1 . 2020 Cultural events
The year 2020 has been a tough one in which we suffered from the coronavirus epidemic and faced enormous challenges in many aspects of life. In spite of this, we still made many achievements in the cultural field. Let’s review and carry on our journey bravely in new year.
The Forbidden City celebrates 600th anniversary
The Forbidden City is celebrating the 600th anniversary of the completion of the glorious construction this year. The Forbidden City, a 720,000-square-meter palace complex made of wood and earthen bricks, is the largest surviving specimen of its kind in the world. This compound served as the imperial palace from 1420 to 1911, where 24 emperors once lived. It stands as evidence to past glory that informs contemporary people about Chinese civilization’s advanced thought and practices across six centuries.
Horse head sculpture returns to Old Summer Palace
A bronze horse head sculpture, a treasure of China’s Old Summer Palace that went missing 160 years ago, returned to its original palace home in December. It is the first time that a lost important cultural relic from the Old Summer Palace was returned to and housed at its original location. Macao billionaire Stanley Ho bought the bronze horse head and decided to donate it to the National Cultural Heritage Administration and return it to its original home.
Museums go on the cloud
This year, due to the coronavirus outbreak, many museums launched online tours that attracted many viewers. On March 1. the Potala Palace, a landmark building in China’s Tibet autonomous region, held a live streaming tour for the first time in its over 1,300-year history. The tour received about 920,000 views, more than half of the total visits the palace receives a year. Museums also have adopted popular tools and high-tech to enrich cloud-based event experiences.
Musicians mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday
This year marks the 250th birthday of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whose best gift to the world was his magnificent music. To mark the anniversary, over 180 Chinese musicians performed in a 12-hour music concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing from 10 am to 10 pm on Dec 12. Musicians from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei symphony orchestras, as well as the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong siring Orchestra, also played to celebrate the event.
1. Which event is the most attractive to archaeologists？| A．The Forbidden City celebrates 600th anniversary. |
| B．Horse head sculpture returns to Old Summer Palace. |
| C．Musicians mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday. |
| D．Museums go on the cloud. |
| A．Viewing exhibitions online. | B．A field trip to museums. |
| C．Easy access to the location. | D．Traditional broadcasting method. |
| A．To recommend four events you can participate in. |
| B．To record memorable cultural moments. |
| C．To arouse readers’ interest in music. |
| D．To show honor to great artists. |
2 . Fortunately or otherwise, moats(护城河)have been part of my neighborhood throughout my more than 60-year life. No matter where we moved, our house was never more than 300 meters away from the moat that is not far enough to avoid the overpowering unpleasant gas that wafted night and day from the putrid water of the moat where untreated sewage had been dumped for centuries. Later, I shifted to the capital. My house was just 50 meters away from a moat and its stench was no different than that from the one in Xi’an.
A few years after I shifted to the capital, the Xi’an authorities began cleaning the moat. Thousands of residents who were forced to stand the stench volunteered to help with the cleaning and after years of efforts, they turned the moat into a tourist attraction along with the famous city wall. It took a few more years for the Beijing authorities to start cleaning the moat near my house. It was dredged and its bed paved. More sewage plants were installed to treat the polluted water which was then re-released into the moat. And restaurants and factories along the moat were shifted elsewhere to prevent untreated water or waste from being discharged into it. Now the moat is perhaps the most attractive part of the Yuan Capital Relics Park. The 10-kilometer-long moat is my favorite place for evening walk. The cleaning of the moats in Xi’an and Beijing exemplify the efforts China has made to clean rivers, lakes, canals and moats.
While the government’s determination, huge investment and strict supervision are responsible for the improvement in water quality, China’s unique “river chief mechanism” has also played an important role in the success. The mechanism, introduced in 2007, assigns the upkeep and health of each part of a river to the top official of that area. Along the moat near my home in Beijing. there are many billboards with the phone numbers of local authorities who are also the river chiefs of different sections of the moat, asking residents to report any activities that could pollute the moat. I have no idea how many river chiefs there are in China, but I know there are at least five for the 10-km-long moat.
