1 . A perfect performance of Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu amazed hundreds of audiences in Bowers Museum in US Southern California on Sunday.
This Kung Fu demonstration by Shaolin monks (僧人) was a highlight of the 2023 Shaolin Cultural Day, a rare cultural event for the Orange County community in Southern California.
“The event offers a unique opportunity for the Orange County community to actively engage with Shaolin culture and gain firsthand experience in various Shaolin activities,” said Anne Shih, chairwoman of the Board of Governors of Bowers Museum. “Whether it’s learning from Kung Fu masters or enjoying interactive Shaolin activities, these experiences will help audiences to experience the Chinese culture and better understand Chinese traditions,” Shih said.
With a history of over 1, 500 years, Shaolin Kung Fu is one of China’s most treasured cultural heritage items, and has been practiced by Kung Fu lovers around the world.
Larry Lee, a 72-year-old resident of Orange County, said he has been practicing Kung Fu for over 50 years. “The traditional Chinese martial arts have deep intelligence in it. They relate to a way of life that goes much deeper than just fighting.” Lee said besides Kung Fu, he is also interested in Chinese medicine and other elements of the Chinese culture.
The 2023 Shaolin Cultural Day served as a fitting finale (场) to the 2023 Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, providing a platform to honor and appreciate the contributions of the AAPI community.
“The event will help people of other communities to be better informed about China and the Chinese culture, and therefore developing understanding and friendship,” said Cultural Counselor (参赞) of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles Wang Taiyu. “We hope through such activities, we can promote friendship between Chinese and American peoples, and contribute to China-US relations.” he said.
1. What can we infer about Shaolin Kung Fu from paragraphs 1 and 2?| A．It was performed on a school’s playground. | B．Orange County didn’t enjoy it often. |
| C．Its performance lasted two weeks. | D．Its attracted vistiors all over the world. |
| A．Helping Southern Californians learn Chinese quickly. |
| B．Helping audiences become Kung Fu masters through practice. |
| C．Helping audiences have a better knowledge of Chinese traditions. |
| D．Helping Orange County attract more Kung Fu lovers around the world. |
| A．They include wisdom in them. |
| B．They focus mainly on fighting. |
| C．They represent Chinese culture and history. |
| D．They inspire you to be expert at Chinese medicine. |
| A．To stress the importance of communities. | B．To advise how to understand each other. |
| C．To compare different cultures. | D．To build up better friendships. |
2 . When you look up at the blue sky or gaze across blue ocean, you might think that the color blue is common in nature. But among all the colors found in rocks, plants and flowers, or in the fur, feathers, scales and skin of animals, blue is surprisingly scarce.
But why is the color blue so rare? The answer stems from the chemistry and physics of how colors are produced — and how we see them. Were able to see color because each of our eyes contains between 6 million and 7 million light-sensitive cells called cones (椎体). There are three different types of cones in the eye of a person with normal color vision, and each cone type is most sensitive to a particular wavelength of light: red, green or blue. Information from millions of cones reaches our brains as electrical signals that communicate all the types of light reflected by what we see, which is then interpreted as different shades of color.
When we look at a colorful object, “the object is absorbing some of the white light that falls onto it; because its absorbing some of the light, the rest of the light that reflected has a color,” science writer Kai Kupferschmidt said.
“When you see a blue flower — for instance, a cornflower — you see the cornflower as blue because it absorbs the red part of the spectrum (光谱),” Kupferschmidt said. Or to put it another way, the flower appears blue because that color is the part of the spectrum that the blossom rejected.
In the visible spectrum, red has long wavelengths, meaning it is very low-energy compared with other colors. For a flower to appear blue, it needs to be able to produce a molecule (分子) that can absorb very small amounts of energy, in order to absorb the red part of the spectrum.
Generating such molecules — which are large and complex — is difficult for plants to do, which is why blue flowers are produced by fewer than 10% of the worlds nearly 300,000 flowering plant species.
