1 . We all love bank holidays. In the UK, we only get eight bank holidays in one year, and at least five of those occur around Christmas time and Easter time! A bank holiday is a British English term. This is an official day that is decided by the government, when banks, shops and offices close for the day even though it’s a weekday—usually a Monday, and a lot of people have a day off work.

Bank holidays are different in Colombia -firstly, they are called “festivos”. There are twenty festivos for the whole country in one year! In Britain, people get more holiday allowances(津贴)than Colombians but fewer bank holidays. There can be even more festivos in Colombia, depending on which region of Colombia you live in. This is because different regions have their own holidays. For example, some regions have a patron saint(守护神), so they have an extra festivo to celebrate that saint.

However, there are some days that are national holidays for historical reasons. There is an Independence Day celebration on July 20 every year. This is just like Bastille Day in France on July 14, or Independence Day in the United States on July4. Other important festivos in Colombia are: Labour Day, on May 1, and Columbus Day on October 12. Columbus Day is a historical bank holiday that almost every county on the continent of America celebrates. This includes Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and the United States. It is memorialization of the day when the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, first reached land on the continent in the year 1492. Many people criticize this day and say it is not something to celebrate because of the way Columbus and his team treated the people that were already living there.

1. What is a “bank holiday” according to the text?

A．An official nationwide vacation.

B．A holiday only for the bank staff.

C．A British traditional religion festival.

D．A celebration for Christmas and Easter.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph2?

A．Colombia and Britain have the same number of festivos.

B．All Colombians have the same number of festivos.

C．Colombians have fewer holiday allowances than British people.

D．People in most regions celebrate a patron saint.

3. Why do many Americans refuse to celebrate Columbus Day?

A．Because Columbus wasn’t an American at all.

B．Because Columbus once treated the locals badly.

C．Because it wasn’t Columbus who found America first.

D．Because Columbus didn’t live in the continent of America.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．A British English term.

B．Bank holidays in Colombia.

C．Important festivos in America.

D．Different bank holidays in the world.

2 . 假定你是李华，在英国做交换生，你所在的中学要举办国际文化周活动，现就活动所用展品向全校征集建议。请你给负责人Mr. Jefferson写信。内容包括：
1.推荐一种中国传统艺术品；
2.推荐原因；
3.期待回复。
注意：
1.词数100词左右
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . March, April and May are months full of festivals and events all over the world. Here are some wonderful festivals around the world that happen in spring.
SongKran--Thailand
Dates: 13^th-15th, April
In Thailand, it’s time to celebrate the coming monsoon season, which will bring the rain many people have been looking forward to. They celebrate it with a festival called Songkran, when people head out to the streets with water guns to spray(喷，洒）everyone who walks past. If you walk on the streets where the festival is celebrated, prepare to get soaked!
Naghol--Vanuatu
Dates: Every Saturday from April to May
Every year, villagers come together to celebrate the harvest of yams, an important part in the peopls’s diet in Vanuatu. The festival is most famous for its “land diving ceremony”. During the ceremony men and boys dive to the ground from high wooden towers with only two thin vines attached(附于)to their ankles(脚踝）. The divers’ heads have to lightly touch the ground when they jump---something very dangerous if the vines are not measured（测量）properly.
Cherry Blossom Viewing ---Japan
Dates: The cherry blossom season is different from year to year depending on the weather forecast.
The cherry blossom season has huge importance to the people of Japan, who celebrate the days when the flowers finally blossom. Only a few days later, the petals(花瓣） fall to the ground, like pink snowflakes. This is one of the most beautiful things to see. In Japan, almost everyone has picnics in the parks to view the flowers.
Sinhalese New Year--Sri Lanka
Dates: 13^th or 14^th, April
Just like in many other countries in South an South East Asia, this is the time when the Sinhalese celebrate the traditional New Year, an ancient celebration which marks the end of the harvest season and is one of two times of the year when the sun is straight above Sri Lanka. There are a lot of delicious foods during the celebration.
1. . What does the underlined word “ soaked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．tired

