Do you know how Chinese people get their names? Are there any differences (不同) between girls’ names and boys’ names? And what do different names mean? Let me tell you now.
In China, the parents or grandparents give the child the first name and family name. Generally speaking (一般来说), the child’s family name is the same as the father’s family name. For example, if the father’s family name is Liu, the child’s family name is Liu, too. But there are also exceptions (例外). Some parents will let their child use the mother’s family name. About the first name, it usually has one or two Chinese words in a first name. And the first name has the hopes (希望) and best wishes for the child from the parents. So, parents will use very nice words for the child’s first name. And in most cases, the first names for girls are different from the first names for boys as parents have different hopes for the girls and boys. For example, parents with boys hope their boys to be strong, honest, powerful, while parents with girls hope their girls to be good-looking, friendly, and gentle.
Another interesting fact is that if the child is born (出生) on a special (特殊的) and good day, the parents will give the child a first name that has something to do with the day. For example, if the child is born on October 1st—the Chinese National Day, parents may (可能) name the child Guoqing meaning the National Day.
So, from the name of Chinese, you can know something about him/her and his/her family.
1. According to the passage, whose last name does a child use in most families?| A．The father’s. | B．The grandparents’. | C．The mother’s. |
| A．The first name. | B．The last name. | C．The full name. |
| A．Good. | B．Beautiful. | C．Nice. |
| A．A child in China can only (仅仅) have his/her father’s last name. |
| B．In China, grandparents can’t give their grandchild names. |
| C．A man with the first name “Jianguo” may be born in 1949. |
| A．How Chinese get their family name and first name. |
| B．Girls’ names and boys’ names in China. |
| C．Differences among Chinese names. |
One day, you open the fridge(冰箱) and find some moldy (发霉的) food. But before you can throw it away, your mother stops you. She doesn't want to waste food. She cuts off the moldy part and eats the rest. Is it safe to do this?
Mold can grow on almost all kinds of food. Mold is usually green, white, black or grey. Mold makes food soft and changes its color. Moldy food tastes quite bad – and it's not safe to eat.
If you find mold in soft food, just throw it away. There is some water in soft food, such as bread, tomatoes or hot dogs. This allows mold to easily grow. Bacteria (细菌) can also grow along with it.
But it's easy to remove(去除)mold from hard food. The mold can't grow very deeply inside this kind of food. It's OK to cut the moldy parts out of hard food and eat the rest. But if the food is completely covered with mold, you should still throw it away.
Most kinds of mold is bad for us. But some kinds of mold can be used to make food. For example, penicillium (青霉菌) can be used to make many kinds of cheese. The cheese is safe to eat – and it's quite delicious as well.
1. Why does the mother refuse to throw the moldy food away?2. What color is mold?
3. What should you do if you find mold in bread?
4. Can the mold grow deeply inside hard food?
5. What can penicillium (青霉菌) be used to make?
3 . The Great British Bake Off is a very popular TV program in the UK. Many common people can join in the program. The idea is to find good bakers (烘焙师). Every week, a group of people will make different kinds of cakes and bread. They have a time limit (限制) to make the food. At the end of every show, the best cook is the “Star Baker” and the worst cook has to leave the competition. After 10 weeks, there is one winner.
The program started in 2010. But nobody expected it to be so popular. People really enjoy it because it can make people relaxed and happy. The bakers are all very friendly to each other and even help each other sometimes. This is very different from other shows. Some people think the show is very typically (典型地) British. People also enjoy learning how to make different kinds of cakes and bread.
More than 14 million people watched the show’s final (决赛) in October 2016. The winner was a school teacher. She decided to change her job and write a book about making cakes. Baking is very popular in the UK now because lots of people have watched the Great British Bake Off. More than 19 percent of British people make cakes once a week. Lots of young people are learning how to bake, too.
1. What is the Great British Bake Off?| A．It’s the name of a good baker. | B．It’s the name of a TV show. | C．It’s the name of a dessert shop. |
| A．The bad baker. | B．The winner. | C．The worst cook. |
| A．The program started in 2010. | B．It’s relaxing. | C．The bakers are very friendly. |
| A．She was a baker. | B．She was an actress. | C．She was a teacher. |
| A．Baking is very popular in the UK because of the program. |
| B．Over 19% of British people make cakes once a week. |
| C．Many young people are learning how to bake. |
4 . New Payment Methods for Online Shopping in China
| Payment methods | Alipay | Tenpay | Yeepay | WeChat pay |
| Appearing time | Dec.12, 2004 | Sep9, 2005 | Aug 8,2 003 | Jan.21, 2011 |
| Companies | Ant Financial | Tencent | Yeepay | Tencent |
| Description | A transfer(中转) station—a third account between sellers and buyers | Buyers' money goes directly to sellers | ||
| Tools | Through computers or mobile phones | Mobile phones | ||
| The number of Cooperative（合作的）banks | 180 | 5 | 9 | 11 |
| The number of users | 30,000,000 | 3,000,000 | 100,000 | 30,000,000 |
1. If you want to shop online with your computer, you have _________ choices to pay.
| A．Two | B．three | C．four |
| A．Yeepay is the oldest company among the four. |
| B．Your money goes to sellers directly when you pay with Tenpay. |
| C．Alipay is the most convenient and popular payment method. |
5 . In ancient Rome, food tasters were once asked to make sure the king’s food was safe to eat. An electronic tongue (舌头) promises to do that and so much more now. Although the human tongue can taste different foods, there are limits to what we can taste. Electronic tongues are a kind of tool that can be used to study different foods or drinks in greater detail.
