1 . The Best UK Festivals of 2020
We’ve picked this year’s best UK festivals——find your favourite and get out there this summer.
All Points East
Returning for a third year after its successful 2018 launch,All Points East is a general 10-day festival that takes over Victoria Park in late May.The opening and closing three-day weekends are given over to music.
Place: Victoria Park
Time: May 22,2020-May 31,2020
Ticket: Adult￡35; Age19-24 with ID￡28;Under18 years old, free
Isle of Wight
Huge headliners is one of the UK’s biggest rock festivals.Now in its 52nd year,the modern-day Isle of Wight festival is a far cry from the hippy(嬉皮士) love-in that landed back in 1968.Nowadays,big-name headliners and commercial rock and pop favorites are the order of the day.
Place: Seaclose Park, Newport
Time: Jun 13-14. 12:00 a.m.-15:00 p.m.
Tickets:￡25 Adult;￡15 Age19-24 with ID; ￡10 under 12 years old, under7, free
Love box
Consistently one of the finest festivals in London,catering for cool kids and party monsters alike,Love box has expanded again to become a three-day event in 2020.This year will be its second in west London’s Gunnersbury Park.
Place:London’s Gunnersbury Park
Time:July12-14. 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
Tickets:￡185(adult three-day weekend);￡70(adult day ticket)
Junction 2
Calling all technology heads:in 2020,this big festival is spreading out over two days again following last year’s successful expansion.Junction 2 is a meeting of some pretty serious music minds.
Place:Boston Manor Park
Time:July 15-16
Tickets:￡45 for all ages
1. Which of the following is the earliest festival of the year?| A．All Points East. | B．Isle of Wight. | C．Love box. | D．Junction 2. |
| A．￡65. | B．￡60. | C．￡45. | D．￡40. |
| A．Victoria Park. | B．Seaclose Park. |
| C．London’s Gunnersbury Park. | D．Boston Manor Park. |
2 . USA TODAY 10Best's Readers Choice Awards are currently on hold.We asked our readers to vote for the top events across six categories:music,general food,specialty food,film,cultural and emerging industries(founded in the past five years).These are some of the winners:
Kutztown Folk Festival
The nine-day Kutztown Folk Festival is the nation's oldest continuously operated folk life festival,drawing visitors from around the globe.A celebration of Pennsylvania Dutch culture and heritage,the event includes America's largest quilt sale,200 craftsmen and folk artists,local food and family friendly entertainment.
Water Lantern Festival
The Water Lantern Festival is all about connections.Magical nights in cities across the US include food,live music and the beauty of thousands of lanterns decorated with letters of love, hope and dreams floating on the water.
Carnaval of Quebec
The Quebec Carnaval is a 10-day festival of winter,the world's largest,complete with nighl parades(庆祝游行），ice skating,snow sculptures and a towering ice palace.Other highlighls include ice canoe racing,a sugar shack and iconic Caribou drinks.
San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade
San Francisco has celebrated its Chinese heritage during its annual Chinese New Year Festival&Parade since just after the Gold Rush.The parade ranks among the best in the world, with 100 units,fancy costumes,fireworks and a 268-foot Golden Dragon,which takes a team of 100 men and women to march through the streets.It has become one of the largest events of its kind in the world,drawing some three million spectators and television viewers.
1. What can you see during Kutztown Folk Festival?| A．Modern arts. |
| B．Quilts for sale. |
| C．Traditional weddings. |
| D．Shows on stage. |
| A．Kutztown Folk Festival. |
| B．Carnaval of Quebec. |
| C．Water Lantern Festival. |
| D．San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade. |
| A．include special food |
| B．relate to parades |
| C．take place only at nights |
| D．have sculpture exhibitions |
3 . Friday and Saturday were full of surprises for Chinese, as two places in China were listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The first, a World Natural Heritage, is composed of a series of migratory bird sanctuaries(候鸟保护地)along the coast of the Yellow Sea in Yancheng, East China's Jiangsu Province. The second, the Liangzhu Archaeological Site in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site.
