1 . When the day is dawning, the Center of Naxi Dongba Pictographs and Paintings of the old town Liliang welcomes his owner, He Runyuan, who is dressed in a traditional Naxi clothing. Every day, He explains Dongba culture to tourists and teaches them to write Dongba characters. “Dongba characters are not only the soul of Dongba culture, but also a treasure for the whole world,” said He. Enjoying a history of over 1,000 years, Dongba characters are an ancient system of pictographic glyphs (象形字形). They are praised to be the “living fossil (活化石)” in writing.

As a member of the Naxi group, He first learned Dongba characters at the age of 13. He loved them immediately when he first looked at the symbols. “These characters have pictographic drawings that look like humans, animals, plants etc.” He said. “They are usually colorful and recognizable.”

Though the characters are interesting, learning them is never easy. Dongba culture is always mastered by Dongbas, the Naxi priests (祭司). Without Dongbas in his village, He has to travel far to the Old Town, where many Dongbas are gathered. “In most cases, I need to walk for more than one day to the destination. To get more learning time, I always set off very early when the city is still in darkness,” said He.

But the love for Dongba culture keeps him going. For the past 30 years, He has been studying these characters every day. In 2016, He set up the Center of Naxi Dongba Pictographs and Paintings Where He beautified fans, glasses and even T-shirts with Dongba characters, hoping to pass down Dongba culture and let more people know about it.

“Our life is limited, but so long as everyone makes an effort, the life of a culture can exist forever,” He said.

1. What does He Runyuan do in his center every day?

A．He spreads Dongba culture.	B．He writes Dongba characters.
C．He sells his painting.	D．He learns from priests.

2. Which of the following best describes He Runyuan?

A．Honest and creative.	B．Outgoing and confident.
C．Hard-working and responsible.	D．Humorous and determined.

3. What keeps He studying when facing difficulties?

A．The love for his hometown.	B．The preference for Dongba culture.
C．The respect for priests.	D．The encouragement from his fans.

4. What can we learn about Dongba characters?

A．They are popular with the young.	B．They are interesting and easy to learn.
C．They are lively and easily recognized.	D．They are passed down by oral explanation.

2 . The Longtaitou Festivl, which means “dragon-raises head” in Chinese, is a traditional Chinese festival held on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar. So, it’s also called Eryueer Festival. In Chinese culture, the dragon is an auspicious (吉利的) animal that dominates clouds and rains. The 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month is thought to be the day when dragon awakes and raises its head according to the Chinese folk legend. So the day is called Dragon Heads-raising Day. After the day, spring is coming and there will be more and more rain. People think these credits (功劳) go to the dragon. So the day is also called Spring Dragon Festival. Since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Chinese people have had the custom of spending the Spring Dragon Festival.

The most popular custom on the Dragon Heads-raising Day is cutting hair. Dragon is highly honored for its dignity (尊贵) and power for good. It is thought to be auspicious to cut hair on the Dragon Heads-raising Day. Luck and opportunities will always knock you in the year. So, on that day, barbershops’ (理发店的) businesses are growing and full of customers.

The most common foods for celebrating the festival are popcorns, pancakes, noodles, dumplings, fired soy beans and pig’s head. People in different areas have different traditions about the food on the day. In Beijing, people eat Lvdagunr (Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour) and spring pancakes on the day. In Shanxi, people like to eat fried dough twists (油条) and pancakes. In Shandong, fried soy beans, noodles and dumplings are the festival food. In Fuzhou, the salted porridge made of glutinous rice, celery, scallion, garlic, fry dried shrimps and shredded meat is eaten. These show people’s hope to be blessed (保佑) with favorable weather and plentiful grain harvest by the dragon.

1. Which of the following is true about the Longtaitou Festival?

A．It dates back to Song Dynasty.

B．It is celebrated for two days.

C．It attracts fewer people than other festivals.

D．It suggests the return of spring.

2. Why do people cut hair on the Dragon Heads-raising Day?

A．It is the most popular custom.

