1 . The Tomatina Festival (西红柿节) is a festival that is held in a town named Bunol in Spain, on which people throw tomatoes for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August each year.
In 1945, during a parade (游行) in the town one day, young men who wanted to be in the parade started a fight in the town square. They used tomatoes as weapons (武器) .
At around 10: 00 a. m. on Wednesday, activities that are organized to celebrate the festival begin.
The Tomatina Festival has inspired other similar celebrations in other parts of the world, for example, in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, a tomato fight is held on October 19th.
| A．The first one is climbing a pole with a ham on top. |
| B．There are also various competitions held during the festival. |
| C．The local government has made some rules for the safety of people. |
| D．This is the most popular story about how the Tomatina Festival started. |
| E．The whole square becomes red because there is tomato juice everywhere. |
| F．Hotels, parks, or convention centers are common places for large festivals. |
| G．The tomatoes there are less expensive and are grow n specially for the festival. |
2 . The Longtaitou Festival, 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 Eryue’er 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 so y 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 so y 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 names is Not consistent with the the Longtaitou Festival?| A．The Eryue’er Festival. |
| B．Dragon Heads-raising Day. |
| C．The Spring Dragon Festival. |
| D．The Double Ninth Festival. |
| A．It’s a day for dragons to awake and raise head. |
| B．It’s a day to celebrate the return of warm spring. |
| C．It’s a day to happily welcome the precious rain. |
| D．It’s a day to deeply thank the auspicious animal. |
| A．People’s desire for dignity and power. |
| B．People’s wish for luck and opportunity. |
| C．People’s expectation to grow more hair. |
| D．People’s satisfaction to own good health. |
| A．Chinese always share the similar food on that day. |
| B．The spring pancakes are the most popular in Shanxi. |
| C．The foods show the hope for good weather conditions. |
| D．The fried soya beans are not popular in Shandong. |
The 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival will take place from March 22
“This is the
This year the festival will feature 66 performance
The opening concert, taking place at Shanghai Symphony Hall on March 22, is a gala event
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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5 . The item of traditional tea processing techniques and social practices in China was added to the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in November, 2022.
China’s traditional tea processing techniques are mainly concentrated in four tea-growing areas, namely South and North of the Yangtze River, and Southwest and South China.
China is the hometown of tea, and the inclusion of the Chinese tea into the world cultural intangible heritage list will help build the cultural foundation for a community with a shared future for mankind.
| A．Tea-drinking is considered to be an important part of Chinese culture. |
| B．Promoted by tea culture, China’s tea industry is also developing rapidly. |
| C．It has become the 43rd Chinese item on the intangible cultural heritage list. |
| D．China is not only the largest producer of tea, but also the largest consumer. |
| E．The practice of making friends through tea-related activities is very common in China. |
| F．It will also help the world deepen its understanding of the fine traditional Chinese culture. |
| G．There are over 2,000 kinds of tea for people to drink in China, thus forming different customs. |
6 . Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves, south-east of the Dunhuang oasis, Gansu province, contain the largest, richest, and longest used treasure house of Buddhist art in the world. It was first constructed in 366 AD and represents the great achievement of Buddhist art from the 4th to the 14th century. Four hundred and ninety-two caves are presently preserved, housing about 45,000 square meters of murals (壁画) and more than 2,000 painted sculptures. Cave 302 of the Sui Dynasty contains one of the oldest and most vivid scenes of cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, showing a camel pulling a cart typical of trade missions of that period.
As evidence of the evolution of Buddhist art in the northwest region of China, the Mogao Caves are of unmatched historical value. These works provide an abundance of vivid materials depicting various aspects of medieval (中世纪的) politics, economics, culture, arts, religion, ethnic relations, and daily dress in western China. Many of these masterpieces are creations of an unparalleled aesthetic (美学的) talent.
The discovery of the Library Cave at the Mogao Caves in 1990, together with the tens of thousands of manuscripts and relics it contained, has been acclaimed as the world’s greatest discovery of ancient Oriental (东方的) culture. This significant heritage provides invaluable reference for studying the complex history of ancient China and Central Asia.