China began the application process for the bird sanctuaries in 2017. It only took two years to successfully complete the process. The reason the migratory bird sanctuary application was successful is because of the special geographical category of the area. It is the largest intertidal mudflat seashore in the world. The success of this application marks the beginning of China's world natural heritage from land to sea. The migratory bird sanctuaries are the central node of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and many endangered species, especially threatened migratory birds including red- crowned cranes and flamingos, go there to hunt for food during the migration season. The birds usually take a month to finish their migration. At about 10 days into their migration, they must stop and find food in order to have the energy to continue their journey.
Compared to the short turnaround for the World Natural Heritage's application, the Liangzhu application was far more complicated. The application team spent six years making their dream a reality. A lot of archaeological work had to be carried out for the Liangzhu site, which means the application and assessment(评定)process takes a longer time. The site in Liangzhu is evidence of the existence of an early regional state in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the late Neolithic period in China, which helps fill in the gaps in the history of the rice-cultivating civilizations of China and East Asia more than 5000 years ago. The site was one of the 20th century's most important archaeological discoveries in China.
With these two new additions, China now has 55 World Heritage sites, the highest number in the world. The successful application means greater responsibility and obligations(义务). Protecting these places is much more important and is our future work. The new status of the migratory bird sanctuaries might boost local tourism industries but this too poses a challenge as local governments will need to control tourist volume so as not to impact the birds' migration patterns. Meanwhile, the sheer area that the Liangzhu Archaeological Site covers, some 14.3 square kilometers, makes protection a difficult issue to handle. Those workings at the site are busy constructing protective shelters for the site and even reburying certain areas to protect them from exposure. Plans are also underway to build a local museum for the storage and display of artifacts, so visitors can come and learn more about the history of the nation.
1. What is special about the migratory bird sanctuaries?| A．It's the first China's world natural heritage on the sea. |
| B．It provides safe habitats for endangered species. |
| C．It's located along the coast of the Yellow River. |
| D．It supplies abundant fresh water to migratory birds. |
| A．By creating warm places to produce baby birds. |
| B．By preventing them from being killed by hunters. |
| C．By providing food supplies during their migration. |
| D．By curing the endangered birds after their journey. |
| A．It shows the long history of China. |
| B．It proves the wisdom of the people. |
| C．It witnesses the civilization of an age. |
| D．It reveals the food of the late Neolithic. |
| A．The application success's promotion of tourism. |
| B．Chinese responsibilities after the successful application. |
| C．The two places' influence on Chinese history. |
| D．Chinese challenge of protecting birds' migration. |
4 . Get out your shovels, your seeds, and your soil-it's almost April 22. Here are four fun ways to celebrate Earth Day with your kids.
Plant a tree.
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, planting trees has been a traditional way of celebrating the holiday. Try planting one in your own backyard, or attending a local tree-planting event. In its lifetime, that single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide.
Spend the day without a car.
Take a walk in nature.
Perhaps the most obvious Earth Day activity is a nature walk. Make a list of things you'd like to find and check them off on your walk.
Attend a community activity.
Show your kids it's not just Mom and Dad who care about Earth Day. Tons of people will show up for local events as well!
When it comes to taking care of Earth, we all need to do our share. Take your kids to the local playground and give them each a pair of gloves and a small garbage bag. Task them with picking of scraps of trash as fast as they can-whoever fills up their bag first, wins. Once you get back home, enjoy some Earth Day movies.
| A．Play the clean-up game |
| B．Remember that every day can be Earth Day |
| C．If you don't feel like making a list, try a color search |
| D．Check out your newspaper the week leading up to the holiday |
| E．On Earth Day, we realize what we can do to preserve our natural resources |
| F．And there are a lot more surprising facts about trees you can share with your kids |
| G．Depending on where you live, this will bring varying degrees of problem to travel |
5 . People all have something to say. Some express their passion (强烈的感情) through clothe, art, or community involvement. Others express themselves with poetry, which has diverse poetic forms to express unique thoughts, experiences, and imagination at the fourth annual People’ s Poetry Festival held Feb. 28 through March 2.