B．It is in honor of dragon’s dignity and power.

C．It is people’s wish for luck and opportunities.

D．It is a sign of barbershops’ prospering businesses.

3. What can we infer from the third paragraph about the Longtaitou Festival?

A．People in China share the similar traditional foods on he day.

B．Foods for celebrating the festival usually bear people’s best wishes.

C．Salted foods are used to celebrate the festival throughout China.

D．Traditional foods on the day are prepared for the dragon to eat.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．The Dragon Heads-raising Day.

B．The celebrations of the Longtaitou Festival.

C．The origin of the Longtaitou Festival.

D．The purpose of the Dragon Heads-raising Day.

3 . India’s touring (流动的) cinemas are dying, and being reborn. And India is perhaps the most film-mad country in the world while it also has the lowest ratios of screens to human beings.     1     The screens that do exist are unevenly distributed. PVR, India’s biggest cinema operator, has more screens in Chandigarh, a prosperous city of about a million people, than it does in Rajasthan, a poor stale of 80 million. If Muhammad could not go to the movies, the movies had to come to Muhammad. Twenty years ago, there were 1,400 odd touring cinemas in Pusegaon.     2     However, today there are only 52 travelling cinemas.

    3     One is smartphone and internet expansion, which leads to the other reason for the collapse of the touring cinemas:     4     Sushil Chaudhary, the founder of a new chain of touring cinemas called Picture Time, is making a different bet on the possibilities of cinema. Mr. Chaudhary started his company in 2015 and has since set up 37 moving screens seating between 100 and 250 people. The touring cinema was nothing like the one in Pusegaon.     5     The picture was crystal clear and the sound used Dolby. Picture Time’s tickets are cheap, at between 30 and 70 rupees, compared with an average ticket price of 191 rupees at PVR’s cinemas.

A．they failed to change over time.

B．Fewer people can afford to go to cinemas.

C．The floor was carpeted and there were plastic chairs.

D．The following are the reasons leading to this phenomenon.

E．It was in this world that the touring cinemas played a crucial role.

F．The collapse of the touring cinemas was for two interlinked reasons.

G．It is one more paradox (悖论) among the millions of contradictions there.

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。

On Saturday, the logo of the upcoming Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala was officially made public by China Media Group. It is a big Chinese character made up of three     1     (small) characters for the word “dragon”     2     (write) in traditional Chinese. The rare character has caused heated discussions online. Many Chinese netizens    3     (confuse) by this character the moment they saw it. However, it received public     4     (recognize) quickly after netizens knew its meaning.

Originally used as a totem (图腾), the dragon     5     (become) an image representing the spirit of the Chinese nation over the past 5, 000 years of Chinese history. Mystery goes that the Chinese dragon could fly and had the magical power to control wind and rain, and spurt (喷出) water from its mouth to provide     6     (time) rainfall to ensure a good harvest.

    7     (show) their special power, emperors in ancient China always regarded themselves     8     “true dragons”.

Across the vast land of China, ordinary people worship (崇拜) the dragon,     9     images and names can be found in buildings or decorations, such as the Nine—dragon Wall, the Dragon Boat and the Dragon Pavilion among others. As the dragon always has    10     lucky meaning, Chinese culture is also called the “Culture of the dragon”.

6 . 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。

A paper-cutting exhibition centered ok China’s dragon culture began at the Beijing Fengshang Art Museum on Monday. It     1    (co-host) by the Institute of Natural and Cultural Heritage Research at Nanjing University, the China National Culture Foundation, the bureau of culture and tourism in Beijing’s Dongcheng District and the Beijing Dongcheng District Culture Center to celebrate the approaching Year of the Dragon,    2     (present) exquisite(精美的) works from 100 folk artists nationwide.

Chen Jing, deputy director of the Institute of Natural and Cultural Heritage Research at Nanjing University, stated, “The dragon,    3     represents wisdom, courage, strength, prosperity, and auspicious ness(吉祥), serves as the     4    (symbol) representation of the Chinese nation.”

