Patrick Sommier, a French theater director, is dovoted to passing on the true meaning of Chinese operas to the French public.
On the occasion of the
Recalling his first cooperation with the Chinese team, Sommier says he was impressed by the actors’ makeups, costumes,
Sommier began exploring into different performance forms and suggested introducing Chinese operas
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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 . With the arrival of the summer heat, cultural-themed ice creams are once again trending across social media platforms in China.
Museums, scenic spots, amusement parks and even universities have once again rolled out their unique cultural-themed ice creams this year. These ice creams are often tiny copies of famous landmarks or cultural relies that offer visitors a delight for the taste buds.
The trend of cultural-themed ice creams began in 2019 when the Old Summer Palace in Beijing was one of the first scenic spots in China to introduce lotus-shaped ice creams. It was inspired by that in 2017 eleven ancient lotus(莲花)seeds were discovered in a pool at the Old Summer Palace. Six of these ancient lotus seeds bloomed in the summer of 2019. So to mark the occasion, staff at the Old Summer Palace designed ice creams shaped like lotus blossoms. These ice creams were widely loved by visitors, not only serving as a cold treat but also offering a unique way for visitors to sample and connect with their cultural heritage.
To protect their cultural relics, many museums have put up signs prohibiting photography or the use of a flash. However, cultural-themed ice creams provide an alternative way for visitors to catch memories of their visit. Various flavors offer visitors a choice of colors and ingredients for the ice cream, which reflect the local characteristics and charm of these cold treats. It is also suggested by the museums that the visitors can take the carved ice cream bars home with them to use as bookmarks.
For many young people, taking photos of themselves standing alongside cultural landmarks is an artistic preference from their parents’ generation. To them, a selfie(自拍)with a cultural -themed ice cream is a much cooler way to show off their travel experiences and bridge the gap between modern life and distant historical relics.
1. What can we learn about cultural-themed ice creams from the first two paragraphs?| A．Visitors spend much money on them. | B．They may be shaped like landmarks. |
| C．Visitors are eager to try their taste. | D．They are made due to summer heat. |
| A．The Old Summer Palace. | B．The wide love by visitors. |
| C．The blossoms of the six seeds. | D．The discovery of ancient lotus. |
| A．Protecting cultural relics. | B．Remembering one’s visit. |
| C．Being used as bookmarks. | D．Offering visitors various flavors. |
| A．To do something different. | B．To bridge the gap with their parents. |
| C．To show off their cooler way to travel. | D．To show their connection with culture. |
4 . The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气). The year starts from Beginning of Spring and ends with Greater Cold, moving in cycles. The solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives through special foods, cultural ceremonies and even healthy living tips.
Grain Buds (小满) is the 8th solar term of the year. It means that the seeds (种子) from the grain are becoming full. During Grain Buds, the summer harvest is about to begin. A saying about rain during this time mentions, “Heavy rainfall makes the river full.” Because of the great increase in rainfall, rivers are full of water. This is a good time to enjoy fish. It is also a harvest season for fishermen.
Frost’s Descent (霜降), the 18th solar term of the year, is the last solar term of autumn. The weather becomes much colder than before and frost begins. The apple is one kind of recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent. There are many sayings about apples’ benefits (益处) in China, such as “ Eat an apple after meals. Even old men can be as strong as young men.”
Minor Cold (小寒) is the 23rd one. For most areas of China, it marks the start of the coldest days of the year and people always start preparing for Chinese New Year. According to traditional Chinese medicine thoughts, people need to eat food that has more yang energy to prevent cold from harming their bodies. Another important traditional food for Minor Cold is Laba porridge (腊八粥).
1. Which is the last solar term of a year?| A．Frost’s Descent. | B．Greater Cold. |
| C．Minor Cold. | D．Beginning of Spring. |
| A．Beginning of Spring. | B．Grain Buds. |
| C．Frost’s Descent. | D．Minor Cold. |
| A．An apple a day keeps the doctor away. |
| B．It’s more useful for old men to eat apples than young men. |
| C．If old men eat apples after meals, they will never die. |
| D．Old men will grow into young men after eating an apple. |
①prepare for Chinese New Year ②have Laba porridge
③say goodbye to the coldest days ④wear warmer clothes
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①②④ | D．①③④ |
5 . Walking into Lang Jiaziyu’s workshop in Beijing, one can see lively figurines (小塑像) and cerificates of honor neatly placed on the workbench. However, one can never expect that this third-generation inheritor of the national-level intangible heritage of dough figurine making is a young man born after 1995.
