1 . China has named the nation’s first Mars rover (火星车) Zhu Rong. For all of us, Zhu Rong is a well-suited name.
In an ancient Chinese story, Zhu Rong had the face of a man and the body of an animal. H rode on two dragons.
When he had a big fight with Gong Gong, the god of water, Zhu Rong won. But after the fight, the human world came into complete darkness. Then he brought fire from heaven to the world.
“Zhu Rong is regarded as the earliest god of fire in traditional Chinese culture,” a space official said. “The first Mars rover was named Zhu Rong. The name symbolizes light and hope for space exploration in our country, and means to guide humans to continue exploration.”
After leaving the earth last summer, Zhu Rong circled Mars for several months and landed on it in May. In recent years, our country has sent up the world’s first quantum satellite (量子卫星), and Chang’e-4 has made a soft landing on the moon. We have made great progress in space technology and will soon start building our own space station.
1. What Zhu Rong brought from heaven to the world was ________.| A．fire | B．wars | C．water | D．animals |
| A．a big fight | B．complete darkness | C．light and hope | D．Chinese culture |
| A．the earth | B．Mars | C．the moon | D．the sun |
| A．Zhu Rong is a bad person in an ancient Chinese story |
| B．China has made great progress in space technology |
| C．the writer is proud of China’s space technology |
| D．the official doesn’t like the name Zhu Rong |
2 . It’s been nearly two decades since the traditional clothing style Hanfu first started to reemerge in China. Since then it has gone from a small cultural movement celebrating an ancient fashion to a trend that is booming on social media, having been adopted by China’s Generation Z as a means of connecting with their past. Instead of following other cultures blindly, Generation Z now have different opinions about what trend is by promoting local culture while having an objective view of exotic cultural products.
The new tastes of Generation Z—young people born after 1995—are well represented on Bilibili. In the recent New Year’s Eve gala presented by Bilibili, it attracted more than 100 million views within 48 hours with a colourful set of programmes ranging from Peking Opera to classical Chinese cartoons. The same is also true of movie industry. Last year, for the first time, the top 10 most viewed films in China were all domestic films, while the ticket sales for imported films have dropped to only 16.28 percent.
”Generation Z grew up with the rapid development of China and under good economic conditions. With the development of the Chinese Internet industry, they have more access to diverse international information and culture, which bring them a much broader vision and makes them more open and confident in analyzing foreign culture. Apart from taking pride in China’s rapid development, this generation also pursues individuality and values devotion to the country,“ Professor Zhang Yiwu said.
He also noted that the popular rock and punk culture pursued by the 70s and 80s generation is more of a challenge against real life and local culture. Some people who were born in the 1970s and 1980s did not grow up in the Internet age—they experienced the transformation of China going from poor to rich first-hand. This kind of longing and admiration of the West came from a lack of confidence.
However, Generation Z now have the confidence to look at Western culture with equal status. This kind of cultural confidence will result in China being more active and creative in its development on the international stage in the future.
1. What does the underlined word ”exotic“ in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Foreign. | B．Fashionable. | C．Traditional. | D．Elegant. |
| A．To confirm the rise of new media. |
| B．To promote Chinese Internet industry. |
| C．To highlight the popularity of domestic art. |
| D．To show the popularity of New Year’s Eve gala. |
| A．They have a stronger cultural identity. |
| B．They are longing for cultural diversity. |
| C．They have made China develop rapidly. |
| D．They are more fond of foreign culture. |
| A．Confident China, Better Future |
| B．China’s Progress Results in Cultural Confidence |
| C．China’s New Generation Redefine Local Culture as Trendy |
| D．Hanfu Style, Connector of Ancient Fashion and Modern Trend |
3 . Chinese fancy knots (中国结), also called Chinese knots, are very important in Chinese culture. They began as a form of traditional art in the Tang and Song Dynasties (朝代) in China, and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. Long ago, they found their way to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries, and were well received there. Now they are regarded as one of the symbols of Chinese culture.
As for the name itself, it is surely meaningful. The Chinese word for “knot”, jie, means “connection”. And the pronunciation of the Chinese word jie is very close to that of ji, “good luck”. As a result, Chinese knots are used as a way to express people’s strong wishes for marvellous things like happiness, love and good luck.
The knots are used widely in everyday life. They come in different sizes. Small ones are connected to jewellery (珠宝), clothes and gifts in order to draw people’s attention, while large ones are used to make a living room or study more beautiful. Whether large or small, they are named after their shapes and usages. For example, Double Coin Knots are called Shuangqian Jie because they are in the shape of two ancient Chinese coins, meaning “good things come in pairs”. Besides, Chinese knots are famous for their bright colors. Different colors have different traditional cultural meanings. Red means good luck and happiness, green means health, and yellow means wealth.
