1 . Imperial Bricks
Imperial bricks were made completely for imperial buildings, especially palaces, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have a fine quality, and are strong and hard. They have a pure blue-green color like a mirror and produce a metal sound when knocked. Because they are very valuable, they are called the golden bricks. The craft (工艺品) has been on the national-level cultural heritage (遗产) list since 2006.
Peking Duck
Peking duck has been a famous dish from Beijing. The cooked duck is cut into pieces and eaten with green onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce, often with pancake rolled around fillings. It was selected as a national -level cultural heritage in 2008.
Shadow Play
Shadow play (皮影) is an ancient form of storytelling that uses flat cut-out figures or shadow play between a source of light and a screen. Various sight effects can be achieved by moving both the dolls and the light source. In 2011, Chinese shadow play entered the list of Cultural Heritage by UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)which is located in Paris, France.
Kunqu Opera
Kunqu Opera, one of the oldest existing forms of Chinese opera, came from Kunshan, Jiangsu province. Using emotional lines from classic poems and through sweet and beautiful singing, it made progress in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and naturally reached other parts of the country via the Grand Canal.
1. Which makes Imperial Bricks get the name of golden bricks?| A．Their value. | B．Their shape. |
| C．Their color. | D．Their history. |
| A．Peking Duck. | B．Imperial Bricks. |
| C．Kunqu Opera. | D．Shadow Play. |
| A．Theater writers. | B．Famous magazines. |
| C．Ancient stories. | D．Classic poems. |
2 . We love all types of hugs, from the one-armed hug to full bear hugs. Open up your heart and your arms on January 21 for National Hugging Day! As you might guess, this day is a yearly event.
Here are some facts about the big day National Hugging Day was created in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney. Zabomey chose January 21 because it was the time between the winter holiday season and the new year’s birthday, which he noticed was a time people tended to feel in low spirits. He also felt that Americans were too embarrassed to show love in public.
Nowadays, we don’t even think about the fact that hugging in public was considered improper.
| A．It’s not practiced enough these days! |
| B．We hug to greet friends and family |
| C．“Hug” is believed to come from ”hugga“ |
| D．A hug is one of the most natural gestures, |
| E．One is that some once thought it wasn’t so formal |
| F．He hoped National Hugging Day would change that. |
| G．It encourages us to express love in the simplest way. |
3 . What makes a calligrapher(书法家)one of the best of all time? The answer can be found in Weidu Fu, written by Zuo Si, an ancient Chinese writer. He wrote: “Accumulate in the way the clouds gather, and release as smoothly as the rain drops.” The description properly summarizes the way Chen Hailiang presents his calligraphy momentum(气势)on paper in a gentle, relaxed manner. It has led to the 55-year-old being considered one of the leading calligraphers of his generation.
Chen has received many accolades, including several Lanting Awards, the highest prize in the field of calligraphy.“Still, I have room to achieve maturity, even at my age,” he said at the opening of his one-man exhibition, Artistry of Original Strokes, running at the National Art Museum of China through Tuesday.
On show are more than 90 pieces of work, displaying Chen’s various works. There are self-composed poems and couplets, as well as copies of some famous, historical calligraphic masterpieces. It offers a glimpse of Chen’s efforts with different styles of calligraphy and his mastery of the cursive script (caoshu).
His accomplishments are grounded in years of hard work. “If someone truly wants to be a professional in the field,” Chen says, “they should at least practice eight hours a day. I sometimes practice much longer than that, and for the rest of the day, I write and read about calligraphy, or articles on the relationship between calligraphy and other forms of Chinese art.”
Liu Heng, a famous scholar of the China Calligraphers Association, says, “ Chen has achieved a technical brilliance, but he is far from being content with copying the styles of those great artists. He has been trying to establish his own style, and he has done it.”