1. What does the underlined phrase “stems from” probably mean?| A．Varies from. | B．Results from. | C．Leads to. | D．Amounts to. |
| A．Cones divide colors into three types. |
| B．The colors are divided into three types. |
| C．Part of white light is absorbed by the object. |
| D．Light-sensitive cells are most sensitive to dark colors. |
| A．Its wavelengths are shorter. | B．It can be seen everywhere. |
| C．It seems more vivid than others. | D．It has low-energy relatively. |
| A．To reflect most red light. |
| B．To blossom in the shade. |
| C．To avoid generating large molecules. |
| D．To produce molecules to absorb red spectrum. |
3 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.
When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an exhibition. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still impress people as they did long ago.” Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To raise a question. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To describe the art world. | D．To show a doubtful thought. |
| A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. | B．A Chinese blue-green landscape. |
| C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng. | D．An old Chinese traditional painting. |
| A．Traditional culture is accepted and loved by people. |
| B．Green mountains and rivers greatly impress people. |
| C．The poetic dance can be staged in the theaters later. |
| D．Increasing modern shows feature Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．It explains why Chinese art enjoys popularity. |
| B．It shows us art can come to life through dance. |
| C．It highlights the beauty of Chinese traditional art. |
| D．It tells us the love for Chinese traditional painting. |
4 . It is difficult for a teacher to decide whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom. Every time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, “Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way.” But is that really true? Does music help concentrate?
Research offers little to back up the idea that listening to music improves concentration. In one small study, 133 students performed reading tasks while listening to either light music, hip hop, or no music at all. Students who performed the reading tasks in silence scored the highest. Music with a higher intensity (强度) like hip hop was more distracting and had a bad effect on task performance.
Volume (音量) plays a more important role than the type of music. The study found that the louder the music, the worse the performance in concentration. The type of music didn’t matter. Data from the study showed once again that silence was the best environment to improve concentration.
However, music has a positive effect on work performance. Studies have showed that listening to music leads to positive changes in mood, as well as creativity. In fact, in music-listening cultures, which students are certainly part of, there’s actually a change in mood when the music is taken away.
It’s hard to convince my students that music doesn’t help with their concentration. Taj, a senior told me, “I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if I were listening to music and trying to read. However, when I write, I feel like music helps me concentrate deeply. I don’t have writer’s block. It’s easy for me to put my words on paper.”
“Maybe not with reading, but when it comes to math, listening to music certainly helps,” Danela told me. “You could actually be singing along with what you’re listening to and doing well in math.”
1. What does the underlined word “distracting” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Making it difficult for someone to concentrate. |
| B．Causing great excitement. |
| C．Making someone want to do something. |
| D．Making someone feel frightened. |
| A．Students do well in reading tasks while listening to music. |
| B．Music can’t improve people’s mood and creativity. |
| C．Different types of music lead to different performances. |
| D．The volume of music affects concentration. |
| A．They believe music doesn’t help concentrate. |
| B．They use music to help with their paper-writing. |
| C．They can’t focus on reading while listening to music. |
| D．They don’t listen to music while doing math problems. |
| A．Should Students Listen to Music? | B．Does Music Help Concentration? |
| C．Is Music Related to Reading? | D．Can Music Change Mood? |
5 . Teenagers’ fitness is now a major concern, to which physical exercise is very important. It reduces stress and improves fitness. Exercise makes your body strong, and helps you to keep the right body weight. Sports scientist Dr.Helen Lopez offers the following advice to teenagers: “Firstly, you need to find out your present level of fitness. Then you can design a programme that will help you become healthier.”
Dr Lopez suggests that there are three levels of fitness that need a change of lifestyle. “Overweight” means that the person gets very little exercise and often has a serious weight problem. “Inactive” means that the person does not join in many physical activities, but is not seriously overweight. “Active” refers to people who take part in sports and other physical activities, but do not have a high fitness level.
According to Dr Lopez, overweight teenagers should keep active to keep healthy. Ride a bike, play volleyball or basketball for a while, and go for a twenty-minute walk each day. All these will help to burn up calories. Inactive teenagers should do similar activities, but add some bending and stretching exercises, such as push-ups and sit-ups, starting with twenty of each a day. “Inactive people can take a little more exercise than overweight people because their bodies are stronger,” said Dr Lopez. The same principle applies to active teenagers.
