1 . The minutes leading up to a vacation are often an exciting time. As people check their homes and pack the last items into their suitcases, they often dream about the fun times that lie ahead. In Russia, however, there is one final step that people take to ensure a good trip. Before they walk out the door, Russians take a brief pause and silently sit on their suitcases for a few moments.
“Sidet’na chemodanakh” or “sitting on suitcases” is an ancient custom that will be a familiar ritual to anyone who grew up in Russia, or any migrant family that obeyed motherland customs. This unusual ritual started hundreds of years ago. In the years before Christianity, Russians believed that good and evil spirits lived inside their homes. They thought that the key to living a good life was to keep these spirits happy at all costs. If a person rushed out of his or her home before a trip, there was a good chance they would forget something. When that person returned a few minutes later to get it, they would disturb the evil spirits in the home. In response, the spirits might follow them out the door and accompany them on their trip. Since the spirits were offended by the person, they would bring them bad luck and possibly cause them harm.
Although many years have passed since suitcase sitting began, the practice continues to this day. As the Soviet Empire grew during the Cold War, suitcase sitting even spread throughout Eastern Europe. Although it is rooted in superstition (迷信), suitcase sitting is actually quite practical. It can prevent people from forgetting passports, plane tickets, or other items that are needed during trip. In addition, it also provides a brief moment of relaxation that can help get a journey started on the right foot. Besides that, if someone has packed too many clothes, suitcase sitting can help get it zipped up.
1. What is this passage mainly about?| A．A spirit that might annoy anyone living in Russia. |
| B．A popular vacation spot in ancient Russia. |
| C．An old tradition that is based on scientific research. |
| D．A habit meant to bring good luck to travelers. |
| A．Right | B．Justice | C．Tradition | D．Characteristic |
| A．To test the strength of their suitcases. |
| B．To keep spirits from following them. |
| C．To invite good spirits to come on vacation. |
| D．To ask spirits to protect their homes. |
| A．It spread superstition across the world. |
| B．It is practiced outside of Russia as well. |
| C．It started in Russia many years ago. |
| D．It is not based on Christian ideas. |
| A．It’s an old practice that should be forgotten. |
| B．It is necessary for travelers’ right foot. |
| C．It makes people stressed out before a trip. |
| D．It has benefits that everyone can experience |
“Mom, look at this LEGO Star Wars set,” my eight-year-old son Nathan said. “Can I get it for my birthday?” I looked at the LEGO set in question.
“Nathan, this isn’t just a regular LEGO set. It’s an Advent calendar(降临历).” Seeing his questioning look, I explained, “An Advent calendar counts down the days until Christmas. Starting on December 1st, you open one box each day, and each box contains one small LEGO toy.”
“I want this really badly, Mom. Can I get it for my birthday?”
“Yes, but here’s the problem with that. It’s August right now, and your birthday is in September. If we bought this for your birthday, you couldn’t start opening the toys until December 1st. That would be a long time for you before playing with a new toy. Are you sure you want it?” He thought for a minute and said, “Yes, Mom, I really want that Advent calendar.” So we bought the calendar.
On Nathan’s birthday in mid-September, he received many presents, including the Advent calendar. He seemed as surprised and pleased with it as he did with other gifts that were actually a surprise. And then he started to open it.
“Remember that’s an Advent calendar. So we can’t open it yet.” His shoulders slumped(垂下来). “Oh, yeah, that’s right,” he said unwillingly.
We put the box in his closet. I hoped he’d forget about it, but that was wishful thinking.
“How many more days should I wait until I can start opening the toys in the calendar?” he asked the day after his birthday. I gave him a pocket calendar, and we counted how many days there were until December 1st.
After waiting for so long, it was December 1st finally. Nathan’s hands were practically shaking as he opened that first box. “I’m so glad I waited, Mom,” he told me.
People say that Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. I know these complaints are about the over-commercialization of the holiday, and I see their point. But this year, Christmas came to our house very early, and it was so much fun.