The Mogao Caves were included on the World Heritage List in 1987. At the state level, China has put all World Heritage Sites under top-level protection. In 1961, the Mogao Caves were listed as one of the State Priority Protected Sites by the State Council and were put under the protection of national laws, including the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics. The Administrative Institution of the Mogao Caves has been cooperating with international counterparts (同行) to study conservation and site management and looks forward to continuing its work in preserving the heritage of the site.
1. What can we infer from Cave 302 of the Sui Dynasty?| A．It is important for the study of ancient craftsmanship. |
| B．It’s important for the research of the history of Central Asia. |
| C．It shows the evolution of Buddhist art in ancient China. |
| D．It has great value for the study of the history of the Silk Road. |
| A．Portray. | B．Observe. | C．Intend. | D．Process. |
| A．Proud. | B．Amazed. | C．Doubtful. | D．Bored. |
| A．To introduce the laws that protect the Mogao Caves. |
| B．To give advice on how to protect the Mogao Caves. |
| C．To tell us that the Mogao Caves are well protected. |
| D．To explain the measures taken to protect the Mogao Caves. |
In China, Tree Planting Day falls on March 12, but more often people plant trees during Qing Ming Festival in early April. Newly-planted trees can survive more
China set March 12
Since 2013, Xi Jinping,
China has seen a
8 . It’s a race against time, as generations of cultural heritage conservators at the Dunhuang Academy make a great effort to protect the artistic charm of the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, despite erosion (侵蚀) by sand and wind.
The team is dedicated to protecting the 45, 000 square meters of murals (壁画) and more than 2, 400 painted sculptures of the 735 caves of the site, the construction of which spans about a thousand years, from the 4th century to the 14th century. The cultural relics are the product of the cultural exchanges that took place over centuries on the ancient Silk Road. “Our work, repairing murals and painted sculptures, is to better preserve the caves, which promotes the great Dunhuang spirit of inclusiveness (包容) to the world and inspires modern people,” says Su Bomin, director of the Dunhuang Academy.
Commonly seen “diseases” affecting the murals include cracking and flaking (剥落), as well as erosion that is caused by changes in temperature and humidity of the caves, and the deposition of salts. To restore (修复) a mural requires an all-rounder. Restorers should know painting, master the skills of a mason (石匠) and have some knowledge of chemistry and physics, to be able to recognize the problems and their corresponding (相应的) causes and deliver a solution. They must also select proper materials and tools, and conduct experiments, before formally carrying out the restoration and evaluating the effect afterward.
The restoration (修复) should respect the original work and aim to maintain the status quo (现状) of the murals rather than repainting them. When the restorers find some parts of murals missing or fading away, they never repaint them to create a “perfect” appearance in restoration. “Cultural relics are witnesses of history,” explains Su. “When you pursue the so-called intact (完好无损的) look for artistic reasons, you will lose their key meaning.”
Cave conservation is about continuously solving problems. “It needs a long-term research to better preserve the caves, over a much wider time span that goes beyond our lifetimes,” Su says. But at least, they can keep the existing look of the murals for as long as possible.
1. What is the main purpose of paragraph 2?| A．To show the popularity of Dunhuang murals. |
| B．To explain the history of the ancient Silk Road. |
| C．To stress the significance of the restoration work. |
| D．To present the ways of protecting cultural heritage. |
| A．Creative. | B．Well-paid. | C．Interesting. | D．Demanding. |
| A．Spotting the faded murals in time. |
| B．Fixing the missing parts of murals. |
| C．Making preservation(保护) of the murals as they are. |
| D．Repainting to perfect the appearance of murals. |
| A．The Artistic Charm of Mural Paintings. |
| B．The Mural Restoration in the Mogao Caves. |
| C．The Successful Experiment on Cave Conservation. |
| D．The Role of the Dunhuang Spirit in Chinese Culture. |
There comes a time when the old must give way to the new. Finding and
In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted
When the project ended in 1980, it was considered a great
Canadian Prime Minister led the government officials through Vancouver’s historic Chinatown for the city’s annual Chinese New Year Parade.
Last month, lion dancers,
Vancouver is home
Penny Lim,
