1 . Want good luck in 2023? Hit the kitchen. Throughout the world, New Year’s day means celebrating with traditional foods. For your holiday menu, greet the new year with the following foods.
Fish
The Chinese eat fish because the word for “fish” sounds like the word for “a large quantity”. But in other cultures, the custom results from the practicality of cod s (鳕鱼) easy preservation. Among the fishy dishes out there are: boiled cod in Denmark, dried salted cod in Italy, and seafood salad in Sweden.
Grapes
In the early 1900s, Spanish grape growers had a good harvest, and there was born a tradition. When the clock strikes midnight, revelers (狂欢者) pick up a grape for every strike, with each of the twelve grapes representing a month of the coming year. If the particular grape is especially sweet, you can expect an especially happy month matching which grape it was. For example, if the second grape was sweeter than the rest, your February will bring you much happiness.
Beans
Speaking of money, it couldn’t hurt to pair cash with coins. That’s the idea behind eating foods that are small and round. Italians and Germans eat small beans, while the Japanese prefer sweet black beans. In the American South, eating black-eyed peas is thought to bring success, a tradition which started with Sephardi Jews who moved to Georgia in the 1700s.
Cake
What’s a meal without dessert? The meal for the New Year’s Day, commonly a round cake completes the meal. You’ll find pastries in the Netherlands, Poland and Italy. Some cultures hide a meaningful treasure within, and whoever gets it is guaranteed a great year. In Greece, look out for a coin; in Scandinavia, a nut is buried in rice pudding.
1. According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?| A．The custom of eating fish has its origin in China. |
| B．Spanish grapes were used to celebrate a good harvest. |
| C．Small and round beans were used as a kind of coins. |
| D．The meal for the New Year’s Day often ends up with a round cake. |
| A．symbolize good fortune | B．promote national development |
| C．are beneficial to a balanced diet | D．are popular throughout the world |
| A．Food recipes. | B．Historical stories. |
| C．Traffic and holidays. | D．Culture and customs. |
2 . Stargazing Festivals in 2023
As more areas grow brighter with light pollution, national parks across the country have become dark-sky havens. Over the years, they are making a push to get certified as havens for sky-watching by the International Dark Sky Association, and they even host events like stargazing festivals to get travelers excited about astronomy.
·Bryce Canyon National Park—June 14-17
Situated in southern Utah, Bryce Canyon earned its dark-sky title in 2019. The 35,835-acre park is an ideal place to stay up late. This year, its annual astronomy festival includes guided stargazing sessions, lectures and “star stories” presentations, family-friendly activities, and even a performance by strings musicians in the northern Arizona-based Dark Sky Quartet.
·Shenandoah National Park—August 11-13
Conveniently located within a day’s drive from two-thirds of Americans, Shenandoah National Park’s night sky festival is a low-lift way to dabble in astronomy. The nearly 200,000-acre park will host ranger talks, public stargazing sessions, lectures, presentations, and activities for kids. Staffers are still working on this year’s full schedule, but past events have covered topics ranging from space weather to nocturnal(夜间的) creatures.
·Great Basin National Park—September 14-16
Great Basin is one of the least crowded national parks, making it the perfect place to quietly appreciate the mysteries of the cosmos. Its annual astronomy festival is scheduled for this fall and includes guest speakers, constellation talks, observatory tours, and a photography workshop. During the festival’s unique “Art in the Dark” program, participants will get to paint in low-light conditions and experiment with how their eyes perceive color.
·Joshua Tree National Park—October 13-14
Joshua Tree National Park, as the International Dark Sky Association notes, is the “nearest convenient place to go stargazing under a relatively dark sky” for the 18 million people who live in the Los Angeles area. It became an official dark sky park in 2017, and each year, it hosts a night sky festival in the fall. As luck would have it, this year’s dates overlap with an annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse. From Joshua Tree, the moon will appear to obscure between 70 and 80 percent of the sun.
