2 . Chinese New Year has been welcomed in Britain with its biggest ever program of events and celebrations.

From London's Trafalgar Square to major cities across Britain,tens of thousands of British people have joined Chinese communities to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. In Manchester there was a Dragon Parade(舞龙表演）,led by a very impressive 54-meter long dragon,ending in Chinatown where there was traditional Chinese entertainment, more than 6, 000 lanterns,street food villages and a fireworks show. Celebrations also took place in Liverpool, Birmingham, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.

Academic Dr Wu Kegang said that the Chinese New Year event in Britain “is now bigger than ever and it is growing every year”. When Wu arrived in Britain 26 years ago from Guangdong,the first thing he noticed was that Chinese New Year was celebrated mainly in towns and cities with big Chinese communities. “You would go to London Chinatown and join your countrymen to celebrate, or to Chinatowns in places like Liverpool and Manchester for events almost only held for Chinese people, ”Wu recalled.

“Now it is so different, and we are seeing local communities all over the country taking part alongside their own Chinese populations, ” he said. “It is clear to me that the celebrations will continue to grow in Britain. Chinese New Year has earned its place in the calendar of events in Britain,and is here to stay. ”

1. Where did the Dragon Parade take place?

A．In London.	B．In Liverpool.
C．In Manchester.	D．In Birmingham.

2. When Dr Wu arrived in Britain 26 years ago, Chinese New Year was________

A．celebrated mainly by Chinese communities

B．celebrated by local communities all over the country

C．only celebrated in London, Liverpool and Manchester

D．celebrated by tens of thousands of British people with Chinese people

3. How does Dr Wu think Chinese New Year will develop in Britain?

A．It will lose its attraction.

B．It will become a British official holiday.

C．More and more British people will join in the celebrations.

D．It will become the most important one in the calendar of events in Britain.

4. What does this passage mainly tell us?

A．How Chinese New Year is celebrated in Britain.

B．Where Chinese New Year is celebrated in Britain.

C．Chinese culture is more attractive than British culture.

D．Chinese New Year has become more and more popular in Britain.

3 . Chinese traditional painting and dance are two vital parts of the art world. But what about when they meet each other?

This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and went viral.

According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains. Created by Song Dynasty (960-1279) painter Wang Ximeng at about 18, the painting is “stunning in its sweeping scale, rich coloration and the expressive details”, reported CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: “mountains and groupings of infinite rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling water”.

To show the Chinese traditional aesthetics (美学) of the painting, the dance performance conceptualized dancers as the mountains. They each had a different hairstyle, which resembled a mountain rock. The clothes they wore were shades of green and blue, which is also a poetic interpretation of the mountains and rivers.

When the dancers swayed elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers.

“It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an ‘exhibition’. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still wow people as they did long ago.”

Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later.

In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows highlight Chinese traditional culture and have received warm welcome. As for why, it is attributed to people’s great love for traditional culture.

“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mindset. They embrace Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.

1. What can we learn about the painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains from the text?

A．It was painted in several bright colors.

B．It shows natural beauty vividly.

C．It was created over a thousand years ago.

D．It is of small size but includes great details.

2. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The unique Chinese beauty shown in the drama.

B．Innovative design to dress dancers like mountains.

C．What the drama and the painting have in common.

D．How the drama presents the elements from the painting.

3. Which of the following does Mo Weisha probably agree with?

A．Mountains and rivers should be better exhibited in the drama.

B．The mountains and rivers in the drama are true to life.

C．Modem people value natural beauty more than ever before.

D．The drama could look better in theaters than on TV.

4. Why are shows about Chinese traditional culture becoming popular according to Yao Wei?

A．People are more open to traditional culture.

B．People are happy to see new forms of art.

C．Chinese culture has been spreading around the world.

D．People have received more access to traditional culture.

4 . Maybe you have heard the expression—when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when you want to do business in France, you have to get to know French culture, to make marketing plans, and to run your business by local laws.