1. What is an Advent calendar used to do? (no more than 10 words)2. Why was the author unwilling to buy the Advent calendar for Nathan at first? (no more than 12 words)
3. How can we understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 7? (no more than 8 words)
4. Why do people say Christmas starts earlier and earlier? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of Nathan’s birthday present? Why? (no more than 20 words)
3 . The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) opened its doors again this weekend for the University of Rochester’s Clothesline Arts Festival. This event has been an annual tradition at the Centennial Sculpture Park right outside the MAG for the last 62 years. Initially organized with less than 100 artists showing their work on clothes lines and fences, this festival has attracted over 500 artists from across the nation.
The park was decorated with colorful tents where artists proudly displayed their works. Each tent was a story within itself — a display of skill, creativity, and years of experience.
Piche Design, a unique custom creation art store owned by Chuck Peashy, had one of the most interesting tents: an eye-catching, old setting with lamps shaped like musical instruments. “People come to me with objects that belonged to their long-gone loved ones, and I make beautiful items out of those for them. It is, indeed, rewarding,” said Peashy.
Jill Schiller started doodling (涂鸦) when she was very young. Her hobby gave way to a series of super cool modern designs. She now draws with Swedish weaving techniques on scarves, carpets, bags, and T-shirts in her tent. Schiller believes that it is evidently a great method of expressing creativity and emotion.
George Banagis’ tent, which presented watercolor and pen and ink pieces, had a variety of options. His complicated pen and ink illustrations were available in the original full-size versions, which were made after weeks of effort, and also small, affordable postcards, notepads, and other souvenirs. Visitors loved this inexpensive form of art and flooded inside to buy.
Visitors also experienced all seven continents in one tent, Tatarzyn Photography. From penguins lined up on an Antarctic coastline to swans and wandering African elephants, Ted Tatarzyn has traveled all around the world to catch these moments of amazing creatures with a camera. “This is actually my second career,” said Tatarzyn, who interestingly worked at Kodak for many years before its shutdown. He then started touring around the world for the pictures.
Strolling across the little artistic showcases is a learning experience that every student should take advantage of. And Clothesline had many other stories to tell.
1. What was the Clothesline Arts Festival most probably named after at first?| A．The hosting place of the festival. | B．The diverse artists joining the event. |
| C．The unique way of displaying works. | D．The cloths and various materials used. |
| A．It focuses on the musical instrument design. | B．It helps people recall their loved ones. |
| C．It repairs valuable things for people. | D．It mainly sells classical furniture. |
| A．They are both about art drawings with strong personal styles. |
| B．They are both popular among university students. |
| C．They both display products with local cultures. |
| D．They are both about inexpensive paintings. |
| A．Travel experience sharing. | B．Artistic creativity training. |
| C．Professional camera skill teaching. | D．Animal photos displaying. |
| A．To remember a 62-year-old tradition. | B．To recommend some excellent artists. |
| C．To advertise a secondhand market. | D．To introduce a special artistic festival. |
Confucius Institute is a non-profit public institute which aims at promoting Chinese language and culture and supporting local Chinese teaching internationally through affiliated Confucius Institutes. Its headquarters is in Beijing and is under the Office of Chinese Language Council International or Hanban in Chinese.
Over the past three decades, Chinese economy is booming. The world is watching China and many foreigners have realized the importance of seeking cooperation, so they want to do business with Chinese people and learning our language works better, Confucius institute provides the place to learn mandarin.
As the world is crazy about Chinese, more and more foreigners have interest in our language and culture. With the purpose of promoting our language and culture, Confucius institute program was set up in Korea in 2004, now the Confucius institute is all around the world. The foreigners practise Chinese so hard. They learn how to pronounce and write, even use the chopsticks.
The Confucius institute program works well. There is a biggest competition for the foreigner to show their Chinese. When we watch the show, we will realize they can speak Chinese so well and admire them so much, because it is so hard to learn. Some foreigners not only speak mandarin well, but also know much about Chinese culture.
The Confucius institute program works to promote Chinese language and culture and the achievement is great. Today, the world is learning Chinese.
1. What is the aim of Confucius Institute? (no more than 15 words)2. Why are many foreigners watching China and want to seek cooperation? (no more than 1o words)
3. What do more and more foreigners have interest in? (no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word “admire” in Paragraph 4 mean? (1 word)
5. What do you think the future of Confucius Institute? (no more than 20 words)
Old trains are very attractive and mysterious, whether it’s because of their history and their function or simply because they look so fierce and huge. Many old derailed trains have been transformed into anything like homes, art galleries and even amusement parks. As part of a recovery program to restore a failed railway, Ecuadorian design firm Al Borde transformed a tired, old train into a mobile cultural center, which they call “Wagon of Knowledge” (Vagon del Saber).
