1 . A music festival is a community event focusing on live performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme. On the list are the music festivals for fans around the world. Find your favorite now!
Field Day
January 1, 2023, Sydney
Field Day means New Year’s Day for young people in Sydney. Seen as the city’s original multi-stage party, it’s a gathering of friends coming together for a great fun-filled first day of the year. There’s an air of hope and positive energy on a perfect summer’s day.
The Envision Festival
February 27—March 6, 2023, Uvita
The Envision Festival is an annual gathering in Costa Rica that aims to provide an opportunity for different cultures to work with one another to create a better community. The festival encourages people to practice art, music, dance performances, and education. Meanwhile, our connection with nature is expected to be strengthened.
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival
March 2—4, 2023, Phoenix
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s musical celebration of community culture. Since its foundation in 2004, it has been the only 100% non-profit music festival designed to support, entertain and educate the community. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the country, and it is an opportunity to experience true culture.
The Old Settler’s Music Festival
April 20—23, 2023, Dale
The Old Settler’s Music Festival is a nationally known music festival for American music. The festival is held in the country of Texas at the height of the wild flower season. The Old Settler’s Music Festival offers great music and activities for the whole family.
1. In which city can people enjoy a fun New Year’s Day?A.Phoenix. | B.Uvita. | C.Sydney. | D.Dale. |
A.It encourages people to receive education. | B.It is not aimed at making money. |
C.It provides an opportunity for friend gathering. | D.It focuses on cultural exchanges. |
A.Field Day and the Envision Festival. |
B.The Envision Festival and the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. |
C.The Old Settler’s Music Festival and the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. |
D.The Envision Festival and the Old Settler’s Music Festival. |
2 . I came across quite a few language problems while spending holiday with my family last summer. The most embarrassing was when my Mom apologized to the people we were staying with because her “pants were dirty”. They looked at her in surprise, not knowing how to react. You see, Mom had fallen over and gotten mud on her jeans. But in Britain, “pants” means underpants or knickers (内裤;衬裤), not trousers as it does back home.
Katie — From America
I went to stay with a friend on the west coast last summer. Her flat was on the first floor of a high-rise building so I got the lift up. Then I wandered round for ages looking for her flat but couldn’t find it. Fed up and tired, I finally had to go out to find a phone box. She explained that her flat was on the first floor, which for me meant the ground floor.
David — From Britain
When I asked for the “restroom” in a big department store, people kept directing me to a room with seats where I could sit and “rest”. It took me years to get through to (使...明白)someone that I only wanted the toilet!
Tom — From America
1. Hearing Katie’s mother’s words, Katie’s friends were in surprise because ________.A.Katie’s mother got mud on her jeans | B.Katie’s mother’s underpants were dirty |
C.they mistook pants for underpants | D.they didn’t understand British English |
A.phone the police for help | B.phone his friend for help |
C.tell his friend he couldn’t visit her | D.apologize for his being late |
A.he wanted to have a rest | B.he wanted to go to the toilet |
C.he wanted to go to bed | D.He wanted to go to a department store |
3 . The Double Seventh Festival, also known as the Qixi Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival. Here is a beautiful story
Long,long ago, there was a young man named Niulang(Cowherd), One day, he
A.through | B.behind | C.with | D.after |
A.met | B.told | C.thanked | D.missed |
A.boring | B.interesting | C.same | D.different |
A.looked forward to | B.parted with | C.turned down | D.fell in love with |
A.knew | B.lived | C.stayed | D.gave |
A.promised | B.waited | C.ordered | D.helped |
A.yet | B.ever | C.quite . | D.still |
A.angry | B.sorry | C.excited | D.satisfied |
A.friends | B.lovers . | C.parents | D.children |
A.back | B.away | C.halfway | D.apart |
A.surprised | B.changed | C.touched | D.protected |
A.so | B.but | C.though | D.because |
A.him | B.her | C.us | D.them |
A.how | B.when | C.what | D.where |
A.day | B.way | C.lesson | D.habit |
4 . When you go to a foreign country, you often enter a new culture. The differences between cultures may make you feel stressed and you often find it difficult to adjust to the new surroundings, which is usually called “culture shock”.
