1 . There are lots of fun-filled ethnic (少数民族的) festivals in our country. Let’s take a look at some of them.
March Fair of Bai People
The March Fair is the most important festival for the Bai people living in Dali, Yunnan. It starts from the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month and lasts about 7 days. During the festival, people in and around Dali come together for trade. What’s more, they race horses, dance to and sing traditional songs.
Torch Festival of Yi People
In Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, Yi people celebrate the Torch (火把) Festival. It usually takes place from the 24th to the 26th day of the 6th lunar month every year. As part of the festival, every family needs to light a torch. The idea is that these torches will drive away bad luck. In the center of town, there is always a bonfire (篝火). People of all ages sing and dance around it.
Water Festival of Dai People
The Water Festival is the New Year for the Dai people living in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. It lasts 3 days in April. During the festival, Dai people wear their festival suits to dance and throw water at each other (they believe it could bring happiness and good luck). The wetter you get, the luckier you will be.
Interested in these Chinese festivals? Go and experience them yourself.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．The Bai People. | B．The Torch Festival. | C．The bonfire. | D．The Water Festival. |
| A．Three days. | B．Four days | C．About 7 days | D．About two weeks. |
| A．In Sichuan. | B．In Yunnan. | C．In Guizhou. | D．In Guangdong |
| A．The Torch Festival lasts the shortest time. |
| B．Bai People often trade and draw in March Fair. |
| C．The Water Festival is the New Year for Dai people. |
| D．Yi People need to light a torch to see the road clearly. |
| A．Some ethnic clothes in our country. | B．Some ethnic food in our country. |
| C．Some ethnic movies in our country. | D．Some ethnic festivals in our country. |
It can be really embarrassing if someone sees you talking to yourself. But don’t feel bad about it!
You probably know that thinking is good for the brain. It can help us do things like making plans and managing our feelings.
When encouragement comes from oneself, it adds to self-confidence.
Talking to yourself, especially in the third person, can also help us manage bad feelings.
| A．Self-talk also helps improve memory. |
| B．Actually, talking to yourself has a lot of advantages. |
| C．It’s often said that talking to yourself is a sign of madness. |
| D．A 2009 study invited 72 tennis players to take part in some matches. |
| E．It can also help us do better in different areas like school, sports and work. |
| F．It leads people to think about themselves more similar to how they think about others. |
| G．If you can’t stop talking to yourself in public, people may think you are mad and leave you faraway. |
9 . Photos of great red aurora borealis (极光) in parts of North China have got plenty of online attention recently. These photos were taken from May 10th to May 13th, 2024. Some lucky people enjoyed the amazing aurora during that time.
Aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is a natural light show in the sky, most commonly seen in the high-latitude regions (高纬度地区). It is caused by the interaction between charged particles (带电粒子) from the sun and the Earth’s magnetic field (磁场). The most common colors seen in the aurora are green, red, and blue.
Auroras often seem to be very close to the ground, but the lowest aurora is still about 100 kilometers above the ground, a distance much higher than clouds are formed or airplanes can fly. An aurora band can be thousands of kilometers long, a few hundred kilometers high, but only a few humdred meters thick. As far as scientists can tell, auroras do not make any sounds that people on Earth can hear. Even so, if you live in a place where auroras can be seen, you might notice problems with your television, radio, or cell phone at times. The energy created by solar wind in the Earth’s atmosphere can get in the way of sound waves and pictures that travel through the air to your TV or radio.
Aurora borealis is truly amazing, especially the first time you see it. I hope you are able to travel to far north places to see it at least once during your lifetime. I know you will never forget it!
1. In which month did the Chinese see the great aurora borealis this year according to the text?| A．The second month. | B．The third month. |
| C．The fourth month. | D．The fifth month. |
| A．Green, yellow and blue. | B．Green, red and black. |
| C．Green, red and blue. | D．Green, red and purple. |
| A．大气层 | B．氛围 | C．资源 | D．环境 |
| A．Aurora borealis isn’t far away from the earth. |
| B．Aurora borealis sometimes brings trouble to people. |
| C．Aurora borealis can be seen in all places at night. |
| D．Aurora borealis can make some sound that can be heard on the earth. |
| A．We’d better save our own lifetime. |
| B．We can forget about the aurora borealis. |
| C．We should see the aurora borealis in person one day. |
| D．Traveling around the world is a good way to enjoy the aurora borealis. |
On May 6th, 2024, Gui Haichao went back to his hometown Baoshan and gave a speech to the students in his mother school. In his speech, he talked a lot about his growing stories and his space trip.
As we know, Shenzhou XVI spaceship reached space on May 30th, 2023. Gui Haichao has broken new ground as the first Chinese civilian (民用的) astronaut as well as the first payload specialist (载荷专家) to go into space. His story is very encouraging.
Gui was born into a normal family in Baoshan, Yunnan. Gui showed a strong curiosity (好奇心) about science at his early age. When he was a child, he took Yang Liwei as his role model. From then on, he took space seriously and decided to study it in university. In 2003, Yang Liwei became the first Chinese man to travel into space. Gui was excited about the news. And he dreamed of one day going into space himself. With this dream in mind, Gui studied harder. Two years later, he successfully entered Beihang University to study space science. In 2017, at the age of 31, he became one of the youngest space science professors in China. Gui never forgot his dream of going into space. He knew this was the best mystery to study. Astronaut training was difficult for him at first, but he improved with hard work and got used to it in the end.
We can learn a lot from Gui. If we enjoy what we do and work hard, we can make it. So let’s dream big and keep working to realize them!
1. An astronaut returned to his hometown in Yunnan and encouraged the students there by his speech.2. Gui Haichao regarded Yang Liwei as the role model at his early age.
3. In 2006, Gui Haichao went to Beihang University to get further education.
4. Astronaut training was easy for Gui at first, but then it became hard.
5. From the text, we can know that the secret of achieving one’s dream is to study hard.