B．wet

C．crazy

D．interested

2. The writer thinks that the “land diving ceremony” can be dangerous for the divers because ___________.

A．the divers may fall onto the ground if the thin vines break

B．the divers may bump into （撞在…上）the wooden tower on the way down

C．the divers’ ankles may get injured if the vines are tied too tightly

D．the divers may injure（伤害）their heads if the vines aren’t measured properly

3. We can learn from the passage that__________________.

A．the Cherry Blossom Celebration usually lasts a long time in Japan

B．the Cherry Blossom Celebration is the most important festival in Japan

C．the time for the Cherry Blossom Celebration in Japan can be different yearly

D．people usually stay at home for celebration during the cherry blossom season.

4 . 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。

Dragon Boat Festival is a national festival in China. It had its origin as an event in memory    1    the great poet Qu Yuan. Every year, people can hardly wait and look forward to its    2    (arrive). It is Chinese custom    3    (hold) dragon races in the    4    (five) month of the lunar calendar. The festival    5    (celebrate) to protect people from bad luck and illness, too. Of course, parents should watch over    6    (they) children and protect them from    7    (do) harm to themselves or getting    8    (drown) in the water. Anyway, the main purpose of the Dragon Boat Festival today is to let people have fun    9    each other    10    forget their work for a little while.

5 . When the leaves begin to change colors,it means one thing for many travelers：Fall festival season is here.If you’re interested in visiting a fall festival in America,here are some of the country’s best fall festivals for you to choose from.

Wellfleet Oysterfest

Wellileet Oysterfest is a two-day event held in Wellfleet,Mass.The meeting on Cape Cod is one that the locals look forward to all year long.Feed on oysters(牡蛎）and other seafood，while you watch the fastest oyster-eaters in the world compete in the famous Oyster Shuck-Off,a competition for taking the outer covering of oysters.The competition is taken very seriously.

Harvest on the Harbor

It takes place in Portland,Maine.The festival celebrates all that is best about Maine’s food and wine.This celebration is held every October,and includes the Maine Lobster Chef of the Year Competition and Savory Samplings at the Marketplace.The latter allows travelers to taste the best local food that Maine has to offer at Casco Bay.

Killington Hay Festival

If you’re looking for a fall festival that includes hay sculptures(干草雕塑)，take part in the yearly Killington Hay Festival.When you begin to see the giant hay sculptures,you’ll know you’ve arrived.Past sculptures have changed from a 20-foot-tall kangaroo to a family of penguins.

1. What can we learn about the meeting on Cape Cod?

A．It takes place twice a year.	B．It lasts three days in all.
C．It’s loved by the locals.	D．It’s not open to tourists.

2. Who would most probably go to Harvest on the Harbor?

A．People who want to go to a festival in November.

B．People who want to try Maine’s local food.

C．The fastest oyster-eaters worldwide,

D．The best cooks around the world.

3. What do the festivals have in common?

A．They all serve seafood.	B．They are all liked by eaters.
C．They all last for two days.	D．They all take place in fall.

6 . Hanging stocking(长袜) by the chimney(烟囱) with care is one of the most popular Christmas traditions, but many families wonder why.

A popular origin(起源) tale starts with none other than St. Nicholas, who was thought to be the original Father Christmas. In the third and fourth centuries, St. Nicholas was a Christian bishop in modern-day Turkey who made helping others his life purpose, and he caught wind of a family in need.

As the story goes, a single father was raising three daughters but realized he didn’t have enough money to pay for their dowries(嫁妆), without which they couldn’t get married. As a poor man, the father wouldn’t be able to support his daughters for long.

St. Nicholas heard of the family’s trouble but knew they were too proud to accept handouts. To make sure they didn’t refuse his generosity(慷慨), he anonymously sent them gold at night. Some people say he dropped gold down the chimney, and the gifts landed in the stockings that were laid by the fire to dry, while others say St. Nicholas himself climbed down from the chimney. Someone --- either the father or the daughters, depending on the tale--- caught St. Nicholas in the act and thanked him for his help. The gifts were enough for the daughters to marry and live happily ever after.