These “tongues” can be used to search for special chemicals (化学物) in food or drinks, and to compare the similarities and differences between different foods and drinks. Beyond this, electronic tongues can be used for other tasks like testing the water quality of rivers or even to test blood for signs of cancer.
Mainly, these tools are helpful in carefully examining things humans can’t or don’t want to taste in order to see what they are like. For example, imagine a company experimenting with how to make a cough medicine taste like bananas. It would be unsafe for the same person to test 100 different kinds of banana cough soup.
The truth is that “e-tongues” can do a lot more than any human tongue ever could. With this in mind, the food industry is using the technology in many interesting ways.
Scotch (苏格兰威士忌) is known to get better the longer it ages, as the price of a good Scotch shows. But sometimes, people try to sell 1-year-old Scotch for the price of 18-year-old Scotch. To stop this, electronic tongues are used to compare Scotch samples (样本), which ensures that the Scotch is as advertised.
Similarly, many consumers mistakenly buy unclean honey because they can’t find the difference between real and unreal honey. However, e-tongues can. They decide on a honey sample’s quality using electrical bursts.
As it stands, this technology could lead to better-tasting and safer food, among other things. Best of all, to achieve these results, humans will no longer have to put their lives or their tongues on the line.
1. What is an electronic tongue NOT used for?| A．Studying different food or drinks. |
| B．Making sure the king’s food was safe. |
| C．Testing blood for some signs of cancer. |
| A．1-year-old Scotch is the most expensive. |
| B．9-year-old Scotch is the most expensive. |
| C．18-year-old Scotch is the most expensive. |
| A．E-tongues can test 100 different kinds of banana cough soup. |
| B．E-tongues can stop Scotch from being advertised. |
| C．E-tongues can find the differences between real and unreal honey. |
| A．Humans will lose their lives or their tongues. |
| B．Humans will never get their lives or their tongues in danger. |
| C．Humans will never own their lives or use their tongues. |
| A．What e-tongues are used for. |
| B．How e-tongues are made. |
| C．What the differences between human tongue and e-tongues are. |
6 . Huge (巨大的) squares, great buildings and countless treasures (珍宝) - the Palace Museum never fails to take as visitors breath away.
This year, the world’s largest wooden palace has its 600-year-old birthday! Have you ever wondered who made this marvel (奇迹)?
In 1406, when the Ming Emperor (皇帝) Yongle decided to move the country’s capital from Nanjing to Beijing, he started to build a palace at the heart of Beijing. It was such a huge project that it took a million worker 14 years to finish it.
Materials (材料) were sent from all over China to Beijing. Nanmu, the rarest (最稀有的) of all Chinese woods, was used to make huge wooden pillars (柱子). It can only be found deep in forests over 1,800 km away from Beijing. Workers had to float (漂浮) the wood on rivers all the way north to Beijing.
Stones were also sent to the palace. The heaviest stone in the palace weighs 250 tons. It was found in a village 80 km west of Beijing. It was so heavy that people could only move it during winter. They poured water onto the road to create ice. Then thousands of workers pulled the stone on the ice to the palace.
The project even changed the local landscape (地貌). When building a moat (护城河) around the palace, workers dug up soil and piled it on a hill north of the Palace Museum. That’s where Jingshan came from.
1. How old is the Palace Museum this year?2. When did the worker finish building it?
3. What did the workers use to make huge wooden pillars?
4. Where did people find the heaviest stone in the palace?
5. Was it easy to send the heaviest stone to the palace?
7 . After months of staying at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese parents are becoming greatly worried about their children’s eyesight (视力) and children’s eye care awareness (意识) and habits.
Many parents said their children’s eyesight has become worse. According to a recent survey by China Youth Daily, the percentage of the students with eyesight problems reached the highest point among junior (初级的) high school students. That is 61.5 percent followed by senior (高级的) high school students at 56.3 percent.
Parents are strongly suggesting (建议) that schools should give enough time for students to do eye exercises and do more outdoor activities at school. What’s more, they think it’s also a must-do for teachers to cut students’ homework burden.
Doctors point out that if children’s eyesight keeps dropping, then it’s necessary to talk about it with the eye doctor for medical help. Maybe the daily-wear, single-use Ortho-K contact lenses (OK镜) are needed to help slow down (减缓) the nearsightedness. Of course, cutting the time of mobile phone use and getting them outdoors at least one hour every day are far more useful than any other way.
