1 . A holiday is any day when people lay aside their ordinary duties and cares. The word came from Old English. At first, holidays honored some holy events or persons. People in Great Britain and other countries speak of holidays as Americans speak of vacations.

Every nation has its special holidays. China observes New Year’s Day (January 1), May Day and National Day as legal holidays, as it was on Oct.1,1949 that the People’s Republic of China was founded. The Chinese have long celebrated the Chinese lunar year. In the United States, congress has declared several days as legal holidays such as New Year’s Day (January 1), Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Washington’s birthday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and so on. Some holidays celebrate special events in the development of a country, such as Greece’s Independence Day, Italy’s Liberation Day and India’s Independence Day.

In the United States, banks and schools usually close on a legal holiday. When such a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday is usually observed. Schools and organizations often observe days known as traditional holidays, although schools and business do not close then. Those holidays include Valentine’s Day and Halloween.

1. From the passage we know that China’s National Day is ___________.

A．January 1

B．May 1

C．October 1

D．December 25

2. In the sentence “China observes New Year’s Day (January1)’’, observe means _____________.

A．praises

B．spends

C．celebrates

D．cares

3. From the passage we can infer that _____________.

A．Chinese will no longer observe the Spring Festival

B．students don’t have to go to school on any holiday

C．Chinese and Americans share at least one holiday

D．Americans can easily draw money from banks on legal days.

4. Which of the following holidays has nothing to do with a country’s development?

A．China’s National Day	B．Valentine’s Day
C．Italy’s liberation Day	D．Independence Day

2 . March, April and May are months full of festivals and events all over the world. Here are some wonderful festivals around the world that happen in spring.
SongKran--Thailand
Dates: 13^th-15th, April
In Thailand, it’s time to celebrate the coming monsoon season, which will bring the rain many people have been looking forward to. They celebrate it with a festival called Songkran, when people head out to the streets with water guns to spray(喷，洒）everyone who walks past. If you walk on the streets where the festival is celebrated, prepare to get soaked!
Naghol--Vanuatu
Dates: Every Saturday from April to May
Every year, villagers come together to celebrate the harvest of yams, an important part in the peopls’s diet in Vanuatu. The festival is most famous for its “land diving ceremony”. During the ceremony men and boys dive to the ground from high wooden towers with only two thin vines attached(附于)to their ankles(脚踝）. The divers’ heads have to lightly touch the ground when they jump---something very dangerous if the vines are not measured（测量）properly.
Cherry Blossom Viewing ---Japan
Dates: The cherry blossom season is different from year to year depending on the weather forecast.
The cherry blossom season has huge importance to the people of Japan, who celebrate the days when the flowers finally blossom. Only a few days later, the petals(花瓣） fall to the ground, like pink snowflakes. This is one of the most beautiful things to see. In Japan, almost everyone has picnics in the parks to view the flowers.
Sinhalese New Year--Sri Lanka
Dates: 13^th or 14^th, April
Just like in many other countries in South an South East Asia, this is the time when the Sinhalese celebrate the traditional New Year, an ancient celebration which marks the end of the harvest season and is one of two times of the year when the sun is straight above Sri Lanka. There are a lot of delicious foods during the celebration.
1. . What does the underlined word “ soaked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．tired

B．wet

C．crazy

D．interested

2. The writer thinks that the “land diving ceremony” can be dangerous for the divers because ___________.

A．the divers may fall onto the ground if the thin vines break

B．the divers may bump into （撞在…上）the wooden tower on the way down

C．the divers’ ankles may get injured if the vines are tied too tightly

D．the divers may injure（伤害）their heads if the vines aren’t measured properly

3. We can learn from the passage that__________________.

A．the Cherry Blossom Celebration usually lasts a long time in Japan

B．the Cherry Blossom Celebration is the most important festival in Japan

C．the time for the Cherry Blossom Celebration in Japan can be different yearly

D．people usually stay at home for celebration during the cherry blossom season.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Dragon Boat Festival is a national festival in China. It had its origin as an event in memory    1    the great poet Qu Yuan. Every year, people can hardly wait and look forward to its    2    (arrive). It is Chinese custom    3    (hold) dragon races in the    4    (five) month of the lunar calendar. The festival    5    (celebrate) to protect people from bad luck and illness, too. Of course, parents should watch over    6    (they) children and protect them from    7    (do) harm to themselves or getting    8    (drown) in the water. Anyway, the main purpose of the Dragon Boat Festival today is to let people have fun    9    each other    10    forget their work for a little while.

