1 . Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving. On this day, crowds of shoppers flood into stores all over the country to take advantage of the season’s biggest holiday bargains. But the real story behind Black Friday is a bit complicated.
The most commonly repeated story behind the post-Thanksgiving shopping-related Black Friday tradition links it to retailers (零售商). As the story goes, after an entire year of operating at a loss, recorded in red ink, stores would supposedly earn a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving, because holiday shoppers blew so much money on discounted products. Though it’s true that retail companies used to record losses in red and profits in black when doing their accounting, this version of Black Friday’s origin is not an accurate story behind the tradition.
The true story behind Black Friday, however, is not as sunny as retailers might have you believe. Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that happened on the day after Thanksgiving, when tens of thousands of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Not only would the police not be able to take the day off, but also they would have to work extra-long shifts dealing with the additional crowds and traffic.
The term didn’t spread to the rest of the country until much later, however, and as recently as 1985 it wasn’t in common use nationwide. Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively on them and their customers. The result was the “red to black” concept mentioned earlier. The Black Friday story stuck, and pretty soon the term’s darker roots in Philadelphia were largely forgotten.
1. What is usually believed to be the origin of Black Friday?| A．The great profit retailers may gain. | B．The way retailers do their accounting. |
| C．The much money shoppers spend. | D．The biggest bargains on this day. |
| A．They had to compete with more shoppers for bargains. |
| B．They had to give up the big Army-Navy football game. |
| C．They had to work more hours to deal with the chaos. |
| D．They had to advance to suburb to fight against floods. |
| A．to attract more customers to shop | B．to create the “red to black” concept |
| C．to make profits by this special event | D．to change people’s impression of it |
| A．To introduce the real history of Black Friday. |
| B．To explain a term with various meanings. |
| C．To show the biggest shopping holiday in US. |
| D．To remind readers of a forgotten truth of red and black. |
2 . Customs of the Lantern Festival
Eating yuanxiao
Yuanxiao, also called tangyuan in the south, is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing (甜馅). And the Lantern Festival is named after the famous dumpling, It is very easy to cook—simply drop them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes—and eaten as a dessert.
Guessing lantern riddles
Guessing lantern riddles (谜语) is also a necessary part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have answers to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answers. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity during people’s enjoyment of lanterns appeared in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all of China.
Watching fireworks
On the night of the Festival, except for great lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival. Some local governments will even organize a fireworks party. On the night when the first full moon enters the New Year, people are really excited by the fireworks and the bright moon in the sky.
1. What can we know about yuanxiao?| A．It is difficult to cook. | B．It is made with sticky rice flour. |
| C．It is named after a famous poet. | D．It is the special food for the Spring Festival. |
| A．A free meal. | B．A new lantern. | C．A new riddle. | D．A small present. |
| A．Health. | B．Education. | C．Culture. | D．Entertainment. |
3 . Have you ever heard someone say, “you totally look like you’re a Jessica” or something similar? People seem to think that they know what kind of person a “Jessica” or a “Michael” looks like. Why is this?
According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, humans tend to associate (联系) people’s names with their appearance, and can even guess someone’s name based on how they look.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, collected thousands of photos of people’s faces. They labeled each photo with four names and then asked volunteers to guess which of the four names was correct.
The volunteers were able to guess the right name 38 percent of the time. It seems that certain features of faces give them clues about someone’s name, Reader’s Digest reported.
However, this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames (绰号) more often than their real names. This may show that a person’s appearance is affected by their name only if they use it often.
This kind of face-name matching happens “because of a process of self-realization, as we become what other people expect us to become,” Ruth Mayo from the university told science news website Eurek Alert.
Earlier studies have shown that gender and race stereotypes can affect a person’s appearance. The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names. For example, people tend to think that men named Bob should have rounder faces because the word itself looks round. People may think that women named Rose are beautiful. They expect them to be “lovely” and “feminine (女性的)”, just like the flower they are named for.
