1 . Culture Shock

Moving to a new country can be an exciting experience. In a new environment, you somehow feel more alive. Soon, however, the new and delightful feeling turns into stress and discomfort.    1     Although not everyone experiences culture shock in exactly the same way, many experts agree that it has roughly five stages.

In the first stage, you are excited by your new environment. Your feelings about the new culture are positive, so you are eager to make contact with people and to try new foods.

    2    This is the second stage of culture shock. Because you do not know the social customs of the new culture, you may find it difficult to make friends. For instance, you do not understand how to make “small talk,” so it is hard to carry on a casual, get-acquainted conversation. These are not minor challenges; they are major frustrations.

In the third stage, you no longer have positive feelings about the new culture. You feel that you have made a mistake in coming here. Making friends hasn’t been easy, so you begin to feel lonely and isolated.     3     You begin to spend most of your free time with students from your home country, and you eat in restaurants that serve your native food.

You know that you are in the fourth stage of culture shock when you have negative feelings about almost everything.     4     You become critical, suspicious, and irritable. You believe that people are unfriendly, that your teachers do not like you, and that the food is making you sick.

Finally, you reach the fifth stage. As your language skills improve, you begin to have some success in meeting people and in negotiating situations.     5     After realizing that you cannot change your surroundings, you begin to accept the differences and tolerate them.

A．Your self-confidence grows.

B．You’ll regret making the decision.

C．These are the causes of culture shock.

D．In this stage, you actively reject the new culture.

E．This is the phenomenon known as culture shock.

F．Now you want to be with familiar people and eat familiar food.

G．Sooner or later, differences in behavior and customs become noticeable to you.

2 . The other day I shared knowledge on several aspects of Hindi (印地) culture with you. Today I’m hoping to paint a better picture of _______ it means to give in Hindi and how their generosity differs from_______of Western culture.

I was_______when we learned the expression “thank you” doesn’t really exist in Hindi. In the mountains, it is _______used, and people often seemed _______when we tried to thank them. They _______ either turn their heads, or shake their hands at us.

When we asked our Indian friends why this is so, they _______ that giving and generosity are vital parts of their culture. Giving is more of a_______of “changing hands” than an act of generosity. In their eyes, the foods they would give us were _______ really “theirs”. They see them as something passed along to them and now they are ________ passing them along to us.

The villagers were eager to ________ their best cucumbers to a passing stranger. ________, people in the U.S. tend to________old, used, or unwanted things ________their treasured ones.

________, during a coffee break, a friend told me about how he donated his ________clothes and shoes — just for the ________of giving up the possessions he likes most. Giving is ________Westerners can certainly do. We can practice ________giving away the things we value most — not only actual physical possessions, but also perhaps even more ________, our time and attention.

1.

A．what

B．how

C．why

D．when

2.

A．one

B．that

C．it

D．both

3.

A．amused

B．shocked

C．interested

D．disappointed

4.

A．often

B．occasionally

C．sometimes

D．seldom

5.

A．bored

B．excited

C．frightened

D．annoyed

6.

A．could

B．should

C．would

D．might

7.

A．explained

B．realized

C．decided

D．learned

8.

A．picture

B．change

C．matter

D．state

9.

A．ever

B．never

C．yet

D．already

10.

A．simply

B．equally

C．obviously

D．partly

11.

A．give back

B．give out

C．give away

D．give in

12.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Otherwise

D．Meanwhile

13.

A．return

B．possess

C．share

D．donate

14.

A．better than

B．rather than

C．more than

D．less than

15.

A．Interestingly

B．Obviously

C．Importantly

D．Luckily

16.

A．expensive

B．beautiful

C．favorite

D．casual

17.

A．experience

B．pain

C．target

D．reason

18.

A．anything

B．nothing

C．something

D．everything

19.

A．for

B．about

C．in

D．by

20.

A．flexible

B．significant

C．efficient

D．urgent

3 . 假定你是李华，想邀请你校交换生Jonah 一起参加你校“中国文化节”活动。请你用英语给Jonah写一封邀请信，内容包括：
1. 活动时间和地点；
2. 活动内容；
3. 活动目的。
注意：1. 词数80词左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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4 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Palace Museum, long     1     (associate) with images of century-old buildings and relics, is now taking a     2    (surprise) step into fashion: not high-end fashion, but the everyday kind. On Dec 9, the online store of the Palace Museum Cultural and Creative Store released a new product — a lipstick collection in six colors,     3     attracted millions of page views a day. “I find myself browsing this online store twice a day and I     4    (definite) have a good time doing so, as it’s quite relaxing.” a college girl said.