1. What is the purpose of Stargazing Festivals?| A．To raise public interest in astronomy. |
| B．To call for action against light pollution. |
| C．To provide a platform to observe stars. |
| D．To collect money for more observatories. |
| A．Bryce Canyon National Park. | B．Shenandoah National Park. |
| C．Great Basin National Park. | D．Joshua Tree National Park. |
| A．An observatory tour. | B．A photography workshop. |
| C．A stargazing tour. | D．A solar eclipse. |
3 . African countries have retrieved some historic relics(遗物), which reflects the important development of human society, from European countries. Recently, Germany signed a deal for the return of hundreds of valuable artworks from the Kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century, in what is today Benin.
But many artifacts(手工艺品) are still unluckily missing and some are on their way back. One is an eight-legged seat from the old kingdom in Uganda. The important artifact now sits at a museum thousands of kilometers away in Britain. The wooden seat is housed at the University of Oxford. It is one of at least 279 relics there taken from the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom.
Apollo John Rwamparo is a leader of Uganda. He really values the country’s cultural relics. He requested the British to return the artifacts. Ugandan leaders are preparing to meet with the University of Cambridge in Britain about the return of such historical artifacts. The school has an unknown number of artifacts from Africa. Through many efforts,an artifact was returned to its home.
The British Museum holds a large collection of artifacts from Africa. Rose Mwanja said she had been trying hard on it and believed it could have some good effects. She is a director of Uganda’s museums. She added she could start with those that are more willing to cooperate.
Many of the artifacts from Africa cannot even be found. That led to an organization started by late Congolese art collector Sindika Dokolo. The organization offers to buy African art from collections in foreign countries, By 2020, when Dokolo died, his group had successfully recovered 15 items. However, for African governments, the recovery of artifacts remains a struggle and will take much time.
1. What does the underlined word “retrieved” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Thrown. | B．Taken back. | C．Given up. | D．Organised. |
| A．In Benin. | B．In Uganda. | C．In Britain. | D．In Germany. |
| A．Curious. | B．Confused. | C．Uncaring. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Frightening. | B．Doubtful. | C．Effortless. | D．Challenging. |
The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. It stretches for nearly 3,200 kilometers and passes through eight of the country’s provinces and municipalities.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the canal is the longest and oldest artificial river in the world. It has played an important role in ensuring China’s economic prosperity and stability, and is in use today as a major means of transportation.
The Beijing section of the Grand Canal is 82 km long. Along it, cultural relics and sites on both banks are important symbols of culture and are considered a top priority for protection by the local government.
The city government has unveiled two development plans: the first is an implementation plan for the protection, inheritance and utilization of the canal’s cultural values; the second is a construction plan for building a Grand Canal-themed national cultural park.
The plan sets up three implementation milestones in the next five years. In 2020, efforts have been made to lay a firm foundation for the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, with the Tongzhou section of the canal open to navigation and a management mechanism of the park established. By 2023, significant progress is expected to be made in coordinating the protection and utilization of cultural resources along the canal, with the national cultural park basically set up. By 2025, the park will become a new cultural landmark in Beijing. The Grand Canal, with its cultural resources put under protection and ecological conservation along its banks significantly improved, will embrace improved cultural and tourism development. Cities along the canal by then will welcome further coordinated or integrated development.
The Beijing section of the Grand Canal, a valued asset for the capital, is marked out as a river boasting rich cultural resources, ecological value, social benefits and economic potential. The capital is set to roll out more measures to bring out the best in the canal.
1. According to the passage, what roles has the Grand Canal played?2. What does the Beijing government consider a top priority for protection along the Grand Canal?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
With its protected cultural resources and improved ecological conservation along its banks, the Grand Canal will embrace improved cultural and industrial development.
4. There are many UNESCO World Heritage sites in China. What can we do to protect them?(In about 40 words)
Building relationships and working successfully with different cultural backgrounds can seem like a major challenge. But you can enjoy the rewards, while keeping dissatisfaction to a minimum. The key to making them work is cultural competence. Essentially, cultural competence is defined as the ability to understand and interact effectively with people from different cultures.
Cultural competence is critical for everyone in today’s modern world. Living and working in a culturally diverse environment sometimes comes with differences of opinion and tension. People with strong cultural competence can resolve these issues creatively, even if a solution seems impossible at first. What’s more, thinking and caring about others with different experiences can bring out a sense of understanding. This helps to build trust between each other.
Cultural competence can be improved through training, education, and experience. Here are some simple tips to help you improve your cultural competence.
