1 . Reading Oktoberfest

Palmer Park is the perfect place to host the first Reading Oktoberfest, which takes place 15-18 September 2016.

You can experience everything that makes Oktoberfest, held in a huge Beer tent. We’ll have live music and DJs and thousands of people going crazy.

Opening hours:
Thursday 15 September 17:00-23:30
Friday 16 September 17:00-23:30
Saturday 17 September 12:30-23:30
Sunday 18 September 12:30-19:00
Ramsbottom Festival

With its riverside location (位置), Ramsbottom Festival is one festival which can truly be called beautiful. Here you can enjoy a mix of music, great arts and family shows, as well as a variety of Great British and international food.

Ramsbottom Festival takes place 16-18 September 2016 at Ramsbottom Cricket Club, Bury, easily reachable by public transport from Manchester city centre.

The Willow Festival Dorset

The Willow Festival — the world’s largest festival showing new and undiscovered live music bands and artists is coming to Dorset. Fun for all the family, the event also has a shopping area, a world food village, and plenty of activities for kids.

Tickets are just £10.00, which covers a come-and-go attendance (出席) for all three days.

River Cottage Festival

It’s our first ever family-friendly music festival, right here at River Cottage HQ in Devon.

On 17-18 September 2016, the farm will be filled with live music from popular bands in the UK. In between all that dancing you’ll be able to watch shows from local craftspeople (匠人) and make your own piece of jewelry.

Tickets will cost you just £35, or £10 for children under 12 (babies under 2 go free).

1. What can visitors enjoy at Ramsbottom Festival?

A．Family shows.

B．Dancing on the farm.

C．Making beautiful things by hand.

D．International bands’ performances.

2. Both The Willow Festival Dorset and River Cottage Festival _____.

A．are held in 2016 for the first time

B．ask visitors to pay the same price

C．take place near a river

D．are family-friendly

3. Which festival lasts the most days?

A．River Cottage Festival.

B．Ramsbottom Festival.

C．Reading Oktoberfest.

D．The Willow Festival Dorset.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Waking up at 7 in the morning, 25-year-old Fan Yupei cleans up,     1     (water) flowers in the courtyard, and then opens the door of her Jun porcelain (钧瓷) production studio, ready for a new day’s business.

Life in her hometown, Shenhou town, in Yuzhou City, is much     2     (happy) for Fan. She started her own studio with her husband,     3     quit his job in Beijing. Jun porcelain is one of the top five Chinese porcelains,     4     (date) back to the Song Dynasty. It is famous for     5     (it) change of colors when heated in kilns (窑). In 2008, it     6    (list) as a state-level intangible culture heritage (非物质文化遗产).

Shenhou town is home     7     Jun porcelains. Recently, the local government of Yuzhou city has taken a series of measures     8     (promote) such production. Now Fan’s husband is in charge of Jun porcelain making while she is responsible for sales. Her recent goal is to own     9     shop where they can sell their own production. With more and more tourists visiting Shenhou every day, Fan has the     10     (confident) that Jun porcelain will gain greater popularity in the future.

3 . Exposure to different cultures is one of the main reasons I enjoy visiting other countries. There are other types of food, interesting people, new experiences.     1    

A country usually has its own money, such as RMB in China, rupee in India, and rufiyaa in Maldives.     2     This can make travel among such countries much easier and more convenient. In my opinion, however, I like having different kinds of money to use and get used to that while I travel.     3     When I visited Thailand and Vietnam last month, getting used to the fact that ₤1 is equal to over 42 Thai baht and 27,000 Vietnamese dong was also quite a good test for my maths skills!

If you’ve ever been to the U.K., you will know the Queen’s head is on every banknote and every coin. I was living in the Quebec province of Canada last year and money there surprised me greatly.     4     This is because she’s also Canada’s Head of State. Images on the Canadian money are various, including former prime ministers, as well as Canadian wildlife like the beaver, caribou and polar bear.

    5     Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill appears on ₤5 banknotes and writer Jane Austen ₤10 banknotes. The banknotes are also made of a material called polymer rather than paper. In Canada, they are already using polymer banknotes and some people even think that the money smells of maple syrup (枫糖浆)，probably the country’s most well-known food!

A．There are new historical figures on the pound notes.

B．They have the British Queen on their $20 banknotes.

C．Money represents preference and development of a county.

D．Of course, there’re many countries using euros or US dollars.

E．You will also be amazed by the images on the money.

F．One more thing to mention in a new country is a different currency.

G．It’s part of the cultural experience to hold money with a foreign figure.

4 . There are some Christmas traditions between the United Kingdom and the United States.

Letters to Santa Claus

In the United States, kids usually write letters to Santa and put them in the mailbox. However, in England we throw them directly into the fire. We don't plan to make kids cry because burning the letters can send them to the North Pole where Santa can read your Christmas wishes in the smoke. It may seem strange but it does save on postage.

Hanging stocking

Traditionally, American kids hang stockings around the fireplace for Santa to fill with presents. But in the UK. we hang stockings around the bed; being surrounded by presents is a fantastic way to wake up on Christmas morning.

Christmas pudding

Americans prefer to have pumpkin and pecan pies for the Christmas dessert; while we British are fond of Christmas pudding. which is a cake flavored with dried fruits and spices.

Dealing with Christmas tree

We British chose to take down the Christmas trees and the decorations within 12 days of Christmas, because we hold the belief that keeping then beyond that time can bring bad luck. This is probably a tradition that Americans should consider adopting. I have seen people keep their old, brown, dry and withered Christmas trees until almost July 4.

1. How do the British people deal with "Letters to Father Christmas"?

A．Emailing them to Santa.	B．Hiding them in the mailbox.
C．Putting them in the stockings.	D．Throwing them straight into the fire.

2. Why do the British take down the Christmas tree as early as possible?

A．To stop it from drying	B．To expect good luck.
C．To save money.	D．To reuse it for the next year.

3. What do Christmas traditions between Britain and America have in common?

A．Writing letters to Santa.	B．Making pumpkin pudding.
C．Hanging stockings around the bed.	D．Keeping Christmas trees for months.

5 . 短文改错

Americans think a great deal of about time. From childhood they learn to value time. As children, they were taught to be on time to go to school, to do work and to do everything. When they are having good time, they say that time flies. When a person is dying, they say he is living on borrowing time.

Time is money, is knowledge, and is everything in America. A working American must work hard for 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, that is the working time. On his spare time he also works for less money. Even Saturdays and Sundays are filled of activities. In the street you can hardly see a man who walk slowly. They walk very fast. In fact, they are running.

6 . I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles”(风格)of directions every time I ask “ How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused(困惑的)in Japan because most streets there don’t have names. In Japan, people use landmarks(地标)in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “ Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat. In many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “ Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map. They measure distance in time, not miles. “ How far away is the post office?” you ask. “ Oh,” they answer, “ it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “ Yes, but how many miles is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “ Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “ I don't know”. People in Yucatan believe that “I don't know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
1. When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually _______ .

A．describe the place carefully

B．show him a map of the place

C．tell him the names of the streets

D．refer to recognizable buildings and places

2. What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.	B．Los Angles.
C．Kansas                 C. Iowa

3. People inYucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________ .

A．in order to save time	B．as a test
C．so as to be polite	D．for fun

4. What can we infer from the text?

A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

C．People have similar understanding of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.