1 . The Chongyang Festival is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, which is also known as the Double Ninth Festival.
Climbing mountains
People like to climb mountains during this festival. One reason is that the ninth lunar month, with clear autumn sky and clean air, is a good time for sightseeing.
Climbing mountains also refers to “climbing to a higher position”. Another reason why climbing mountains is valued by people, especially by the elderly, is that it has a meaning of “climbing to longevity(长寿)”. Climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival was already popular in the Tang Dynasty.
Drinking the chrysanthemum flower (菊花) wine
The chrysanthemum flower wine is unique in brewing. In ancient times, people usually picked fresh chrysanthemum flowers and leaves on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, and put the mixture of them and grains into the wine.
The Double Ninth cake is also known as the “flower cake”. It is said that the cake was originally prepared after autumn harvests for farmers to have a taste of what was just in season, and it gradually grew into the present cake for people to eat on the Double Ninth Festival.
| A．Making the “flower cake” |
| B．Eating Double Ninth cakes |
| C．A lot of poems were devoted to this custom |
| D．Therefore, people love to go on an outing in this month |
| E．It would not be drunk until the same day of the next year |
| F．Here are some traditional customs of the Double Ninth Festival |
| G．However, few Chinese people are aware of the importance of the festival |
2 . Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October as a day to make someone happy. It is an occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, the aged, and children who have lost their parents, but also friends, workmates, relatives and neighbors whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed.
Many years ago, when a Cleveland man noticed that some people, such as children who lost their parents and patients who lay in bed, too often felt forgotten and neglected, he developed in his mind the idea of showing them that they were remembered. He did this by giving them small gifts. With the help of his friends and neighbors, he gave those people small gifts on a Saturday in October. During the years that followed, other Clevelanders began to take part in the celebration, which came to be called “Sweetest Day”. Over time, the Sweetest Day’s idea of spreading cheer to the poor, the sick and children who had lost their parents was broadened(扩大) to include everyone, and the day became an occasion for remembering others with a kind act or a small gift. Soon the idea spread to other cities all over the USA.
Sweetest Day is not based on any single group’s religious beliefs or on a family relationship. It is a reminder(提醒人记忆之物) that a thoughtful word or deed enriches life and gives it meaning. Because of most people remembering to take the form of gift giving, Sweetest Day offers us the opportunity to show others that we care in a positive way.
1. What can we learn about Sweetest Day from the first paragraph?| A．It’s a day to bring happiness to others. |
| B．It’s an occasion for lovers to express love. |
| C．It’s celebrated on the third Sunday in October. |
| D．It’s just an occasion for caring about disabled people. |
| A．Giving friends small gifts. | B．Giving flowers to sweethearts. |
| C．Visiting children without parents. | D．Visiting sick people in the hospital. |
| A．Hated. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Looked down on. | D．Paid too little attention to. |
| A．Give them gifts. | B．Offer help directly. |
| C．Give them some money. | D．Send them their greetings. |
3 . The Water-Splashing Festival is a traditional festival for the Dai people in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province in the southwest of China. It is the New Year for the Dai, a festival to send off the old and greet the new. Usually, the festival takes place from April 13th to15th, about ten days after the Qingming Festival.
During the festival, the door of every house is decorated with multicolored pieces of paper. All the villagers dress up in their best clothes. Sheep and cows are killed for feasting, plus delicious glutinous rice cakes, rice noodles, and rice wine. The occasion is marked by all kinds of entertainment, including singing and dancing, fireworks displays, boat racing, etc. But the most popular event is water-splashing.
On the eve of the festival, activities include fireworks displays and dragon boat racing. The second day is known as Neuter Day, which belongs to neither the old year nor the new year. On this day, according to custom, people usually stay at home.