But for all the progress it has made in environmental and ecological protection, China still has a long way to go to improve water quality to the highest level, because despite more than 90 percent of the waste water being treated in urban areas, sewage treatment is not yet effective in rural areas.
1. What is the writer’s original feeling about the moat?| A．It was attractive. | B．It was fragrant. |
| C．It was disgusting. | D．It was magical. |
| A．Dragged | B．Polished | C．Cleared | D．Removed |
| A．Residents mainly take charge of the moat nearby. |
| B．Residents must inform officials of daily activities. |
| C．River chiefs help residents sort the household waste. |
| D．River chiefs play a positive part in improving the moat. |
| A．Eco-friendly China will continue to improve water quality. |
| B．China possesses the most effective tools to better water quality. |
| C．China is far from active in improving water quality. |
| D．The progress made in eco-protection can be wholly achieved across the country. |
3 . Paris boasts a wealth of world-class museums and arehitectural masterpieces. From the world’s largest art museum to France’s most famous landmark, there is plenty to experience in the French capital.
The Louvre Museum
As the most visited art museum in the world and also the largest, the Louvre should be top of your list. It would take you no fewer than 100 days to visit the 35,000 works of art on display across 300 rooms – and that’s if you spend just 30 seconds looking at each one.
The Moulin Rouge（红磨坊）
The Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, with its iconic red windmill, was built in 1885. The venue pioneered the famous French cancan dance, and has now become one of the most famous cabarets in the world. Expect flamboyant handmade costumes of feathers and elegance at every turn.
The Eiffel Tower
Originally built to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889, the impressive Eiffel Tower has become the most iconic landmark(地标) of France. The first floor is home to the 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant while the second-floor observation deck provides spectacular bird’s eye views – the best in the city.
The top of the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe, a Neoclassical take on the ancient Roman areh, is one of Paris’s most iconic attractions. It’s worth hiking the 284 stairs to reach the platform on top of the areh as the views span right across the city, towering above the capital at 50m tall.
1. What can visitors expect to do while visiting Paris?| A．Watching the ballet. |
| B．Enjoying the local food. |
| C．Reaching the platform on top of the areh easily. |
| D．Fully understanding the Louvre within one day. |
| A．The Arc De Triomphe. | B．The Louvre Museum. |
| C．The Eiffel Tower. | D．The Mourin Rouge. |
| A．Museum-goers. | B．Hiking-lovers. |
| C．Dance-lovers. | D．Travel-devotees. |
4 . Voters in Colorado narrowly approved an initiative (计划), setting the stage for the return of gray wolves, which were wiped out in this area by the 1940s. This is the first time that a state has reintroduced an animal like this.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife department will lead the effort to establish a sustainable population of gray wolves in the western part of the state, beginning in 2022 or 2023. The Southern Rocky Mountains, where there used to be a lot of them, contain millions of acres of suitable habitat that could support several hundred wolves or more, biologists say.
However, some say it’s unwise to leave the question to voters. “State biologists have previously declined to introduce wolves. There's a reason it's never been done before.” says Shawn Martini, spokesperson for Coloradans for Protecting Wildlife, noting that most supporters are from urban areas and they don't have to live alongside the animal, unlike people living in the countryside. Farmers and hunters don't favor the initiative, either. Farmers worry wolves will kill their cattle while hunters worry they will lose elk (驼鹿) to the predators.
On the other hand, according to Jonathan Proctor, a conservationist with the Defenders of Wildlife, reintroducing wolves will restore Colorado's natural balance. They help thin out sick animals, maintaining healthy populations of deer and elk. The remains of wolf kills also provide food for “eaters of the dead”, including wolverines, eagles, and bears. He also emphasizes the experience of living with wolves in other places, like the Northern Rockies, has shown that wolves are not the threat people sometimes make them out to be. Reintroduction program biologists promise to make it a priority to work with people living alongside wolves, providing training and resources to keep the wolves out of the farms in the first place. And a program will be funded to pay farmers for their lost cattle.