After nearly a year of    5    (prepare) the organizers have collaborated with paper-cutting inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and folk artists from across the nation to produce hundreds of artworks    6    (center) around the theme of dragon culture.

A thoughtfully selected collection of 200 exquisite pieces,    7     (main) depicting dragons in different forms and styles, is now    8    display at the opening exhibition in Beijing. Subsequently, the exhibition will embark on a tour,    9     (visit) locations such as Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Linfen, Shanxi province.

This offers a unique opportunity for a broader audience    10    (appreciate) the diverse and fascinating representations of dragons in this artistic collection.

8 . 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。

Carved out of a rocky hill, the Temple of the Rising Sun had showed the power of Egypt’s greatest pharaoh to the Nubian people in the Upper Nile. Over time, the great temple and the smaller buildings became     1     (cover) in sand for centuries, until     2     (they) rediscovery in 1813.

But just over a century later, the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were threatened     3     the rising waters of the Nile following the construction (建造) of the Aswan High Dam. The construction of the Dam was meant to develop agriculture (农业) as well as economy, and led to a global debate     4     has appeared on the front pages of every newspaper in     5     world ever since: Why should people care for ancient stones and buildings when so many people need food?

In an attempt     6     (save) the temples of Egypt, UNESCO said that humanity does not have to sacrifice (牺牲) the past to develop economy in the present. Cultural heritage sites help us understand who we are     7     also mean massive opportunities for development.

The race against time     8     (begin) in 1964, when experts from different    9     (nation) started working together. The whole site was     10     (careful) cut into large blocks, lifted and moved to a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, preserving it for future generations.

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据上下文填写空白处所需的内容(1个单词)或所提供单词的正确形式。

In 2023, the first mascot (吉祥物) “auspicious (幸运的) rabbit” for the “Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations     1     (travel) to various countries, which made it popular with people in the world. At present it has become     2     international star.

    3     (welcome) the new year in 2024, the ministry has launched the 2024“HappyChinese New Year” mascot named “JiXiang Long”, literally lucky dragon, for the Year of the Dragon global celebrations. The mascot features a gesture of welcome and a smiley face     4     flame (火焰) shaped eyebrows, auspicious cloud     5     (ear), and a gold ingot (元宝) shaped nose. Its body     6     (cover) by flame patterns in yellow and red.

In the     7     (eager) to make people know more about the mascot, Gao Zheng     8     works on culture exchanges introduced it together with Tan Dun, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Aside from being     9     (wide) feature d in the 2024“Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations at home and abroad, “JiXiang Long” will be developed into a host of     10     (culture) creativity products, ranging from stationery (文具) to souvenir sculptures.

10 . 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。

Over the 5,000 years of Chinese history, the Chinese dragon used to be a totem. Gradually, it has evolved     1     a Chinese icon representing the spirit of the Chinese nation. Legend     2     (go) that the Chinese dragon can fly and has the magical power to control wind and rain, so can spurt water from its mouth to provide     3     (time) rainfall to ensure a good harvest.

Across the vast land of China, ordinary people worshiped the dragon,     4     images and names can be found in architectural structures or decorations. As the dragon always has an auspicious meaning, Chinese culture is also called the “Culture of the dragon.”

    5     the Chinese name newborn babies, long, the pronunciation of Chinese dragon in Mandarin, is a frequently     6    (select) character, especially for boys born in the Year of the Dragon, as it is hoped that they will grow as strong and energetic as a dragon.

In recent years, some Chinese have tried to translate long into Loong,     7     pun (双关语) that is similar to the English word “long” and the Chinese word long. No matter which way long is translated, it is worth     8     (note) that the Chinese dragon is a positive, dignified, auspicious, warm and joyful image, much different from     9     of the Western dragon. As the Year of the Dragon is coming, it is necessary to give a clear     10     (interpret) of this term so as to prevent Westerners getting “lost in translation.”