The third day means a lot to the Dai people, because it’s their New Year’s Day. In the morning, people dress up and go to the temple to show their respect for Buddha. They sit around the pagodas to listen respectfully to scripture and historical legends, and pray for good weather. In the afternoon, every woman will carry fresh water to clean the Buddha statue so she might get his blessing. People then splash water on each other, which symbolizes the blessing, rinsing(冲洗) away sickness and disaster with holy water for a happy life.
Water-splashing is central to all because water, the symbol of holiness, goodness and purity, is the most valuable thing to the Dai. During the festival, people gather by the roadside and in public parks and squares armed with buckets and basins of water, to drench each other in wishes for good luck and a happy new year.
The Water-Splashing Festival is an important event to show the traditional culture of Dai and it provides an opportunity to study the history of Dai, which has high academic value. At the same time, the festival is an important link to strengthening the unity of all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, which plays a positive role in the friendly cooperation and contact between the area and southeast Asian countries.
1. Why people splash water on each other according to the text?2. List some important Chinese traditional festivals you know.
4 . Do you like traditional Chinese painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged at CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance was inspired by the Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains(《千里江山图》). Created by the Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng, the painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape.
When the dancers moved 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 dance 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 impress 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 feature traditional Chinese culture and have received a warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due 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’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To show a doubtful attitude. |
| C．To advertise a dance drama. | D．To raise some questions. |
| A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. | B．A Chinese blue-green landscape. |
| C．The Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng. | D．An ancient traditional Chinese painting. |
| A．Young people are happy to see new forms of art. |
| B．Young people are more open to traditional culture. |
| C．Young people have gained more access to traditional culture. |
| D．Chinese culture has been spreading around the world. |
| A．Art Coming Alive Through Dance | B．Beauty Presented in Poetic Dance |
| C．Passion for Traditional Chinese Painting | D．Highlights of Traditional Chinese Culture |
5 . Embroidery is an important art form in Chinese culture. People often embroider handkerchiefs, bed covers, tablecloths and dresses. Sichuan embroidery, also called Shu embroidery, is one of the most famous embroidery styles in China. It is famous for its delicate and bright colors and fine stitches (针脚).
The characteristics are greatly influenced by geographical environment, customs and cultures. Called the “Land of Abundance”, Sichuan Province is rich in grain production. The people of this area also enjoy a slow lifestyle. So when embroidering, they are usually patient and willing to spend time pursuing the form’s complexity and elegance. This could also be a reason why Sichuan embroidery was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
Making beautiful Sichuan embroidery products is never easy. It requires superb workmanship. Meng Dezhi was born to a family of embroiderers. She was one of the most talented employees in the Chengdu Shu Embroidery Factory. Even so, the long and repetitive nature of the process often challenges her. And in winter, when her hands and feet are freezing, things become more difficult. But her love for the work has encouraged Meng to continue. Even for an experienced master like Meng, finishing a piece requires several days or even a few months.
“These experiences may sometimes discourage me, but the love for Sichuan embroidery always gives me motivation to continue,” said Meng. Meng has also popularized the culture of Sichuan embroidery when the tradition was at risk of declining. Because many cheap products are made by modern machines, the factory Meng worked in was forced to close in 2005. To make a living, Meng rented a small space to teach Sichuan embroidery skills to the kids and young people.
“In the early days, I set up the company just for survival, but now I really feel that I have the responsibility to pass on Sichuan embroidery skills to young people. It is like sowing seeds — who knows which of them will become an inheritor (继承人) or guardian of our culture in the future?” she told China Daily.
1. What makes Meng Dezhi stick to embroidering?2. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．Art Made with Modern Machines | B．The History of Sichuan Embroidery |
| C．Passing on Sichuan Embroidery | D．A Talented Sichuan Embroidery Employee |
Sichuan embroidery
Paras, 1-2
Paras. 3-5
Though faced with many dificulties,
6 . Sneakers (运动鞋) have come a long way from when they were first invented in 1860s England for the upper-class playing croquet and tennis. But what transformed sneaker culture into a true phenomenon was the 1985 release of Nike’s Air Jordan 1.