Dr Lopez suggests one hour a week or more on running and other forms of intensive exercise, together with fifteen minutes a day spent on stretching and bending activities. “These are really important in order to prevent injuries,” Dr Lopez said. Some weight-training and other body-strengthening exercises could also be planned in the programme in order to increase the personˈs strength.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Active people always have a high fitness level. |
| B．Overweight people always take more exercise. |
| C．Inactive teenagers are not seriously overweight. |
| D．Keeping fit means changing teenagers’ lifestyle. |
| A．It can make the teenagers grow taller. |
| B．It can help teenagers become healthier. |
| C．It can help to burn up calories. |
| D．It can increase teenagers’ strength. |
| A．walking | B．stretching and bending |
| C．riding | D．weight-training |
| A．Doing exercises | B．Teenagersˈ fitness |
| C．Different lifestyles | D．Overweight teenagers |
6 . Guan Shanyue Art Museum
Shenzhen artists are sending hope and gratitude to the Chinese CovID-19 frontline workers through 215 artworks at the “We Are Together”exhibition running until May 17. The paintings, sculptures, photographs and music videos show medical workers, delivery men, cleaners, police officers and volunteers working tirelessly during the outbreak. Meanwhile, a selection of master Quan Shanyue’s paintings featuring flowers and birds are also on display until July.
Hours: 9 a. m. -12 pm; 2 pm. 4. 30 p. m. closed Mondays.
He Xiangning Art Museum
Selected paintings by master He Xiangning are offering an in-depth review of her revolutionary and artistic career. The paintings mainly portray plum blossoms, pine trees, lions, tigers, and landscapes. Meanwhile, contemporary Chinese oil paintings produced in the past 30 years are also on display at the “As Times Go By”exhibition until May 5.
Hours: 9:30 a. m. - 4:30 p. m. , closed Mondays.
MixC Shenzhen Bay
The ”Fantastic Dali” exhibition, running until May 5, presents an unimaginable world of 200 artworks by Spanish master Salvador Dali. Another exhibition running until May 28 features painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” by Ming artist Qiu Ying(1494-1552)and vivid scenes for visitors to take photos.
Hours(Dali): 10 a. m. -7 p. m. (Mon. -Fri.), 10 a. m. -9 p. m. (Sat.-Sun)
Hours(Qiu Ying): 10 a. m. -9 p. m. , closed Mondays.
1. What are on exhibition in Guan Shanyue Art Museum?| A．Artworks by a Spanish master. | B．Paintings featuring landscapes. |
| C．Music videos showing lions. | D．Artworks honoring COVID-19 fighters. |
| A．“Fantastic Dali”. |
| B．“We Are Together”. |
| C．“As Times Go By”. |
| D．“Along the River During the Qingming Festival”. |
| A．A travel journal. | B．An art website |
| C．A painting album. | D．A comic book. |
7 . Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer (征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm－hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
1. What does the author tell us in Paragraph 1?| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
| A．food shortages and a lack of work in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
| A．the Irish character | B．the Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A Very Difficult History |
| C．Ireland, Past and Present | D．The Independence of Ireland |
8 . In 2020, Pink launched the World Regret Survey, the largest survey on the topic ever undertaken. With his research team, Pink asked more than 15, 000 people in 105 countries, “How often do you look back on your life and wish you had done things differently?” Most of them said regret was at least an occasional part of their life. About 21 percent said they felt regretful all the time. Only 1 percent said they never felt regretful.
If you are of the “no regrets” school of life, you may think that all this regret is a recipe for unhappiness. But that isn’t the case. Letting yourself be overwhelmed by regret is indeed bad for you. But going to the other extreme may be even worse. To extinguish your regrets doesn’t free you from shame or sorrow but causes you to make the same mistakes again and again. To truly get over our guilt requires that we put regret in its proper place.
Uncomfortable as it is, regret is an amazing cognitive(认知的) feature. It requires that you go back to a past scene. Imagine that you acted differently to change it, and with that new scene in mind, arrive at a different present-and then, compare that fictional present with the one you are experiencing in reality. Not all regrets are the same, of course. Pink says they come in four basic types, and an instance of regret may involve just one combination.
Many connection regrets overlap (重叠) with moral regrets, which can come about after you go against your own values. For example, you may pride yourself on being a loving person, and thus regret not living up to this image in the relationship you harmed. Moral regrets can also involve just yourself. Maybe you regret not living up to your promise to your health when you ate a whole pizza or skipped the gym.