St. Nicholas’ feast day was on December 6, and finally, the tradition of leaving gifts in stockings was paired up with Christmas celebrations.

Some other scientists say the stocking tradition might have started even before Christianity in Scandinavian cultures. The Norse god Odin was said to come during Yule, riding on an eight-legged horse. Children would leave sugar and carrots in their shoes to feed the horse, and Odin would leave them gifts in return.

We’ll never know for sure the true origin of the stocking tradition, but stockings have a strong foothold in Christmas tradition. The gift-giving origins show generosity and kindness as long as you’re on St. Nicholas’ nice list, of course.

1. Why did St. Nicholas decide to help the family?

A．The father raised three daughters.	B．The family had no money to support themselves.
C．The daughters couldn’t get married.	D．The father wasn’t willing to pay for the dowries.

2. What does the underlined word “anonymously” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Honestly.

B．Simply.

C．Secretly.

D．Immediately.

3. What do the two stories about St. Nicholas have in common?

A．St. Nicholas met the family on purpose.

B．St. Nicholas hid the gold in the stockings.

C．St. Nicholas placed the girls’ stockings beside the fire.

D．St. Nicholas wanted to help the family through the chimney.

4. What can be learnt from the last paragraph?

A．Children were rewarded for their kindness.

B．Children hung up their shoes to beg for gifts.

C．People hung up stockings in memory of Odin.

D．Scandinavian cultures valued the stocking tradition.

7 . Almost all calligraphy(书法) lovers agree that writing characters with a brush and ink on straw paper offers a way to communicate with not only history and culture, but also oneself. But now Chinese character handwriting is under threat from computers and mobile phones.

A college graduate looking for a job was reportedly turned down by a company because he wrote 24 characters incorrectly in a 400­character handwritten resume. A survey by HorizonKey, covering people from 12 major cities in China, found that nearly one third of those interviewed often experience “character amnesia(遗忘)”， with 94 percent saying this is a problem for them.

The main reason is that most Chinese rely too much on the pinyin­based Chinese language input method, which is replacing the tradition of writing characters stroke(笔画) by stroke. The software will conveniently choose the right characters according to the context or word frequency, as there are dozens of characters with the same pronunciation in Chinese.

Education is another problem. In college, most homework and papers are printed out, instead of handwritten. And few teachers use chalk and blackboards, with Microsoft's PowerPoint the most­often used software to teach knowledge to students.

The number of electronic devices in the classroom is thought to be another reason why students are easily satisfied with just a poor knowledge of the Chinese language and characters. It is quicker to look up a character in an electronic dictionary, but traditional printed dictionaries offer more detailed information on the usage and meaning of the characters. Students pay more attention to remembering a character's pronunciation, but not the other knowledge related to it, which e­dictionaries rarely provide.

Another worry is the “pollution” of Chinese characters by Internet language. Young people regard using Internet language as cool and fashionable. After they learn to use these expressions, they automatically include them in their writing.

1. With the example of a college graduate, the author shows ________.

A．that practicing can improve writing

B．why certain people are poor writers

C．that there are differences in students' writing

D．why Chinese character handwriting is in great danger

2. By saying “...those interviewed often experience ‘character amnesia(遗忘)’”， the writer means those interviewed ________.

A．are not good at handwriting

B．can't write characters accurately

C．show no interest in handwriting

D．find jobs much more difficultly

3. What phenomenon is described in Paragraph 5?

A．Dependence on electronic devices.

B．Advantages of electronic dictionaries.

C．Mastery of knowledge of the characters.

D．Disadvantages of published dictionaries.

4. What's the writer's attitude towards the Internet language?

A．Favorable.	B．Uncaring.
C．Disapproving.	D．Friendly.

8 . Music and art festivals are fun and exciting events. If you're panning to go to a festival, it's important to plan your trip carefully to ensure that you re safe and have a good time.

