1 . Are Potato Fries a Cultural Treasure?
Belgium is divided into three communities. Each one has its own language and traditions. But the people of Belgium are united in their love for Belgian potato fries. The fries are prepared and sold the same way in all areas of the country.
The Reuters news service reports that potatoes reached Belgium in the 16th century. But it was not until the 19th century that restaurants and others began selling potato fries throughout the country as a separate meal.
Recently, a Belgian group launched a campaign aimed at getting the United Nations to recognize the popular treat. The group wanted the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to place the food on its cultural heritage list.
The UNESCO list recognizes more than 300 objects, beliefs and practices. They include Turkish coffee and the traditional Chinese theater known as Peking Opera. The list also includes a dance, the Argentinian tango, and the singing of the Aka pygmies of the Central African Republic. UNESCO says the list is "made up of intangible heritage elements that help demonstrate the diversity of heritage and raise awareness about its importance".
To appear on the list, each item needs an expression of support from a minister of culture. Belgium has three such ministers— one for each part of the country.
Belgian potato fries are traditionally sold in a paper wrapper or cone in a "fritkot", a small house or shack. There are about 5,000 fritkots in Belgium. That means they are 10 times more common as a percentage of the population as McDonald’s restaurants in the United States. The national organization of fritkot owners says the small, often unfinished buildings are much like Belgium itself. It says these buildings combine the country’s acceptance of disorder with a dislike of structures that all look the same. The group says 95 percent of Belgians visit a potato fries shack at least once a year.
1. Belgian potato fries .| A．were recognized by UNESCO |
| B．are well received by the Belgians |
| C．are sold in various ways throughout the whole country |
| D．were not sold as a separate meal until the 16th century |
| A．To place Belgian potato fries on the cultural heritage list. |
| B．To avoid Belgian potato fries9 disappearance. |
| C．To show the diversity of Belgian foods. |
| D．To prove the popularity of Belgian foods. |
| A．Peking Opera. |
| B．The Argentinian tango. |
| C．Turkish coffee. |
| D．American country music. |
| A．A simple house where the people live. |
| B．A kind of small, unfinished building. |
| C．A place where machines are used to make goods. |
| D．A piece of plastic that covers something. |
2 . I was born and raised in England in a culture where privacy and “keeping yourself to yourself” were valued traditions. Speaking to strangers was not encouraged. People were most hospitable(好客的) and friendly—but only once they had been introduced to new people.
However, I have been lucky enough to spend some time in both Italy and the US, where I found traditions of hospitality and politeness to be very different.
I experienced Italian hospitality first－hand on a crowded railway carriage travelling, one afternoon, from Genoa to Florence. Sinking gratefully into an empty seat, I was berated(斥责) in rapid Italian by a gentleman who was returning to this seat－it had not been “spare” after all. I apologized in English, and got up to allow him back into the seat. The gentleman obviously had no understanding of the English language, but he, too, realized my genuine mistake. He smiled and gestured for me to remain in the seat, and he himself remained standing in the corridor for the remainder of the journey. The other occupants of the carriage smiled and nodded at me and made me feel quite welcome amongst them. I feel that if this had been in England, a foreigner who made a mistake would not always be so kindly treated.
Transport also featured in the differences I noticed between English and American culture. I flew to New York on a plane with mainly English passengers. We sat together in near silence. Nobody spoke to me nor, as I expected, to anyone else they did not know. They felt it was not polite to intrude on someone else's privacy. However, when I travelled across the United States, whether by plane or Greyhound bus, I was never short of conversation. Conversation was going on all around me and whoever sat next to me was happy to introduce themselves and ask me about myself. They obviously felt it would have been rude not to speak to another person, whether they were strangers or not.
1. What do we know about the occupants of the carriage when the author was travelling in Italy?| A．They all laughed at the author for his mistake. |
| B．They would not bear a mistake like the author's in public. |
| C．They were all on the side of the gentleman. |
| D．They all showed their understanding of the author's mistake. |
| A．cold | B．rude |
| C．hospitable | D．helpful |
| A．they were all strangers to each other |
| B．they were too tired to speak |
| C．privacy was a valued tradition in England |
| D．everybody had their own share of privacy |
| A．his travelling experience |
| B．cultural differences to show hospitality and politeness |
| C．the culture shock he experienced in Italy and the US |
| D．how to adapt ourselves to a new culture |
3 . A bronze relic, which is said to have been stolen from China in 1860, has been sold for 410,000 British pounds at an auction (拍卖会) in the United Kingdom despite strong opposition from China, reports Chinanews.com.