The colors showcase classic Chinese beauty: Lang Yao glaze red, Bean paste red, Tourmaline purple, Rose-purple, Mermaid pink and Maple red. They    5     (draw) from items in different shades of red worn by     6     emperors’ concubines (妾) during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The     7     (inspire) for the lipstick packaging comes from the patterns of traditional Chinese porcelains and embroideries. It features red-crowned cranes, lingzhi mushrooms and butterflies, all    8     (do) in an elegant style, reported People’s Daily.

“Rich    9    traditional Chinese cultural meanings, these lipsticks have attracted much attention ever since they hit store     10    (shelf).” a WeChat user surnamed Liu told Global Times. “I think the lipsticks have a high collection value as well.”

5 . Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi is the first type of paper-cutting design, since paper was invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China.

It's a very distinguishing visual art of Chinese handicrafts. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different areas adopting their own cultural styles. After hundreds of year's development, now they’ve become a very popular means of decoration among country folk, especially women. The paper-cuts are also used to decorate doors and windows, and therefore they're sometimes referred to chuang hua, meaning Window Flower. Paper-cuts are chiefly used as decorations. However, today, Chinese paper-cuts are also used for religious and ceremonial purpose, and they're buried with the dead and burned at funerals.

Chinese people believe the red paper-cuts on the door can bring good fortune and happiness to the whole family. The paper-cuts are more often seen during traditional Chinese festivals, particularly in Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival. They're also given as gifts to friends or other family members.

Paper-cuttings aren't produced by machine, but by hand. There're two methods of manufacture: one uses scissors, the other uses knives. Knife cuttings are fashioned by putting several layers of paper on a relatively soft foundation. Following a pattern, the artist cuts the pattern into the paper with a sharp knife he usually holds vertically. The advantage of knife-cuttings is that considerably more paper cuttings can be made in one operation than with scissor cuttings.

It's easy to learn about cutting a piece of paper but difficult to master it with perfection. One must grasp the knife in an upright fashion and press evenly (均匀地) on the paper with some strength. Flexibility is required but any hesitation will damage the whole image.

People find hope and comfort in expressing wishes with paper-cutting. For instance: for a wedding ceremony, red paper-cuttings are a traditional decoration on the tea set, the dressing table glass, and on other furniture. A big red paper character 'Xi'(happiness) is a traditional must on the newlywed's (新婚夫妇) door.

1. It can be learned from the second paragraph that            .

A．paper-cuts are mainly used as presents.

B．females are better at paper-cutting than males.

C．paper-cutting varies from area to area.

D．paper-cuts are used in various ceremonies but funerals.

2. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．Forms of paper-cutting.	B．Characteristics of paper-cutting.
C．Advantages of knife cuttings.	D．Means of paper-cutting.

3. The author develops the last paragraph by             .

A．using examples	B．describing processes
C．analyzing causes	D．making comparisons

6 . 青少年是祖国的未来，也是城市的名片。在创建全国文明城市的过程中，我市举办了“美德少年”评选活动。假如你是“美德少年”的争创者，请根据下列表格中的提示，以“ Be a virtue teenager, build a civilized city”为题，用英语写一份倡议书，号召大家积极争做“美德少年”，为常宁添彩。

主题	做“美德少年”，创文明城市
内容	待人方面：尊老爱幼，友好互助   言谈方面：语言文明，耐心倾听 出行方面：遵守交规，主动礼让
你的观点	联系实际，谈谈你的观点（至少两点）

注意：1、80词左右。短文标题和开头已给出，不计入总词数。
2、文中不得提及有关考生的个人的身份的任何信息，如：校名，人名等。

Being a teenager of Changing what should we do to help build a civilized city?

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7 . Take a look at teenagers around, dressed in baggy-pants (宽松裤), drinking soft drinks such as coke, reading Japanese cartoons. Whether you are in Beijing, Wuhan or Hong Kong, you will get the same impression. But should we copy others or should we maintain our differences?

It sounds convenient that people around the world speak the same language, dress in the same style, eat the same food and play the same games. If the world was like this, you won’t feel strange in any corner of world. But just imagine living in such a strange world. How dull and colorless it would be!