The psychological and physical symptoms of culture shock may appear depending on the individuals. Some often feel anxious while adjusting to a new culture—even more so when the cultural distances are wide.
A local club provides the perfect environment to get to know people who have a similar focus, so join one so that you can meet some locals and develop new friendships.
A.They may lose appetite and have sleep problems. |
B.Still, the most important change is communication. |
C.They make a lot of effort to get used to the new surroundings. |
D.The more of it is understood, the more of the new culture can be understood. |
E.Learning about your future destination is a great way to get over culture shock. |
F.Plus, remember that you aren’t alone in your struggle to adjust in a new country. |
G.Actually, staying in a foreign country helps you to know more of the new culture. |
5 . English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero said, “Where there\s tea, there's hope.” Similarly, a Chinese saying goes that “Firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day.”
Tea is, without doubt, welcomed all over the world. According to Statista, a German online portal for statistics; global tea production reached approximately 5.8 million tons in 2018. It has become the most consumed beverage in the world — after water, of course.
In order to celebrate the popular drink, the United Nations General Assembly has designated May 21 as International Tea Day. According to the UN, tea is much more than just a hot drink. It's a big part of many cultures around the world.
You probably know that people in China use top-grade tea to show respect when receiving important guests. Meanwhile, the British tradition of afternoon tea is an important part of that country's identity. Making Malaysia's pulled tea has become a sort of art form, where drinkers take pride in its entertainment aspects. As an expression of Moroccan hospitality and tradition, mint tea — a mix of green tea, spearmint leaves and sugar — is served during gatherings and negotiations.
Apart from its cultural significance, tea is also a medicine, used from ancient times to modern day. “Tea is cold and lowers the fire,” Chinese Ming Dynasty herbalist Li Shizhen once said. The health benefits of tea are still being discovered today: preventing heart disease, obesity and cancer have all been linked to drinking green tea, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the US. The mania for healthy tea products continues into a new decade as it's used in moisturizers, lip balms and other beauty products.
Hot or cold, bagged or loose-leaf, tea is more than a drink — it's a social custom and also a magic medicine, a link to the past and a way of life.
1. Why did the author mention the two quotations in the first paragraph?A.For they are famous. |
B.To show the significance of tea. |
C.For enriching the readers’ knowledge. |
D.To show tea has a long history. |
A.tea | B.coffee |
C.water | D.wine |
A.medicine. | B.drinks. |
C.art form. | D.cream. |
A.Tea has a long history in China. |
B.Tea has many health benefits. |
C.Tea is a big part of many cultures around the world. |
D.May 21 is celebrated as International Tea Day. |
A.In a restaurant. | B.In a hotel. | C.In a store. |
1. Why is it hard to remember all of the Christmas history?
A.It has such a long history. | B.It is various in different places. |
C.It changes all the time. |
A.More expensive gifts. | B.More Christmas history. | C.More changes. |
A.Teacher and student. | B.Friends. | C.Father and daughter. |
8 . Have you ever been to a music festival? Well if you live in the UK, the answer is probably yes. The number of festivals has grown greatly over the last few years and now there are around 200 every summer. So let’s look at the history of four famous festivals.
The Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary(当代的) performing arts held most years in Somerset, in the south-west of England. There are a rock and pop stage, a jazz stage, the Avalon stage, a theatre comedy stage, a cinema tent, a dance tent and a circus(马戏团). The festival started in1970and about 120,000 people go to it every summer.
The Reading Festival is truly world-class with rock and pop bands(乐队) appearing from all over the world, particularly(尤其) the USA. About 80,000 music fans go to Reading every August Bank Holiday. The festival first came to its present site on the banks of the River Thames in Reading in 1971, when it moved from Plumpton in Sussex. It is still on the same site over 47 years later!
WOMAD stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance and was the idea of rock musician Peter Gabriel to promote(宣传) world music. The WOMAD Festival started in 1982 and takes place in July at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, and you can see different bands and musicians from all over the world. The festival welcomes over 26, 000 visitors each year.
The one-day Monsters of Rock Festival at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes was first held in 1980 and gave visitors the chance to hear the very best of hard rock and heavy metal. There were no festivals between 1996 and 2003 as a result of changing musical fashions, but now it has returned and grown into a two-day festival with a campsite for the 30,000 people who go there in summer days.