1. Why does the author mention the words from Weidu Fu in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the writer of Weidu Fu. |
| B．To show Chen’s excellence in calligraphy. |
| C．To explain the reason for Chen’s success. |
| D．To compare the works of Chen and Zuo. |
| A．Benefits. | B．Reviews. | C．Honors . | D．Rewards. |
| A．Keeping reading every day. |
| B．Getting to know the history of the field. |
| C．Staying in the north of China for some period of time. |
| D．Throwing yourself into your field that you are working on. |
| A．They are of various styles. |
| B．They make the audience relaxed. |
| C．They are just copies of some masterpieces. |
| D．They combine with the forms of western art. |
4 . Food festivals are a common occurrence in the UK and take place in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times. Whatever your taste, there’s a food festival to match — no matter how specialized.
1. Meatopia
This three-day, London-based festival takes place at the end of August and is a meat lover’s paradise. In addition to a range of legally sourced meat products, from juicy burgers to tender steaks, attendees can listen to live music, watch butchery demonstrations, and attend informal meat-based workshops.
2. The National Honey Show
If you have a sweet tooth, then it could be that the National Honey Show, which started in 1921 and is the largest event of its kind, is the place for you to be. This three-day event attracts many local entries who showcase their sweet golden honey, some of which is sold globally.
3. The Orange Sauce Festival
Have you heard about a festival that is devoted only to orange sauce? Held in Cumbria, this sweet, fragrant festival has been running for 3 years. What attracts people most is a competition to find the best homemade orange sauce. There are thousands of participants from over 30 different countries across the globe, bringing their local snacks to share here.
4. The Ginger and Spice Festival
If you’d prefer something with a little more kick to it, then you could attend The Ginger (姜) and Spice Festival held in Market Drayton. Unlike other food festivals, it celebrates its town’s historic connection to Robert Clive, who returned from India with ginger. Because of this, they specialize in baking gingerbread, but also sell a range of traditional spices from mild to hot.
1. What do Meatopia and the National Honey Show have in common?| A．Both of them last for three days. | B．Both of them hold workshops. |
| C．Both of them originated from London. | D．Both of them have a long history. |
| A．The Meatopia. | B．The Ginger and Spice Festival. |
| C．The National Honey Show. | D．The Orange Sauce Festival. |
| A．It has something to do with a historic figure. |
| B．The ginger used in the festival is from India. |
| C．It sells spicy food. |
| D．The food is cooked by Robert Clive. |
5 . In China, tea has become an important part of everyday life for thousands of years. As the tea-processing methods and tea culture have evolved over the years, tea sets have also changed to meet the practical and cultural needs.
During the Tang Dynasty(618~907AD), tea leaves were traded across the country and Asia. For the convenience of transportation and storage, tea leaves were pressed into bricks. To prepare tea, drinkers had to cut them into small pieces and boil them in heat-resistant teapots.
By the Song Dynasty(960-1279), drinkers started to turn the hard bricks into powders (粉末) that could be whipped (搅打) in a cup with boiled water. This whipped tea is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremonies today.
By the 1500s, tea bricks gave way to the form of rolled leaves. This innovation led to the invention and use of teapots as we know them today. These teapots originally came from the Yi Xing region of China and were soon copied throughout the world. Then Japanese teapot-makers moved the handle from the side to the top of the teapots.
Tea finally reached Europe in the 1600s, along with the necessary tea sets made in Japan and China. As English teapot-makers began to adapt the tea sets to their country men’s tastes, they eventually added a handle to the tea bowl because of the English habit of drinking hot black tea, which was consumed at higher temperatures. The size of teacups also grew to accommodate milk and sugar in their tea.
By the early 1900s, innovations in tea drinking became an American affair. The most revolutionary one was the tea bag, which was accidentally commercialized by Thomas Sullivan. He had been sending customers tea wrapped in silk bags. Rather than take the leaves out of the bags, as Sullivan intended, the customers put the bags into their teapots instead. Not only did the tea bags push the teapot back to the sidelines of tea service, they were also too large for teacups and led to the modern practice of drinking tea from mugs.