4 . Welcome to Edinburgh, the world's leading festival city.

Edinburgh International Science Festival

Time: 6 April to 20 April

Edinburgh International Science Festival, founded in 1983, is the world's first public science festival. The two-week festival gives audiences amazing experiences through a diverse program of inspiring events. Alongside the annual festival in Edinburgh, the organization has a strong focus on education and runs a touring program that visits schools around Scotland throughout the year.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Time: 10 August to 20 August

Edinburgh International Book Festival is the largest public celebration of the written word in the world, which was first held in 1997. Every August around 1,000 writers and thinkers from across the world gather with the audiences in Edinburg. Here book lovers can rub shoulders with world-renowned authors --- or just relax in the sunshine with a deckchair, a drink and a favorite read.

Scottish International Storytelling Festival

Time: 19 October to 31 October

Beginning in 1989, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival is the largest storytelling event in the world. Drawing heavily on traditional tale-tellers from Scotland — as well as international guests with stories from their own cultures, the festival is a very special celebration of the oral tradition. Skilled storytellers draw their audiences in, bringing together past and present, real and unreal, for an attractive 10 days.

Edinburgh International Children's Festival

Time: 25 May to 2 June

Edinburgh International Children's Festival is the one dedicated specifically to children. It brings some of the world's best theatre, dance and plays made for young people to Edinburgh for nine days of inspiring and entertaining shows and special events. The Festival began in 1980 and is now spread over 10 activity fields, attracting a loyal audience of 10,000 families, schools and artists.

1. What is the duration of Edinburgh International Science Festival?

A．About one week.	B．Less than 10 days.
C．About two weeks.	D．More than half a month.

2. What can the tourists do in Edinburgh International Book Festival?

A．Meet world-famous authors.	B．Buy all their favorite books.
C．Relax by listening to stories.	D．Share stories with audiences.

3. Which festival has the longest history?

A．Edinburgh International Science Festival.

B．Edinburgh International Book Festival.

C．Scottish International Storytelling Festival.

D．Edinburgh International Children's Festival.

5 . 假定你是李华,你的英国笔友Mike发来邮件说他对中国的传统节日很感兴趣。请你回一 封邮件，向他介绍你喜欢的中秋节，内容包括：
1.       中国人如何庆祝中秋节；
2.       你喜欢这个节日的原因。
Dear Mike,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

.Yours,

Li Hua

6 . Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them.

    1    . They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think are annoying.

In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity while the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children.     2    

Chinese people have different meanings to define friends.    3    . Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other whatever help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.

As is well known, Chinese like to save.    4    . It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than Chinese people.

    5     If you achieve something in the US, it's because you are great. While in China, if you achieve something it's because the team, or family, or company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, while in America individual virtues are celebrated.

A．Just hanging out together from time to time is not friendship

B．American people put more emphasis on business and virtues

C．Chinese people value education and career more than Americans

D．Unlike Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children

E．They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money

F．Basically China values the community and the US values the individual

G．Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do

7 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.

On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.

Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.

Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．

1. The Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ________.

A．had problems with communication	B．needed to learn foreign languages
C．should often discuss their experiences	D．should go abroad for vacations

2. People in Micronesia show “yes” by ________.

A．nodding heads	B．raising eyebrows
C．shaking heads	D．saying “no”

3. Tom misunderstood his class at first because ________.

A．he didn’t know where the students came from

B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough

C．some students didn’t understand his questions

D．he did not know much about Indian culture

4. Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?

A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no”

B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island.

C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage.

D．In India，only shaking heads means “yes”.

8 . 假定你是李华。你的澳大利亚朋友Mike写信告诉你,他将参加他所在城市举行的“我所了解的中国传统节日”的演讲比赛,请求你为他推荐一个中国传统节日。请你给他回信,要点包括：
1. 收信时的感想；
2. 推荐并介绍中国节日；
3. 预祝对方取得好成绩。
注意：1.词数100左右

2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Since I taught in southern China, I have learned a lot about Chinese life and culture and found them very interesting.