1. What’s the purpose of the study?| A．To learn how names influence personality. |
| B．To figure out whether names relate to their looks. |
| C．To find out today’s most popular English names. |
| D．To show how men’s names are different from women’s. |
| A．Names have different associations in different cultures. |
| B．A less used name has a greater effect on the appearance. |
| C．Volunteers found it easier to guess nicknames correctly. |
| D．Volunteers rarely got wrong answers at face-name matching. |
| A．They want to please everyone around them. |
| B．They don’t want to be different from others. |
| C．They grow into what others expect them to be. |
| D．They are influenced by people with the same name. |
| A．Positive opinions. | B．Wrong beliefs. |
| C．Unreal images. | D．Fixed ideas. |
4 . Playing games, singing carols (圣诞颂歌) and getting dressed in your best for Christmas lunch are British festive traditions that need to be saved for future generations, a study has found.
The survey of 2,000 people found the festive pleasure that people believe is most in need of saving is playing games as a family, with 33% of those surveyed giving it the nod. Carol singing is close behind on 31%, with making paper chains to decorate the home on 28%.
Popular pursuits also listed as being in need of saving are making Christmas cake, putting decorations up on Christmas Eve, making home-made pies and writing a letter to Santa. The study also found that 64% of British families celebrate with their own family-specific traditions, such as leaving the tree decoration to the children, and 62% of people said the most important element in having a good Christmas is spending time with family.
Dr. Martin Johns from Swansea University, said: “Wearing your ‘best’ clothes and giving fruit and nuts in stockings both have their origins before the Second World War. However, the pre-war tradition of putting a lucky piece of coal in children’s stockings has disappeared.”
Many Christmas traditions are imports from America, but Christmas cards are one that Britain gave to the world. The first Christmas card is widely claimed to date back to 1843, the same year as A Christmas Carol was published by Dickens, but they were actually on sale by the end of the 1820s. The Victorians saw them as luxurious items and bought them individually, choosing specific designs for each friend and relative. Up until the 1960s, cards were delivered on Christmas morning, adding to the specialness of receiving one.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to “________”.| A．playing games | B．festive pleasure |
| C．the survey | D．the festival |
| A．Festive traditions are the same in different families. |
| B．Christmas time is a family time for many people. |
| C．Making paper chains is most in need of saving. |
| D．People don’t make Christmas cake any more. |
| A．is replaced by giving fruit and nuts |
| B．appeared during the World War II |
| C．should be put on the saving list |
| D．is no longer observed today |
| A．were received before Christmas |
| B．were regarded as special gifts |
| C．were brought from America |
| D．were invented in 1843 |
5 . Indonesia’s festival scene is one of the most popular festivals in Southeast Asia, attracting thousands of music and party lovers every year. Make sure to keep an eye on these events.
We The Fest
Born in 2014, We The Fest has become the pioneer on the southeast Asian music festival scene. By mixing the pleasures of art, music, fashion and food, it’s a must-go event for festival lovers. In 2017 it took place over three days for the first time, with more than 50,000 participants. Great names like The Kooks, Phoenix, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have played on We The Fest stage.
DJakarta Warehouse Project
DJakarta Warehouse Project is the biggest EDM festival in southeast Asia, since 2014. When it was born, it wasn’t a festival, but a warehouse party organized by clubs in Jakarta. The event usually takes place in December. Past editions featured world-class DJs, including Carl Cox, Cashmere Cat, Robin Schulz and many others. Before going, make sure to pack your dancing shoes and get ready for a good dance.
Java Jazz Festival
Feeling inspired for some jazz music? BNI Java Jazz Festival history goes back 13 years ago: they are the pioneers of music festivals in Indonesia and held their 14th edition in 2018. They organize many other awesome music projects around the country. This one is unmissable.
A: M Festival
Last but for sure not least is A: M (Absence of Mute) Festival. 2018 has been its first edition, held in Kuningan City Ballroom with a lineup filled with awesome local names. Their mission is to help new musicians enter the industry. Shout out for that and look forward to the next year.
1. DJakarta Warehouse Project differs from other festivals in that ________.| A．it lasts longer |
| B．it starts as a club gathering |
| C．it features Indonesia’s best DJs |
| D．it aims at helping new musicians |
| A．We The Fest. |
| B．DJakarta Warehouse Project. |
| C．Java Jazz Festival. |
| D．A: M Festival. |
| A．To highlight the popularity of music. |
| B．To attract more visitors to Indonesia. |
| C．To compare different Indonesia’s festivals. |
| D．To introduce Indonesia’s festivals to the public. |
6 . It is always said that China is the homeland of tea, which has a very long history of tea.