According to the Canterbury Auction Galleries, Tiger Ying, a rare Chinese bronze water vessel (容器) with its spout and lid cast with models of tigers, dates back some 3,000 years. The vessel was recently rediscovered by Alastair Gibson, a British art dealer, along with three other bronzes from the Qing Dynasty as well as a photo and a letter that connect the bronzes to the sack (抢劫) of Yuanmingyuan by British and French armies in 1860. In the letter dated October 21, 1860, Harry Lewis Evans (1831-1883), a Royal Marines Captain during the Second Opium War, explains to his mother how he took the Tiger Ying vessel from Yuanmingyuan. Talking to media, Gibson stated that he never imagined that he would come across such a valuable relic when a friend asked him to look at his small private collection. The dealer emphasized that the Tiger Ying was an unparalleled (无双的) valuable piece since it describes a tiger, considered to be the king of beasts in Chinese culture.
A statement by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Tuesday said it "firmly opposes and strongly condemns" the auction, and promised to help bring back cultural relics illegally removed from China. It also called for an international boycott of the auction，after a request to the Canterbury Auction Galleries to stop the sale was refused.
The relic was sold on Wednesday (April 11, 2018) as planned，and for more than twice the expected price of 120,000 to 200,000 pounds.
Some Chinese experts have questioned the authenticity of the auction house’s description of the relic, saying that they can’t just rely on a letter to confirm the history of the bronze. The experts also doubt the auction house’s claim that only seven such bronzes still exist.
1. What’s the attitude of China towards the auction in the UK?| A．Opposed. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Concerned. |
| A．the Canterbury Auction Galleries |
| B．the statement |
| C．the bronze relic |
| D．China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage |
| A．The vessel was taken by Alastair Gibson from Yuanmingyuan in 1860. |
| B．The relic was sold for 410,000 British pounds as expected. |
| C．The auction house’s description of the relic isn’t reliable for lack of solid evidence. |
| D．There are only seven such bronzes in the world at the present time. |
| A．How a Chinese relic was stolen from Yuanmingyuan. |
| B．A Chinese relic has been sold at an auction in the UK. |
| C．China made efforts to stop the sale of Tiger Ying. |
| D．A Chinese bronze relic was rediscovered by a British art dealer. |
4 . It was the night of the full moon, a time which always drives Java’s young people mad with excitement.
Fireworks were lit long before the moon
The moon appeared above the horizon(地平线) : huge,
More and more young Javanese
By midnight, the fireworks had stopped shooting up from the
| A．let out | B．gave out | C．came out | D．set out |
| A．burning | B．used | C．exploding | D．broken |
| A．lit | B．bit | C．fled | D．patted |
| A．patiently | B．roughly | C．subtly | D．excitedly |
| A．silver | B．new | C．bare | D．swift |
| A．mountains | B．valleys | C．streets | D．shops |
| A．prospects | B．meetings | C．roots | D．events |
| A．for | B．to | C．with | D．in |
| A．swung | B．gathered | C．burst | D．shouted |
| A．village | B．slope | C．night | D．ground |
| A．on the edge of | B．on the way to | C．in the center of | D．in the direction of |
| A．while | B．until | C．unless | D．though |
| A．tip | B．format | C．top | D．broom |
| A．inside | B．near | C．ahead | D．across |
| A．fond | B．laden | C．full | D．acute |
| A．slipped | B．sat | C．stood | D．bent |
| A．thus | B．even | C．yet | D．still |
| A．reunite | B．swell | C．notice | D．admire |
| A．glowing | B．gray | C．peaceful | D．empty |
| A．scolded | B．continued | C．chatted | D．mentioned |
5 . Festivals in India are the special occasions when the country holds many celebrations. Socially, the whole nation becomes active in celebrations. This is the main reason why festivals in India are celebrated by the whole society. On such occasions, families will get together, exchange gifts and greetings, and take part in a lot of celebrations and even special fairs. All these are done to keep the festive spirit alive in modern times.
What is special about these celebrations in India is that people celebrate their common culture in their communities. There is a wide variety of festivals in India because of the presence(存在)of many different religions, beliefs, ideas and cultures. It is even said that some places in the country celebrate festivals 365 days a year. They are mainly religious festivals, cultural festivals and tourist festivals that are organized to keep the traditions, values and heritage of the region.