In 1984, Michael Jordan was a talented new player who had yet to play in a professional game. Despite that, Nike — better known then as a running shoe company — saw Jordan as the future of their brand. The bet paid off. As Jordan proved to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, the sneaker’s popularity skyrocketed.
Sneaker culture began to take off beyond the basketball court too. When the influential hip-hop group Run-D. M. C. released their single My Adidas in 1986, it earned the group a first-of-its-kind endorsement (代言) deal with the brand. Soon after, Kurt Cobain of the grunge band Nirvana made Converse a symbol of rebellion and youth.
Meanwhile, another cultural shift was taking place as white-collar businesses introduced casual Fridays. Suddenly, men were allowed to put aside their suits and wear something one day a week that showed people who they really were.
Nowadays, sneakers are also how people express their beliefs — for instance, when NBA player Dwyane Wade wore hiscustom-designed, limited-edition “Black Lives Matter” Li-Nings or NFL placekicker Blair Walsh wore anti-bullying sneakers covered in the words “Speak Out.”
“It’s like art,” says Akio Evans, a Baltimore creative who specializes in turning shoes into wearable artwork. “Even though it is a sneaker that is on the shelves or inside of a box inside a store, the very first thing you are doing is admiring what you see. You look at all the pieces and decide which one appeals to your emotions.”
Decades after their first introduction to the fashion industry, sneakers are finally getting their due as part of our cultural heritage.
1. How has Michael Jordan affected sneaker culture?| A．He is a key figure in its taking over the world. |
| B．He played in a professional game in 1984 to start it. |
| C．He has created it since he became a talented new player. |
| D．He was known for wearing running shoes as advertisement for it. |
| A．To introduce Run-D. M. C. and Kurt Cobain. | B．To prove Nike the best sneaker brand. |
| C．To show the popularity of sneaker culture. | D．To emphasize rebellion and youth. |
| A．Wearing sneakers. | B．Embracing suits. |
| C．Stopping work. | D．Hiding themselves. |
| A．Famous athletes express their beliefs on sneakers just for fun. |
| B．Artists pay too much attention to turning sneakers into artwork. |
| C．Sneakers deserve the admiration and popularity nowadays. |
| D．Sneaker culture plays the most important role in fashion industry. |
7 . What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of wheat straw? Most people would probably just see it as a pile of waste in a farmer’s field. However, Wu Cui, an intangible cultural inheritor, can turn the straw left over from harvested wheat into beautiful and eye-catching functional artworks.
The earliest straw-weaving (草编的) products were discovered at Hemudu Cultural Ruins, a Neolithic cultural site located in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. The Book of Rites, one of the classical works of Confucianism, also records that there were already mats made of cattail grass and professional straw-weaving craftsmen during the Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-256 BC).
Straw weaving is a method of manufacturing daily items or artworks. It was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.
Wu explains the process of straw weaving: selection of materials is the first step of a complicated, time-consuming and labor-intensive process that can take weeks, or even months, to complete. You need to sketch (素描) the piece on paper, which requires drawing skills. Next comes weaving, shaping and preserving of the work. Even by finishing that process, it does not mean that you will always create a good piece of work, and the hardest part is to make it vivid.
In the past, woven straw items could be found almost in every household in the countryside, such as straw hats and straw shoes, because they were practical in everyday life. But due to the impact of industrialization, manufactured goods have replaced such products, which produce low profits, and there are only about 100 individuals engaging in the work across the country. “The world has changed, and craftsmen need to transcend practicality and seek the beauty and artistry of straw culture to help the craft survive and develop,” Wu says.
