2 . In the Arab world, a souk is a market usually held in an open-air location. Souks are an important part of life in the Middle East.     1    Another attraction of souks is that they offer visitors a great opportunity to feel the local culture.

Most major souks probably started as informal meetings of merchants (商人) in open spaces, which slowly developed into more formal markets.    2    For example, some souks have partial ceilings (天花板) to protect against bad weather, along with narrow streets which do not permit cars.

Everything from glassware to meat can be found at a souk,with merchants coming from nearby areas to sell their products.     3    So visitors can easily find beautiful artworks in all shapes and sizes at a souk, often at very reasonable prices.

    4    By tradition, shoppers at a souk must negotiate (协商) with shopkeepers to reach a price. For large items, customers will have to sit down with the shopkeeper. They will be offered tea and snacks while the price, including storage and delivery costs sometimes, is discussed.

If you happen to be traveling in the Middle East, just pay a visit to a souk. Some regions have famous markets with a long and interesting history, and a souk is a great place to get souvenirs. You can find a local guide for your visit to ensure that you know local cultural rules well.    5    

A．Europeans prefer to pay the list price.

B．Many countries in the Middle East have long artistic traditions.

C．That will certainly allow you a more enjoyable day at the market.

D．People may be shocked at the long process of making a deal at souks.

E．There are many cultural differences between the West and the Middle East.

F．Nowadays, souks make special designs to create a customer-friendly environment.

G．Many visitors to the Middle Eastern countries enjoy going to souks to buy great goods.

4 . Four Strange American Traditions

Let’s look at four traditions Americans celebrate without even considering how strange the rest of world consider them.

Baby Showers

The custom of celebrating a new child has been around forever and is part of most cultures. In the US, however, it’s honored differently: with a baby shower. The baby shower began during the 1950s. It involves an afternoon party for the mom-to-be attended by close female friends and families. The guests play baby-themed games, and there’s always plenty of food.

Trick-or-treating

Many cultures have strong historic traditions like dressing up around the time of Halloween, but few of these involve children going door-to-door asking for candy with the words, “Trick or treat!” Typically, their parents wouldn’t allow them to talk to strangers, begging for candy in the streets at night. But all of a sudden they support such behaviors on one magical evening each fall.

Presidential Turkey Pardons

Thanksgiving in general seems to puzzle those who aren’t interested in American traditions, but perhaps no part of that turkey festival seems more unusual than the annual ceremony during which modern presidents give an official pardon to a live turkey. Interestingly, there’s also a great deal of confusion among Americans concerning the actual origins of this strange tradition.

Black Friday Shopping Sprees(疯狂购物)

People in the US have no problem lining up before the sun even rises to cash in on big deals on Black Friday. Just hours after millions of turkeys are eaten in the United States on Thanksgiving each year, the shoppers head out to get a start on their yearly Christmas gift list. Black Friday sales promotion traditionally launches this national weekend shopping activity, which continues with Small Business Saturday and ends with Cyber Monday.

1. What can the children do in Trick-or-treating?

A．Ask for candy from strangers.	B．Play some baby-themed games.
C．Hold a historic traditional party.	D．Support their parents to make a trick.

2. Which tradition’s origin is still unclear?

A．Baby Showers.	B．Trick-or-treating.
C．Presidential Turkey Pardons.	D．Black Friday Shopping Sprees.

3. Why do Americans head out to go shopping on Black Friday?

A．They are fond of shopping activities.	B．They can buy some discounted goods.
C．They want to improve its popularity.	D．They have to prepare candy for strangers.

6 . The following chart is provided by Elizabeth Weise from《America Today》. It shows the growth of the immersive schools in America.

Immersive (沉浸式) Schools in America In recent years, there have been quite a few Chinese immersive schools in America. Full Immersion: Pre-k children aged 2 to 4 are fully immersed in Chinese all day — 5 days per week. Part Immersion: Children (in kindergarten through Grade 5 in primary schools, from Grade 6 to Grade 8 in middle schools) learn all subjects in both Chinese and English.

Based on The Daily Advertiser’s report, foreign children at the age of about 5 are having Chinese lessons like this:

Zhaoting Xia, a 29-year-old teacher, holds paper copies of Chinese currency and invites kids up one at a time to use the “money” to purchase something from her pretend fruit stand.

One of the students, a 5-year-old boy, picks out his money and greets Xia with “ni hao”, starting the conversation as he has been taught. Then he works in some vocabulary words to ask for a plastic ear of corn. Xia tells him the price, and he counts the money in his hand before making the exchange. They finish with “xiexie” or “thank you”.

In this one exercise, they’ve practiced a lot in such a “real situation”. And all of this takes place in Chinese.

1. What can we learn about the immersive schools in America based on the chart?

A．Children in them are aged 2 to 4.

B．They accept only Chinese children in America.

C．All the teachers in the immersive schools come from China.

D．The immersive schools have greatly increased in America since 2007.

2. Which of the following can children practice in this one exercise mentioned in the text?

A．Vocabulary, sentence structure, math and culture.

B．Knowing about “Chinese money — renminbi”.

C．Counting the number from 1-10 in Chinese.

D．Greeting by saying “Hello!” to each other.

3. What might Elizabeth Weise be?

A．A teacher.	B．A headmaster.
C．A reporter.	D．A director.