1. What can we learn about the Southern Rocky Mountains from the text?| A．They are heavily populated. | B．They were inhabited by wolves. |
| C．They are in the east of Colorado. | D．They are home to small animals. |
| A．It's unfair to make it happen by voting. |
| B．It's welcomed by urban and rural people. |
| C．State biologists shouldn't have opposed it. |
| D．The wolves should be put somewhere else. |
| A．Buy more cattle. | B．Reach out to the locals. |
| C．Relocate the wolves. | D．Clear the site for wolves. |
| A．Wolves are Coming Home. | B．No Worries about Wolves. |
| C．Always Vote for What is Right. | D．Wolves Help Local Ecosystem. |
5 . Researchers at the University of Maryland have turned ordinary sheets of wood into transparent material that is nearly as clear as glass, but stronger and with better insulating properties(隔热性). It could become an energy efficient building material in the future.
Wood is made of two basic ingredients: cellulose, which are tiny fibres, and lignin (木质素),which is a glue-like material that bonds the fibres together to give it strength. The lignin also contains molecules called chromophores, which give the wood its brown color and prevent light from passing through.
Early attempts to make transparent wood involved removing the lignin, but this involved harmful chemicals, high temperatures and a lot of time, making the product expensive and somewhat fragile. The new technique is so cheap and easy that it could literally be done in a backyard.
Starting with pieces of wood a meter long and one millimeter thick, the scientists simply brushed on a solution (溶液)of hydrogen peroxide using an ordinary paint brush. When left in the sun, or under a UV lamp for an hour or so, the peroxide remove color from the brown chromophores but left the lignin undamaged, so the wood turned white. Next, they filled the wood with a tough transparent epoxy, which filled in the spaces in the wood and then hardened. This made the white wood transparent.
As window material, it would be much more resistant to accidental breakage. The clear wood is lighter than glass, with better insulating properties, which is important because windows are a major source of heat loss in buildings. It also might take less energy to produce clear wood because there are no high temperatures involved.
Transparent wood could become an alternative to glass in energy efficient buildings, or perhaps coverings for solar panels in harsh environments. There could be no end of uses.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The classification of wood strength. | B．The characteristics of wood. |
| C．The causes of wood color. | D．The structure of wood. |
| A．By removing the lignin. | B．By reducing chemicals. |
| C．By lowering the temperature. | D．By changing the experiment site. |
| A．To make the wood stronger. | B．To take away the brown color. |
| C．To turn the wood transparent. | D．To fill the spaces in the wood. |
| A．Replacing Glass with Wood | B．Turning Wood Transparent |
| C．Energy Saving Material | D．Eco-friendly Alternative |
6 . Slowing down was the last thing on Elaine Schaefer's mind when she turned 70 last year. She'd enjoyed an ambitious travel schedule for the previous decade. She didn't feel too old to travel.
Yet many people are asking that slightly embarrassing question: Can you be too old to travel? The travel industry has already responded. Try renting a car in Europe, for example. In Croatia, Schaefer wouldn't be able to this year, because the maximum age is 70. Insurance companies require higher rates; tour operators limit certain activities. That feels like a " no" for many travelers.
Definitely some folks should think twice before traveling, but not only based on their age. It's their level of fitness, says Kirsten Veldman, a former tour guide who now edits a retirement blog. She recalls a 93-year-old who was disabled and traveling alone on a Caribbean tour. "You can't expect to ask a tour leader to be there for you 24/7 for medical care. " she says. "Tour guides don't have the time, skills, and knowledge for it. So, in this case, my advice is: he shouldn't have traveled with us in this situation. "
But some tour operators serve older travelers. For example, Grand Circle Travel started in 1958 to serve senior members. “We have travelers into their 80s and even 90s. Some travel as a couple and some alone,” says company spokeswoman Ann Shannon. “We have no age limit.”
