1 . My brush was tiny, more like something you’d use for nail polish. That was suitable because I was struggling to paint the toenails of my dragon shadow puppet (皮影戏偶). Mao Zhongbo, our teacher, noticed my struggle and showed me how to keep my brush from becoming overloaded with pigment (颜料). It was an unexpected personal touch from the resident master at a Beijing hotel.

Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel is a step back in time. Surrounded by a forest of skyscrapers, this little inn is in a hutong. Once you open its massive wooden doors, you enter a calm space that direct your gaze to the framed shadow puppet art that decorates the walls. The mission here is clear: to educate guests about a dying part of Chinese culture before it’s too late.

I visited here last winter. As a theater lover, I hoped to get a behind-the-scenes look into a completely different performing art. The inn provides English interpreters who help make the cultural offerings accessible to its foreign guests. These include performances in the private puppet theater at the hotel and several classes taught by master Mao.

One night, I watched Mao and several other hotel employees perform the classic tale “Turtle and Crane”. The animals’ flexible movements made me forget that puppeteers controlled them. Afterward, I tried my hand at controlling the many sticks needed to make each puppet move effortlessly. My awkward attempts to operate several sticks at once showed why it takes years to master something that looks simple.

I asked Mao whether anyone could learn to be a shadow puppet performer. He paused, then answered, “Like ballet, some have a talent for this and some don’t. Making a puppet seem real comes from the hands, the heart and the brain. It also takes passion.”

At the end of my stay, I went to the lobby to get my dragon shadow puppet. I noticed Mao giving a class to a group of local youngsters, confirming me in my belief that he would inspire a new generation of masters.

1. What was the author doing according to Paragraph 1?

A．Polishing her toenails.

B．Taking a shadow puppet class.

C．Learning Chinese painting skills.

D．Choosing pigment for her shadow puppet.

2. What is the inn aiming to do?

A．Find foreign lovers of shadow puppetry.

B．Save the dying art of shadow puppetry.

C．Make shadow puppetry easy to understand.

D．Attract buyers for shadow puppets on its walls.

3. Which of the following describes puppeteers’ work?

A．It is all about talent.

B．It is effortless but boring.

C．It looks easier than it is.

D．It involves dealing with animals.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the future of shadow puppetry?

A．Negative.

B．Hopeful.

C．Doubtful.

D．Uncaring.

2 . As most of you know, I don’t like running. I never go jogging, and I wouldn’t run a marathon even if I was paid for it. One thing that would make me run for my life would be if there were several hundred bulls running after me.

That’s exactly what people from all over the world are coming here to do tomorrow. I’m at the annual San Fermin Fiesta in Pamplona, Spain. This festival began in the Middle Ages, and has   grown in popularity ever since. It lasts for a week in July, when the city is changed into an ocean of red and white, the official colors of the festival.

Before the bullring (斗牛场）was built, bull fights were held in a large square in the city. The custom of running ahead of the bulls started when the bulls had to be moved from the outskirts（市郊）of the city to the bullring. Some of the customs have changed over the years, but certain things are still the same.

Anyone who wants to take part in the run has to enter the special area by 7:30 am. The gates are then closed, and they won’t be opened to let you leave after that. At just before 8:00 am, the runners ask the statue of San Fermin to protect them. At eight o'clock, two fireworks are fired. With the first firework , the gates of the bull enclosure（围场）are opened, and with the second, the bulls are set free to run. They run after the runners down the length of the bull run, which is about 800 meters. The whole thing lasts about two minutes.

It sounds easier than it is. You can’t just run straight ahead. The route goes up and down narrow streets, with few places for runners to hide except doorways of buildings. The end of the run, just before the bulls enter the ring, is one of the most dangerous places. People running with the bulls have fallen here, and have been injured.

Don’t worry if you’re reading this, Mom. No one under the age of 18 is allowed to take part. I’ll be watching from the safety of the balcony!

1. What do we know about the San Fermin Fiesta?

A．It is attended only by locals.

B．Some of its traditions have survived.

C．Bull fights have been held in the same place.

D．It lasts seven days in June.

2. What can we learn about the race?

A．There are many places to hide from the bulls.

B．The race lasts more than thirty minutes.

C．Runners are no allowed to change their mind.

D．The race gets easier toward the end.

3. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To introduce an ancient festival.

B．To tell his mother about his travels.

C．To advertise a coming event.

D．To share his personal experience.

4. What kind of text is this?

A．An email.	B．A newspaper ad.
C．A magazine article.	D．A blog.

3 . 短文改错

People find it hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve because excitement. Santa is came and you can't bear how long it took for the time to pass. Here are two suggestions that may help you overcome the excitement but get some necessary sleep before the big day. Wake up early than usual on Christmas Eve morning. Do this will make you more tired when you want to go to the bed. Help your family, friends, or even neighbor prepare for Christmas Day. Being help will successfully take your mind off the excitement, but it will still let them feel involved and happy.

4 . 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.

5 . “If you are cold, it will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are exhausted, it will calm you.” The poem best identifies the passion for tea in Britain. Outside of the United Kingdom, many people refer to afternoon tea as “high tea”. Afternoon tea, also known as low tea, is what most people think of when they hear “high tea”. It involves things like manners, lace(蕾丝) and light meals such as cookies and finger sandwiches. It is typically served in the mid-afternoon and it was traditionally served on low tables, therefore its two names.