Assess yourself
The starting point is to understand your own cultural values and world view. Assess the current level of cultural competence in yourself and identify the knowledge, skills and resources that you want to acquire. This can give you an idea of your strengths and weaknesses in the area so that you can improve yourself in future.
Practice good manners
No matter whom you are dealing with, make sure that you are respecting others’ backgrounds, boundaries and customs. Pay close attention to your communication and make sure that you’re speaking to others in a kind and polite way.
Ask questions
When you don’t understand something or want to know why someone has behaved in a certain way, simply ask. Asking questions stops you making unnecessary assumptions, and shows the questions you did not understand to them.
Keep in mind that developing cultural competence is not a one-shot enterprise. It takes time and practice. Whether you are in a classroom or on campus, cultural competence plays an important role in your daily environment. Recognizing and dealing with cultural differences will create a happier setting for everyone.
1. What is cultural competence according to the passage?2. Why is cultural competence important for people in intercultural environment?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
>To improve our cultural competence, we should not only understand our strengths and weaknesses in this area, but also ask questions when we don’t understand others’ behaviors, even if we may speak in an impolite way.
4. Apart from the tips mentioned in the passage, what other way(s) can you think of to develop your cultural competence? (In about 40 words)
6 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.
1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.| A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams |
| B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel |
| C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror |
| D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance |
| A．wrote poems about pillows |
| B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds |
| C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows |
| D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance |
| A．pillows give us comfort |
| B．pillows make people more intelligent |
| C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace |
| D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing |
| A．Because it is a ritual release. |
| B．Because it makes life delightful. |
| C．Because it comforts restless minds. |
| D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life. |
7 . Several years ago, Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of the famous BBC television programme ‘Top Gear’, discovered that one of his guests was half German and half Irish. Immediately, he said, “That’s quite a strange combination. It’s like, ‘this must be done absolutely perfectly… tomorrow’ ”.
This joke played on stereotypes of the Germans as efficient and the Irish as lazy. Many people could understandably be offended by these kinds of assertions(断言). We do not know every Irish person, so how can we then conclude that every Irish person is lazy?
I recently read on a website that Irish business people were described as being “generally rather casual” and “more outwardly friendly than many European countries”. German business people, on the other hand, are considered to be very direct and according to the website, they “do not need a personal relationship in order to do business”. Once you hear advice like this, it becomes easier to understand where jokes like the one in the first paragraph come from.
So why do some people disapprove of the kind of stereotypes as seen in Clarkson’s joke, but not batting an eyelid(眨眼) when it comes to generalizations. What is the difference between the two?
By definition, a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. A cultural characteristic, on the other hand, is a pattern of behaviour that is typical of a certain group.
So what does this really mean? Stereotypes are simply overstated assumptions about groups of people. Imagine if a tourist visited a small town in Switzerland and saw a number of locals playing the alphorn instrument, and then claimed that Swiss people can play the alphorn. This would be a stereotype! This is an overstated image of the Swiss which is based on one tourist’s experience.
If, however, this tourist were to say that the Swiss are very punctual, this could be seen as a cultural characteristic. This is because it is a pattern of behaviour which is very typical in Switzerland: from their transport system to their business meetings. In this way, some people argue that generalizing another culture is not just useful, but important. Politicians always have to be mindful of the cultural characteristics of different countries. By becoming aware of different cultural characteristics, they can avoid causing offence in those cultures. However, others argue that generalizing cultures will always lead to offensive stereotypes. They argue that the best thing we can do is to stop generalizing cultures and start treating people as individuals.
All this raises important questions: can making generalizations about groups of people be a positive thing? Or should we always avoid making broad assumptions about different groups?
