1 . As Christmas Eve approached, I found myself in New York City, far from my family and friends in Taiwan. I was feeling homesick and lonely, but my Jewish friend, Rachel, who, like me, doesn’t get connected with Christmas due to any religious things, invited me to join her for a dinner in a Chinese restaurant. She explained that it was a tradition for many Jewish people to celebrate this holiday by eating Chinese food on Christmas Eve.
We went to Jing Fong, a fancy restaurant in Chinatown. The place was packed with people, and the atmosphere was lively and festive. We ordered a variety of dishes. Everything was delicious, and I felt grateful to be sharing this experience with Rachel. As we ate, we talked about our families and our cultures. We laughed and joked, and for a moment, I forgot about my homesickness.
A moment later, a group of carolers (唱圣诞歌的人) came into the restaurant, singing Christmas songs. At first, I was puzzled. Why were they singing in a Chinese restaurant? But then I realized that this was part of the magic of New York City. People from all different cultures and backgrounds could come together and celebrate the holidays in their own way. Rachel and I joined in the singing, and soon the whole restaurant was filled with music. It was a beautiful moment, and I felt blessed to be part of it.
What a night! I learned that even when you’re far from home, you can still find joy and connection with others. Rachel and I may come from different cultures, but we shared amazing food, joyful music, and most importantly heartfelt company. And that’s exactly what all the holidays are all about.
1. Why did Rachel invite the author to join her for dinner?A.To show respect to God |
B.To celebrate Christmas in the Jewish way |
C.To share stories about their families |
D.To forget about their homesickness |
A.Fearful | B.Joyful |
C.Disappointed | D.Confused |
A.By focusing on religious traditions |
B.By celebrating with family and friends |
C.By enjoying a variety of festive dishes |
D.By embracing diverse ways of celebration |
A.A personal blog | B.A commercial promotion brochure |
C.A travel guide of New York | D.An academic article |
2 . If art preserves the culture of the Crow people, then Crow women are the keepers of that culture, cultivating it to reflect the modern day.
Fashion designer Bethany Yellowtail grew up riding horses and running in the fields and swimming in the river and being around her people in the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations in southeastern Montana. She knows first-hand the importance of art to maintaining native traditions. In 2015 she turned that knowledge into her own brand: B. Yellowtail. A year later, she created the B. Yellowtail Collective, made up of native artists, to foster economic opportunities for their communities. Many of those artists are women from different tribes but all of them preserve their culture and move it forward through their medium of choice.
Yellowtail and her team work for the native-owned business that’s rooted in community. Artists within the Collective typically receive 70% of profit from retail sales, and for a portion of the pandemic (流行病) the brand has upped that to 100%. The extra money has, of course, increased artists’ income in the past year, but the relationship is interdependent: without the work of those artists, B. Yellowtail wouldn’t exist and native culture would feel the loss.
Dewanda Little Coyote is Yellowtail’s mother. Family is deeply important to their tribe. So is art, which often runs in the family — and along the matriarchal (母系的) side. Little Coyote picked up her entrepreneurial spirit from her parents, who owned a gift shop. “My parents said, ‘If you have hands, create something. Do something, and make a living off of that,’” she said. After her parents passed away, the artist began learning beading (串珠) earrings herself. Dentalium, a tusk shell often used in native jewelry, caught her eye in particular. “I love it, because back in the day, our Cheyenne women wore a lot of dentalium,” she said. “So I wanted to give a contemporary look to that — to what our ancestors wore.”
Yellowtail herself learned sewing from her aunts and grandmothers before moving to Los Angeles in 2007 to study fashion design. Now, native women support native women — and matriarchal art evolves.
1. Why did Bethany Yellowtail set up B. Yellowtail?A.To make their culture continue. | B.To become rich as soon as possible. |
C.To reflect the modern fashions. | D.To inspire more women to work. |
A.Native-owned businesses make money more easily. |
B.The profit from the Collective has fallen sharply. |
C.Local artists love to work in their community. |
D.Artists, income is related to the development of native culture. |
A.To prove she loves her daughter deeply. |
B.To show how native culture is handed down. |
C.To praise her efforts to help the young. |
D.To appeal to more women to join in jewelry design. |
A.Humorous, modest and cooperative. | B.Traditional, cautious and outgoing. |
C.Independent, competitive and creative. | D.Creative, determined and selfless. |
3 . The world is designed for right-handed people, but why does a tenth of the population prefer the left?
The answer to it remains a bit of a mystery. Since scientists have noticed that left-handedness tends to run in families, it’s assumed that left-handedness has a genetic(基因的) component to it.
Historically, the left side and left-handedness have been considered a negative thing by many cultures.
A.In other words, left-handers are born that way. |
B.Left-handedness used to be regarded as a disability. |
C.The unfavorable associations of the use of the left hand among cultures are varied. |
D.Why do they prefer to use their left hand rather than their right hand for routine activities? |
E.Why do some parents force their left-handed children to become right-handed when writing? |
F.In Ghana, pointing, gesturing, giving or receiving items with the left hand is considered rude. |
G.Fortunately, nowadays most societies and cultures no longer reject left-handedness like before. |