1 . MY AMAZING NAADAM EXPERIENCE

I experienced the Naadam Festival in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for the first time this year. The festival falls on the fourth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, usually lasting for three days. Naadam means “games” in Mongolian, and it is represented by three events: horse racing, wrestling, and archery, which are all so exciting to watch!

On the first day, I set off to the games early with my friend Burin. I saw a lot of people wearing fancy Mongolian robes. Some were feeding their horses, some were practising archery, and others were chatting or taking photographs. Burin told me that Mongolians travel every year from near and far to attend the festival, just as their ancestors had done for centuries.

After the opening ceremony and some amazing performances the wrestling competition began. Mongolian wrestling is different from the wrestling in the Olympic Games. There are no rounds, and wrestlers are not separated by weight. The wrestler loses if any part of his body above his knee touches the ground. After singing some songs, the competitors danced onto the green field waving their arms in the air as if they were eagles. I was quite moved by their show of strength and grace.

I absolutely enjoyed the archery, too, but the horse races were my favourite part. However, l was surprised to see that the riders were boys and girls! I heard it is because children are lighter and the horses can run faster and farther. At first, I was a little worried about the children’s safety, but Burin said, “Don’t worry. They’ve been riding horses all their lives. They’ll be just fine.” That was the moment I started to understand why people say “Horses are at the heart of Mongolian culture”. …

I’m finally back home now, feeling really tired, but celebrating Naadam with my friend was totally worth it. He invited me back for the winter to stay in a traditional Mongolian tent and eat hot pot. L can’t wait!

Question:
1. From the title, we can find that the text is mainly about ________________ and the writer feels _________________ at it.
2. Read the diary and try to find out the topic sentences of each paragraph.
Para.1 ________________ .
Para.2 ________________ .
Para.3 ________________ .
Para.4 ________________ .
Para.5 ________________ .

3 . Look at the picture on page 1 and discuss:

1. What are the men doing in the picture?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Do you know where it usually happens?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. What festival does this picture reflect?
_________________________________________________________________________________

4 . 【课文原文】

CULTURE AND CUISINE

The French author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Put more simply this means “You are what you eat.” Most people today relate this saying to healthy eating. However, Brillat-Savarin was actually referring to our personality, character, and culture.

Certainly in many ways this seems to be true. Chinese cuisine is a case in point. Prior to coming to China, my only experience with Chinese Cooking was in America, with Chinese food that had been changed to suit American tastes. For example, America’s most popular Chinese dish is General Tso’s chicken, which consists of fried chicken covered in a Sweetsauce, flavoured with hot red peppers. This is probably not an authentic Chinese recipe, however, so it can not tell us much about the Chinese. On the other hand, it does tell us a lot about Americans. It tells us, for example, that Americans love bold, simple flavors. And, since the dish was also invented recently, it tells us that Americans are not afraid to try new foods.

Later, I had a chance to experience authentic Chinese food by coming to China. When my family And I had just arrived in China, we went looking for a good place to eat in Beijing. A Sichuan restaurant had been recommended to us by a friend, and finally we found it. Tired, hungry, and not knowing a word of Chinese, we had no idea how to order, so the chef just began filling our table. With the best food we had eaten. With this, we had the pleasure of experiencing an entirely new taste: Sichuan peppercorns. The food was wonderful and different, but what was even more important was the friendship offered us.

We soon moved to Shandong Province in the eastern part of North China. My favourite dish there was boiled dumplings served with vinegar. I observed that family is important to people there. I have become a favourite traditional dish of the people in North China, where making dumplings has always been a family affair with everyone from the youngest to the oldest joining in to help. Later, I learnt that the most famous food in Shandong is pancake rolls stuffed with sliced Chinese green onions.

Then we moved to northern Xinjiang. Some of our friends were Kazak and Inner Mongolian.These groups traditionally wandered the open range on horses. As a result, their traditional foods are what you can cook over an open fire usually boiled or roasted meat, such as lamb kebab.

Our travels then took us to South China, and then onto central China. In each place we went, we experienced wonderful local dishes from Gungdong’s elegant dim sum -small servings of food in bamboo steamers to the exceptional stewed noodles in Henan. Everywhere, The food was as varied as the people. However, one thing is always true: Through food, Chinese people everywhere show friendship and kindness.