1. Which was used to make the whipped tea in Japan?| A．Rolled tea leaves. | B．Freshly picked tea leaves. |
| C．Powdered tea leaves. | D．Loosely pressed tea leaves. |
| A．Tea bags and mugs. | B．Tea bowls with handles. |
| C．Heat-resistant teapots. | D．Teapots with top handles. |
| A．Customers are very creative. | B．Innovations are relatively easy. |
| C．Marketing strategy is critical. | D．Good ideas can be born by accident. |
| A．The Development of Tea Sets | B．Varieties of Tea Leaves |
| C．Various Tea-making Methods | D．The Spread of Tea Trades |
6 . The meaning of silence can be different among cultural groups. Silences may be thoughtful, or they may be empty when a person has nothing to say. A silence in a conversation may also show uneasiness or worry. Silence may be viewed by some cultural groups as extremely uncomfortable; therefore, attempts may be made to fill every gap (间隙) with conversation. Persons in other cultural groups value silence and view it as necessary for understanding a person’s needs.
Many Native Americans value silence and feel it is a basic part of communicating among people, just as some traditional Chinese and Thai persons do. Therefore, when a person from one of these cultures is speaking and suddenly stops, what may be implied (暗示) is that the person wants the listener to consider what has been said before continuing. In these cultures, silence is a call for reflection.
Other cultures may use silence in other ways, particularly when dealing with conflicts (冲突) among people or in relationships of people with different amounts of power. For example, Russian, French, and Spanish persons may use silence to show agreement between parties about the topic under discussion. However, Mexicans may use silence when instructions are given by a person in authority (权威) rather than be rude to that person by arguing with him or her. In still another use, persons in Asian cultures may view silence as a sign of respect, particularly to an elder or a person in authority.
Nurses and other care-givers need to understand the possible meanings of silence when they come across the personal anxiety their patients may be experiencing. Nurses should recognize their own personal and cultural construction of silence so that a patient’s silence is not interrupted too early or allowed to go on unnecessarily. A nurse who understands the healing (治愈) value of silence can use this understanding to assist in the care of patients from their own and from other cultures.
1. What does the author say about silence in conversations?| A．It implies anger. | B．It promotes friendship. |
| C．It depends on culture. | D．It is based on context. |
| A．The Chinese. | B．The French. | C．The Mexicans. | D．The Russians. |
| A．Let it continue as the patient wants. | B．Break it while treating patients. |
| C．Evaluate (评估) its harm to patients. | D．Make use of its healing effects. |
| A．Sound and Silence | B．What It Means to Be Silent |
| C．Silence to Native Americans | D．Speech Is Silver, Silence Is Gold |
7 . 24 Solar Terms: 8 things you may not know about Frost’s Descent
The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Frost’s Descent (霜降), the 18th solar term of the year, begins this year on Oct 23 and ends on Nov 6.
Frosty autumn
Eating fruit
Eating persimmons during Frost’s Descent can help people resist the cold and protect their bones. In the countryside, people believe that their lips will crack if they don’t eat persimmons during this period. The apple is one kind of recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent. Apples can moisten the lungs, quench one’s thirst and help one’s digestion.
Eating duck
It’s a custom to eat duck on the first day of Frost’s Descent in south Fujian province. There is a saying in Fujian which goes, “Even nourishing all year is not as good as nourishing the human body on the first day of Frost’s Descent.”
People in areas such as Daxin county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region celebrate the first day of Frost’s Descent. In the Frost’s Descent Festival, the Zhuang people offer sacrifices, dance and sing folk songs. With a history of more than 360 years, the festival is to commemorate Cen Yuyin, a heroine in battles against foreign aggression.
| A．Eating chestnuts |
| B．Frost’s Descent Festival |
| C．But eating too many could be harmful |
| D．Frost’s Descent is the last solar term of autumn |
| E．Eating duck is a way for people there to gain weight |
| F．The pear is another recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent |
| G．Frost consists of white ice crystals of frozen water vapor near the ground |
8 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.