Selected by the Ecuadorian(厄瓜多尔)Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the community oriented project is to reactivate settlements along its route. After more than a decade of absence, these areas not only recover a means of communication but are enhanced economically, as the cultural promoters use the train car as an activator of public space and a meeting point for the locals. The multifunctional nature of the carriage — it is without a strictly defined architectural program and can therefore be designed flexibly — allows for musical performances, theater shows, training programs and celebrations.
The train was renovated(修复)to achieve the greatest number of uses with the minimum number of elements.
A public square and a theater with a capacity of 60-80 people, as well as work spaces for 20 users were incorporated by attaching three extensions to the train: a roof with several deployment( 部 署 )options, retractable furniture and two storage spaces — simple systems operated by the cultural romoters turn the cart into their desired requirements. Set to travel around the route, the cultural unit will begin to accumulate and facilitate new stories.
Intended to move from place to place without a strict set of limitations to define its use, it becomes something flexible that adapts to the needs of the moment, so that it “carries neither goods nor tourists, but culture and public space”. As we can see here, there are a lot of possibilities, thanks to various interchangeable components that can allow the train to shift from conference space to a performance venue in a snap.
It’s a creative way to give new life to a historically important train that was once even derailed, and to ensure that it can keep on serving the public. One more thing, people don’t have to go to this public space; it will travel to come to them.
1. Why did the design firm Al Borde carry out the project?| A．To boost the local tourism. |
| B．To sharpen rural people’s communication skills. |
| C．To bring communities along the railroad line to life. |
| D．To provide recreation for the community residents. |
| A．Advanced architectural design techniques. |
| B．The railway systems that are easy to operate. |
| C．Flexible construction features of the train car. |
| D．The financial assistance provided by cultural promoters. |
| A．By extending the length of the carriage. |
| B．By adding three components to the train. |
| C．By freely changing the position of the roof. |
| D．By expanding the seating capacity of the train. |
| A．It used to be the meeting point for the locals. |
| B．It can perform different working functions. |
| C．It was used to carry goods and tourists. |
| D．It will stay in one place to entertain locals |
| A．It is meaningful. |
| B．It is large-scale. |
| C．It is pioneering. |
| D．It is impressive. |
6 . In 2015, the town of Carefree, in the USA was seeking a pumpkin carver to help their newly-planned Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Festival become an instant success. Luckily for them, the sculptor Ray Villafane fell in love with the four-acre Carefree Desert Gardens and agreed to carve pumpkins for the tourists. Then, the festival became a hit in 2015. Now the annual event, which took place from October 19-28, in 2008, includes many fun activities for both kids and adults. However, it is the pumpkin carvings that remain the star attraction.
This year, Villafane and his team reached the garden in early October to carve the popular “pickled (腌制的) pumpkins”. Placed inside tanks resembling a kind of plants to fit in with the environment, the 3D pumpkin artworks were put in a special liquid that helped preserve them for a longer period of time.
Throughout the festival, Villafane and his team also held several live demonstrations, adding to the impressive carved pumpkins on exhibition. They also volunteered to give many pumpkin-carving fans valuable tips.
Besides the wonderful carvings, guests had the chance to go into a pumpkin world, complete with tales. The tales featured pumpkin dead bodies running through the grass, and a group of helpless pumpkins attempting to free their peers imprisoned by a scary-looking figure with only bones. Then, there were the hard-working rats who were sewing a pumpkin.
The highlight of the festival came on October 27, when Villafane transformed a huge pumpkin into a dinosaur. The festival also featured activities including pie-eating matches, story-telling, face painting, and pumpkin-carving matches.
Villafane’s skill first came to light in 1993 after he sculpted a pumpkin for his students during Halloween. In 2004, while still teaching, he decided to use his skills to create action figures for Marvel Comics. Over the next two years, the artist created numerous popular characters. In 2006, Villafane accepted a full-time position about carving toys at DC Comics. In 2010, he finally decided to go after his true love—pumpkin carving. Since he first began carving, the expert has sculpted 2,576 pieces of outstanding works in 102 cities around the world.
