1 . Different countries celebrate Christmas in different ways. We asked some of our friends to explain what happens in their countries. This is what they told us:
France
In France, Christmas is always called Noël. Everyone has a Christmas tree, sometimes decorated in the old way with red ribbons and real white wax candles. Fir trees in the garden are often decorated too with lights on all night.
Father Christmas is called Père Noël. The Christmas meal is an important family gathering with good meat and the best wine. Few people send Christmas cards. More people send New Year cards to wish everyone good luck and joy for the New Year. These days Christmas lunch is a starter of foie gras (a strong tasting pate made from goose liver) followed by lunch of seafood — usually including lobsters and oysters.
New Zealand
Christmas starts for us with gifts under the tree, to be opened on Christmas morning. Then it’s onto a Christmas lunch either at home or at one’s parents place. Turkey or chicken with all the trimmings (佐料) is eaten. Then comes tea time. It is a BBQ for friends and family to get together, and have a few beers or wines with the meal!
Russia
In the days of the Soviet Union, Christmas was not celebrated very much. New Year was the important time — when “Father Frost” brought presents to children. With the fall of Communism, Christmas can be openly celebrated either on December 25th; or more often on January 7th. This unusual date is because the Russian Orthodox church uses the old “Julian” calendar for religious celebration days. Special Christmas food includes cakes, pies and “meat dumplings”.
Sweden
The most important day is Christmas Eve. A special Christmas meal is eaten on Christmas Eve — ham (pork), herring fish, and brown beans — and this is the time when families give presents to each other. Many people attend a church meeting early on Christmas Day.
1. Why do people in France send New Year cards?| A．To tell their friends the New Year is coming. |
| B．To ask for some special presents. |
| C．To invite their friends to family gathering. |
| D．To send their friends best wishes and happiness for the New Year. |
| A．A special meal is prepared. |
| B．Everyone has a Christmas tree. |
| C．Parents give gifts to their children. |
| D．People attend a church gathering. |
| A．France. | B．New Zealand. | C．Sweden. | D．Russia. |
An organization has taken measures
Chopstick culture in Shanghai
After opening as a commercial port, Shanghai is proud
At least 1.8 billion people
3 . Imagine that you are a detective at the scene of a crime. What you find is confusion. Evidence has been moved, stepped on, broken. You even suspect that someone took crucial items as souvenirs! This would make your job much more difficult, right?
Archaeologists are like detectives. We study clues left by people long ago and learn a lot about them: their culture, their environment, where they came from, and where they went. Anything made or modified by people is an artifact(文物).
Archaeological sites are important to our cultural heritage. Laws protect them against damage by neglect, vandalism, or looters(掠夺者). Laws also help to preserve sites on public land.
What if you find an artifact- -maybe an arrowhead, a piece of pottery, or an old cowboy spur --in your backyard?
Then contact your state’s historic preservation officer or an archaeologist at a nearby college or university. These experts can help explain what you found.
| A．If possible, leave it in place. |
| B．Also investigate the history of where you live. |
| C．Is the ground disturbed by construction or digging? |
| D．As such, they are part of the archaeological record. |
| E．It might make it even impossible to solve the case. |
| F．It just might be a missing piece in history’s grand puzzle! |
| G．But private landowners have the rights to their own property. |
The art of paper-cutting in China may date back to the second century, since paper
With
Chinese papercuts are rich in content. The auspicious（吉祥的）designs symbolize good luck and the avoidance of evil. The child, lotus and bat designs suggest a family with
5 . The remains of a gold mask were found at an archaeological site in China's Sichuan province in March 2021. Weighing about 280 grams and estimated to be made from 84% gold, the mask was one of over 500 items unearthed from six newly discovered sacrificial pits（坑）, according to the country's National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The finds were made at Sanxingdui, a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. Some experts say the items may shine further light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin until it was conquered in 316 BC.
In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists uncovered golds and artifacts（手工艺品）made from ivory and bone. The six pits, of which the largest has a footprint of 19 square meters, also yielded an as-yet-unopened wooden box.
More than 50,000 ancient artifacts have been found at Sanxingdui since the 1920s, when a local farmer accidentally came upon a number of relics at the site. A major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with the discovery of two pits containing over 1,000 items.
A third pit was then found in late 2019, which led to the discovery of a further five last year. Experts believe the pits were used for sacrificial purposes, explaining why many of the items contained were burned as they were dropped in and buried.
Sanxingdui is believed to have sat at the heart of the Shu state, which historians know relatively little about due to a shortage of written records. The site has revolutionized experts' understanding of how civilization developed in ancient China. In particular, evidence of a unique Shu culture suggests that the kingdom developed independently of neighboring societies in the Yellow River Valley, which was traditionally considered to be the cradle（摇篮）of Chinese civilization.