    1     The French take great pride in their language, so anyone who does not speak it may run the risk of being disrespected by his French colleagues or business partners. Also, another reason why learning French is important is that it is a great way to show every possible French business partner that you care and respect their country's culture and language.

The first thing you should do when meeting someone new is to shake his hand firmly and always look the person in the eye. In social meeting with friends, kissing is common.

Use first names only after being invited to.     2     The French will sometimes introduce themselves using their surname first, followed by their first name.

Dress well.     3     Your business clothing is a reflection of your success and social status. Always try to be tasteful and stylish. Women are advised to dress simply but elegantly. Wearing make-up is practised widely by businesswomen.

The French are passionate about food, so lunches are common in doing business in France, which usually consist of an appetizer (开胃菜), a main meal with wine, cheese, dessert and coffee, and normally take up to two hours.     4    

Do not begin eating until the host says “bon appetite”. Pass dishes to the left, keep wrists above the table and try to eat everything on the plate.     5     This may suggest that you find the food tasteless. If eating in a restaurant, the person who invites always pays.

A．The French draw information about people based on their appearance.

B．This is a time for relationship building.

C．Remember to be as polite as possible.

D．Language should be the focus of anyone planning to do business in France.

E．Be careful with adding salt, pepper or sauces to your food.

F．Use Monsieur or Madame before the surname.

G．Make an appointment with your business partner in advance.

5 . Experts say it is difficult to get accustomed to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” is what these experts use when talking about the feelings people have in a new environment. There are three periods of culture shock. In the first period, the newcomers like their new environment.     1     In the last period, the newcomers start to adjust to their surroundings and, as a result, enjoy their life more.

There exist several evident factors in culture shock.     2     The customs may be different. The public service systems—the telephones, bank, or transportation—may be hard to work out. The simplest things seem to be big problems. The language may be difficult.

    3     Everybody does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Often the people who experience the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they don't have the same established positions. They find themselves without any identity. They have to build a new self-image. Culture shock brings about a feeling of losing directions. This feeling may be homesickness.     4     They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create an escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short time, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture.     5     These are the long-term solutions to the problem of culture shock.

A．Who feels culture shock?

B．The weather may be unpleasant.

C．Who wants to go through homesickness?

D．You have to walk out of your comfort zone.

E．Get to know the new environment, make new friends and gain experience.

F．People feel like staying inside all the time when homesick.

G．Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to dislike the country and everything else.

8 . Mother’s Day became an official holiday in the United States at the start of the 20th century.     1     The celebration is on the second Sunday in May as a way to honor mothers whose sons had died in war.

    2     People give mothers gifts like flowers, cards, and jewelry to thank them for all their hard work. A popular symbol of the holiday is the carnation(康乃馨). This is because when the holiday first began in the U. S. people were encouraged to wear a red carnation if their mother was alive or a white carnation if their mother was dead.     3     In fact, Mother’s Day is the most popular, date in the U. S. for people to go out and eat and it is estimated that people spend billions on meals and gifts. Mother’s Day is also the most popular day to make long distance calls in the U. S. It is the second most popular gift-giving day after Christmas.

Like Father’s Day, it indeed is a holiday that has changed in such a way that it makes money or profits.     4     In fact, the founder of the U. S. holiday, Anna Jarvis, began arguing against the holiday and was even arrested for disturbing the peace for demonstrating. Jarvis’s own mother started the campaign to establish a mother’s holiday during the American Civil War.

Mothers are not the only people celebrated on this day. All mother figures including grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepmothers, and foster mothers are honored on the holiday. In schools many students make special gifts, including handmade cards. While widely recognized, Mother’s Day is not an American holiday.     5    

A．It celebrates and honors mothers.

B．The story of Mother’s Day is a long one.

C．But the holiday has long been blamed for it.

D．The holiday is celebrated in a number of ways.

E．Many other countries have their own Mother’s Day.

F．Many people take their mothers out for a special meal.

G．And Australia celebrates Mother’s Day with beautiful flowers.