Yu Rong, a Chinese artist, thinks of a new way to introduce
Hua Mulan,
To better tell the story, Yu Rong takes inspiration from her several
2 . At Beijing’s Palace Museum, it sometimes seems that time stands still, but the clocks keep ticking at a small workshop there. This is where clock conservator (文物修复员) Qi Haonan works. .
As part of the fourth generation of conservators to repair and restore antique (古老的) clocks at the museum since 1949, Qi has returned more than 100 clocks to their former glory.
After having majored in mechanical automation during his university studies, Qi joined the cultural relics restoration department at the Palace Museum in 2005. “In the beginning, everything in the palace was new to me. It made me excited to even think about repairing antique clocks,” the 41-year-old told China Daily. But reality soon weakened his warmth. There is a rule at the museum: For the first year you can look, but not touch. From 8 a. m. to5 p. m. every day, he checked and took apart watches and clocks collected from his friends to practice. After a year of repeated work, he could finally get his hands on the clocks in the museum and get a better understanding of the job. To him, restoring such clocks doesn’t mean making them look brand-new. Through cleaning and restoration, he tries to keep them in their original form, bringing back their former function.
Qi still remembered the excitement he felt when the hands of his first repaired clock began to move. It was a French clock, which took him a month to restore. “What amazes me most about these clocks is that they combine the scientific advances, technological precision (精确) and trends in decorative art of their particular times,” Qi told China Daily.
Although the antique clock repairing special skills at the Palace Museum were listed as a national intangible (非物质的) cultural heritage in 2014, it was still a little-known skill and the specialty was in short supply of professionals. Until 2016, a 3-part TV documentary, Masters in the Forbidden City, made it possible to the public.
Qi started posting videos about the antique clocks on social media in 2019, giving viewers a look into the work. “With rising attention and influence, antique clock restoration can not only be further developed, but also expanded to more museums which house antique clocks and watches,” Qi told China Daily.
1. What can be known about the clock conservator Qi Haonan?A.He began to work at the Palace Museum in 1949. |
B.He learned how to restore antique clocks at university. |
C.He has decided to rescue the cultural relics restoration. |
D.He is part of the fourth generation of clock conservators. |
A.He couldn’t touch the antique clocks. |
B.He was asked to do much repeated work. |
C.He had to collect clocks from his friends. |
D.He didn’t understand the meaning of restoration. |
A.Keeping them clean and brand-new. |
B.Making them more beautiful and valuable than ever. |
C.Getting them back to their original form and function. |
D.Combining scientific advances and technological precision. |
A.Worrying. | B.Uncertain. | C.Hopeless. | D.Promising. |
3 . On the fourth Thursday of November every year, families in the US get together to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It falls on Nov. 26 this year.
Thanksgiving Day is a time for communal (群体的) thanksgiving and lavish feasts (丰盛的宴会). Like China’s Spring Festival, preparing a big meal and bringing the family together at home is a long-standing tradition of Thanksgiving.
Though I couldn’t have a reunion with my family when I was an exchange student at Newton South High School near Boston, I spent my Thanksgiving with my friend, Emily and her family.
Emily’s family also kept the tradition. Emily’s mother prepared turkey in the early afternoon. She filled up the turkey with bread cubes, onion slices and papers. A few hours later, we could eat delicious food. Many other foods also came with the main dish. Pumpkin pie is a popular dessert for the day.
Some of the traditional colors for Thanksgiving are orange, yellow and brown, as they stand for pumpkin, corn and turkey.
Even though I was thousands of kilometers away from my home in Beijing, I still found a home in the US with Emily and her family.
A.This is why Thanksgiving is also called Turkey Day. |
B.Preparing and eating turkey is a well-known thanksgiving tradition. |
C.Turkey is the most delicious food in the world. |
D.Distance doesn’t really matter as relatives return home to be with their family. |
E.They brushed the turkey with a butter mixture and roasted it. |
F.People usually use these colors to decorate (装饰)their homes and common areas. |
G.As an saying goes that forever on Thanksgiving Day, the heart will find the pathway home. |
4 . If Confucius(孔子)were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and
philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks(缺陷)of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
1. The opening paragraph is mainly intended to______________.A.provide some key facts about Confucius |
B.attract the readers' interest in the subject |
C.show great respect for the ancient thinker |
D.prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations |
A.have a great interest in studying Chinese |
B.take an active part in Chinese competitions |
C.try to get high scores in Chinese exams |
D.fight for a chance to learn Chinese |
A.Forgotten Wisdom in America |
B.Huge Fans of the Chinese Language |
C.Chinese Culture for Westerners |
D.Old Thinker with a Big Future |
A.a personal biography | B.a history paper |
C.a cultural newspaper | D.a philosophy textbook |
The southern mountainous area of Anhui province is home to old villages that seek to burst with new vitality. Among them, Xidi and Hongcun villages,
This level of preservation could not be achieved
6 . As the year 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in China, many brand have rolled out an array of rabbit-themed goods. Wang Chuchun, an 18-year-old freshman from Xiamen University in Fujian, bought a pair of shoes from the rabbit collection made by Holli, a domestic brand, during the Spring Festival holiday.
