡化 |
| A．75% | B．2% | C．98% | D．80% |
| A．Water should be a human right. |
| B．The water problem is still serious. |
| C．Our planet is covered with water. |
| D．Everyone has enough clean water. |
9 . Folke Borgstrom, an 18-year-old student from Sweden, bought a jade necklace (玉项链) in Beijing. He came to China to take part in the 16th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students (第十六届“汉语桥”世界中学生中文比赛) in Beijing and Yunnan from Oct.16 to Oct.30 in 2023.
Borgstrom knew about jade from a Chinese TV program. “A main character looks so cool with jade,” Borgstrom said. After doing some online research on jade, he found out that it has cultural meaning. “People believe that jade can bring good luck,” Borgstrom added.
When it comes to making Chinese culture international, we often think of traditional ways, like setting up cultural exchange programs. However, pop culture, such as Chinese TV programs, is getting more popular among young people in other countries.
Chulkyu Lee, a 16-year-old girl from R.O.K, likes to watch short videos on the Internet. She said, “Through the Internet, I’ve seen many real lives of Chinese people. It lets me know more about the daily lives of Chinese people and the real China.”
Yang Yao from Yunnan Media Group believes that we should use more creative ways to spread Chinese culture. He takes R.O.K as an example of this. “You may know little about the history of the Goryeo Dynasty (高丽王朝), but through the dramas of R.O.K, you come to understand its food like kimchi (泡菜),” said Yang. “China’s culture can go abroad in the similar way,” Yang added.
1. What did Folke Borgstrom come to China for?| A．To meet the main character in a Chinese TV program. |
| B．To take part in the 16th Chinese Bridge Competition. |
| C．To make a research about Chinese traditional culture. |
| D．To buy the jade he wanted for a long time. |
| A．The jade. | B．The research. | C．The jade necklace. | D．A Chinese TV program. |
| A．She is from Sweden. | B．She came to China herself. |
| C．She loves short videos on the Internet. | D．She loves Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．Folke Borgstrom is a teacher. |
| B．Chinese TV programs are not pop culture. |
| C．The dramas of R.O.K are a good way to spread the culture of R.O.K. |
| D．Cultural exchange programs are more effective to spread culture. |
| A．To introduce the development of Chinese culture. |
| B．To share more foreign culture with us. |
| C．To ask us to protect our traditional culture. |
| D．To find out more creative ways to spread Chinese culture. |
You might see a fat wolf on the side of the road in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve in Qinghai province. It wags (摇晃) its tail in front of the passing cars. It hopes to get a meal.
However, the wolf was skin and bone a few months ago. It’s said that the old hungry wolf was forced to leave the wolf group because it was not good at hunting. But that changed after a passing driver gave it two pies and posted a video of it online. The video made the wolf very popular, and a lot of people came to the area to provide it with food.
Since then, the wolf has given up its hunting instinct (本能) and turned to passers-by for snacks. The snacks are high in oil, sugar and salt. Later, more wolves have joined this behavior. The wolf’s change makes it look like a pet dog. But the change means that it is losing its ability to live in nature, and that may cause the wild animal to die. In fact, it is common for wild animals like wolves and bears to be fed near the roads in the province. People care about wild animals, but their feeding sometimes can cause harm to both animals and themselves. If a wild animal needs help, people are suggested to report it to the government for professional handling (专业处理).
1. The wolf in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is fat all the time.2. The wolf in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is alone after it lost its way.
3. The wolf in the Hoh Xil Nature pushed more wolves to follow its example.
4. After losing the ability to hunt, a wolf will certainly die.
5. The text mainly warns us to help wild animals in a right way.