Religious festivals are celebrated as part of the Indian belief system. They are organized to honor spiritual personalities and events related to the journey of a religion. Cultural festivals in India are organized to provide a platform for different forms of music, dance and other art. To keep their artistic traditions alive and even make them become more popular in the future, many cities in India are active in cultural events. The rich cultural heritage of India attracts the Western world during the celebration of important festivals such as Onam, Holi and Durga Puja. Tourist festivals in the country are organized to celebrate the heritage of the land for tourism purposes. These celebrations every year bring good results and attract a large number of tourists, both within the country and abroad.
These festivals in India focus on enriching people’s "Indian" experience in the most real way. For this purpose, foreigners are very interested in attending the festivals, which are organized to show the rich and colorful side of the country.
1. In India，the whole nation often celebrates festivals actively to .| A．have much fun on special occasions | B．exchange special gifts and greetings |
| C．keep the traditions of their festivals | D．meet all their family members and relatives |
| A．Because the Indians like singing and dancing. |
| B．Because the Indians want to attract more tourists. |
| C．Because there are a great number of old attractions. |
| D．Because there are many different religions, ideas and cultures. |
| A．performing different art forms |
| B．visiting the famous old buildings |
| C．having a journey of honoring spiritual personalities |
| D．getting together and attending fairs |
| A．Travel. | B．Culture. |
| C．Economy. | D．Technology. |
6 . Culture shock isn’t a clinical term or medical conditions. It’s simply a common way to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person may have after leaving a familiar culture to live in a different culture.
Everyone feels the pressure to fit in at one time or another—whether they’ve lived in the area for days or years. But don’t feel like you need to change everything about yourself so you can stand out less.
Here are a few tips for making sure your new culture doesn’t overpower the old:
Educate people about your culture. Just because you’re the one entering the new culture doesn’t mean you should be the one doing all the learning.
Find a support group. Find kids in your class or neighborhood who recently moved, too. You can share experiences.
Remember, it’s important to be yourself.
| A．Keep in touch with home. |
| B．Understand the new culture. |
| C．But the good news is that culture shock is temporary. |
| D．When you move to a new place, you’re bound to face a lot of changes. |
| E．Try not to force yourself to change too fast or too many things all at once. |
| F．All of your experiences before you came to your new home are part of you. |
| G．Take the opportunity to teach classmates and new friends about your culture. |
7 . A small supermarket is decorated with a lot of red lanterns. There are piles of red envelopes on sale, for filling with cash and handing out as gifts. Such festive trappings can be seen everywhere in China in the build-up to the Lunar New Year. But this is Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, where Han Chinese are a mere 2.5% of the country's population. They are a sign that Chinese New Year is becoming a global holiday.
Several countries in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own way. But dragon and lion dances in Chinatowns over the world have helped make China's the most famous. In Tokyo, window cleaners dress up as the animals of the Chinese zodiac （生肖）.America, Canada and New Zealand have issued commemorative stamps for the Year of the Rooster. Last year New York City made the Lunar New Year a school holiday for the first time.
The spread of the Spring Festival, as China calls it, is partly due to recent emigration（移民）from China: 9.5 million Chinese people have moved abroad since 1978, many of whom are far richer than earlier waves of migrants. It also reflects the wealth and ambitions of China's new middle class: festivities in other countries are partly aimed at the 6 million Chinese who are expected to spend their week long holiday abroad this year.
It's hoped that the festival will promote Chin's cultural "soft power" abroad. So related events are welcomed, such as a display this year of martial arts in Cyprus and a traditional Chinese temple-fair in Harare, Zimbabwe. More and more Chinese are glad to see foreigners enjoy such festivities. Though there is a growing enthusiasm among Chinese for Western celebrations such as Christmas, Chinese New Year is a welcome chance to reverse（逆转）the cultural flow.
1. The scene in a supermarket shown in the first paragraph is to________ .| A．stress the importance of the Spring Festival |
| B．explain why the Lunar New Year is popular |
| C．present the popularity of Chinese New Year |
| D．show how other countries celebrate the Spring Festival |
| A．Dragon and lion dances. |
| B．Eating dumplings and singing and dancing. |
| C．Dressing up as animals and dancing. |
| D．playing cards and letting off fireworks. |
| A．reflect on their own cultures |
| B．show respect to the Chinese traditions |
| C．promote the values of Chinese customs |
| D．attract Chinese to spend the holiday there |
| A．Celebrating Chinese Festivals Becomes a Trend. |
| B．Welcoming China's Cultural "Soft Power*', |
| C．China's Biggest Festival Is Going Global. |
| D．Foreigners' Love of China's Festivals. |
8 . The Liangzhu ruins in Hangzhou, pointing to an established Chinese civilisation 5,000 years ago, have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Every Chinese child is taught at school that the country's civilisation is 5,000 years old, but proving this beyond doubt has been a problem.
