1 . Music and art festivals are fun and exciting events. If you're panning to go to a festival, it's important to plan your trip carefully to ensure that you re safe and have a good time.
■Bring clothes to keep warm or cool
In addition to your fun festival clothing, pack a raincoat, some light tank tops, and a sweater or sweatshirt. Don't forget longer pants for cool evenings or bad weather. In general, it's best to leave your umbrella at home because they can be dangerous in large crowds.
■Get a cheap tent and sleeping bag for multi - day festivals
A majority of people end up throwing their tent away after long festivals, since they normally break from the use. Pick up a less expensive tent with enough room for you and your friends and pack a comfortable seeping bag for yourself, 1f you don't want to camp at the festival, remember to book an AirBnb or a hotel room nearby!
■Place a first aid kit in a proper place
Before the festival, buy a small first aid kit with band aids, and any medication that you need to take, in case you get minor injuries or a headache. Keep it in a proper place that's easily accessible, like your tent or car.
1. Why should umbrellas be left at home?| A．They take up too much space. | B．The weather will be terrible. |
| C．They might hurt someone. | D．Travelers prefer raincoats, |
| A．Sell them. | B．Return them. | C．Pack them up. | D．Throw them away. |
| A．It should be put at hand. | B．It ought to be big enough. |
| C．It must contain all medicines. | D．It has to be placed in the car. |
2 . For five days, Edmonton’s Downtown Park is transformed into one huge stage where artists are able to share their talents, and where people are able to celebrate and enjoy themselves. Since its beginning in 1980, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival has been commemorating the true feeling of what folk music is all about and that’s the traditional togetherness(友爱) that is felt when people gather to share stories and feelings through songs.
This year will be the sixth year when volunteer Riedel will be offering up her time to the festival. “People coming off a busy spring and summer have a moment of relaxation,” Riedel said. “It’s really easy to relax, and it’s great seeing family and friends have fun together.” These families and friends come from all different kinds of musical tastes. People who take pleasure in Blues are there, so are people who love Bluegrass. This festival does its best to develop everyone’s musical interests.
With so many years of experience, the festival has become a well-oiled machine, and does whatever it can to make attendees feel as comfortable as possible. There are free water stations throughout the venue(举办地) for people to fill up their travel cups. When people buy food, reusable dishes are given a $2 plate fee, but that is returned when the plate is brought back.
The festival has completely sold out of tickets, and in record time. But with big names such as Van Morrison and Jakob Dylan, it’s easy to see how that was going to happen. There is no parking area during the festival, so using the Park & Ride system or Edmonton Transit is highly recommended. A bike lock-up area is provided and will be available Thursday until Sunday one hour before the gates open until 45 minutes after the gates close.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival begins on Wednesday, Aug. 4 with Van Morrison playing the special donation fund concert, and will finish up on Sunday, Aug. 8.
1. The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is held mainly to _______.| A．gather people with different musical tastes |
| B．remind people of the real sense of folk music |
| C．exhibit the good voices of great talents in folk music |
| D．collect old stories of folk music |
| A．Riedel has volunteered for the festival for at least 5 years. |
| B．It’s hard for people to appreciate Blues. |
| C．It costs people a little to fill up their cups from water stations. |
| D．People have to pay $2 for a plate of food. |
| A．people can get tickets easily for the festival |
| B．the Edmonton Folk Music Festival is well organized |
| C．driving one’s own car to the festival is highly recommended |
| D．bikes are available at the festival from Wednesday to Sunday |
3 . After shopping for deals in stores on “Black Friday”, or online on “Cyber Monday”, Americans and people worldwide are preparing for newly popular “Giving Tuesday”. Starting in 2012, now the global event that is celebrated annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is the brainchild of 92nd Street Y, a cultural center in New York City and the United Nations Foundation.
As the name indicates, “Giving Tuesday” is meant to restart the charitable season and therefore observed by raising funds for local nonprofits and schools, organizing food and clothing drives, and conducting random acts of kindness. In 2015, 700,000 people from 71 countries came together to donate $116.7 million in cash. An additional $1.08 million was spent on gifts.