If you ask travel experts, they'll tell you that age is just a number. It's a question of physical, and to a certain extent, mental ability. "Many of our travelers are retired, focused on keeping their good health, and are experienced travelers who have a good idea of what to expect, "says Sara Baer-Sinnott, president of Oldways, a food and nutrition nonprofit that operates tours. "Someone in their 40's may struggle more than someone in their 80s. "
1. What is expected if Schaefer travels in Croatia this year?| A．She can rent a car to go around. |
| B．She has to pay more insurance fees. |
| C．She can join in all kinds of activities. |
| D．She will receive 24/7 medical care. |
| A．His old age. | B．His lack of money. |
| C．His poor health. | D．His in sociable personality. |
| A．It is a non-profit traveling organization. |
| B．It offers service to a wide range of travelers. |
| C．It has a history of more than seven decades. |
| D．Its main customers are senior travelers. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. | C．Tolerant. | D．Objective. |
7 . Growing up in Taiwan as the daughter of a calligrapher（书法家），one of my most treasured memories was my mother showing me the beauty, the shape and the form of Chinese characters. Ever since then, I was attracted by this amazing language.
But to an outsider, it seems to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China. Over the past few years, I've been wondering whether I can break down this wall, so that anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the beauty of this complex language could do so. I started thinking about how a new, fast method of learning Chinese might be useful.
At the age of five, 1 started to learn how to draw every single stroke（笔划）for each character in the correct order. I learned new characters every day during the next fifteen years. You only need 1 ,000 to understand the basic communication. The top 200 will allow you to read 40 percent of basic literature-enough to read road signs, restaurant menus, to understand the basic idea of the web pages or the newspapers. Today I'm going to start with 8 characters to show you how the method works.
Open your mouth as wide as possible until it's square. You get a mouth---口. This is a person going for a walk with two legs. Person---人.The shape of the fire is a person with two arms on both sides, as if she was yelling crazily, u Help! I'm on fire!" ---火. This is a tree---木.This is a mountain--山.The sun---日. The moon---月.The symbol of the door looks like a pair of car doors---门.These eight characters are the building blocks for you to create lots more characters.
1. What does the underlined word " impenetrable " in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Available to learn about. | B．Worthwhile to access. |
| C．Difficult to get across. | D．Important to understand. |
| A．To prove her ability to learn. | B．To help her mother with her career. |
| C．To get better grades in exams. | D．To enable more people to enjoy Chinese. |
| A．read restaurant menus | B．understand newspapers well |
| C．communicate with natives | D．enjoy basic literature |
| A．How the eight characters build other characters. |
| B．What other meanings the eight characters have. |
| C．Where the eight characters can be used in daily life. |
| D．Why the eight Chinese characters are formed in this way. |
8 . Malaysia’s last rhinoceros(犀牛), Iman, died last November. Some skin, eggs and tissue are all that remain of her. Now, scientists plan to use experimental technology to try to bring back Malaysia’s rhinos by using cells from Iman and two other dead rhinos.
Muhammad, biologist at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, said, “If everything...well and everybody supports us, it’s not impossible.”
Malaysia’s rhinos, the smallest among the world’s rhinos, once lived across Asia. But hunting and forest losses reduced their numbers. There are about 80 such rhinos left in Indonesia. But, in Malaysia, the species disappeared from the wild in 2015. Iman was 25 when she died at her home in a protected natural area on Borneo island. Tam, the country’s last male rhino, died there in May of 2019. Efforts to get the two to mate and produce young had failed.
John Payne of the Borneo Rhino Alliance has worked to save Malaysia’s rhinos for about 40 years. He said that Tam was likely too old to produce good sperm. “To increase the chances of success, one should get sperm and eggs from the rhinos in Indonesia,” he said. But, Payne said Indonesia is not supportive of the idea.
The Malaysian scientists plan to use cells from the dead rhinos to create an embryo. The embryo will then be placed into a living rhino, or a closely related animal, such as the horse. The plan is similar to one for the African northern white rhinoceros, of which there are only just two left. Even if it worked, the animals’ lack of diversity could create a threat to their long-term survival, Galli told Reuters.
Indonesian scientist Arief Boediono is among those helping in Malaysia. Arief hopes that suecess there will help his country’s rhinos.
“It may take five, 10, 20 years. I don’t know,” Arief said. “But there has already been some success involving lab rats in Japan, so that means there is a chance.”
For now, however, Iman’s skin will be used to create a reproduction of the animal. It will be placed alongside a reproduction of Tam in a Borneo museum.