1. Which festival draws the largest number of fans every year?A.The Reading Festival. | B.The WOMAD Festival. |
C.The Glastonbury Festival. | D.The Monsters of Rock Festival. |
A.It mainly attracts rock music fans. |
B.It is especially popular with local bands. |
C.It is named after the place where it is held. |
D.It has been held in the same site since it started. |
A.All last five days. | B.All are held in the summer. |
C.All take place every year. | D.All are held near the River Thames. |
9 . China has more than 30 intangible cultural heritage recognized by the UNESCO, including paper-cutting, the Dragon Boat Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture (针灸) and so on. The organization adopted a decision that China’s “The Twenty-Four Solar Terms” (二十四节气) should be put on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016 in Ethiopia.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge of time and practices in agriculture, starts from the Beginning of Spring and ends with the Greater Cold, moving in cycles. It developed through the observation of the sun’s annual movement in China. In ancient time, the method of tugui, earth sundial (日暑), was used to measure the shadow of the sun for determining the solar terms.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms came into being and developed in close relationship with Chinese agricultural production. At the initial stage of agricultural development, people began to explore the seasonal rules in the agricultural production to meet the needs in seeding, harvesting and other activities. Gradually, they formed the concept of “seed in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn and store in winter”. During the spring and autumn periods, the agricultural production was highly influenced by the seasonal changes, thus forming the concept of Solar Terms.
As a traditional Chinese knowledge system of time with a history of thousands of years, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms clearly expresses the concepts of respect for nature, and harmony between man and nature. Created by Chinese ancestors, it have functioned as a complete set of weather calendar (日历) to guide the agricultural production in China. It has also been introduced into North Korea, Japan and other neighboring countries and still used in Japan. The Chinese heritage has provably influenced the people’s way of thinking and behaving and will continue to be an important carrier of Chinese cultural identity.
1. According to the first two paragraphs, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms_________.A.was used to measure the shadow of the sun |
B.has not been listed as one intangible cultural heritage of humanity |
C.is the best intangible cultural heritage recognized by the UNESCO |
D.repeats from the Beginning of Spring to the Greater Cold every year |
A.the Twenty-Four Solar Terms only influenced spring and autumn |
B.agricultural production highly influenced the seasonal changes |
C.people cared about the changes of weather just for fun |
D.the Twenty-Four Solar Terms had something to do with agriculture |
A.is part of traditional Chinese culture |
B.is strongly influenced by North Korea and Japan |
C.is hard to explain |
D.is an agricultural calendar merely used in China |
Vietnamese families plan their activities around their children on this special day. In a Vietnamese folk story, parents were working so hard to prepare for the harvest that they left the children playing by themselves. To make up for that time, the parents would use the Mid-Autumn Festival as a chance to show their love and thanks for their children.
As a result, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Children’s Festival. In the United States, this tradition continues in many Vietnamese-American families. Activities are often centered on children and education. Parents buy lanterns for their children so that they can take part in a candle and lantern parade at dawn. Lanterns mean brightness, while the parade means success in school. Vietnamese markets sell a variety of lanterns, but the most popular children’s lantern is the star lantern. Other children’s activities include arts and crafts in which children make face masks and lanterns. Children also perform traditional Vietnamese dances for adults and take part in contests for prizes. Unicorn (麒麟) dancers are also very popular.
Like Chinese people, Vietnamese parents tell their children folk stories and serve moon cakes and other special treats under the bright moon. A favorite folk story is about a carp (鲤鱼) that wanted to become a dragon. The carp worked and worked and finally changed itself into a dragon. Parents use this story to encourage their children to work hard so that they can become whatever they want to be.
1. We can learn from the passage that Tet-Trung-Thu is celebrated ________.
A.in China and other Asian countries |
B.by Vietnamese-American families |
C.all over the world except Vietnam |
D.across the United States |
A.eat moon cakes | B.buy lanterns for children |
C.take part in contests | D.buy a carp |
A.Family get-togethers. |
B.Children and education. |
C.Relaxation and fun in the middle of the year. |
D.Parents having more time with their children. |
A.children like listening to them in the evening |
B.they want to show their love for their children |
C.they want to encourage their children to work hard |
D.they want to make up for lost time |