➢Color
➢Flavor(味道)
New tea is extremely clear and transparent with strong aroma(芳香), while old tea is characterized by brown color and weak fragrance. Take green tea and black tea for example, new green tea tastes a little bitter first, and then the fresh sweet taste begins to surface gradually, leaving a long and memorable after taste in mouth.
➢Place of origin
There is great gap of quality among various places of origin.
| A．Every tea leaf has its own shape. |
| B．Some varieties are identified by tightness of the leaves. |
| C．It is always advised to select tea from its main producing areas. |
| D．While you’re selecting tea, you should pay attention to following aspects. |
| E．For foreigners in China, drinking tea may seem like simple refreshment(提神). |
| F．Generally, new tea leaves look fresh and pleasing, with light green or dark green. |
| G．On the contrary, if bitter taste takes the lead and fresh sweet taste subsides(减弱), it is black tea. |
7 . It seems every country has one major event on the annual calendar that claims to trump all others. But with almost 200 countries across the globe, experiencing every single one is near impossible for most us – despite how much we’d like to go. Here we’ve boiled down the options to the absolute top events to add to your bucket-list.
Gion Matsuri – Kyoto, Japan – July
Widely considered to be the summer festival in Japan, Gion Matsuri is more than 1,000 years old. It all started as a means to calm down the gods who brought sufferings by way of fire, floods and earthquakes, but these days, it’s a little more light-hearted and certainly a huge tourist magnet. Expect to be struck by the three festive evenings featuring a parade known as the ‘Yoiyama’ – a sight of delicately decorated lanterns and an all-round atmosphere of excitement with Japanese wine and food stands.
Songkran – Thailand – April
A water fight on a national scale, Songkran in Thailand is the celebration of the Buddhist (佛教的) New Year. Initially, water played a part on this special day by being poured over Buddhist statues, but these days, although still a spiritual and religious festival, Songkran has become a joyous occasion for festivity across the kingdom. Wherever you are in Thailand, you can expect to get wet with everything from water guns to elephant’s trunks being used for the purpose.
Saint Patrick’s Festival – Dublin, Ireland – March
Sure, Saint Patrick’s Day is observed anywhere in the world where there is an Irish community (or even just an Irish pub), but if you’re going to get involved, there’s no better place than Dublin. This festival runs for five days and five nights in March and is packed fuller than a program of music, performing arts, literature, tours and Irish food events. Centred around the national holiday, this festival of Irish pride, achievements and talents will be well supplied with typical beer and cocktail.
Montreux Jazz Festival – Montreux, Switzerland – June - July
There are plenty of music festivals in Europe, but this 50-year-old good time held on the shores of Lake Geneva is truly one of a kind and is the second-largest jazz festival in the world. It’s not just jazz, though. Here you’ll find broad ranging acts from pop to rock and blues, and, best of all, a large portion of the performances are free, in keeping with the festival’s intention to make music accessible to anyone.
1. Among all the events above, what is unique about Gion Matsuri?| A．It lasts for at least three days. |
| B．It excites tourists with traditional drinks. |
| C．It has a long history and is celebrated in summer. |
| D．It was originally set up to keep people safe from natural disasters. |
| A．Gion Matsuri. | B．Songkran. |
| C．Saint Patrick’s Festival. | D．Montreux Jazz Festival. |
| A．Kyoto. | B．Thailand. |
| C．Dublin. | D．Montreux. |
8 . Cross-cultural misunderstandings occur when people from one culture do not understand the actions and behavior of people from another culture. Everyone has experienced that feeling of being socially or culturally “off balance” at some stage. It happens when we enter unfamiliar cultural environments and find that things are strange or different. For example, it can occur when a person begins a new job. Until an employee can operate comfortably and successfully within the social and cultural environment of a new workplace, he cannot be fully effective.
Knowing about the diversity of traditional and cultural backgrounds of our customers and colleagues will not automatically rule out misunderstandings. However, if we do know something about it, we can often take steps to prevent misunderstandings from occurring. It is a matter of being aware of when, where and why a misunderstanding may occur.
There may be a language barrier that can make clear communication difficult. The way we communicate is a common cause of misunderstanding. For example, jokes often rely on a creative use of language and sometimes these can be interpreted in many ways, which may be confusing or even offensive.