Lang developed an preference for the art at a young age, starting to learn the craft (手艺) from his father when he was about four to five years old. Despite repeatedly practicing the same skills, the boy never felt bored. Instead, he gained quite a great deal of pleasure from the craft. Under the influence of his father, Lang developed a sense of responsibility to carry forward the art when he was young.
Lang had previously considered dough figurines to be an old-fashioned craft, having also felt that the raw materials used for the craft formed a limit on his creativity, stirring up doubts as to why he had chosen making dough figurines as a career from the beginning. However, when Lang visited an art exhibition as a university student, he was impressed by how one artisan there had made bread into various shapes, and then dried them to generate cracks on their outer surfaces to present a unique aesthetic form.
“Then, I came to realize that instead of complaining about the raw materials, I should pay more attention to improving my skills so that I could turn the ‘disadvantages’ of the dough into something that I could make full use of to make my works more expressive,” Lang said.
The young man has also turned to new media to promote the art of dough modeling. For Lang, making dough figurines is a process of self-expression, and it gives him great pleasure to just be himself. “This is what I’m good at and attracted to, and I’m delighted to see a trend toward the revitalization (复兴) of traditional Chinese culture nowadays,” said Lang.
1. What is the first paragraph intended for?| A．Introducing a man detailedly. | B．Attracting readers to read further. |
| C．Showing the achieved honor. | D．Indicating the importance of heritage. |
| A．His responsibility for Chinese culture. | B．Another artisan’s bread presentation. |
| C．His discovery of his own disadvantages. | D．His enthusiasm for making dough figures. |
| A．It brought pleasure. | B．It passed on Chinese culture. |
| C．He won honor in 2010. | D．He was influenced by his family. |
| A．Pass On for Chinese Culture | B．A Trend for the Dough Figurine Modeling |
| C．It Is Vital to Be Myself | D．It Feels Cool to Be a Dough Figurine Artisan |
6 . Besides “wow” and “great”, what else would you say when flying over the Earth in space? Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian female astronaut in space, posted several lines of a famous ancient Chinese composition on Twitter to share her joy.
She first wrote in Chinese, and then attached an accurate translation of the lines in both Italian and English to help more people understand. “Looking up, I see the immensity of the cosmos; bowing my head, I look at the multitude of the world. The gaze flies, the heart expands, the joy of the senses can reach its peak, and indeed, this is true happiness,” it says. Two days before she landed on Earth, the beauty of space and Chinese literature resonated on her Twitter account. Before long, her posts went viral on Twitter with thousands of retweets, likes and replies.
The text she quoted is from the Preface to Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion,a Chinese calligraphy masterpiece by Wang Xizhi (303-361) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). She also attached three photos taken in space of China’s Bohai Bay and the day-night view of Beijing. “The poem and views are both magnificent as well as healing. If everyone could enjoy the same sight, a lot of pain in the world would be ‘dissipated’,” one user comments.
As the first Italian female astronaut in space, Cristoforetti carried out her first space mission on Nov 23, 2014. In 2022, she started the second mission in April and returned to Earth on Friday night after a 127-day stay in orbit.
Cristoforetti has also been active in Sino-European cooperation in the field of manned spaceflight. She was a working group member with Chinese counterparts to define and implement cooperation in the field of astronaut operations. When not traveling for work, she is an eager reader and has a great passion for languages. Speaking clear Chinese, Cristoforetti once told the media that the teams from China and Europe were working very well together in the field of astronaut training.
1. What is the result of Cristoforetti’s post online?| A．The birth of a masterpiece. |
| B．A trend of journey to space. |
| C．An instant hot issue on Twitter. |
| D．Different translations of the lines. |
| A．Relieved. | B．Caused. |
| C．Increased. | D．Recognized. |
| A．Cristoforetti’s devotion to her career. |
| B．Cristoforetti’s language learning strategies. |
| C．The leadership Cristoforetti plays in her team. |
| D．The possible motivation for Cristoforetti’s post. |
| A．A female astronaut becomes online star |
| B．A Chinese poem gets popular abroad |
| C．Literature conveys the beauty of space |
| D．An Italian astronaut promotes Sino-European cooperation |