Now, a jade artifact(玉器)named “King of Cong”, found in the Liangzhu city ruins near Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, has provided an answer. Accordingto radiocarbon dating(放射性碳定年法),the 6.5kg object is 5,300 years old. It is one ofthe largest objects among all Cong from Liangzhu. The piece has now won greater global recognition.
However, the site has far more than just things made of jade.The main area, spread over14.3 square kilometers in the Yuhang area of Hangzhou, includes not only a city’s ruins but 11 dams and several cemeteries(墓地), all about 5,000 years old. Archaeological facts show that people lived in Liangzhu for about a thousand years.
“The archaeological ruins of Liangzhu (3300-2300 BCE) show an early state with a unified belief system based on growing rice in Late Neolithic China(中国新石器时代晚期). ”the UNESCO World Heritage Committee said.“These ruins are an extremely good example of early city civilisation expressed in town planning, a water conservation system and a social order which can be seen in where and how people were buried in cemeteries within the ruins.”
According to studies led by Liu Bin, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the inner part of theancient city ruins covers 2.8 square kilometers, about five times the area of the Forbidden City in Beijing, and the outer city spreads across 6.3 square kilometers. Liu said it was the biggest city ruins site of its time to be found in China, and was also one of the largest cities of its day in the world.
1. ________ can prove that China has a civilisation of 5,000 years old?| A．The king named Cong. | B．The archaeological ruins of Liangzhu. |
| C．The UNESCO World Heritage Committee. | D．The historical site at Hangzhou dam. |
| A．A different system of value in the region. | B．The end of Chinese civilisation. |
| C．The biggest city ruins all over the world. | D．The whole area—9.1 square kilometers. |
| A．To focus on the great achievements. |
| B．To inform us of the importance about architecture. |
| C．To stress the large scale of ancient Liangzhu city. |
| D．To present advanced technology and outstanding civilisation. |
9 . Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.
Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.
It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.
“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”
Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.
Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party, “Just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”
1. Why did UNESCO set April 30 as International Jazz Day?| A．To remember the birth of jazz. |
| B．To protect cultural diversity. |
| C．To encourage people to study music. |
| D．To recognize the value of jazz. |
| A．Jazz becoming more accessible. |
| B．The production of jazz growing faster. |
| C．Jazz being less popular with the young. |
| D．The jazz audience becoming larger. |
| A．It will disappear gradually. |
| B．It remains black and white. |
| C．It should keep up with the times. |
| D．It changes every 50 years. |
| A．Exploring the Future of Jazz. |
| B．The Rise and Fall of Jazz. |
| C．The Story of a Jazz Musician. |
| D．Celebrating the Jazz Day. |
A café society where no intellectualizing is allowed? It couldn’t seem more un-French. But Lehanne’s psychology café is about more than knowing oneself: It’s trying to help the city’s troubled neighborhood cafes. Over the years, Parisian cafes have fallen victim to changes in the French lifestyle-longer working hours, a fast food boom and a younger generation’s desire to spend more time at home. Dozens of new theme cafes appear to change the situation. Cafes focused around psychology, history, and engineering are catching on, filling tables well into the evening.
The city’s psychology cafes, which offer great comfort, are among the most popular places. Middle-aged homemakers, retirees, and the unemployed come to such cafes to talk about lover, anger, and dreams with a psychologist. And they come to Lehance’s group just to learn to say what they feel. There’s a strong need in Paris for communication, says Maurice Frisch, a cafe La Chope regular who works as religious instructor in a nearby church. “People have few real friends. And they need to open up” Lehanne says she’d like to see psychology cafes all over France. “If people had normal lives, these cafes wouldn’t exist”, she says, “If life weren’t a battle, people wouln’t need a special place just to speak.” But then, it wouldn’t be France.
1. What are people encouraged to do at the cafe La Chope?
| A．Learn a new subject |
| B．Keep in touch with friends. |
| C．Show off their knowledge. |
| D．Express their true feelings. |
| A．They are less frequently visited. |
| B．They stay open for longer hours. |
| C．They have bigger night crowds. |
| D．They start to serve fast food. |
| A．Create more jobs. |
| B．Supply better drinks. |
| C．Save the cafe business. |
| D．Serve the neighborhood. |
| A．They bring people true friendship. |
| B．They give people spiritual support. |
| C．They help people realize their dreams. |
| D．They offer a platform for business links. |