1. When he said, “It’s like, ‘this must be done absolutely perfectly…tomorrow’”, Jeremy Clarkson really meant ________.| A．the stereotypes of the Germans and the Irish are not so good |
| B．the combination of half German and half Irish is interesting |
| C．the characteristics of the Germans and the Irish are opposite |
| D．the Germans will do it perfectly tomorrow while the Irish won’t |
| A．The Swiss can play the alphorn quite well. |
| B．The Irish people are considered as lazy, direct and casual. |
| C．The Germans are thought to be efficient, friendly and direct. |
| D．The Swiss tend to arrive on time on various occasions. |
| A．they don’t want to offend other people |
| B．generalizing will lead to offensive stereotypes |
| C．cultural characteristics are better than stereotypes |
| D．they think different cultural characteristics are useful |
| A．illustrate the importance of making generalizations |
| B．show it is wrong to play jokes on stereotypes of different people |
| C．tell us the differences between stereotypes and cultural characteristics |
| D．discuss whether it is good to make generalizations about groups of people |
8 . How Sociologists Define Culture
Culture is one of the most important concepts within sociology because sociologists recognize that it plays a crucial role in our social lives. It is important for shaping social relationships, maintaining and challenging social order, determining how we make sense of the world and our place in it, and in shaping our everyday actions and experiences in society.
In brief, sociologists define the non–material aspects of culture as the values and beliefs, language, communication and practices that are shared in common by a group of people. Expanding on these categories, culture is made up of our knowledge, common sense, assumptions and expectations. It is also the rules, norms, laws and morals that govern society; the words we use as well as how we speak and write them; and the symbols we use to express meaning, ideas and concepts.
Sociologists see the two sides of culture—the material and non–material—as closely connected. Material culture emerges from and is shaped by the non-material aspects of culture.
| A．This is why cultural products tend to follow patterns. |
| B．It is composed of both non-material and material things. |
| C．Without culture, we would not have relationships or society. |
| D．Culture is also what we do and how we behave and perform. |
| E．Material culture is composed of the things that humans make and use. |
| F．Culture is distinct from social structure and economic aspects of society. |
| G．In other words, what we value, believe and know influences the things that we make. |
9 . The 24 solar terms were created thousands of years ago in China to guide agricultural production. They also reflect China’s rich history through the seasonal festivals, special foods, cultural ceremonies, family gatherings and even healthy living tips that correspond with each solar term.
Rain Water signals the increase in rainfall and rise in temperature. With its arrival, lively spring-like scenery starts blossoming: the river water defreezes, wild geese move from south to north and trees and grass turn green again.
During Rain Water period, extra care is needed to deal with a returning cold spell and humidity, which is the amount of water in the air.
The wet and humid weather during Rain Water period is considered harmful for people’s spleen and stomach according to Chinese medical practice.
| A．With Rain Water coming, insects become more active. |
| B．A bowl of nutritious porridge is the best choice to nourish the body. |
| C．Therefore, Rain Water is considered as a key period to water the fields. |
| D．According to an old Chinese saying, the rainfall in spring is as precious as oil. |
| E．The temperature in most of the basin areas increases quickly during Rain Water. |
| F．One of the 24 solar terms, which is very important in spring, is called Rain Water. |
| G．The fast increase in air humidity due to rainfall can result in lower temperature and wet weather. |
10 . How Culture Affects Cuisine
It probably happened to you: You ate this incredible dessert in Turkey, you tried this fantastic dish in Spain, and you brought the recipe back home — just to feel the disappointment that what you cooked at home didn’t pass the taste test.
It’s likely that groceries have different qualities in different countries. In the case of the United States and Europe this has very little to do with soil or climate.
Europeans often value quality more than quantity. Of course you will find out-of-season produce on the shelves of grocery stores as well.
Take, for example, Italians produce dry-cured ham (干腌火腿) only during the waning moon that follows the full moon and it is practiced to this day. According to old farmer’s lore, the meat could go bad, if it isn’t cured by the moon.
However, Americans believe in progress and the benefits of technology. It becomes clear why following tradition doesn’t have to be a strong value. Food for U.S. consumers is produced and shipped across the country.
All these consumer choices, based on cultural behaviors, have had a lasting impact on how our food is grown and what it tastes like.
| A．Geography plays another role here. |
| B．Refrigeration makes it possible to store foods longer. |
| C．However, demand for better quality is greater in their countries. |
| D．This great interest in culinary (烹饪的) tradition is a cultural feature. |
| E．The main reason why produce tastes different here and there is choice. |
| F．Food provides the world with one of the only ways to universally communicate. |
| G．Often our culinary preferences have an effect on the vacation destinations we choose. |