First, family life is quite _______ in China from that in the USA. In the USA, many young people _______ home after they finish their education and start working. However, in China, it is _______ for people to live with their parents until they get married. _______ , many of my Chinese friends told me that their _______ lived with them and helped take care of them when they were children. It seems that Americans think independence is more important _______ the Chinese think family relationships are more important.

Bargaining is another _______ that I have tried to learn. In the USA, prices are _______ and you can’t ask for a lower price. However, in some small Chinese stores and tourist places, you are _______ to bargain. My Chinese friends taught me to ask for 40 percent or 50 percent ________ the original price. If the salesperson doesn’t agree to my price, I should ________ to leave and he might let me come back and sell me the item. It is a skill that you have to ________ if you live in China.

Tipping hasn’t been easier to ________ . In the USA, many people in the service ________ want to get ________ money for serving customers. Tipping is not a part of Chinese culture. ________ I tried to tip a taxi driver. He looked a little ________ and refused to take the money.

In dinners, perhaps what surprises an American visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their ________ . Actually, this is a ________ of true friendship and politeness. My Chinese friend told me if I didn’t want to eat it, I should just ________ the food in the plate.

1.

A．different

B．unique

C．private

D．harmonious

2.

A．come

B．build

C．abandon

D．leave

3.

A．regular

B．true

C．usual

D．common

4.

A．Still

B．Also

C．Therefore

D．Although

5.

A．parents

B．relatives

C．grandparents

D．babysitters

6.

A．since

B．while

C．when

D．as

7.

A．custom

B．way

C．lesson

D．habit

8.

A．made

B．agreed

C．set

D．charged

9.

A．taught

B．expected

C．suggested

D．required

10.

A．up

B．away

C．on

D．off

11.

A．pretend

B．decide

C．promise

D．hope

12.

A．tolerate

B．understand

C．consider

D．practise

13.

A．turn to

B．adjust to

C．refer to

D．stick to

14.

A．area

B．department

C．industry

D．branch

15.

A．extra

B．easy

C．pocket

D．prize

16.

A．Once

B．Often

C．Sometimes

D．Before

17.

A．excited

B．satisfied

C．confused

D．frightened

18.

A．own

B．children

C．guests

D．neighbors

19.

A．signal

B．mark

C．feature

D．sign

20.

A．remain

B．leave

C．put

D．taste

10 . Hip-hop culture covers many fields; it includes spoken words, break-dancing, beat-making, painting, fashion, lively design, technology, and more. Hip-hop is becoming the unofficial music in the education world, as more artists launch school programs, summer camps, and other activities connected city youth in the classroom through the beliefs of hip-hop culture. Even more and more university teachers — who once would have been strongly against hip-hop — have joined the crew. In the past two decades, hip-hop culture, including hip-hop education, has become a legitimate(合法的) field of study in universities and the subject of numerous books.

Hip-hop culture has influenced every piece of American and global culture because the culture is so prevalent. Teachers must be willing to engage in it if it's part of the unique reality of their students' lives. That way, teachers can truly be effective, reaching students in a meaningful, culturally connected way.

Teachers might at first feel frightened by hip-hop culture, an area in which they might not have previous knowledge or experience. But a lack of knowledge is actually a blessing; the best trained hip-hop educators have been those that are at the beginning disconnected(分离的) from the culture. One of the biggest sayings in hip-hop is “keep it real”. If a teacher comes to the classroom and says, “I don' t know hip-hop, but I recognize that it's your culture and I want to learn,” the kids will teach the teacher, and then the students will be more willing to learn from that educator. Hip-hop is about a respect for youth culture.

1. Those who once most probably disagree with hip-hop education are ___________.

A．middle school teachers	B．unofficial artists
C．the young living in cities	D．university teachers

2. The underlined word “prevalent” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ____________.

A．familiar	B．similar
C．popular	D．regular

3. The author finds teachers’ lacking in hip-hop culture might be beneficial because _________.

A．students will frighten teachers at school

B．teachers can learn from students in the field

C．teachers will connected the culture with lessons

D．teachers’ knowledge or experience will be enriched

4. Who would the young like to learn from?

A．Those who respect their culture.

B．Those who are interested in music.

C．Those who keep their character real.

D．Those who are willing to learn from others.