1 . The Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month. And it falls on Tuesday this year.
It was also a romantic festival in ancient China, providing an opportunity for unmarried men and women to meet.
Another activity，guessing the answers to lantern riddles，gave young people a chance to interact with each other and know more about each other. For thousands of years, there have been numerous love stories originating during the Lantern Festival.
Besides watching lanterns and guessing the answers to lantern riddles，there are many other traditions for the festival.
1. Dragon lantern dance
2. Lion Dances
It is similar to the dragon lantern dance，delivering good wishes and good luck.
3. Eating yuanxiao
Eating yuanxiao on Lantern Festival is another tradition.
| A．Chinese people regard the dragon as a symbol of good luck. |
| B．Here is a guide for you to spend a happy I intern Festival. |
| C．Yuanxiao is made of glutinous rice, either solid or stuffed. |
| D．Almost all people will come out and appreciate the beautiful scene. |
| E．As a traditional food, YuanXiao appeals to a lot of people. |
| F．In ancient times, young women, especially daughters of respected families, hardly stepped out their houses. |
| G．It is a continuation of celebrating the Spring Festival. |
2 . Why did Chinese people have more than one name in ancient times?
In ancient China, people’s names had three parts, their family name, given name and courtesy name. Take famous poet Li Bai for example. His family name, which came from his father’s name, was Li. His given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.
People used their given names when they were among family members. But in social life, they called each other by their courtesy names to show respect. This was mostly done among people of similar ages. If you were talking about yourself, or if your elders were talking about you, the given name would be used instead of the courtesy name.
Men would get their courtesy names when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成年礼). Women would get their courtesy names after getting married.
One’s courtesy name often had something to do with one’s given name. For example, the name of Mencius was Meng Ke. His courtesy name was Ziyu. Both Ke and Ziyu mean “carriage (马车)”. Zhuge Liang’s given name was Liang, which means “bright”. His courtesy name was Kongming, which means “very bright”.
1. How many parts are there in people’s names in ancient China?| A．3. | B．4. | C．5. | D．6. |
| A．To show their love. | B．To show their good relationship. |
| C．To show their kindness. | D．To show their respect. |
| A．Family name. | B．Nickname. |
| C．Given name. | D．Courtesy name. |
| A．By telling stories. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By comparing differences. | D．By listing numbers. |
3 . Major Snow, the 21st solar term of the year, begins this year on Dec 7 and ends on Dec 20, marking the start of the season. It begins when the sun reaches the celestial longitude (天文经度) of 255° and ends when it reaches 270°
By the start of Major Snow, most of China has already seen the start of winter.
During Major Snow, people often eat jujube cakes, made from red jujube dates (枣) which are rich in vitamin C, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and other nutrients.
In some areas, cured meats become a specialty product, as a way to store meat over the winter months. As the saying goes, small snow seals the ground, heavy snow seals the river.
Major Snow is an excellent season for people to replenish their bodies. There is another saying, “Replenishing your body in winter means you will be strong enough to fight a tiger in early spring.”
| A．A timely snow promises a good harvest |
| B．You can also eat some foods that nourish your Yin |
| C．A large number of citrus fruits, high in vitamin C, are in season |
| D．Temperatures have now dropped to below 0 °C in some northern regions |
| E．There is an old Chinese saying that “Three dates a day means no one gets old” |
| F．Now, many rivers are frozen, and people can go ice-skating with friends and family |
| G．At this time of year, it tends to snow more frequently over a wider area of the country |
4 . Britain is divided into different areas. Britain is one of the most diverse nations in Europe with over 250 different languages being spoken in London alone. With such a various culture, adapting to it can be a challenge for anyone.
Forget the stereotypes (陈旧观念). Many of the long-formed stereotypes simply have nothing to do with Britain today. Don’t think that everyone enjoys drinking tea or beer. Abandoning some old ideas of people and culture will allow you to be more open-minded and easily get into the culture.
Get used to small spaces. Like all European nations, Britain does not have the luxury of space. Houses, apartments and cars are all smaller.