If not analyzed(分析) and managed, any kind of regret can be harmful to your well-being. Regret is linked to depression and anxiety, and too much regret can negatively affect your immune system. But regret doesn’t have to be put aside and ignored.
1. What could be concluded from Pink’s research?| A．Half of the people felt regretful. | B．Most people lived without regrets. |
| C．None could live a life without regrets. | D．Most of the people had regrets. |
| A．Destroy. | B．Admit. | C．Treasure. | D．Experience. |
| A．The harm of moral regrets. |
| B．The importance of promise. |
| C．The relationship between regrets and values. |
| D．The connection between reality and imagination. |
| A．Types of regrets. | B．Causes of regrets. |
| C．Benefits of experiencing regrets. | D．Ways of dealing with regrets. |
9 . When other teenagers hang out with friends in the summer vacations. Erica doesn’t join. Instead, the 16-year-old senior high student is
Erica started baking out of
Always considered a
| A．applied | B．occupied | C．accommodated | D．adapted |
| A．assists | B．shelters | C．charges | D．runs |
| A．sympathy | B．gratitude | C．passion | D．politeness |
| A．failure | B．success | C．pressure | D．astonishment |
| A．employed | B．perfected | C．shared | D．presented |
| A．reminded | B．permitted | C．instructed | D．inspired |
| A．confirmation | B．debate | C．consideration | D．contrast |
| A．annoyed | B．elegant | C．cautious | D．serious |
| A．distinguished | B．approved | C．neglected | D．hesitated |
| A．regular | B．potential | C．favoured | D．demanding |
| A．Unobviously | B．Unconsciously | C．Unfortunately | D．Unavoidably |
| A．down | B．off | C．through | D．up |
| A．model | B．sculptor | C．psychologist | D．captain |
| A．keep to | B．go beyond | C．jump at | D．work on |
| A．mean | B．modest | C．assured | D．sensitive |
10 . Seba lives in Memphis, Tennessee—a place famous for music. He grew up with music all around, but he especially loved the drumming of Stewart Copeland from the band The Police. “The Police songs are full of so much cool drumming,” he says.
Before he turned three, his parents asked him what he wanted for his birthday. “Drums!” he answered. His parents weren’t sure, but after seeing him play the drums at a local music store, they decided he was serious. They bought him a junior drum kit.
But soon Seba grew upset. He couldn’t get his junior drum kit to make the sound he heard Mr. Copeland making. It was a lesson for the family: good instruments were worth paying for. His parents bought him a professional drum kit and signed him up for lessons.
In just a few months, his drum teacher reported that Seba was learning extremely quickly and needed a higher level of training. He was still four.
Seba’s parents encouraged him to explore music in other ways. Seba learned bass (贝斯), guitar, and piano. He faced challenges—some related to his size. “I couldn’t see over my drum set,” he says. “And I couldn’t reach some of the cymbals.” He also had trouble finding a good bass that was small enough.
In 2020, Seba got special permission to join a summer music program at Berklee as an 8-year-old. Seba studied bass in an online program. To keep up, he had to practice up-to 36 hours a week.
After the intense summer, his parents thought Seba might want a break. They were wrong. Instead, Seba asked his parents to home-school him so he could keep going to Berklee during the school year. His parents had to make some big changes to make the plan work.
Last May, Seba became the youngest person ever to receive a professional certificate (证书) from Berklee. The certificate is equal to about four college-level classes.
1. What troubled Seba after he got a junior drum kit?| A．His parents signed him up for lessons. |
| B．He couldn’t make the sound he wanted. |
| C．He didn’t like the drum his parents bought |
| D．His drum wasn’t as good as Mr.Copeland’s. |
| A．He couldn’t find a bass of good quality. |
| B．He was too short to see over the drum set. |
| C．He was unable to explore all kinds of music. |
| D．He couldn’t receive a higher level of training. |
| A．He went to Berklee. | B．He had a good rest. |
| C．He continued to learn. | D．He studied online music. |
| A．Talented and hard-working. | B．Famous and honest. |
| C．Serious and responsible. | D．Grateful and polite. |