While the easiest way to participate is by donating to your favorite charity, this day can be celebrated in many other ways too. You can give back by volunteering at your local shelter or food bank, or even by donating blood. If all else fails, a purchase from the growing number of organizations that give a portion of their sales to charity will do the trick.
But perhaps the best way to celebrate the day is by helping those nearest and dearest to you. Assist a family member with a simple chore like folding laundry, cooking dinner, or even reading to a younger sibling. No matter what you do, be sure to share your good deed on social media and inspire others to celebrate “Giving Tuesday” as well!
1. What’s the main purpose of “Giving Tuesday”?| A．To persuade more people to shop online. |
| B．To make Thanksgiving Day enjoyable. |
| C．To encourage more people to do charity. |
| D．To get voluntary work better known. |
| A．To donate money to local schools. |
| B．To keep a record of one’s experience. |
| C．To help people make new friends. |
| D．To make “Giving Tuesday” more popular. |
| A．Business. | B．Culture. | C．Education. | D．Lifestyle. |
4 . Noah Higgs hated learning Irish in school. He hated the way it was taught, overly formal and disconnected from ordinary people’s lives. Most of all he hated the effect the lessons had on his fellow students’ willingness to speak the language. But the Dublin native never lost his love for Irish, nor his opinion that more people should be learning the language.
Today, almost 40% of the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide are endangered, according to the United Nations. More are going extinct every year. It was once widely feared that the Internet revolution would accelerate this decline. If developers and smartphone manufacturers aren’t willing to invest in supporting minority languages, that would cut off people who speak them from an important way to communicate and trap those languages in the past.
Higgs, 23, though, is one of a small group of educators and activists reinventing how minority languages are taught and preserved online by using cutting-edge technology.
When he was 17, Higgs had a “crazy teenage idea”. He had begun using Duolingo, a mobile language-learning app, to study French, and wondered if the creators had considered adding support for Irish.
At the time in early 2013, there were five languages on Duolingo, the smallest of which, Italian, has an estimated 67.9 million speakers worldwide. By comparison, at its height in the 18th century, there were an estimated four million Irish speakers. Today the figure is closer to 1.2 million.
“I didn’t get a reply,” Higgs said.
But his email wasn’t ignored. Inside Duolingo’s open-plan, Silicon Valley-style headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, change was going on. Within five years, the language startup would build a library of over 30 languages, including some of the most endangered on the planet.
1. What was the public concern over the Internet revolution?| A．People’s less contact in real life. | B．The negative effect on the lessons. |
| C．Fewer ways of learning languages. | D．The decline of endangered languages. |
| A．Turning to Duolingo to study French. |
| B．Teaching minority languages on the Internet. |
| C．Asking Duolingo developers to support Irish. |
| D．Using cutting-edge technology to preserve Irish. |
| A．Higgs’ email went unnoticed. | B．Duolingo improved its service. |
| C．Duolingo’s headquarters changed. | D．Irish was on the point of dying out. |
5 . To joke around is to have fun with someone. To fool someone is to try to make them believe something that is not true.
April 1st is known as the day to fool people with practical jokes, pranks or harmless tricks.
Many centuries ago, people in the Western world used the Julian calendar.
The fool is a common character in art, music and literature. William Shakespeare is famous for his fools. And fools make for great pop songs. Fools are found in many words, expressions and proverbs. To be foolhardy means to do something that are too dangerous or risky. For example, it is foolhardy to hike up a mountain during a heavy snowstorm. If something is foolproof, it is planned or made so well that nothing could go wrong.
''Look, I don't want to get into trouble. This plan of yours sounds risky. ''
''My plan is foolproof. Nothing will go wrong as long as you do exactly as I say. ''
| A．Not even a fool could mess it up. |
| B．And that is the purpose of April Fools' Day. |
| C．They celebrated the New Year on April 1st. |
| D．Even a smart person can be a fool at times. |
| E．But the tradition remains the same—to fool someone. |
| F．Fools also find themselves in many proverbs. |
| G．But how did this tradition begin? |
6 . If you land in India anytime in late February or March, it’s wise to check the dates of the annual Holi festival and bring a spare set of clothes. That’s because for a few days in spring, people crowd the streets and pelt (投掷) anyone walking by with brightly-colored powder to celebrate the arrival of spring and the end of evil. It’s hard to avoid the fun and the paint, unless you stay inside or look angry enough to discourage the custom.