Accept the jokes.
| A．Be polite |
| B．Make friends with them |
| C．Don’t play jokes on others |
| D．Understand the differences |
| E．Following these steps should be of great help to you |
| F．Therefore, trying to become familiar with smaller areas is very necessary |
| G．One of the most confusing aspects of British culture is humour |
5 . This year over twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that were usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. “Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea.“I suppose I should criticise American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much.In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”
1. What’s Mike’s attitude towards American education?| A．Praise. | B．Regret. |
| C．Ignore. | D．Accuse. |
| A．To help teenagers in other countries know the real America. |
| B．To send students in America to travel in Germany. |
| C．To let students learn something about other countries. |
| D．To have teenagers learn new languages. |
| A．There is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings. |
| B．There are a lot of outside activities. |
| C．Students usually take 14 subjects in all. |
| D．Students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car. |
| A．A better education should include something good from both America and Germany. |
| B．German schools trained students to be better citizens. |
| C．American schools were not as good as German schools. |
| D．The easy life in American schools was more helpful to students. |
6 . The origins of the Christmas traditions are the most fascinating of any holiday. All our favourite activities can be traced (追溯) back to specific points in history, and knowing how these things came about just makes celebrating Christmas much more wonderful.
The original Nicholas was born in 280 A.D. in the small country of Lycia, which is now part of modern Turkey. Nicholas became first a priest (牧师) and then a bishop (主教) in the early Christian church. The first paintings of him show Nicholas wearing the clothes of a Christian bishop—red decorated with white. When we see Santa’s suit today, we’re still seeing the two kinds of colors.
Nicholas became famous for gift-giving. In the early fourth century, a story began to spread about Nicholas coming at night to the home of three poor girls who did not have money and therefore could not get married. While the girls slept, Nicholas left gold coins in their stockings, which were drying by the fire. That’s how the tradition of Santa filling stockings got its start.
In 1841, Santa first appeared at a department store in Philadelphia. This Santa tried to climb down a chimney to impress the children who were watching, but he got stuck halfway down. In 1890, department store Santas began appearing all over America, especially on the East Coast around Boston. Parents in other countries joined together and hired passenger trains to take their families to see these Santas.
At the same time, Ralph E. Morris of the New England Telephone Company suggested that strings of lights be hung on Christmas trees. After all, lights would be much safer than candles. Our modern-day image of Santa as a fat man is based on ads of the Coca-Cola company in the 1930s. Artist Hans Sundblom used a retired salesman named Les Prentice as his model.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Christmas is the most important holiday. |
| B．The traditions of Christmas are based on facts. |
| C．There was not any record of Christmas in the past. |
| D．More and more people begin to celebrate Christmas. |
| A．He set up the first Christian church. |
| B．He was called Santa Claus when he was born. |
| C．His clothes are similar to Santa’s suit in color. |
| D．His image is the same as the modern-day Santa. |
| A．prove that Nicholas used to be a rich man |
| B．tell of the origin of Santa filling stockings |
| C．show Christmas was set up mainly for the poor |
| D．describe a famous story in the early fourth century |
| A．Santa didn’t become popular until the year 1890. |
| B．Candles have never been used on Christmas trees. |
| C．The Coca-Cola company designed the image of Santa. |
| D．Santa began giving gifts by climbing down chimneys in 1841. |
7 . Music festivals in Europe
Visiting a festival abroad can be a great reason to travel and a way to experience different cultures. These days there is such a number of choices that it’s possible to spend the whole summer watching live music in exciting places. Of course, it’s also a chance to meet people from across the world.
Melt! Festival, Germany
This festival takes place on the site of an open air museum for industrial machinery. There’s also a lake which can be used for swimming when it’s hot. This year’s line-up has over 120 different bands (乐队). Around 90% of the people attending the festival are German providing a perfect chance to practise speaking the language.
Exit Festival, Serbia
Set on the banks of the Danube in an old fortress (城堡), the festival began as a way to show people’s dissatisfaction with the government. These days it’s less political (政治的) but still worries about people who are poor, ill, old, etc and tries to help them. This year’s festival will host many famous bands. From electronic music and dance music to hard rock, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Open’er Festival, Poland
Held in an airfield near the northern city of Gdansk, each year Open’er has a seriously good selection of bands. This year is no exception, with many famous bands set to play. Not only are there amazing artists, but both Poland and the festival itself also provide very excellent value for money.
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Scotland
Set on a Scottish estate (庄园) near Inverness, this year Belladrum will welcome artists from around the world. The most enjoyable part of the weekend is the ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance and party) which is always a lively event. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a beginner because the band teaches you each dance.