All in all, the famous Chinese fancy knots fully show the Chinese culture. These brightly colored knots with their endless chains (链条) of knots mean that life on earth will continue forever.
1. What did the writer want to express in this passage?| A．Ask people to buy Chinese fancy knots. |
| B．Introduce a traditional Chinese art form. |
| C．Teach people how to make a Chinese knot. |
| D．Describe the usages of Chinese fancy knots. |
| A．pronunciation | B．size | C．shape and meaning | D．color |
| A．The Chinese word for “knot” means “luck”. |
| B．Chinese knots became popular in the Song Dynasty. |
| C．All of the Chinese knots have the same sizes and colors. |
| D．Chinese knots mean that life on earth will continue forever. |
| A．Chinese Culture | B．Chinese Knots | C．Chinese Colors | D．Chinese Life |
4 . The Mogao Grottoes were a center of Buddhist life and some of the world’s great cultures for hundreds of years. However, by the late Qing Dynasty they had been abandoned and nearly forgotten and many of the caves had become damaged by the elements. Around 1900, with the discovery of a library of thousands of ancient documents, the caves received new interest from Chinese and foreign researchers. Unfortunately, this resulted in tens of thousands of items from the caves being taken to foreign museums
In the 1940s, many researchers and artists visited the area to study traditional Chinese art. Copies of some of the artwork painted by respected artists such as Zhang Daqian and GuanShanyue helped people all over the country learn about Dunhuang. These artists were also inspired by the artwork they saw in the caves and it began to influence their painting styles. Others staved in the desert for much longer, Chang Shuhong stayed for the rest of his life — struggling to record the cultural treasures and protect them from the weather. As a result of their efforts the Dunhuang Academy was formed to protect and study the Mogao Grottoes.
In 1987, the Mogao Grottoes were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While the caves are open to the public, access is now limited in order to protect the artwork. However, the caves can be seen online in digital form so that people around the world can study and enjoy them.
Despite its remoteness, the Mogao Grottoes continue to draw visitors. And just as the sand and desert have survived largely unchanged through the centuries, this small art gallery in the desert has also survived largely unchanged providing an amazing look at a world long ago past.
1. When did the Mogao Grottoes regain the world’s attention?| A．Hundreds of years ago. |
| B．In the late Qing Dynasty. |
| C．In the late eighties of the 20th century. |
| D．Around the beginning of the 20th century. |
| A．To learn about their works. |
| B．To show how hard they worked. |
| C．To compare their different styles. |
| D．To appreciate their contributions. |
| A．they can do researches online |
| B．they can enjoy the digital versions |
| C．they can watch copies in art galleries |
| D．they can study them in foreign museums |
| A．The Mogao Grottoes — Center of Buddhist Life |
| B．The Mogao Grottoes — Art Gallery in the Desert |
| C．Respected artists — Protectors of the Mogao Grottoes |
| D．An Amazing Tourist Attraction — The Mogao Grottoes |
5 . The Miao Sisters Festival is held every year in Guizhou’s Taijiang County, where 97 percent of the 168,000 people there are from the ethnic (民族) Miao group.It is an ancient tradition, which brings men and women together through food, gifts and music.
In the days before the festival, young women gather leaves and wild flowers, which they use to dye (给……染色) sticky rice with bright colours. This brightly coloured rice, known as Sister Rice, gives the festival its name. During the festival, the young women dress in beautiful traditional clothes with large amounts of silver jewelry.
The festival includes parades, horse races and musical performances. But the real focus is the interaction between the young women and the young men who visit from surrounding villages and sing songs.In one traditional type of song, a man and woman take turns singing to each other, and the first one to make a mistake loses the game.The loser must give the winner a gift, but the winner is expected to give a gift in return too.
After meeting the men, the women send them home with a bamboo basket containing dyed rice and hidden objects with special meanings. For example, a pair of chopsticks means she wants to marry the man, while garlic shows that she is not interested.
One of several stories is about the festival’s beginning of a girl and a boy who fell in love. The girl’s parents wanted her to marry her uncle’s son as it was traditional at the time. She refused, and the boy likewise refused to marry anyone else. For a time, they could only meet in a field and pass hidden messages to each other through rice in a bamboo basket. Finally, the pair overcame their parents’ opposition and were allowed to marry.
The Miao Sisters Festival is perhaps the oldest festival in Asia that encourages love.