7 . 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.    1    

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.    2    It informs and is encapsulated in how we walk, sit, carry our bodies and interact with others; how we behave depending on the place, time and “audience”; and how we express identities of race, class and gender, among others. Culture includes the collective practices we participate in as well, such as religious ceremonies, the celebration of secular holidays and attending sporting events.

    3    This aspect of culture includes a wide variety of things, from buildings, technological gadgets and clothing, to film, music, literature and art, among others. Aspects of material culture are more commonly referred to as cultural products.

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.    4    But it is not a one–way relationship between material and non–material culture. Material culture can also influence the non-material aspects of culture. For example, a powerful documentary film might change people’s attitudes and beliefs.    5    What has come before in terms of music, film, television and art, for example, influences the values, beliefs and expectations of those who interact with them, which then, in turn, influence the creation of additional cultural products.

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 .

Wherever we go, we are surrounded by history. Across the globe, cultural heritage is passed down through the generations. It is in the buildings and structures around us. It is in the arts and artifacts (手工艺品) we treasure. It lives in the languages we speak and the stories we tell. But today, it is under attack as never before. Not only are the damages of time threatening our cultural heritage, but conflicts, climate change, globalization and tourism are all exacting a heavy price. Technology is now the most essential weapon in the battle. Here's how technology is preserving our cultural heritage.

As you can imagine, creating the replicas (复制品) via crowd sourced 2D images is extremely time-consuming. Increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms (算法) are being used to do all the required sourcing, allowing millions of images to be stored in a matter of hours.   AI will also make restoration and preservation of existing cultural heritage far easier and vastly superior to previous methods.

Virtual reality (VR) technology will play a leading role in preserving our cultural heritage in the coming years. Many of the most important sites and architecture are extremely fragile. Human interaction with these locations is doing a great deal of harm. Wastes accumulate everywhere, causing enormous problems. As more cultural heritage sites and objects are digitally mapped and recorded, VR technology will increasingly become the way that people experience them. We'll all eventually be able to walk through places, look at (and touch!) artifacts and works of art without ever seeing them with our own eyes.

Finally, our cultural heritage will be preserved via technology. Efforts in research, innovation, data sharing and project work will help promote and preserve the cultural heritage of countries all across the world.

1. What does the underlined word “exacting” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Paying.

B．Cutting.

C．Receiving.

D．Demanding.

2. What is the advantage of Al in preserving cultural heritage?

A．It generates 2D images.	B．It makes restoration easier.
C．It makes preservation safer.	D．It creates replicas in seconds.

3. How does VR help to preserve cultural heritage?

A．By recycling huge amounts of waste.	B．By reducing human impact on the site.
C．By forbidding visitors from touching artifacts.	D．By educating people about the sites' importance.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．How Technology Changes Art	B．What Cultural Heritage Means to Us
C．Preserve the Ancient with the Advanced	D．Prepare for a Revolution in Technology

10 . Cengiz Ozek sits at his desk in the poorly lit back office of his shadow theater near Taksim Square in central Istanbul. The theater is one of the last in operation in the city. He holds a piece of camel leather, a sheet of paper with some drawings on it, and a small cutter. In front of him are a few bottles of paints that he will use to create jointed puppets(皮影人偶). Ozek, one of the most influential contemporary Turkish puppeteers, hopes to appeal to a younger audience and boost the culture of Turkish shadow theater.

“There might be around 50 people, more or less, who do shadow theater in Turkey today, but only five or six of them are real professionals who are completely devoted to it," says Ozek while he works on a figure of Karagoz, the most famous figure in Turkish shadow theater---so famous is the character that the art itself is often called Karagoz.

To date, scholars have not been able to determine where this type of theater began to exist. Suggestions range from China to Central Asia, and from India to Byzantine Greece. Some scholars have focused on Bursa, the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire(奥斯曼帝国), and believe that the two main characters, Hacivat and Karagoz, were real people who lived in that city at the time. The two men were construction workers who often told jokes to amuse their co-workers, resulting in delays in the completion of their work. In the end, they were sentenced to death. However, the people of Bursa missed them so much that they began to tell their stories in the form of puppetry.

Ozek wants to open a Karagoz museum in his city in order to keep this art alive. He’s also developing new characters to catch the attention of children. "We first try to attract them with modern characters that they know, and while they’re watching, suddenly we bring out Karagoz," Ozek says. "We introduce him to them once again. When they watch it, they are satisfied, and we are happy as well. And like that, Karagoz survives in a way."

1. What is Ozek doing according to paragraph 1?

A．He is making some puppets.

B．He is watching a puppet show.

C．He is taking a rest in his office.

D．He is performing for his audience.

2. What can be learned about Turkish shadow theater?

A．It came to Turkey from India directly.

B．It first appeared at a construction site.

C．It is now on the path to decline.

D．It is usually known as Hacivat.

3. What is stressed in the third paragraph?

A．The influence of shadow theater.

B．The origin of puppetry in Turkey.

C．The history of Bursa as a capital city.

D．The punishment in the Ottoman Empire.

4. Why does Ozek want to open a Karagoz museum?

A．To breathe some life into his city.

B．To achieve his childhood dream.

C．To display puppeteers' works.

D．To carry shadow theater on.