1. What’s the percentage of the junior high students whose eyesight has become worse in the survey?| A．50.6% | B．61.5% | C．56.3% |
| A．Schools should ask students to do eye exercises. |
| B．Schools should get students outdoors often. |
| C．Schools should tell students to wear Ortho-K contact lenses. |
| A．下降 | B．下升 | C．平稳 |
| A．The percentage of the senior high school students with eyesight problems is higher than that of the junior ones. |
| B．It’s unnecessary for children to ask the eye doctor for medical help though their eyesight keeps dropping. |
| C．Using the mobile phones less and doing more outdoor activities are the most useful ways for eyesight. |
| A．A guide book. | B．A health magazine. | C．A sports newspaper. |
Do you know anything about England (英国)? Today we are going to talk about its weather and traffic (交通).
In England, you can feel four seasons in one day.
An Englishman once says, "the weather is different from minute to minute in England. Even though it is spring, it snows heavily in the morning. While at noon, the sun comes out, it's warm again. And then, in the afternoon, it is very hot. It turns to summer."
When you are in England, you must be very careful (当心) in the streets because the traffic drives on the left. Before you cross a street, you must look to the right first and then to the left.
In the morning and in the evening, when people go to or come from work, the streets are very busy. Traffic is the most dangerous then.
When you go by bus in England, you have to be careful, too. Always remember the traffic moves on the left. So you must have a look first or you will go the wrong way.
In many cities of England, there are big buses with two floors. You can sit on the second floor. From there, you can see the city very well.
1. Where can you feel four seasons in one day?2. Does the traffic drive on the left or on the right?
3. What must you do before you cross a street?
4. When are the streets very busy?
5. Are there big buses with two floors in many cities of England?
9 . No one wants to work at a messy desk and look lazy. But does a messy desktop actually mean that? Not all disorders (无序) mean you mess everything up. Even Steve Jobs thought his personal attraction came from his messy desktop.
People who prefer a messy desk have their own ideas. Some think it makes them comfortable.
Some believe it helps them focus more easily. Messy tables can make it easier to focus on the tasks, just like some novelists can write patiently in a noisy café. Others may be the people who want to do things perfectly. For those who strive for perfection, tasks are either 100% or 0% done. So they usually put away the less important things and do the most important ones perfectly, which leads to paper mountains on the desktop.
Many people are described as untidy, careless and slow because of messy tabletops. However,when we see the desks of Albert Einstein, Mark Twain and Mark Zuckerberg- pioneers of their times ——things might change. Clearly, the world welcomes uniformity(- X ) and order, it also never refuses regular (有规律的) disorder, which seems like a mess but goes in an organized (有条理的) way.
Research shows that people working with a messy desktop are probably more creative and like to take risks. But people with a tidy one often follow the rules and may not like to try new things. For example, in an experiment (实验) done by Kathleen Vohs. People in the messy group came up with more interesting and creative ideas about the new uses of ping-pong balls than the organized one. Vohs says, Messy environments seem to inspire people to think up fresh ideas.'
But a messy desk might not be the best choice all the time. When you need new ideas, a messy desk might be a good choice; but when you want to do a task quickly and successfully, it seems better to make a desk clean and tidy.
No matter what kind of desk you prefer, we hope you feel comfortable and enjoy it!
1. Some people prefer a messy desk because ________.| A．it makes them uncomfortable |
| B．they can focus on tasks easily |
| C．they are lazy and untidy |
| A．对……感兴趣 | B．将……分开 | C．为……努力 |
| A．Disorder is never welcomed in this world. |
| B．People may be successful although they have messy tabletops. |
| C．People can finish the tasks perfectly as long as they keep their desks clean. |
| A．people working a messy desktop think up fresh ideas more often |
| B．people working with a tidy desktop always try new things |
| C．a messy desktop has a bad influence on people's minds |
| A．Messy Desk: Do People Need to Change It? |
| B．Messy Desk: Does It Make People Comfortable? |
| C．Messy Desk: Do People Find Excuses for It? |
10 . A new documentary, Pot of Fire, was on Tencent Video on Feb. 14. The Internet users can "enjoy" hotpot together online. "No food other than hotpot can show how much Chinese like to gather together to enjoy happiness," the director said. As one of the famous meals in China, hotpot has been popular for ages. From vegetables to meat, from noodles to seafood, diners can add different ingredients to the hot soup to cook.
Unlike frying or other cooking ways, boiling food makes their nutrients (营养成分) into the soup. The way can make people enjoy all the flavors of all the ingredients. Hotpot can bring warmth to our body and improve blood circulation(血液循环) in winter, and increase perspiration(流汗) to help cool the body in summer.
But eating hotpot is much more than an enjoyment for our taste and health. It's also a celebration of life and friendship. For most Chinese people, eating hotpot is usually a social activity. When a group of people sit around a table to eat, chat and drink, it is a good time.
As a popular saying goes, "There is nothing to worry about after having a hotpot. If you are still worried, then go for another time." So if you feel empty or lonely, why not cook a hotpot to fill your stomach and heart as well? Or, at least you can watch Pot of Fire.
1. When can people watch Pot of Fire on the Internet?2. How do people eat hotpot according to the passage?
3. What does the underlined word "The way" refer to?
4. Can hotpot warm our body up in summer?
5. How do people feel when they have hotpot?