1. What is special about Melt! Festival?| A．It provides German lessons. | B．It is held by a local museum. |
| C．The bands are from 120 countries. | D．Most of the festival goers are German. |
| A．For political reasons. | B．For personal reasons. |
| C．To help stop a fight. | D．To offer help to the poor. |
| A．It falls in summer. |
| B．It is a live music festival. |
| C．It teaches people Scottish dances. |
| D．It invites the most famous bands. |
8 . Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities).Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.
Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions.
Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.
1. What does the smile usually mean in America?| A．Love. | B．Politeness. |
| C．Joy. | D．Thankfulness. |
| A．show friendliness to strangers |
| B．be used to hide true feelings |
| C．be used in the wrong places |
| D．show personal habits |
| A．Learn about their relations with others. |
| B．Understand their cultural backgrounds. |
| C．Find out about their past experience. |
| D．Figure out what they will do next. |
| A．Cultural Differences |
| B．Smiles and Relationship |
| C．Facial Expressiveness |
| D．Habits and Emotions |
9 . The “24 solar terms” (节气) originated and was first used in China. It was created thousands of years ago on the basis of practical needs of agricultural. Ancient Chinese people used it to guide agricultural production, explain special climate signs and even come up with healthy living tips. Last year, the 24 solar terms was added to UNESCO's world cultural heritage list(联合国教科文组织世界文化遗产名录). Now, it has been brought to life thanks to a creative designer from Southwest China's Guizhou Province.
On the eve of this year's Qingming Festival, Shi Changhong released (发布) his version of reproduced and packaged characters for each solar term in the form of “moving art” of gifs. Since their first release on Zcool on March 29, the gifs have won great praise among the general public and quickly flooded the social media with millions of hits during the festival period.
To maximize publicity, Shi released his work in three forms: the video, the animation and pictures. The background sounds add to the brilliance.
“When I watch the short video, I can strongly feel the Chinese-style elements hidden in it. And it is really cool to liven up traditional Chinese culture in such a unique way.” WeChat user Xiao Feifei said.
“It is really a comfort to me to see so many people like my latest work. To be honest, it would really surprise me if the work had not aroused great interest among Chinese people. The 24 solar terms is a deeply rooted concept that covers the essence of Chinese wisdom. However, only a small portion of people know all the names or the correct order of those terms. My intention is to increase Chinese people’s self-awareness to learn more about our traditional fine culture. Actually, the 24 solar terms work is only a part of my whole design program ‘Charm China’, which I started a year ago.” Shi told China Daily.
1. Which part of the newspaper does the text probably belong to?| A．Travel. | B．Culture. | C．Agriculture. | D．Education. |
| A．Newspaper. | B．Magazine. |
| C．Radio broadcast. | D．Website. |
| A．The background sounds of the work make the video more attractive. |
| B．It really surprised Shi Changhong to see so many people like his latest work. |
| C．Most people know all the names or the correct order of the 24 solar terms. |
| D．The 24 solar terms work designed by Shi Changhong was added to UNESCO’s heritage list. |
| A．To introduce a creative designer. |
| B．To introduce the 24 solar terms work. |
| C．To introduce the origin of the 24 solar terms. |
| D．To introduce a design program “Charm China”. |
10 . The Chinese Spring Festival
The Chinese Spring Festival is regarded as the most significant festival of the year among the Chinese.
There are a number of things people usually do before the Chinese Spring Festival. One of these is cleaning the house for the Lunar New Year. Dust makes people think of old things.
The most important custom of the Chinese Spring Festival is the big family dinner on the eve of the Lunar New Year. This is usually a big reunion of grandparents, parents, and children.
When the New Year comes, there are many interesting festival activities such as “lucky money” in red envelopes or greetings with “Xinnian Hao” or “Gongxi Facai”. Another part of this custom of is to pay visits to relatives and bring them gifts.
| A．Commonly exchanged gifts include food, wine or tea |
| B．They are occasions that allow us to relax and enjoy life |
| C．It reflects people’s wishes, beliefs, faiths, and attitudes towards life |
| D．It reflects how important family is to Chinese people around the world |
| E．It lasts 15 days but the days of preparation beforehand are considered important |
| F．Therefore, sweeping dust is a way of saying goodbye to the old and hello to the new |
| G．The Chinese Spring Festival symbolizes a farewell to the old and a welcome to the new |