1. What is the purpose of young women collecting leaves and wild flowers?| A．To decorate their rooms. |
| B．To sell them and make money. |
| C．To give sticky rice different colours. |
| D．To cover some objects in a basket. |
| A．Water skiing. | B．Horse races. |
| C．Parades. | D．Singing songs. |
| A．A woman often loses the game. |
| B．A hidden pair of chopsticks suggests good things. |
| C．The winner need not send a gift. |
| D．Often a man needs to sing songs to a young woman. |
| A．The boy’s parents didn’t like the girl. |
| B．They were not married in the end. |
| C．The boy refused to marry the girl at first. |
| D．The rice in the bamboo basket carried their love. |
6 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.
His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it,” says Filippi.
Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.
Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has since fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.
“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video garnered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.
Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”
1. What is the main reason why Filippi falls in love with traditional Chinese dance?| A．Its potential to boost his career. | B．Its mix of traditional and modern elements. |
| C．Its graceful and light movements. | D．Its true reflection of his elegant personality. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By sharing a story. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Filippi thinks little of learning from other cultures. |
| B．People prefer to write down their past experiences. |
| C．Accepting various cultures boosts personal growth. |
| D．A book with chapters on traditions is more wonderful. |
| A．Chinese-styled dance videos go viral on social media. |
| B．An Italian’s dance journey towards specialization starts. |
| C．Filippi’s desire for Chinese culture extends beyond dance. |
| D．An Italian dancer shows passion for Chinese-styled dance. |
7 . The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms (节气). The year starts from Beginning of Spring and ends with Greater Cold, moving in cycles. The solar term culture is still useful today to guide people’s lives through special foods, cultural ceremonies and even healthy living tips.
Grain Buds (小满) is the 8th solar term of the year. It means that the seeds (种子) from the grain are becoming full. During Grain Buds, the summer harvest is about to begin. A saying about rain during this time mentions, “Heavy rainfall makes the river full.” Because of the great increase in rainfall, rivers are full of water. This is a good time to enjoy fish. It is also a harvest season for fishermen.
Frost’s Descent (霜降), the 18th solar term of the year, is the last solar term of autumn. The weather becomes much colder than before and frost begins. The apple is one kind of recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent. There are many sayings about apples’ benefits (益处) in China, such as “ Eat an apple after meals. Even old men can be as strong as young men.”
Minor Cold (小寒) is the 23rd one. For most areas of China, it marks the start of the coldest days of the year and people always start preparing for Chinese New Year. According to traditional Chinese medicine thoughts, people need to eat food that has more yang energy to prevent cold from harming their bodies. Another important traditional food for Minor Cold is Laba porridge (腊八粥).
1. Which is the last solar term of a year?| A．Frost’s Descent. | B．Greater Cold. |
| C．Minor Cold. | D．Beginning of Spring. |
| A．Beginning of Spring. | B．Grain Buds. |
| C．Frost’s Descent. | D．Minor Cold. |
| A．An apple a day keeps the doctor away. |
| B．It’s more useful for old men to eat apples than young men. |
| C．If old men eat apples after meals, they will never die. |
| D．Old men will grow into young men after eating an apple. |
①prepare for Chinese New Year ②have Laba porridge
③say goodbye to the coldest days ④wear warmer clothes
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①②④ | D．①③④ |
8 . Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures crumbled into dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rapid development.
Becoming China’s best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old, often located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through dangerous conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China’s remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained (养护) roads by mule (骡子), or on foot. Inns (客栈) were often dirty, food could be polluted, and there was always risk of violence from rebels, soldiers and robbers.
Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was rebuilt in 857 A.D., making it the oldest building known in China at the time.
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple’s most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one hideaway inhabited by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. “In complete darkness and among awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.” Liang wrote of the experience in an account included in the book “Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past”.
1. What does the underlined word “crumbled” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Were stolen. | B．Fell down. |
| C．Looked old. | D．Closed up. |
| A．Transport and accommodations. |
| B．Personal safety and weather. |
| C．Communication with locals and food. |
| D．Road conditions and funds. |
| A．They considered their work was the most important. |
| B．They were well-equipped before entering the temple. |
| C．They found some surprising things in the temple. |
| D．The conditions inside the temple were common to them. |
| A．Tough Conditions in China’s Remote Areas |
| B．Partners in Documenting China’s Architectural Treasures |
| C．The Reason for Liang and Lin’s Exploration |
| D．The Difficulties China’s Architectural Historians Are Facing |
9 . Chinese ancient poetry was the heart and soul of Chinese ancient literature. Poems and songs have been the means of entertainment of men from the earliest times. Chinese ancient poetry was primarily written to be chanted or sung.