“The People’s Poetry Festival keeps getting bigger and bigger—it’s an event we’re really proud of,” said Dr Mark Hartlaub, College of Liberal Arts Dean at Texas. The festival covered a wide variety of topics including nature, humor, women and history. From the panels to the open microphone night, the islander’s community, along with 43 published poets from around the country, local high school students, and the general public came together to share their love of poetry.
The panels were full of passionate readings and lively discussion. For the first time ever, musical poetry was performed at the event. The “Homebrewed” panel was made up of all local poets. The “From Page to the Stage” panel focused on slam (抨击) poetry, and the “Humor” panel greeted levels of laughter from the crowd. All the panels were live streamed on the People’s Poetry Facebook page. “The poetry and poets were all my students wanted to talk about in class this week,” said Dr. Chuck Etheridge, professor of English who attended many of the panel readings.
Celebrating exceptional writers is another part of People’s Poetry Festival. On opening night, the People’s Poetry Festival committee named Madeline Ricondo of Tuloso-Midway as the winner of the Robb Jackson Writing Award for high school students. This award honors the late Dr. Robb Jackson, Texas A&M University System Regents Professor and professor of English at A&M-Corpus Christi, whose poetry shared his life experiences and observation of Corpus Christi. Ricondo received a $100 gift card, plus, three poetry books with local ties including a copy of Jackson’s “Open Heart”. The people’s Poetry Festival committee also recognized Juan Manuel Perez, award-winning poet and local history teacher, as the 2019—2021 Poet Laureate (桂冠诗人) of Corpus Christi.
1. What can be inferred about the People’s Poetry Festival?| A．It tends to last a week. | B．It is held once a year. |
| C．Its poetic form is single. | D．It is catching on globally. |
| A．Groups. | B．Days. |
| C．Topics. | D．Poems. |
| A．It was on live television. |
| B．Diversity was highlighted. |
| C．All the poets were local. |
| D．Musical poetry was introduced. |
| A．Celebrating award-winning poets. |
| B．Honoring the late Robb Jackson. |
| C．The 4th Peoples Poetry Festival. |
| D．Poet Laureate of Corpus Christi. |
6 . The Thanksgiving Day has been alive for hundreds of years. The customs we see in our homes today remind us of ancient celebrations of harvest, thankfulness for peace, and the hard work of native Americans. It is made up of stories of those who believe that thanks for blessings is what people must own
Custom of Praying
For centuries, “Thanksgiving Day” is associated with prayers in church and in homes.
Everyone follows the custom of family dinner and reunion every year. Distances don’t really matter as relatives can drive down to be with their family. Feasts are usually held at home. It is a time to enjoy their favorite Turkey the family.
Custom of Decoration
Custom of sending messages
Thanksgiving is a day when people send loving messages and warm wishes to their relatives, colleagues at work place, superiors and subordinates, near and dear ones.
| A．People present gifts to friends. |
| B．Custom of Family Dinner |
| C．People like to get together and have turkey. |
| D．People offer various meal time prayers during the day. |
| E．Like Christmas, millions of cards are sent every year. |
| F．Thanksgiving is a time to decorate homes with wreaths, fresh and dried flowers. |
| G．It is a day of expressing their feelings through Thanksgiving cards. |
7 . In the depths of the French Guianese rainforest, there still remain unusual groups of indigenous(土著的) people. Surprisingly, these people live largely by their own laws and their own social customs. And yet, people in this area are in fact French citizens because it has been a colony of the French Republic since 1946. In theory, they should live by the French law. However, their remote locations mean that the French law is often ignored or unknown, thus making them into an interesting area of “lawlessness” in the world.
The lives of these people have finally been recorded thanks to the effects of a Frenchman from Paris called Gin. Gin spent five months in early 2015 exploring the most remote corners of this area, which sits on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, with half its population of only 250,000 living in its capital, Cayenne.
