1 . As the most significant and traditional festival in China, the Chinese New Year is associated with many traditions and customs. Some of these traditions are dying out, so people feel that the festival becomes less interesting and conventional.
Kowtowing to Elders
Chinese New Year traditions regarding greeting are not like kissing, embracing, and handshaking in western countries. In the past, the first thing for a Chinese New Year visit started with kowtowing to the elders. You need to kneel down to show respect and gratitude to the elders.
Staying Up on Chinese New Year’s Eve
According to a legend, the fierce monster Nian would come to harm people and livestock(牲畜) on Chinese New Year’s Eve, which would cause great damage to people’s efforts of a whole year.
No Sweeping or Dumping on the Lunar New Year’s Day
In the old days, it was considered improper to sweep the house, or dump rubbish on the first day of the lunar year, for it indicated that all the good luck and fortune would be driven far away.
Opening-door Firecrackers
People will set off firecrackers in the early morning of Lunar New Year’s Day.
| A．Once they wake up, it is the first thing they do. |
| B．To avoid its attack, people would shut doors and stay awake. |
| C．The Spring Festival is a good chance for separated friends and families to get together. |
| D．Well, let’s see the vanishing(消失) Chinese New Year traditions you may not know. |
| E．It is really physically challenging work if you have a big family and you happen to be the youngest. |
| F．However, people nowadays are likely to keep the house clean and tidy, especially when they have guests. |
| G．All the trash should be dumped afterwards, symbolizing all the poverty and hardship will be thrown away. |
2 . Guqin-making is a process that takes patience and carefulness. Patience is one of the key parts in making a guqin.” It takes about two years to finish making one,” says Sui Yiyangg, 37, who, has been applying himself to guqin-making for over ten years.
The body of a guqin is made of two parts, a fat bottom and an arched (拱形) top. The body of the instrument is carefully and repeatedly covered with a thin layer of oil paint, which can take months to finish.
The strings (琴弦) of a guqin are traditionally made of silk; today they are often specially developed into steel-and-nylon strings.
Sui learned guitar as a teenager. He was introduced to the guqin when he travelled with his father. During the seven-hour drive from Beijing to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, he listened to the guqin recording in his father’s car and was attracted.
“The beautiful and lasting sounds of the guqin are different from the Western musical instruments I learned,” he remembers.
After returning to Beijing, he started learning the instrument. Later, he learned how to make the guqin from HAN Tingyao, now 85, a Beijing-based master artist.
Sui travels nationwide and even abroad to buy high-quality materials and tools. For example the kind and quality of the wood is very important, so he often travels to Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in search of the right materials. He gets the paint, which is used to protect the guqin from corrosion (腐蚀)，from a single place — Rentoushan, a village in Maoba township, Lichuan city, Hubei province.
Years of guqin-making experience has gifted Sui with the ability to make high-quality instruments. “Each guqin has its unique sense of reality, which you can only get to know after you feel it with your own hands,” he says.
1. Which of the following can best describe Sui Yiyang?| A．Out-going and loving. | B．Easy-going and careless. |
| C．Patient and careful. | D．Confident and responsible. |
| A．Five years ago. | B．After the trip with his father. |
| C．During a party with his friends. | D．While visiting a famous artist in Beijing. |
| A．Because he wanted to learn guitar. |
| B．Because he wished to visit the places of interest. |
| C．Because he hoped to become an artist like Han Tingyao. |
| D．Because he wanted to find the good wood of making the guqin. |
| A．People. | B．Sports. | C．Travel. | D．Nature. |
3 . In our country, it is very important for people to have Chinese traditional festivals (传统节日). They bring love and happiness to us. Let’s see what people are doing during these festivals.
| Today is Spring Festival Eve. At 7:00 p.m., Wu Ming’s family are all together at home. His grandparents are cooking. His parents are cleaning the house. He is helping them to clean the table. An hour later, they will have a big dinner together. |
| It is 9:00 p.m. on the Lantern Festival. Li Fang is going out to watch the lanterns with his cousins. There are many kinds of tiger lanterns on the street. They are so happy and having a good time. |
| Today is Dragon Boat Festival. It is 8:00 a.m. and Li Lei’s family are very busy. His father is making zongzi with his grandma. It takes them two hours to finish it. His family are watching the boat races on TV when they are eating zongzi. |
| Ling Tao and his family are in the garden now because today is Mid-Autumn Festival. They are talking with each other and sharing the story about Chang’e. It is an interesting story. At the same time, they are eating mooncakes and watching the round moon. |
| A．cleaning the house | B．watching TV |
| C．cooking the soup | D．cooking the food |
| A．Li Lei | B．Ling Tao |
| C．Li Fang | D．Ling Fen |
| A．eight in the morning | B．seven in the morning |
| C．nine in the evening | D．we don’t know |
| A．in the garden | B．on the street |
| C．at home | D．at the hotel |
| A．people clean up the house before festivals |
| B．people like to have festivals with their family |
| C．people are always spending festivals outside |
| D．people don’t like to have festivals with their family |
4 . The 2023 Shanghai Coffee Culture Week opened on May 13, with a variety of activities integrating industry, culture and lifestyle scheduled.
Shanghai, home to more than 8,00 coffee houses, has hosted the event since 2021. This year’s Coffee Culture Week is organized by the Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Association, and will run through to June 2.
Coffee has become a key part of Shanghai culture, showcasing the city’s characteristics of opening-up and inclusiveness(包容),local officials said at a news conference in early May.
On the event’s opening day, Yongpu Coffee, in collaboration with the food delivery platform Eleme and China Construction Bank, offered 30,000 cups of coffee for free. Multiple coffee brands such as Luckin Coffee and McCafe will also provide free coffee and coupons (优惠券) during the event.
From May 18 to 21, West Bund International Coffee and Lifestyle Festival is taking place in Xuhui Binjiang area, involving more than 100 coffee brand outlets (销售点) located along a 5-kilometer shoreline of the Huangpu River.
It is the first time that Shanghai has launched such a large coffee-themed market, organizers said. In addition to enjoying freshly brewed coffee, visitors can attend diverse activities such as exhibitions, performances and workshops to experience coffee culture.
Many cultural sites in the city are also participating in the coffee culture week. Sinan Mansions in downtown Shanghai is holding the Bonjour Coffee Art Fair from May 19 to 21,which has attracted some 20 coffee staff members and 80artists.
The Shanghai History Museum will launch the Square Coffee Festival, inviting fans and industry experts to share their knowledge about coffee. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Books and Periodicals Distribution Association will hold a coffee-themed book fair in more than 80 stores across the city.
Organizers said they hope these events will boost the consumption of coffee and cultural products, and promote the coordinated development of the two industries.
The Shanghai Coffee Industry Summit will take place on May 26, which includes two roundtable discussions and about 10 seminars. Corporate leaders will discuss the latest consumer trends and offer their insights into hot topics.
According to data from domestic tech and retail giant Meituan, the value of China’s freshly brewed coffee industry is expected to reach 15.79 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) this year. It was valued at 8.97billion yuan in 2021.
1. Why was the Coffee Culture Week hosted?| A．To hold diverse activities. | B．To spread knowledge about coffee. |
| C．To show the city’s unique features. | D．To promote coffee industry and culture. |
| A．Get coupons and make freshly brewed coffee. |
| B．Enjoy free coffee and read coffee-themed books. |
| C．Visit coffee exhibitions and put on performances. |
| D．Share ideas about coffee and get employed in workshops. |
| A．Coffee consumption is increasing rapidly in China. |
| B．Meituan has benefited a lot from coffee industry. |
| C．The Coffee Culture Week has boosted the coffee industry. |
| D．Freshly brewed coffee industry is the most promising industry. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Culture. | C．Health. | D．Science. |
5 . Today’s workplaces are more multicultural than ever, and it’s normal to work with people from many different places and backgrounds. This has opened up many new opportunities — but it also creates some challenges.
Cultural differences aren’t just about nationality, race or belief. Many of us work in multi-generational organizations, alongside younger or older colleagues who have cultural references, assumption and attitudes that are very different from our own. All of this means that we need to be better at understanding and operating in a wide variety of cultures. That’s where Cultural Intelligence, or also CQ, the ability to adapt to new cultural settings, comes in.
People with high CQ aren’t experts in every kind of culture. Instead, they have the skills to go into new environments with confidence, and to make informed judgments based on observations and evidence.
These people are good at understanding unfamiliar or ambiguous behaviour. They recognize shared influences among particular groups, and this allows them to identify the impact of a particular culture.
However, they also know that cultural influences are complex and interconnected. And they’re aware that while culture is significant, factors such as business roles and individual personalities can have a powerful effect on behaviour, too.
For example, let’s say you have a meeting with an Italian stockbroker (证券经纪人). Does this person behave the way people do because they’re Italian, because they’re stockbrokers, or because they’re Italian stockbrokers? Or is it because they’re millennials, or introverts? It’s likely a combination of all of these elements (要素), so aim to avoid making assumptions or generalizations based on any single aspect.
Cultural knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to know every detail of a culture. It’s about knowing how that culture in general shapes people’s behaviours, values, and beliefs. When you understand that, individual “rules” of behaviour make much more sense.
1. Why do we need to have CQ?| A．Because the earth has become a global village. |
| B．Because we work in multi-national organizations. |
| C．Because we trade with people from all over the world. |
| D．Because we work with people from different places and backgrounds. |
| A．People with high CQ specialize in every kind of culture. |
| B．People with high CQ can understand unfamiliar or uncertain behaviour. |
| C．People with high CQ have an ability of dealing with different customers. |
| D．People with high CQ think it is easy for them to adapt to new cultural settings. |
| A．To show a special Italian man. |
| B．To stress the importance of learning stocks. |
| C．To prove complex cultural influences. |
| D．To demonstrate the need of understanding others. |
| A．How to find the individual “rules” of behaviour. |
| B．How to know every detail of an unfamiliar culture. |
| C．How to work in a multicultural workplace. |
| D．How to understand others in multicultural workplace. |
6 . There are many customs and traditions connected to yearly celebrations which are part of Britain’s folklore (民俗). Lughnasadh is a celebration at the beginning of August.
Although these customs have been passed down to us from forgotten generations, they themselves have not been forgotten and continue to play a part in our modern lives.
| A．Most families observe with a large meal and sometimes a religious service. |
| B．There are Morris dancing groups in places as far away as New Zealand and San Francisco! |
| C．It is a holiday rooted in the belief that the world is spiritually connected to heaven. |
| D．Not all the origins of ancient traditions are remembered, however. |
| E．Every week groups of individuals regularly meet to sing, play instruments or practice ancient dances. |
| F．A custom connected with it is to make corn dolls with corn from the last of the harvest. |
7 . This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers from all over the world will spend about ten months in American homes. They will attend American schools, meet American teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study, the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car.
“Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize American schools”, he says. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany, we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”
1. The whole exchange programme is mainly to________.| A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America |
| B．send students in America to travel in Germany |
| C．let students learn something about other countries |
| D．have teenagers learn new languages |
| A．American food tasted better than German food |
| B．German schools were harder than American schools |
| C．Americans and Germans were both friendly |
| D．there were more cars on the streets in America |
| A．there is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings |
| B．there are a lot of after-school activities |
| C．students usually take fourteen subjects in all |
| D．students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car |
| A．a better education should include something good from both America and Germany |
| B．German schools trained students to be better citizens |
| C．American schools were not as good as German schools |
| D．the easy life in the American school was more helpful to students |
8 . Symptoms of Culture Shock and Their Stages
Like any new experience, there’s a feeling of euphoria (兴高采烈) when you first arrive in a new country and you’re in awe of the differences you see and experience.