The poetic persona (表面形象) is a feature of classical Chinese poetry. The persona appears when the poem is written from the viewpoint of some other person. Some poems are comments on the contemporary society and life. Chinese ancient poems, although apparently simple in the first reading, have deeper and greater meanings when read intensively.
The earliest Chinese ancient poetry begins with The Book of Songs which is a collection of 305 poems. It was the first comprehensive compilation(辑)of Chinese ancient poems. Each poem in The Book of Songs was set to music and could be sung. Folk songs made up the most part of the book! Confucius, the great ancient philosopher, was fond of this book. It was also the accepted textbook of the Confucian school.
Chinese poetic history is extremely long and colorful. The Tang dynasty, the golden age of Chinese ancient poetry, produced many famous poems. Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, was compiled by Heng Tang Tui Shi(蘅塘退士) of the Qing dynasty. This was used for very many years to teach primary students.
Almost everything is the subject of Chinese ancient poetry including marriage, agriculture, courtship(求爱), sorrow and joys, romance, heroic deeds and so on. Generally, each poem is usually composed of lines of four, five or seven syllables. Translations of Chinese ancient poems are available in books and also online. Now these beautiful poems have attracted readers all over the world.
1. What’s the earliest Chinese poetry intended to do?| A．To record history. | B．To spread knowledge. |
| C．To entertain people. | D．To state people’s thoughts. |
| A．Modern and symbolic. | B．Simple but meaningful. |
| C．Difficult and figurative. | D．Imaginative but unreal. |
| A．It is compiled by Heng Tang Tui Shi. |
| B．It includes more folk songs than other kinds of poems. |
| C．It was the textbook for kids during Confucius’s childhood. |
| D．It was produced during the golden age of Chinese ancient poetry. |
| A．Chinese ancient poetry has limited subjects. |
| B．Chinese ancient poems win popularity overseas. |
| C．Every Chinese ancient poem is made up of four lines. |
| D．Something in Chinese ancient poems is lost in translation. |
10 . The kites in Weifang never disappoint. Every year the Weifang International Kite Festival amazes visitors and netizens (网民) with innovative kites, as “paper birds” of unimaginable designs keep appearing in the sky.
The origin of kites in China can be traced back to the Warring States Period when the great Chinese philosopher Mozi in the State of Lu (part of today’s Shandong Province) made the first “wooden kite”. Kites didn’t actually become popular until the Ming Dynasty. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, artists specialized in kite making began to appear in Weifang. In 1984, the first Weifang International Kite Festival was held.
Kites were used in China for military purposes at the very beginning. They were made to signal and measure distance, providing intelligence to aid moving large armies across difficult terrain (地形). For example, they can be used to calculate and record wind readings, similar to ship flags at sea. Over time, kites became associated with leisure activities, and were often flown during festivals and holidays.
Today, kite-flying is a popular leisure activity in China, and the Weifang International Kite Festival is one of the largest kite festivals in the world. In 2023, 622 kite artists from 59 countries and regions participated in the event. Compared with previous festivals, the 2023 event was highlighted by many innovations by both veteran (经验丰富的) and young kite makers. Zhang Xiaodong, 74, as a national intangible culture inheritor of Weifang kites, he has attended all 40 festivals. In the early days, he only brought traditional kites to take part in the competitions, but this time, he applied sound and light to make the fairy tale of Chang'e flying to the moon come “alive”.
The Weifang kite festival is not only a platform to share kite-making skills, but also a way to enhance friendship between people from different countries. The innovative kites presented in 2023 brought many pleasant surprises to kite lovers all over the world, and brought the people of China and other countries closer. As one netizen put it, “No matter how far away kite lovers go, there is always a ‘thread’ in their heart that can pull them together.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The history of kites in China. | B．The popularity of kites in Weifang. |
| C．The introduction to great kite artists. | D．The development of kite-making skills. |
| A．To serve as gifts at festivals. | B．To judge the height of mountains. |
| C．To measure wind speed for sailors at sea. | D．To provide important information for armies. |
| A．It involved more creative kite artworks. |
| B．It became the largest kite festival in the world. |
| C．It contained plenty of Chinese traditional elements. |
| D．It attracted many young kite artists’ wide attention. |
| A．It inspires artists to create a lot of surprises. |
| B．It is a good platform for kite makers to share skills. |
| C．It promotes the spread of traditional Chinese culture. |
| D．It strengthens the bond between kite lovers all over the world. |