“Watch out, madam!” said my taxi driver in Amritsar as we drove through a crowd of young people pelting each other with powder. “The colors never come out of your clothes,” he said. “And you might be having purple hair for many days.”
I did a quick check. I was wearing black, a color rarely seen in India. It is usually connected with the lowest social classes, and can be viewed as unlucky. I was happy for my clothes to be painted in colors.
“I have some powder I bought for my children. You can have some gladly, to join in our customs.” he encouraged. Holding what the driver handed me as my weapon of choice, I walked into the Holi smoke. At first people politely avoided foreigners. But then a girl in a sari(一种印度服饰) ran up smiling and put paint on my face. I returned the favor with a handful of pink.
With its brilliant clothes, exotic flowers, trucks covered with lights and brightly painted pictures of gods, India is truly one of the most colorful places on the planet!
1. Which of the following sentences about the Holi festival is correct?| A．It falls on the same day each year and is celebrated for a few days. |
| B．It is a playful cultural event to throw colors at friends or strangers. |
| C．It has many purposes, celebrating the end of spring in particular. |
| D．It is fun for local people but a little unacceptable for foreigners. |
| A．the festival influenced my taste in fashion. |
| B．the taxi driver suggested wearing something colorful. |
| C．black was the color not liked by people in India. |
| D．a girl invited me to join in their customs. |
| A．the color black provides people with a sense of mystery and tradition. |
| B．foreigners can’t be too careful in the street in India during the Holi festival. |
| C．a sari, worn especially by Indian women, is a must for the Holi celebration. |
| D．anyone can be attacked during Holi festival. |
7 . Craziest Food Festivals sounds like a joke topic, but once you start looking into it, you’ll realize they’re everywhere — the crazier, the better.
1. Bibimbap Festival
In the South Korean town of Jeonjuloves, their “mixed rice” dish is a hearty serve of rice topped with raw beef, a rainbow of vegetables, a raw egg and gochujang sauce so much. They take four days out of October to celebrate it.
Like any festival there’s music, entertainment and magic, but making it that little bit different is the bibimbap that’s whipped (搅拌) up in a big bowl by dozens of chefs and served to over 400 people.
2. Waikiki Spam Jam
Who knew this canned meat had so much love? Well, it turns out that a can of Spam is the go-to item in Hawaii, along with a grass skirt and garland (花环). The people of Hawaii love Spam so much that they even spend a day in May giving out the best Spam, a type of cheap canned meat made mainly from pork.
3. Bessieres Easter Egg Festival
At Easter time, for those in the French town of Bessieres it’s all about an egg far less sweet.
Here they celebrate the holiday by getting dozens of chefs to make one large omelette (煎蛋卷) — 15,000 eggs strong — for the townsfolk (市民).
4. Potato Days Festival
This festival actually takes place in Barnesville, Minnesota, the US. Over the last Friday and Saturday in August the town celebrates its potato-growing skills by hosting potato picking and peeling contests, as well as a Miss Tater Tot pageant (盛典) for five- and six-year-old girls.
1. What makes Bibimbap festival special?| A．They take four days to celebrate it. |
| B．The mixed rice is rich in many vegetables. |
| C．There’s music, entertainment and magic during the festival. |
| D．The rice dish needs to be mixed in one big bowl by dozens of chefs together. |
| A．The spam is the most favorite for Hawii people. |
| B．People spend one day to prepare the Jam. |
| C．The Jam isn’t affordable for the plain townsfolk. |
| D．The Jam is mainly made from raw beef. |
| A．Bibimbap Festival | B．Waikiki Spam Jam |
| C．Bessieres Easter Egg Festival | D．Potato Days Festival |
8 . Culture shock isn’t a clinical term or medical conditions. It’s simply a common way to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person may have after leaving a familiar culture to live in a different culture.
Everyone feels the pressure to fit in at one time or another—whether they’ve lived in the area for days or years. But don’t feel like you need to change everything about yourself so you can stand out less.
Here are a few tips for making sure your new culture doesn’t overpower the old:
Educate people about your culture. Just because you’re the one entering the new culture doesn’t mean you should be the one doing all the learning.