As far as she is concerned, straw weaving should respond to people’s needs and preferences, while still drawing inspiration from traditional culture. “Craftspeople should make a great effort to grasp the trends and opportunities of the times to create new and relevant products,” she says. When asked about her plans, Wu says she wants to dig deeper into local traditional culture and create cultural creative products by developing the straw-weaving technique.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about straw-weaving products?| A．Their major uses. | B．Their cultural value. |
| C．Their historic origins. | D．Their manufacturing process. |
| A．Making the artworks lifelike. | B．Drawing sketches on paper. |
| C．Selecting suitable materials. | D．Preserving finished products. |
| A．Rely on. | B．Turn to. | C．Throw away. | D．Go beyond. |
| A．Straw-weaving products are out of favor with customers. |
| B．Seeking fashion should be the first task for craftspeople. |
| C．Local people benefit a lot from the straw-weaving techniques. |
| D．Craftsmen should create the craft based on traditional culture. |
8 . Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal, or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasise the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example,business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work,it is necessary to spend a lot of time in“small talk”, usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realised that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a better chance to us to understand and learn from each other.
1. What’s the benefit of eating together at restaurants in some countries according to this passage?| A．People can develop closer relations. | B．People can share the same culture. |
| C．People can get to know each other. | D．People can keep each other company. |
| A．To show the English prefer to make long speeches. |
| B．To show too many words are of no use. |
| C．To show people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature. |
| D．To show even talk and silence can be culturally different. |
| A．By sharing different ways of life. | B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By recognising different values. | D．By speaking each other’s languages. |
| A．Multicultural Environment | B．Cross-cultural Differences |
| C．How to Understand Each Other | D．How to Build up a Relationship |
9 . Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day.
Buy Nothing Day is on November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving and often the first day of Christmas shopping.
The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day.
| A．They don’t want anyone to go shopping on that day. |
| B．Now people all over the world celebrate Buy Nothing Day. |
| C．Many people think highly of the idea of Buy Nothing Day. |
| D．They asked restaurants in the neighborhood to donate the food. |
| E．Buy Nothing Day has successfully persuaded people not to buy anything. |
| F．At this time, we see ads in newspapers and on TV telling us to “Buy! Buy! Buy!” |
| G．Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day. |
10 . Here are a few interesting facts about Teachers’ Day around the world：
China celebrates Teachers’ Day on September 10. The tradition began in the 1980s to improve teachers’ lives and status and encourage everyone to respect teachers.
In India, Teachers’ Day is celebrated on September 5 in honor of Dr. Radhakrishnan. He was India’s second president and a person who believed in good education. Traditionally on this day, the teaching is done by the senior students while the teachers get a muchdeserved break from their work.
The United Nations has made October 5 World Teachers’ Day. This special day was started to let the world see what teachers have done and listen to the teachers’ worries and the things they want to change.
In the United States, National Teachers’ Day is always on the Tuesday of the first week of May, so the actual date is different every year. The history of celebrating this day goes back to 1944.
In Germany, Teachers’ Day is celebrated on June 12 every year. People will express their respect to teachers with many activities. Teachers always receive prizes, presents, beautiful cards and other things.
Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Brunei(文莱) on September 23.
January 15 is Teachers’ Day in Venezuela(委内瑞拉)．
North Korea celebrates Teachers’ Day on September 5.
1. How many countries mentioned in the passage have their Teachers’ Day?| A．7. | B．8. |
| C．6. | D．9. |
| A．Radhakrishnan was the first president of India. |
| B．Radhakrishnan attached great importance to education. |
| C．On Teachers’ Day the teachers in India are still working hard. |
| D．Teachers’ Day is celebrated on September 5 in India. |
| A．India, Brunei and North Korea. |
| B．Venezuela, North Korea and Brunei. |
| C．Germany, North Korea and India. |
| D．India, Brunei, North Korea and the United States. |
| A．To encourage everyone to respect and honor teachers. |
| B．To let the world realize teachers’ contributions and encourage people to care about and help teachers. |
| C．To see what teachers have done in the year. |
| D．To have a dialogue with teachers. |