Non-verbal behavior and body language can be a source of misunderstanding. For example, eye contact can be considered by some people as overly long and therefore rude.
Addressing customers by their first names may not always be inappropriate. Check with your customers how they like to be addressed.
People from different religious or cultural backgrounds or with personal preferences may have specific dietary requirements. Check their requirements when determining any food menus. Offering alcohol to guests whose religion doesn’t allow them to enjoy can create a tense situation at the beginning of a meal.
1. If a new employee doesn’t perform highly effective, which can be a reason?| A．He can’t understand the working rules well. |
| B．He is not satisfied with his new occupation. |
| C．He is not familiar with the new working environment. |
| D．He usually fails to operate the equipment successfully. |
| A．Clear up misunderstandings. |
| B．Help prevent misunderstandings. |
| C．Tell us how to predict misunderstandings. |
| D．Remind us of the existence of misunderstandings. |
| A．Rude words used. | B．Poor translation. |
| C．Different understanding. | D．Creative thought in them. |
| A．Use as little body language as possible. |
| B．Avoid making eye contact when talking. |
| C．Address customers always by their first names. |
| D．Offer your guests food according to their requirements. |
9 . Through your childhood and, let’s be honest, most of your adult life, you may have wondered ⸺ how do you get to Sesame Street? After 50 years, the answer has finally been revealed.
New York City’s Official Sesame Street
In the past, there was guessing about the true location of the street, like Harlem or Alphabet City since both neighborhoods resembled Sesame Street in appearance and population makeup. Recently, in honor of the children’s television show’s 50th anniversary, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that West 63rd Street between Central Park West and Broadway will now officially be known as Sesame Street, close to the Sesame Workshop office.
A Year-long Celebration for the 50th Anniversary
Since 1969, the children’s television show Sesame Street has been a pioneering force in media and education, dealing with issues like racism, loss, poverty and living with a disability. With a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder, Sesame Street has brought the life-changing benefits of early learning to children across the globe for 50 years. Today, we reach kids in 150 countries and 70 languages and we’re celebrating our landmark anniversary with fans and families all year long!
Events and Activities Throughout 2019
Fans and families around the world can join their favorite furry friends in celebrating Sesame Street’s past, present, and future, with:
A 50th television season which focuses on the power of possibilities, empowering kids to take safe risks and learn from their mistakes.
A nationwide road trip where Sesame Street characters and friends host community events in ten cities around the country.
A research report that will explore an important issue facing kids and families today.
Celebrity and fan-fueled social media campaigns showcasing favorite Sesame Street memories.
New corporations across fashion, lifestyle, and themed entertainment for fans of all ages.
A November star-studded prime-time special, whose contents include new takes on classic scenes and visits from Sesame Street icons.
1. Where is the official Sesame Street?| A．In Harlem or Alphabet City. | B．Around the corner of the West 63rd Street. |
| C．At the Sesame Workshop office. | D．Between Central Park West and Broadway. |
| A．They can learn to solve all life problems in the childhood. |
| B．They will definitely become smarter, stronger and kinder. |
| C．They may get positive help meaning much to their later life. |
| D．They are likely to make friends with kids from 150 countries. |
| A．A new season of the television show . | B．A 10-city journey for lucky fans. |
| C．A special TV program in November. | D．A report good for kids and families. |
10 . Americans think much about time. From children they learn to value(珍惜) time. As children, they are taught to be on time to go to school, to work and to do everything. When they are having a good time, they say that time flies. When a person is dying, they say he is living on borrowed time.
Time is money. Time is knowledge. Time is everything in America. A working American has to work hard for 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.This is the working time. In his spare time, he also works hard for money. Even on Saturday and Sunday he also works hard as usual. In the street you can hardly see that a man walks slowly. They walk very fast. In fact, they are running.
They love time because time can bring money and a lot of things. But sometimes they also hate time, because they feel they have become servants of the clock.
1. What do the Americans teach their children to do on time?| A．To go to school | B．To work |
| C．Both A, B and D | D．To do everything |
| A．work hard for more money | B．play football |
| C．go out for a trip | D．drink beer |
| A．6 | B．7 | C．5 | D．2 |
| A．children | B．money | C．life | D．time |