Find a support group. Find kids in your class or neighborhood who recently moved, too. You can share experiences.
Remember, it’s important to be yourself.
| A．Keep in touch with home. |
| B．Understand the new culture. |
| C．But the good news is that culture shock is temporary. |
| D．When you move to a new place, you’re bound to face a lot of changes. |
| E．Try not to force yourself to change too fast or too many things all at once. |
| F．All of your experiences before you came to your new home are part of you. |
| G．Take the opportunity to teach classmates and new friends about your culture. |
9 . Every March, the country celebrates the achievements of women in American history. Even though these achievements go back a long way, most schools didn’t start focusing on women pioneers and their achievements until recently. Today, most schools teach kids about the many contributions women have made to our country. How did this change come about?
On March 19, 1911, a German woman named Clara Zetkin organized the very first International Women’s Day. Inspired by American working women, the event took on the causes of peace in an effort to end World War I as well as women’s rights. However, people’s interest in International Women’s Day still dwindled over the years. It gained momentum (势头) again in the 1960’s when the women’s movement caused women to wonder why they weren’t included in the history books.
By the 1970s, more female historians began to look back at women’s contributions in history. In 1978, a California school district started Women’s History Week to promote the teaching of women’s history. School officials picked the week of March 8 to include International Women’s Day. It was so popular that, in 1981, Congress passed a resolution, making the week a celebration for the entire country. The concept of studying women’s history continued to grow in popularity. In 1987, a group of women asked Congress to expand the celebration. That same year, Congress declared the entire month of March National Women’s History Month.
Today, schools and communities across the country celebrate the month with special lessons and activities designed to teach the ways women have helped shape the US. The women who have worked hard to make Women’s History Month a reality would like to see women’s history studied all year, not just every March. In 1996, the National Women’s History Museum was founded. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the various historic contributions of women. The organization is working with Congress to open a permanent (永久的) museum site in Washington, D.C.
1. What was ignored in school education in the past according to the text?| A．Popularizing American history. |
| B．Introducing the history of WWI. |
| C．Sharing Americans’ global contributions. |
| D．Teaching about American women’s achievements. |
| A．Started. | B．Survived. | C．Decreased. | D．Completed. |
| A．How Women’s History Month became a reality. |
| B．How women were included in the history books. |
| C．Why women’s history should be taught at school. |
| D．Why women’s contributions should be honored in history. |
10 . Culture shock occurs when people have been suddenly thrown into a new culture. Newcomers may be anxious because they don’t speak the language. Neither do they know the customs or understand the people’s behavior in daily life.
Quite often the visitor find that “yes” may not always mean “yes”, that friendliness does not necessarily mean friendship, or that statements that appear to be serious are really intended as jokes. The foreigners may be unsure as when to shake hands, when to start conversations, or how to approach a stranger. The idea of culture shock helps explain feeling of puzzlement and confusion.
Language problems do not lead to all the setbacks that people feel. When one has lost everything that was once familiar, such as understanding a transportation system, knowing how to register(注册，登记) for university classes, or knowing how to make friends, difficulties in coping with the new society may arise.
When an individual enters a strange culture, he or she feels like a fish out of water. Newcomers feel at times that they do not belong to the culture and feel deserted by the native members of the culture. When this happens, visitors may want to refuse everything about the new environment and may glorify and sing their own praises of the positive aspects of their own culture. On the other side, more visitors may sneeze at their native country by rejecting its value and instead choosing to approve of the value of the new country. This may occur as an attempt to accept the new culture in order to be taken in by the people in it.
1. What do people feel when they are suddenly in a new culture?| A．Excited. | B．Delighted. | C．Upset. | D．Hopeless. |
| A．it’s impossible to get used to a new culture |
| B．people feel confused due to culture shock |
| C．foreigners often don’t mean what they say |
| D．most foreigners are usually quite humorous |
| A．people away from their cultures can hardly survive in a new culture |
| B．a fish can not survive without water |
| C．people away from their culture experience mental loneliness. |
| D．people away from their culture have many difficulties in new environment |
| A．the language | B．the transportation | C．the environment | D．the puzzlement |