“I have a special love for the French Guianese people. I have worked there on and off for almost ten years,” says Gin. “I’ve been able to keep firm friendships with them. Thus I have been allowed to gain access to their living environment. I don’t see it as a lawless land. But rather I see it as an area of freedom.”
“I wanted to show the audience a photographic record touching upon the uncivilized life,” continues Gin. “I prefer to work in black and white, which allows me to show different specific worlds more clearly.”
His black-and-white pictures present a world almost lost in time. These pictures show people seemingly pushed into a world that they were unprepared for. These local citizens now have to balance their traditional self-supporting hunting lifestyle with the lifestyle offered by the modern French Republic,which brings with it not only necessary state welfare, but also alcoholism, betrayal and even suicide.
1. Why does the author feel surprised about the indigenous people in French Guiana?| A．They seldom follow the French law. |
| B．They often ignore the Cuianese law. |
| C．They are separated the modern world. |
| D．They are both Cuianese and French citizens. |
| A．a tour guide | B．a geographer |
| C．a film director | D．a photographer |
| A．Cautious. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Uninterested | D．Apprecitive. |
| A．The modera Frrnch lifestyle. | B．The self-supporting hunting. |
| C．The uncivilized world. | D．The French Republic. |
8 . America is a mobile society.Friendships between Americans can be close and real，yet disappear soon if situations change.Neither side feels hurt by this.Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two，perhaps a few letters for a while-then no more.If the same two people meet again by chance，even years later，they pick up the friendship.This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand，because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings，extending（延伸）sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes，share their holidays，and their home life.They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality（好客）easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives，they don't show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time.This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time.Sometimes，we，as hosts，will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend.We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends.The Americans，however，express their welcome usually at homes，but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine.They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus.And they expect that we will phone them from there.Once we arrive at their homes，the welcome will be full，warm and real.We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans，it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes thanto go to restaurants，except for purely business matters.So accept their hospitality at，home！.
1. The writer of this passage must be______.| A．an American | B．a Chinese |
| C．a professor | D．a student |
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| A．warmly welcomed at the airport | B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．treated hospitably at his home | D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time | D．willing to spend time |
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Friendships between Americans |
| C．Americans' hospitality |
| D．Americans' and Chinese's views of friendships |
But the holiday is more than new clothes and good things to eat. On Easter, many people go to church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection（复活）from the dead. Most people color Ester eggs. Some people hide them. Others just eat them. But no matter what one does with Easter eggs，they are an important Easter tradition throughout the Western world. People from many different cultures celebrate Easter. In both America and Belgium, children look for Easter eggs hidden on lawns and in bushes. In America, children believe the eggs are hidden by the Easter bunny (兔子).But in Belgium, the hidden eggs are supposed to have fallen from church bells. In Bulgaria (保加利亚), red Easter eggs are lucky in churches. Bulgarian families also hit these Easter eggs together to see whose is the strongest. The winner looks forward to good fortune that year. Still dozens of other Easter traditions exist. In parts of Austria，for example，children sing from door to door and are rewarded with colorful eggs.
1. Easter comes _______.
| A．on the same date every year |
| B．on Sunday on March 22 |
| C．on Sunday on April 25 |
| D．on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 |
| A．go shopping, hide colored eggs and children hunt for them |
| B．give Easter baskets filled candy and goodies to one another |
| C．buy new clothes, hide colored eggs and children look for them around the house |
| D．both B and C |
| A．going to church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection |
| B．buying new clothes |
| C．eating delicious food and paint color eggs |
| D．exchange beautiful gifts each other |
| A．In both American and Belgium, children hunt for Easter eggs hidden in rooms and in bushes |
| B．In Belgium, the hidden eggs are thought to have fallen from doorbells |
| C．In America, children believe the eggs are hidden by the Easter bunny |
| D．In America, the hidden eggs are supposed to have fallen from doorbells |
| A．blesses | B．Easter eggs |
| C．candy and goodies | D．Easter bunny |