1. Why are the remains of a gold mask mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To lead in the topic of the text. |
| B．To stress the importance of gold. |
| C．To show the symbolic meaning of gold. |
| D．To praise the skills of ancient Shu state. |
| A．3. | B．8. |
| C．9. | D．14. |
| A．promoted | B．strengthened |
| C．weakened | D．updated |
| A．A Complete Gold Mask Unearthed in Sichuan |
| B．The History of China's Ancient Shu State |
| C．Another Great Discovery in Sanxingdui |
| D．Mystery of Sanxingdui Solved in 2021 |
6 . Spring Festival is traditionally a family holiday, but there are plenty of ways for travellers to celebrate Chinese New Year, which falls on February 12, 2021.
Watch a lion or dragon dance
Lion and dragon dances have been part of the festival since the Tang Dynasty. Closely related to kung fu, these dances demand strength and balance. Dragon dances are performed by a group of people who work together to bring the dragon's powerful yet graceful movements to life. Look out for the final and also the most exciting part of the dance called cai qing which means “picking the greens”. Competing groups will battle each other very hard to get the red envelope hidden in the green vegetables.
Eat and dress yourself up lucky
Like any festival in China, Chinese New Year is all about food. So prepare to eat yourself lucky. A whole fish is a popular choice. It means you'll have plenty of riches. Likewise, dumplings are also a lucky dish because they are said to look like the ancient silver coins. For more good luck, wear red underwear. If you happen to have been born in the Year of the Cow, you'd better wear them all year, as your ben ming nian is believed to be a year of bad luck. Also, on New Year's Day, don't clean anything-even yourself - or you'll be washing away the good luck.
Travel smart and cheap
Generally speaking, it is best to avoid travel in China at all during the busy Spring Festival period known as chunyun. But if you fly on New Year's Day, when offices are closed and Chinese families stay together, it can be surprisingly cheap with few passengers, particularly on popular routes, such as Beijing to Shanghai. You should avoid trying to head to major cities by public transport later than five days before or after New Year's Day, when millions of urban workers make their way home or back to work.
1. Why do dance groups fight so hard at the end of the dance?| A．To prove their power. | B．To show their kung fu. |
| C．To get the red envelope. | D．To hide the lucky vegetables. |
| A．Eating fish. | B．Wearing red underwear. |
| C．Making dumplings. | D．Having a shower in the evening. |
| A．On February 6. | B．On February 8. |
| C．On February 12. | D．On February 18. |
1. 到达时间；
2. 餐桌礼仪；
3. 饮酒习俗。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答；
3. 参考词汇：banquet 宴会。
Hello, everyone,
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8 . International tourism is becoming interestingly popular, and large numbers of people from all over the world come to visit famous places such as the Great Wall of China and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
As for the damage, there are many different causes. For example, the paintings in the Sistine Chapel are being damaged by people breathing onto them when they visit.
In short, it is necessary to control tourism at famous places.
| A．For example, special paths can be built. |
| B．What can we do to deal with these problems? |
| C．The Great Wall was built over 2,000 years ago. |
| D．However, these visitors have caused many problems. |
| E．Traveling is the best way for us to get to know the world. |
| F．If we do not do this, these places will disappear from our planet. |
| G．Their breath contains very small drops of water that are present in the air. |
9 . When travelling abroad, you have to spend some time thinking about gifts. What should you buy your family or your best friend? It could be a Yankees baseball cap if you Visit the U.S.A. In Vietnam, a straw hat called a non la is a popular tourist gift. If you ever visit Russia, you may want to think about buying a set of Russian dolls (玩具娃娃).They are like no other doll.
The proper name for a Russian doll is a Matryoshka doll. When you first see it, it looks like a single doll. Pick it up and twist(扭转)its top, you will find that it comes apart around the middle. Inside is a second doll, looking exactly the same as the first, but smaller. Twist the second doll, and the same thing happens. You keep twisting each doll until you end up with a very tiny doll. Usually, there can be up to 10 dolls making up a set.
Russian dolls were first made in 1890 and included eight dolls. These were all hand carved and painted. They were dressed in a traditional dress called a sarafan. The word “Matryoshka” means matron — an older married woman. The idea was that it meant a family with the mother being at its head. The dolls proved to be very popular and it was not long before every woodworker was making them.
The Russian doll appeared at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. Everyone who saw them wanted one. Soon people visiting Russia also wanted to have one. Being quite small, they could fit into tourists’ luggage (行李) very easily — unlike a non la! The dolls were all hand carved and painted until about 1930, when factories began producing Russian dolls which are not expensive.
Walking around the tourist streets of Moscow, you will find many shops selling Russian dolls. The traditional Matryoshka dolls are still there, but today you can also find the images(形象)of all kinds of different people.
1. As a tourist gift, where does a non la most probably come from?| A．France. | B．Russia. | C．Vietnam. | D．America. |
| A．They were named after an old woman. |
| B．They were images of a big family. |
| C．They were gifts for mothers. |
| D．They were made by hand. |
| A．They were hugely popular. | B．They were produced in factories. |
| C．They were put into a small bag. | D．They were given to tourists as a gift. |
| A．It is cheap. | B．It is useful. |
| C．It is easy to carry. | D．It is made to order. |
1. 时间和地点；2. 内容：汉语学习、中国传统文化等；3. 报名方式和截止日期。
注意：1.词数80-100
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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