When the dancers moved 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 impress 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 have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To raise a question. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To describe the art world. | D．To show a doubtful thought. |
| A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. | B．A Chinese blue-green landscape. |
| C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng. | D．An old Chinese traditional painting. |
| A．Traditional culture is accepted and loved by people. |
| B．Green mountains and rivers greatly impress people. |
| C．The poetic dance can be staged in the theaters later. |
| D．Increasing modern shows feature Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．It explains why Chinese art enjoys popularity. |
| B．It shows us art can come to life through dance. |
| C．It highlights the beauty of Chinese traditional art. |
| D．It tells us the love for Chinese traditional painting. |
9 . China has named the nation’s first Mars rover (火星车) Zhu Rong. For all of us, Zhu Rong is a well-suited name.
In an ancient Chinese story, Zhu Rong had the face of a man and the body of an animal. H rode on two dragons.
When he had a big fight with Gong Gong, the god of water, Zhu Rong won. But after the fight, the human world came into complete darkness. Then he brought fire from heaven to the world.
“Zhu Rong is regarded as the earliest god of fire in traditional Chinese culture,” a space official said. “The first Mars rover was named Zhu Rong. The name symbolizes light and hope for space exploration in our country, and means to guide humans to continue exploration.”
After leaving the earth last summer, Zhu Rong circled Mars for several months and landed on it in May. In recent years, our country has sent up the world’s first quantum satellite (量子卫星), and Chang’e-4 has made a soft landing on the moon. We have made great progress in space technology and will soon start building our own space station.
1. What Zhu Rong brought from heaven to the world was ________.| A．fire | B．wars | C．water | D．animals |
| A．a big fight | B．complete darkness | C．light and hope | D．Chinese culture |
| A．the earth | B．Mars | C．the moon | D．the sun |
| A．Zhu Rong is a bad person in an ancient Chinese story |
| B．China has made great progress in space technology |
| C．the writer is proud of China’s space technology |
| D．the official doesn’t like the name Zhu Rong |
10 . Peng Jingxuan, a 26-year-old Chinese girl, is now studying in a music university in Paris. While learning abroad, she is also working at spreading traditional Chinese culture to the world. She can often be found on French streets, wearing a silk Han Dynasty-style dress and playing the guzheng to passers-by.
Born in 1995, Peng began to learn the guzheng when she was seven years old. After arriving in France in late 2017, she saw many people do street performances, but few of them knew about Chinese music. So she decided to play the guzheng on the streets.
Peng made her first performance in front of a theater in October, 2018. “I was very nervous at that time, but a lot of people said they enjoyed my performance,” Peng said. Then she started to perform during weekends and holidays. After being asked plenty of times by local people about the guzheng, Peng now carries a book that explains the instrument to foreigners. Later, she posted her first video of playing the guzheng online and it spread quickly. From then on, Peng has posted many videos of her street performances. The videos have got many likes and made her a very popular guzheng artist. She has millions of fans on the Internet now.
More and more people show great interest in the guzheng after watching Peng’s performances. “People come to me and praise me for the beauty of the instrument and the music. Every time they ask me which country the guzheng comes from, I am very happy to tell them it’s from China.” Peng feels she has more responsibility to spread traditional culture. “What is national is universal. I hope to play a bigger role in making Chinese music known by the world.” said Peng.
1. Why did Peng decide to play the guzheng on the streets in Paris?| A．Because she needed to make money for her education. |
| B．Because she wanted to become famous. |
| C．Because she found few people there knew about Chinese music. |
| D．Because she wanted to make videos to post online. |
①put her first video online
②got many fans
③went to Paris
④made her first performance
| A．③④①② | B．①②③④ | C．③①④② | D．①④②③ |
| A．Advising people to visit Pang. | B．Telling the story of a popular guzheng artist. |
| C．Asking people to learn the guzheng. | D．Encouraging readers to do street performances. |