1. What do Muhammad’s words actually mean?| A．There are no chances of the successful rescue of Malaysia’s rhinos. |
| B．Indonesia government is to blame for rhinos’ rescue and extinction. |
| C．The world organizations should support the rhinos’ rescue. |
| D．There exists hope for the rebirth of Malaysia’s rhinos. |
| A．Unexpected disaster. | B．Shooting and narrowed habitats. |
| C．Broken food chain. | D．Climate changing continuously. |
| A．Scientists try to bring back Malaysia’s rhinos. |
| B．An experimental technology is facing challenges. |
| C．Welcome to team up to save wild animals. |
| D．Rhinos in danger are drawing attention. |
| A．Indifferent | B．Objective. | C．Ridiculous. | D．Pessimistic. |
9 . Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, which are stored on your computer or other device when websites are loaded in a browser(浏览器). They are widely used to “remember” you and your preferences, identify popular news stories, and remember what you are logged in. The table below explains the types of cookies we use on our websites and why we use them.
Category of cookies | Why we use these cookies |
Functionality | These cookies are used to store preferences set by users such as account name, language, and location. |
Security | We use these cookies to help identify and prevent potential security risks. |
Analytics and Performance | Performance cookies collect information on how users interact with our websites, including what pages are visited most, as well as other analytical data. We use these details to improve how our websites function and to understand how users interact with them. |
Advertising | These cookies are used to display relevant advertising to visitors who use our services or visit websites we host or provide, as well as to understand and report on the efficacy of ads served on our websites. They track details such as the number of unique visitors, the number of times particular ads have been displayed, and the number of clicks the ads have received. They are also used to build user profiles, including showing you ads based on products you’ve viewed or acts you have taken on our (and other) websites. These are set by Automatic and trusted third party networks, and are generally persistent in nature. |
1. Which cookies are applied to remembering personalized usernames?
| A．Security cookies. | B．Advertising cookies. |
| C．Functional cookies. | D．Analytics cookies. |
| A．Delivering online ads according to users’ interest. |
| B．Encouraging users to visit more websites. |
| C．Storing advertising network. |
| D．Displaying the enrolled websites. |
| A．Cookies are merely stored in the computer’s hard drive. |
| B．Cookies are likely to distinguish the website you sign up. |
| C．Cookies may give away information easily. |
| D．Cookies are massive database. |
10 . As if attending college isn't expensive enough, the cost of textbooks has been rising rapidly in recent years. Textbooks are something students can't avoid, but thankfully a number of companies have stepped up with options to make them more affordable.
Chegg
Chegg has everything a student could ask for. You can rent or buy hard-copy and eTextbooks, with savings up to 90% off their list price. Shipping is free on all orders over $ 50, and if you order the wrong book, Chegg allows 21-day trouble-free returns.
AbeBooks
A be Books has more than just textbooks. It has a wide variety of fine art, rare books and special editions. Thousands of independent booksellers list their textbooks for sale on abebooks.com. The site has new and used textbooks, academic journals, classic literature, reference books and even international editions. Any book priced $ 15 or above has free shipping policy.
ValoreBooks
ValoreBooks offers deep discounts on millions of titles, with a fortnight free return shipping service. The site gives students the ability to buy or rent textbooks from over 18,000 sellers and rental providers. Plus, when you're done with the book, you can sell it right back through valorebooks.com, making the process as easy as possible.
eCampus
Through eCampus.com, students can buy, rent and sell textbooks and e-books. You can enjoy free shipping on orders over $35, plus a 25-day, trouble-free return policy. And the site runs an ongoing promotion where you can save an additional $ 5 on your order by texting the word BOOKS to 87955.
1. Which of the following do Chegg and AbeBooks both provide?| A．A variety of fine art. | B．Conditional free delivery. |
| C．90% discount. | D．Trouble-free returns. |
| A．7 days. | B．14 days. | C．21 days. | D．25 days. |
| A．By texting “BOOKS” to 87955. | B．By selling more e-books. |
| C．By purchasing more than $ 35. | D．By running a promotion. |