■Bring clothes to keep warm or cool

In addition to your fun festival clothing, pack a raincoat, some light tank tops, and a sweater or sweatshirt. Don't forget longer pants for cool evenings or bad weather. In general, it's best to leave your umbrella at home because they can be dangerous in large crowds.

■Get a cheap tent and sleeping bag for multi - day festivals

A majority of people end up throwing their tent away after long festivals, since they normally break from the use. Pick up a less expensive tent with enough room for you and your friends and pack a comfortable seeping bag for yourself, 1f you don't want to camp at the festival, remember to book an AirBnb or a hotel room nearby!

■Place a first aid kit in a proper place

Before the festival, buy a small first aid kit with band aids, and any medication that you need to take, in case you get minor injuries or a headache. Keep it in a proper place that's easily accessible, like your tent or car.

1. Why should umbrellas be left at home?

A．They take up too much space.	B．The weather will be terrible.
C．They might hurt someone.	D．Travelers prefer raincoats,

2. What do most people do with tents after festivals?

A．Sell them.

B．Return them.

C．Pack them up.

D．Throw them away.

3. What is suggested about the first aid kit?

A．It should be put at hand.	B．It ought to be big enough.
C．It must contain all medicines.	D．It has to be placed in the car.

9 . If you're planning on hitting up a festival this summer, make sure you check out the latest packing guide to camping music festivals.

Quebec City Summer Festival

When: July 4-14

Where: Toronto, Quebec

300 shows, 10 places and 11 days of music make this festival one of Canada's biggest music festivals. Every year, this festival attracts over one million festivalgoers to Quebec City's historic district for concerts by international superstars and top new talents.

Center of Gravity

When: July 28-30

Where: Kelowna, British Columbia

Canada's hottest beach festival is back! Now in its 10th year, the biggest and exciting festival to hit the Okanagan includes three days packed with extreme sports, sandy beaches, and some of the biggest DJ names in the world.

Future Forest

When: August 5-7

Where: Fredericton, New Brunswick

Future Forest is an outdoor camping festival with a focus on electronic music. The festival originated in 2012 as a fundraiser for a brilliant DJ, Jay Hamilton, who was diagnosed with cancer. Future Forest proudly shows the idea that there are no audience at the event but rather participants who in some way contribute to the overall experience.

Shambhala Music Festival

When: August 9-10

Where: Salmo River Ranch, British Columbia

This is Canada's earliest electronic music festival. Cutting edge talent, lights and sound come together to give life to this event. Seeing it for yourself is the only way to understand exactly what is Shambhala.

1. What can people do in the Quebec City Summer Festival?

A．Enjoy the performances of superstars.	B．Learn about Quebec City's history.
C．Do some extreme sports.	D．Play on the sandy beaches.

2. What was Future Forest set up for at first?

A．To honor brilliant Jay Hamilton.	B．To raise money for a cancer patient.
C．To provide outdoor camping activities.	D．To promote electronic music.

3. Which festival is Canada's earliest electronic music festival?

A．Quebec City Summer Festival.	B．Center of Gravity.
C．Future Forest.	D．Shambhala Music Festival.

10 . 阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡相应位置上。

Many people agree that going to museums     1     (be) a good way of learning about ancient treasures. However, others may find it boring to spend hours there. Therefore, how to make museums and their lifeless collections more attractive is a tough question worth     2     (attach) importance to. Luckily, National Treasure, a TV program     3     began to air on Dec. 3, 2017, throws light     4     ways to inspire interest in museums and their collections.

Aiming to make ancient relics to come alive, the program presents treasures through different artistic methods including lots of dramatic     5     (perform) and storytelling, which explain the history behind each cultural relic     6     (complete), so that audiences can not only understand how to appreciate the beauty of cultural relics, but also know the civilization     7     the spirit of Chinese culture. In fact, such programs that promote traditional ancient relics     8     (become) popular in recent years. For example, a 2016 documentary featuring the Forbidden City’s cultural relics and their restorers, urged lots of college students     9     (apply) to work as volunteers there. It is universally accepted that National Treasure has been     10     (success) in encouraging more people to visit museums by touching their hearts.