1 . In China, the year 2024 is known as long nian in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. Over a long period of time, it has been called the Year of the Dragon in English. But actually, there are a lot of differences between the Chinese long and the Western dragon.
The Chinese long is made up of parts of some gentle animals, such as a rabbit’s eyes and an ox’s ears. In Chinese mythology (神话), long is able to fly. In addition, it can also spray (喷洒) water from its mouth to create rain.
However, in Western culture, a dragon breathes fire and has the body of a snake and big wings of a bat. What’s more, you will find most of the Western dragons in dark colors because they usually stand for evil (邪恶). As a result, normally at the end of the stories, the evil dragon will be beaten by the superheroes.
What makes such differences? In fact, they have something to do with the cultural differences. In Chinese Confucian (儒家的) ideas, kindness and harmony (和谐) are very important. Western culture, on the other hand, prefers individual heroism (个人英雄主义).
In recent years, Chinese have tried to translate long in another way. For example, Zhejiang’s Loong Air has already written long as Loong. One of the reasons is that Loong sounds the same as the Chinese character long. Besides, the letters “oo” in the word Loong look like the two big eyes of the animal, which makes it easier to memorize this word.
Anyway, no matter how long is translated, there is one thing for sure: the Chinese long is different from the Western dragon, and it is a symbol of good luck.
Wish you and your family the best in the Year of Loong!
1. Which of the following is the picture of a Western dragon?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．To fight against the evil dragon. | B．To help the farmers in the dry weather. |
| C．To show its power and ability. | D．To make itself the superhero in this world. |
①its pronunciation ②its spelling ③its historical background ④its cultural meaning
| A．①② | B．③④ | C．①③ | D．②④ |
| A．Healthy Life. | B．Creative Art. | C．Amazing Animals. | D．Colorful Culture. |
| A．For 5 years. | B．For 10 years. | C．For 15 years. |
3 . A few weeks ago, my school’s ninth grade class went on a trip to the Black Country in England, UK, to learn about geography and history. Many believe the name comes from the 1760s because of the smoke put out by factories at that time. There is also a 1-meter-thick coal seam (煤层) close to the ground’s surface in Black Country.
The aim of this trip was to prepare us for a geography project about rivers. We also learned more about the history of England during the Industrial Revolution (革命). On the first day of our trip, we went to Carding Mill Valley near Birmingham and learned about the changes that could happen to a river as it flowed downstream (下游). Our teacher had given us a few lessons on how rivers worked before the trip, so we were well-prepared for the project we had to do.
The next day, we went to the famous Black Museum where we learned about coal mining (开采) and the lives of the people who lived during the Industrial Revolution. The highlight of the day was when we visited a coal mine and watched a skilled man make iron chain.
The trip was truly satisfying. I like how we got the chance to experience what we learned in class and practice it in real life. It was a useful way to get us more interested in what we were learning about. It also showed us the importance of the journey while learning something new.
1. ________, the ninth grade class went on a trip to the Black Country a few weeks ago.| A．To enjoy a beautiful river | B．To visit a skilled man |
| C．To visit a coal mine | D．To learn about geography and history |
| A．coal production | B．the name of the place |
| C．the smoke put out by the factories | D．its black people |
| A．亮点 | B．高度 | C．灯光 | D．疲惫 |
| A．On the first day’s trip, we visited a coal mine. |
| B．A river will change as it flows downstream. |
| C．We knew the lives of the people who lived before the Industrial Revolution. |
| D．Our teacher gave us lessons on how rivers worked after the trip. |
4 . “读万卷书，行万里路”。假如你是李明，你校英语报正在举行征文比赛，主题是A Wonderful Trip。请你根据下面的思维导图的提示，写一篇英语短文比赛，词数不少于90。
When, where and how—fly to Beijing, three hours; last summer, …;
What activities—1. the Great Wall: enjoy the natural beauty, …;
2. the Palace Museum: see so many beautiful works, …;
3. the Summer Palace: beautiful, go boating on Kunming Lake, relax after, …;
Your ideas: …
A Wonderful Trip
My parents and I went on a trip to Beijing last summer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| A．communication | B．contribution | C．conversation | D．competition |
| A．along | B．across | C．beyond | D．through |
| A．hasn’t | B．isn’t | C．has | D．is |
—Your guess is _______ mine. She didn’t say anything to me.
| A．as well as | B．as long as | C．as good as | D．as soon as |
This kind of food
Mary