“I would like to see Chinese culture be more incorporated into consumer goods that carry a variety of beautiful connotations(内涵).” Wang told journalist.
Guochao, the combination of Chinese traditions with modern designs, has become a keyword for this year’s Spring Festival product consumption, according to statistics from Vipshop(also known as weipinhui in Chinese), an online retailer(零售商). The sales volume of 361 Degrees, a sports equipment company, saw a rise of 188 percent on a year-on-year basis during the Spring Festival with their rabbit collection.
Who is behind the surge of sales for guochao products? According to a report released by data service provider Aurora, the proportion of young people interested in the guochao products accounted for more than 70 percent of consumers.
Thus the target market of the guochao products is China’s 400 million-strong army of young consumers, Tom Harper, a lecturer in international relations at the University of East London, said to The Conversation.
Like their peers in Western countries, China’s Gen Z consumers are enthusiastic users of social media; but that is where the similarities end.
This generation has grown up during China’s rapid economic development in the 2000s and 2010s, which is a marked contrast to their peers in the West, who came of age, in the shadow of the2008 financial crisis. As a result, they have been characterized as being more confident and better educated than previous generations.
“Complex and profound social and cultural factor have contributed to the rise of guochao. But it all comes down to decades of stable development in China. As our country enters an era of prosperity(繁荣), our cultural confidence gets boosted as well,” said Wang.
1. Why is Wang Chuchun’s experience mentioned at the beginning of the text?A.To illustrate what young people like to buy. |
B.To lead up to the topic of the guochao trend. |
C.To show the popularity of rabbit-themed goods. |
D.To stress the rising influence of domestic brands. |
A.Their targets. | B.Their features. |
C.Their popularity. | D.Their market potential |
A.Their shopping habits are mainly driven by social media. |
B.They have benefited from rapid growth in economy |
C.They’re more confident than their Western peers. |
D.They’ve been deeply affected by the financial crisis. |
A.China’s stable development. |
B.China’s social and cultural factors. |
C.The popularity of social media. |
D.Young people’s rising cultural confidence. |
7 . Cultural traditions shape who you are. Lear n more about your traditions and how you can preserve them by means of the followings.
Share your culture art.
Each culture is carried by different forms of art. Museums often house items like clothing, music instruments, and visual artworks. However, beyond these exhibits, there exist tools crafted by ancestors, which present the traditions through generations’ wisdom.
Attend or organize major events.
Your country, religious organizations, or immigrant ethnic groups almost certainly celebrate major holidays or cultural festivals.
Cook family recipes.
Find some recipes from your grandmother’s cookbook.
Promote your dialects (方言).
Language shapes culture to some degree. Therefore, promoting a dialect contributes to the protection of a certain culture.
Spend time with other members of the community.
The best way to preserve your culture is to keep it alive.
A.Participate to get a broader view of your culture. |
B.Culture helps people adapt to the world around them. |
C.Smell and taste have powerful connections to memory. |
D.Record your family tree with the help of family members. |
E.Unfortunately, thousands of dialects are at risk of extinction. |
F.Gather as a group not just for holidays, but for ordinary meals or just conversation. |
G.The skills involved in shaping a stone tool represent one of the earliest cultural practices. |
1.感谢邀请;
2.介绍将展示的具体内容;
3.表达期待.
注意:1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文流畅。
Dear Kevin,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago. Chinese painting, commonly
Chinese painting enjoys a time-honored history.
Deeply rooted in the
10 . 假定你是李华,自己制作了一些中国结,想赠予英国朋友Tom所在的学校。请你给他写封信,简单说说:1.如何制作中国结;2.中国结的象征意义;3.中国结的用途。
注意:1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯;
3.开头和结尾已为你写好,不计入总词数。
参考词汇:中国结 Chinese knot 丝绳 silk thread
Dear Tom,
How are you doing?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua