1 . My husband and I just spent a week in Paris.    1    So the first thing we did was rent a fantastically expensive sixth-floor apartment the size of a cupboard. It was so tiny that we had to leave our suitcases in the hallway.

The place wasn’t entirely authentic, though. Unlike a normal Parisian apartment, the plumbing (水管) worked.     2    Our building even had a tiny lift with a female voice that said, “Ouverture des portes,” in perfect French. That is the only French phrase I mastered, and it’s a shame I don’t have much use for it.

Parisians are different from you and me. They never look lazy or untidy. As someone noted in this paper a couple of weeks ago, they eat great food and never gain weight.     3     French strawberries do not taste like cardboard. Instead, they explode in your mouth like little flavor bombs.

    4     On our first morning in Paris, I went around the corner to the food market to pick up some groceries. I bought a handful of perfectly ripe small strawberries and a little sweet melon. My husband and I agreed they were the best fruit we had ever eaten. But they cost $18!

In France, quality of life is much more important than efficiency.

You can tell this by cafés life. French cafés are always crowded.    5    When do these people work? The French take their 35-hour workweek seriously — so seriously that some labor unions recently struck a deal with a group of companies limiting the number of hours that independent contractors can be on call.

A．Not all the customers are tourists.

B．The quality of life in France is equally excellent.

C．There was a nice kitchen and a comfortable bed.

D．The amazing food is mainly consumed by local farmers.

E．That’s not the only reason the French eat less than we do.

F．Our aim was to see if we could live, in some way, like real Parisians.

G．The food is so delicious that you don’t need much of it to make you happy.

2 . It can be very easy to stick with what you know, instead of trying to meet people who are different from you.     1    Here's what you can do:

Become self-aware.     2    This includes biases(偏见）about your own cultural background. It can be confronting, but by doing this you'll be able to think about how these traits might impact on your approach to and understanding of differences. You could try: Think about what assumptions you make about your friends, peers, and people you work with.

Talk to someone from a different cultural background. Try and get to know someone from a different cultural background better.     3    You'll automatically find out more about their life and experiences. Just being curious and open-minded can be helpful.

Be more accepting. Sometimes, for one reason or another, it's not all that easy to understand some cultural differences.     4     In other words, you don't have to understand, or even agree with, someone in order to accept them.

    5     One of the biggest difficulties to overcome in understanding cultural differences is making judgments based on one opinion. You should do some research to actually learn about people, instead of making broad-brush assessments. Stereotyping(模式化）people from different cultural backgrounds can impact their quality of life and opportunities.

A．Do your own research.

B．Think beyond stereotypes.

C．Practice being sympathetic towards people.

D．Work out your own beliefs, values and personal biases.

E．Instead of asking them questions directly, treat them as friends.

F．And the best approach is to acknowledge people are different and to accept that's okay.

G．However, trying to understand people from other countries can help you experience more.

3 . An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine.” The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.

Urbanization（都市化）has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.

In the early 2000s, cities including Nanjing and Bejjing-due to the critics’ protest about the loss of old neighborhoods-drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and restrict developers.

These conservation efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined temple was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some additions providing it for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated（重修的）oil tanks.

“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. “I’d rather not touch the historical buildings at all.” Building relocations he said however, are “a workable option.” “The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historical buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”

Shanghai has arguably been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century “shikumen” （or “stone gate”） house have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life.

“We have to preserve the historical building no matter what, ” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”

1. How did cities respond to the loss of historical sites?

A．They criticized the developers.	B．They rebuilt the historic hutongs.
C．They ended the significant threat.	D．They proposed the protection project.

2. What does the underlined word “it” in Para. 4 refer to?

A．All original form.

B．A new addition.

C．A cinema.

D．A temple.

3. What does the author intend to do in Para. 6?

A．Provide strong evidence.	B．Introduce different opinions.
C．Summarize previous paragraphs.	D．Add some background information.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Walking Machine: a New Technology	B．Rebuilding: a New Option for Relics
C．Old Building Torn down for Modern Use	D．Historical Site “Walks” to New Life

4 . The traditional Chinese Longtaitou Festival, or Dragon Head-Raising Festival, falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year, and recognizes the start of spring and farming. This year it falls on March 14.

Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall increases because the rain-bringing Dragon King has awoken from his winter sleep. A well-known phrase goes, “Er yue er, long tai tou”, meaning “On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon lifts his head.”

The festival celebrates ancient Chinese agrarian culture, and while some of traditional ways to celebrate it are no longer practised, others continue to exist.

The most famous tradition is getting a haircut. Some believe that going to the barber on this day gets rid of bad luck, while others believe getting a haircut during the first month of the lunar calendar brings bad luck. Another saying warns that cutting your hair in the first lunar month will cause your uncle to die. Although today few pay attention to it, it was once a tradition to line up outside barbershops on the day of Longtaitou.

People eat tofu balls in East China’s Fujian Province during the festival, and often make tofu and vegetable balls to pray for family and business. Fried beans are the traditional festival food for people in parts of Shandong Province. Eating chengyao cakes, which are made with sticky rice, during the festival is a tradition in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, owing to the saying, “If you eat chengyao cakes on Longtaitou, your waist won’t hurt all year.” Meanwhile other foods, like noodles, dumplings, and spring rolls, are named after dragon body parts to mark the day. Noodles are dragon’s beard (long xu), dumplings are dragon’s ears (long er), and spring rolls are dragon’s scales (long lin).

1. What did ancient people believe after Dragon Head-Raising Festival?

A．The dragon lifts his head.

B．There’s more rainfall.

C．The dragon is still sleeping.

D．There’s less rainfall.

2. What does the underlined word “agrarian” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Agricultural.

B．Industrial.

C．Travelling.

D．Manufacturing.

3. What do people eat in Suzhou during the festival?

A．Tofu balls.

B．Fried beans.

C．Chengyao cakes.

D．Dumplings.

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

A．The history and development of China’s Longtaitou Festival

B．Cut your hair on China’s Longtaitou Festival

C．The culture and traditions of China’s Longtaitou Festival

D．Food about China’s Longtaitou Festival