The Distress Stage
Everything you’re experiencing no longer feels new; in fact, it’s starting to feel like a thick wall that’s preventing you from experiencing things. You feel confused, alone, and realize that the familiar support systems are not easily available.
Re-integration Stage
During this stage, you start refusing to accept the differences you meet.
Autonomy Stage
This is the first stage of acceptance. It’s the emergence stage when you start to rise above the clouds and finally begin to feel like yourself again. You start to accept the differences and feel like you can begin to live with them.
Independence Stage
| A．You are yourself again! |
| B．You feel excited, stimulated, and enriched. |
| C．You feel more confident and better able to handle any problems that may arise. |
| D．You are still what you are and there is no change at all. |
| E．You are like a baby. |
| F．You’re angry, frustrated, and even feel hostile (敌对的) to those around you. |
9 . Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one’s own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to another type of life. One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign environment. Culture shock can be described as consisting of at least one of four distinct phases: honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation.
Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they make efforts to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communication is a related field of study.
Culture shock is a very real experience for many people who move to another country. Anyone who has lived or studied or even travelled extensively in another country has tasted and lived through some level of culture shock. At the time it may feel more like homesickness, but what most people who haven’t undergone any kind of adaptation program don’t know are the stages one goes through when adjusting to a new language, country, and culture.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．Cross-cultural communication. | B．Cultural environment. |
| C．Cultural shock. | D．Intercultural communication. |
| A．A couple go on a photography team overseas. |
| B．A student studies in a foreign country. |
| C．An American settled down in China twenty years ago. |
| D．A teacher teaches foreign culture courses. |
| A．A branch of intercultural communication study. |
| B．A study of people from different countries. |
| C．A study of communication across cultures. |
| D．A study of differences between Western and Eastern culture. |
| A．Cultural shock will happen to everyone. |
| B．Cultural shock is like a kind of homesickness. |
| C．Varying stages are necessary to go through culture shock. |
| D．People may taste culture shock when they travel abroad. |
10 . What is culture shock? It is a phenomenon that all types of outside experience, no matter if people work abroad for the first time or they are new in the field of foreign assignments. Often, it is the deeper cultural differences in mindset, customs and interpersonal interaction that lead to this phenomenon(现象)and turn cultural transition into a struggle.
◇An Emotional Roller-coaster(过山车)
Whereas every expatriate(侨民, 旅居国外者)will experience some form of culture shock, not everyone goes through all the well—known stages. Culture shock is a sense of anxiety and nervousness caused by being exposed to a strange environment and culture. However, it’s an essential part of the transition process: A willingness to work through it is the first step towards integration(融合).
Those who refuse to face it often fail to overcome it. This may result in great disillusionment. For some, the only logical solution is then going back home before the end of their assignment. Such expatriate failures occur particularly often in cases where the cultures of home and host country differ greatly.
The first step towards fighting this unavoidable phenomenon is to ask yourself “What is culture shock?” and try to understand it. Most experts describe it as a roller-coaster riding process where they experience waves of positive and negative feelings.
◇Minimizing the Effects
Culture shock is not a myth, but a predictable phenomenon. Anybody who spends more than just a vacation abroad has to go through it. Those who receive the least support on a professional and personal basis are usually hit the hardest. Expatriate spouses(配偶)in particular often feel lonely and angry when they experience life in a new cultural environment. If expatriates learn about the culture and people in their host countries in advance, they will be less shocked by obvious differences in social customs, religion, language or food.
1. What does the underlined word “outside“ in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．outdoors | B．strange | C．overseas | D．special |
| A．cannot answer the question “What is culture shock” |
| B．faces culture shock fearlessly |
| C．is careful and stays away from culture shock |
| D．tries to ignore culture shock |
| A．Culture shock is everywhere and we can’t avoid it. |
| B．As long as you come from a foreign country, the degree of being hit by culture shock remains the same. |
| C．One thing we can do to get less hurt by culture shock is to learn ahead of time. |
| D．Family members such as husbands or wives of the expatriates usually get less culture shock. |