The expert using basic carving tools for his most complex creations stands out in the festival.
1. What can we learn about the annual Enchanted Pumpkin Garden festival?| A．It has been held three times so far. |
| B．It was organized by Ray Villafane. |
| C．It aims at teenagers interested in arts. |
| D．It has gained Ray Villafane’s support. |
| A．To prevent them from going bad quickly. |
| B．To make them fit in with the environment. |
| C．To make them much more delicious. |
| D．To make them appear more beautiful. |
| A．They were created by Ray Villafane. |
| B．They were centered on the theme of friendship. |
| C．They were all full of imagination and terror. |
| D．They were probably most attractive to those fond of magic. |
| A．The popularity of Ray Villafane’s works. |
| B．The gradual improvement of Villafane’s skills. |
| C．The interest of Ray Villafane in pumpkin carving. |
| D．The introduction of Ray Villafane’s career of carving. |
| A．Reliable and brave. |
| B．Confident and modest. |
| C．Talented and helpful. |
| D．Enthusiastic and cautious. |
It was a dark and stormy night. The ferocious wind shook the windows wildly, as though someone outside were beating on the glass. It was also New Year’s Eve. We were having our annual party and had a house full of people just starting to celebrate.
Suddenly, we heard loud explosions. Looking outside and up into the hills, we saw sparks(火花) flying from electrical transformers(变压器). One area after another went dark up in those hills. Then there was the loudest explosion of them all and our house went dark too. I tried to find every candle we had and lit them. The candles made everything look lovely. But we had problems. We had fifteen people standing around and we still had to cook dinner. How would we do that without electricity?
The barbecue! Why not cook on the barbecue? We men went outside, some holding flashlights and others cooking. We did a wonderful job. The women stayed inside and got the salads ready. Everything was delicious. There were still a few hours to go before the beginning of the new year, so we all sat around the dining room table and sang up until a few minutes before midnight. We couldn’t watch the ball drop in Times Square on television but that wouldn’t stop us from celebrating. I stood on a chair and, with the help of someone’s watch to tell us the time, we all counted down and I dropped a tennis ball! We all screamed Happy New Year. We didn’t need electricity for that!
Nowadays, we still get together with the same group to celebrate the New Year and we still talk about that special night. I don’t think we have ever laughed so much as we did on that New Year’s Eve.
1. What does the underlined word mean in Paragraph 1? (1 word)2. What made dinner preparation difficult according to Paragraph 2? (no more than 6 words)
3. How did the people celebrate on New Year’s Eve according to the passage? (no more than 10 words)
4. How does the author feel about that particular New Year’s Eve? (no more than 8 words)
5. What do you think is the most necessary quality when dealing with an unexpected difficult situation? Please explain why. (no more than 25words)
8 . Africa is a large and varied continent containing some of the oldest civilizations on earth. It is home to a wide diversity of religions and cultures, and this colorful diversity is reflected in its diverse and colorful weddings traditions.
An African wedding is, more than anything, the bringing together of two people as a single family, or the combining of two families or even the mixture of two tribes into one family unit. The concept of family is one of the unifying ideas of the African continent. There are more than 1,000 cultural units in Africa and each culture, each tribe has its own wedding and marriage traditions, many of which can trace their origins back hundreds or even thousands of years. There are also many different religions represented in Africa. Many northern Africans, especially, have been influenced by Muslim traditions, while further south there are more Christian, Hindu, and even Jewish traditions with more ancient traditions.
In many places in Africa young girls are trained to be good wives from an early age. They may even learn secret codes and secret languages that allow them to talk with other married women without their husbands understanding what is being said.
Depending on which part of Africa you are in, wedding ceremonies can be extremely elaborate, some lasting many days. Often huge ceremonies are held during which many couples are united at the same time.
In Sudan and in other areas along the Nile a man must pay his wife’s family in sheep or cattle for the loss of their daughter’s labor in support of the family. A wife may cost a man as many as 30 to 40 head of cattle. In Somalia a man is allowed to have as many as four wives if he can support them all, and it is not uncommon for a girl to be engaged before she is even born.