At a minimum, the kinds of food local people consume tell us what they grow in their region, what kinds of lives they lead, and what they like and do not like. Could we also say, for example, that those who like bold flavors are bold themselves? Or, that those who like spicy food tend to have a hot temper? Maybe. Maybe not. What we can say, however, is that culture and cuisine go hand in hand, and if you do not experience one, you can never really know the other.

1. 快速阅读文章，分析文章结构，总结文章大意

Part 1 (Para_____)	______________________________
Part 2 (Para_____)	My different experiences with Chinese cuisines.	Experience of Chinese dishes in _____.
		Experience of _____food in Beijing.
		Famous food in _____.
		Famous food in _____.
		Food in __________.
Part 3 (Para_____)	__________and __________go hand in hand.

2. 精读文章，根据所提供的信息，完成下面表格

Place	Kind of Chinese food	Typical dish
America
Beijing
Shandong
Northwest China
South China
Central China

3. 根据文章填写下面导图，介绍不同地区的食物以及文化

________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________________
Conclusion:___________________________________________________________________

5 . 根据课文内容，在空白处填入所缺的单词。
       Now halfway through her exchange year, Xie Lei feels much more at home in the UK.     1     seemed strange before now appears quite normal to her. “    2     in British culture has helped,” she said. “As well as studying hard, I’ve been     3     in social activities. British people are     4     by our culture and eager to learn more about it, so I’m keen to share my culture with them. While I’m learning about business I’m also acting as a     5     messenger building a bridge between us.”

6 . 课文语法填空

In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted     1     (build) a new dam across the Nile,     2     led to protests. Faced with the big challenge, the government had to turn     3     the United Nations for help.

A committee     4     (establish) to prevent the loss of cultural relics. They asked for contributions from different     5     (department) and raised funds within the international community. After investigating the issue and     6     (conduct) several tests, they made a proposal that temples and other cultural sites     7     (take) down piece by piece, and then moved and put back together in a place where they were safe from the water.

Over the next 20 years, thousands of engineers and workers rescued 22 temples and     8     (count) cultural relics and fifty countries donated nearly $80 million to the project. The project was     9     great success, and proved that big challenges can sometimes lead to great solutions. The countries learnt that     10     was possible for them to work together to build a better tomorrow.

7 . 【课本原文】

A Love of Gardening

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” These words come from the author of the book The Secret Garden, first published in 1911. At that time, only the very rich in Britain had gardens. Very soon after this, homes with gardens began to be built. This is what started the British love of gardening！Today, millions of Brits like to say that they have “green fingers”, with around half the population spending their free time gardening.

For many people in the UK, their garden is their own private world. Each spring, children plant sunflowers and wait to see which one is the tallest. Expert gardeners know just the right corner for roses, and others spend hours trying to grow perfect vegetables to enter into competitions. And while many Brits like nothing better than spending their Sunday cutting the grass, some are happy just to sit under the branches of the trees and enjoy the beauty of the world around them.

But in cities, limited space has led to people looking for new solutions. Those without outside space can rent small pieces of land on which to grow things. Today, there are over 4,000 people in London waiting for such pieces of land. One recent idea has been to turn rooftops and walls into private gardens. These gardens have helped make the cities greener and improve air quality.

As well as being good for the environment, gardening is also good for the soul. What other free-time activity allows you to be at one with nature and create more beautiful living things? And if you’re in any doubt about this, take a moment to reflect on this line from The Secret Garden: “Where you tend a rose... A thistle cannot grow.”

1. What inspires a lot of Brits to create their own private gardens?

A．Their hobby for gardens.

B．Publishing of The Secret Garden.

C．The call of the government.

D．Release of working pressure.

2. Why do so many people like gardening in the UK?

A．They would like to enjoy their own private life.

B．They would like to enjoy their own flowers and perfect vegetables.

C．They all want to protect the environment.

D．They would like to share their happy time with others.

3. What does it show when Brits rent small pieces of land outside?

A．They are very competitive.

B．They want to have their own private space.

C．Gardening can provide a quiet environment for people.

D．Greening in Britain is already on the rise.

4. What is this text mainly about?

A．Great changes in London.

B．A love of gardening.

C．The importance of gardening.

D．The use of spare time.