Legend has it that afternoon tea was started in the mid-1800s by the Duchess(公爵夫人) of Bedford. Around that time, kerosene(煤油) lamps were introduced into wealthier homes and eating a late dinner( around 8 or 9 p.m.) became fashionable. This increasingly late dinner was one of the only two meals each day, and the other was a mid-morning one. The story goes that the Duchess found herself with a “sinking feeling”. This came from hunger during the long wait between meals. She decided to invite friends over for various snacks and tea. The idea of an afternoon tea gathering spread across high society and became a favorite pastime of females for leisure. Later, it spread to other social groups.

However, the British working population did not have afternoon tea. They had a meal about midday, and a meal after work, between five and seven o’clock. This meal was called “high tea” or just “tea”. Traditionally eaten early evening, high tea was a substantial meal that combined delicious sweet food, such as cookies, cakes or tea bread, with heavy food, such as cheese on toast, cold meals and poached eggs on toast. This meal is now often replaced with a supper due to people eating their main meal in the evening rather than at midday.

1. What is the author’s purpose of using a poem at the beginning of the passage?

A．To introduce a topic.	B．To present a puzzle.
C．To describe the phenomenon.	D．To clarify his writing purpose.

2. What led to the appearance of afternoon tea?

A．Kerosene lamps were used at home.

B．Upper class had more free time.

C．Drinking tea makes people feel good.

D．Duchess of Bedford was influential in social circle.

3. What was the most important feature of afternoon tea in the mid-1800s?

A．Simple food and tea.	B．Being served on low tables.
C．A ladies’ social occasion.	D．Serving time.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Origins of Tea.	B．Ways of Low Tea.
C．Traditional Afternoon Tea.	D．High Tea and Low Tea.

6 . 假定你是李华,你的英国笔友Mike发来邮件说他对中国的传统节日很感兴趣。请你回一 封邮件，向他介绍你喜欢的中秋节，内容包括：
1.       中国人如何庆祝中秋节；
2.       你喜欢这个节日的原因。
Dear Mike,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

.Yours,

Li Hua

7 . Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them.

    1    . They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think are annoying.

In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity while the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children.     2    

Chinese people have different meanings to define friends.    3    . Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other whatever help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.

As is well known, Chinese like to save.    4    . It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than Chinese people.

    5     If you achieve something in the US, it's because you are great. While in China, if you achieve something it's because the team, or family, or company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, while in America individual virtues are celebrated.

A．Just hanging out together from time to time is not friendship

B．American people put more emphasis on business and virtues

C．Chinese people value education and career more than Americans

D．Unlike Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children

E．They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money

F．Basically China values the community and the US values the individual

G．Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do

8 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Moon Festival or the Moon cake Festival. It has a long history     1     (date) back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It     2     (traditional) falls on the 15th day of the     3    (eight) month of the lunar calendar. Since ancient times, customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival     4     (include) appreciating the moon, eating moon cakes     5     drinking wine. The full moon on Mid-Autumn night symbolizes family reunion     6     Chinese culture because the moon is round and the     7     (bright) of the year on this day. With the full moon hanging above in     8     sky, people     9     are far away from their     10    (hometown) might miss families while looking at the beautiful moonlight.

9 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Water Splashing Festival of the Dai ethnic minority (少数民族),     1     falls in April, is the most important festival for the Dai people in the Dehong area of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province. It is the New Year for the Dai, a festival to send off the old and greet the new.

During the festival which lasts for three or four days, people     2    (dress) in their best clothes and take part in a     3    (various) of rich and colorful activities. Dragon boat racing, fireworks displays and other     4    (performance) such as peacock dance are held on the first day. And the most popular event is water-splashing on the second day. People splash water on each other,     5    (hope) to take away sickness and disasters. The wetter you get, the     6    (lucky) you will be. The last day is usually for the young people to play games as a way     7    (express) their love for each other.

The Water Splashing Festival     8    (vivid) exhibits the Dai’s respect     9     water and the culture of music and dance, food, and costumes. It is also a cultural bridge between Xishuangbanna and Southeast Asian countries that share     10     same festival culture of water-splashing.

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。

New Year in Chinese eyes is a family reunion. However, in foreigners' eyes, it is not only a kind of homesickness, but a spring migration(迁徙).Every year     1     (see) the largest annual mass migration on the planet     2     one sixth of the world's population travel home to celebrate     3     their families. That is around a billion people     4     (make) 3.5 billion journeys in a 40-day period. Meanwhile, over 250 million rail journeys are made across China during the festival.

Last year, 5.6 million rail tickets    5     (sell) in a single day. Every new year in the heartland of industrial China thousands upon thousands of motorcyclists brave the weather and hit the road, determined to make     6     home.

The Chinese New Year     7     (celebrate) is also known as the Spring Festival. It lasts 15 days. It is the main holiday of the Chinese calendar. In modern China,     8     (search) for work, many people have to move away from home. And they will travel home to be with the loved ones during the Spring Festival. In Chinese New Year, modern and     9     (tradition) customs are brought together when the Chinese celebrate the Spring Festival. Nowadays, not only does China have the     10     (fast) growing modern cities in the world, but the landscapes are also truly diverse.