Bright festive colors, song, dance, and music are vital elements of many African wedding ceremonies. Common to all wedding ceremonies is the concept of changing between childhood and adulthood. In many African cultures children are encouraged to marry as young as 13 to 15 years of age, as soon as they have reached physical adulthood.
1. When two young get married in Africa it means ________.| A．they will explore a wide diversity of religions |
| B．they will live together for the rest of their life |
| C．they will contribute to the union of African tribes |
| D．they will have a chance to enjoy their romance |
| A．All the tribes in Africa have the same belief. |
| B．Africa witnesses varieties of marriage traditions. |
| C．Most of Africans are believers in Islam. |
| D．People in South Africa are all Christians. |
| A．to have a good communication with their husbands |
| B．to give their children a good education in the future |
| C．to gain the ability to talk with other married women |
| D．to master the skills about having communication |
| A．Similar. | B．Familiar. | C．Difficult. | D．Different. |
| A．wedding ceremonies are full of happiness |
| B．there are more men than women in Somalia |
| C．the cattle are well worth a lot of money |
| D．Africans prefer dancing to anything else |
9 . Chinese traditional painting and dance are two vital parts of the art world. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and went viral.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains. Created by Song Dynasty (960-1279) painter Wang Ximeng at about 18, the painting is “stunning in its sweeping scale, rich coloration and the expressive details”, reported CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: “mountains and groupings of infinite rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling water”.
To show the Chinese traditional aesthetics (美学) of the painting, the dance performance conceptualized dancers as the mountains. They each had a different hairstyle, which resembled a mountain rock. The clothes they wore were shades of green and blue, which is also a poetic interpretation of the mountains and rivers.
When the dancers swayed elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers.
“It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an ‘exhibition’. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still wow people as they did long ago.”
Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later.
In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows highlight Chinese traditional culture and have received warm welcome. As for why, it is attributed to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mindset. They embrace Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What can we learn about the painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains from the text?| A．It was painted in several bright colors. |
| B．It shows natural beauty vividly. |
| C．It was created over a thousand years ago. |
| D．It is of small size but includes great details. |
| A．The unique Chinese beauty shown in the drama. |
| B．Innovative design to dress dancers like mountains. |
| C．What the drama and the painting have in common. |
| D．How the drama presents the elements from the painting. |
| A．Mountains and rivers should be better exhibited in the drama. |
| B．The mountains and rivers in the drama are true to life. |
| C．Modem people value natural beauty more than ever before. |
| D．The drama could look better in theaters than on TV. |
| A．People are more open to traditional culture. |
| B．People are happy to see new forms of art. |
| C．Chinese culture has been spreading around the world. |
| D．People have received more access to traditional culture. |
Dear Rose,
I like your programs very much. I’m now writing to ask you something about American social customs. My American friends want me to join them in their dinner party. I am very happy and have decided to go, but I’m a little worried about it, too.
The social customs in my country are very different from here, so I’m afraid of making mistakes. Should I bring a present, such as sweets or flowers? Should I arrived on time or a little late? At the dinner table, how can I know which fork or knife to use? How can I let the family know that I’m thankful for their kindness?
Wang Lin
Letter B
Dear Wang Lin,
It’s a good idea to bring a small present when you go to a dinner party. Flowers are always nice, or you may bring a bottle of wine if you know that your friend drink it.
You should arrive on time or five to ten minutes late. Don’t get there early. If you are going to be more than fifteen minutes late, you should call and tell them.
Try to be free at the dinner table. If you don’t know about choosing the right fork or knife, just watch the other people, and follow them. If you still have no idea of what to do, ask the person next to you.
If you like the food, say so. Of course, you’ll thank them for the meal and for their kindness. It’s also a good idea to send a thank-you card the day after.
Rose
1. Wang Lin wants to _______.| A．make friends with Rose | B．know some social customs for a dinner party |
| C．make her friends happy | D．give her friends a surprise |
| A．a good housewife | B．a member of the dinner party |
| C．a TV hostess | D．a friend of Wang Lin’s |
| A．some fruit | B．a bottle of wine | C．some flowers | D．a knife and fork |
| A．Get there 15 minutes earlier | B．Make yourself at home |
| C．Follow others to use forks and knives | D．Thank your friends for the meal |
| A．difficult | B．friendly | C．enjoyable | D．helpful |