Different kinds of food that people can taste, the colorful and fashionable clothes that we dress in and different languages we speak are all part of the different cultures that our ancestors left us. These differences represent their creativity and talent. And we all enjoy different cultures in our daily lives. When you travel to other places, you want to see different things. When you talk to foreigners you expect to listen to interesting stories. These differences in culture are what make life colorful.

But the whole world is shrinking into a small village as globalization (全球化) takes effect and many different cultures are disappearing. In most big cities around the world people wear the same clothes. Fast food stores are everywhere. Hollywood movies are kicking traditional performing arts out of our lives. The colors of our life are disappearing.

There is joke that even the panda and zebra want to live a colorful life. So let’s take action to protect our colorful culture before it becomes as simple as black and white.

It’s not difficult. Learning some folk songs, trying on a traditional clothing and even eating local food instead of going to KFC can help. And we’re sure you will enjoy it.

1. The passage is written to _______.

A．explain cultural differences	B．convince readers to maintain cultural differences
C．predict the future of globalization	D．show some cultural phenomena(现象)

2. The author thinks that cultural differences _______.

A．make the world colorful	B．make communication difficult
C．only exist in food and clothing	D．will never fade away

3. The author starts the argument by ________.

A．mentioning certain cultural phenomena

B．mentioning his view at the very beginning

C．mentioning the opposite view at the very beginning

D．giving examples of cultural differences

4. The underlined word “shrink” probably means “_______”.

A．expand	B．disappear
C．become smaller	D．grow in number

5. The author talks of all the following cultural phenomena except _______.

A．food	B．clothing
C．language	D．architecture

8 . 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。

Cold Food Festival is a     1       (tradition) Chinese holiday celebrated before Qingming Festival, which usually falls on April 4 or 5.

Legend has     2     that Chong'er, a prince of Jin, experienced many hardships while he moved around the warring states. Once, when the prince suffered from     3     (starve), Jie Zitui, offered him food. Later, when Chong'er became the duke of Jin, he ordered a search for Jie who had gone into hiding in the remote mountains with his mother. The duke wanted Jie to serve     4     one of his ministers. Contrary to     5    many people might assume, Jie, who preferred living a simple life in the Mianshan Mountain to     6     (become) a politician, refused the duke's invitation. Chong'er ordered the mountain to be burned down to force Jie out of hiding.     7     (fortune), Jie did not give in and the fire ended up killing him and his mother. Feeling extremely sorry, Chong'er required that the setting of fire     8     (forbid) on the anniversary of Jie's death. This meant all food was eaten cold. Therefore the festival is thus named.

Mianshan Mountain,     9    the tragedy happened, is now a famous tourist destination in Shanxi province. In many areas of Shanxi, locals still remember this tradition.     10    cold food is not the only choice for people during the celebration, the practices of making typical cold dishes for the event have been preserved.

9 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

The water Splashing Festival of the Dai ethnic minority (少数民族) is the most important festival     1     (observe) by the Dai people in Yunnan Province. It is the New Year for the Dai, a festival to send off the old and greet the new.

During the festival     2    lasts three or four days, people     3     (dress) in their best clothes and take part in a     4     (vary ) of rich and colorful activities, such as dragon boat racing, firework displays and other performances. Peacock dances are held on the first day. And the most popular event is water-splashing on the second day. People splash water on each other,     5     (hope) to take away sickness and disasters. The     6     (wet) you get, the luckier you will be. The last day is usually     7     the young people to play games as a way     8     (express) their love to each other.

The Water Splashing Festival     9     (vivid) exhibits the Dai’s respect for water and the culture of music and dance, food, and costumes. It is also a cultural bridge among the people that share     10     same festival culture of water-splashing.

10 . To joke around is to have fun with someone. To fool someone is to try to make them believe something that is not true.     1    

April 1st is known as the day to fool people with practical jokes, pranks or harmless tricks.     2     Some say April Fools' Day began as one big mistake.

Many centuries ago, people in the Western world used the Julian calendar.     3     However, when people began using the Gregorian calendar, the New Year was moved to January 1st. Those who forgot the change and tried to celebrate New Year's Day on the wrong date were teased and called ''April fools''. This is just one of the many theories behind the origin of April Fools' Day.     4    

The fool is a common character in art, music and literature. William Shakespeare is famous for his fools. And fools make for great pop songs. Fools are found in many words, expressions and proverbs. To be foolhardy means to do something that are too dangerous or risky. For example, it is foolhardy to hike up a mountain during a heavy snowstorm. If something is foolproof, it is planned or made so well that nothing could go wrong.     5    

''Look, I don't want to get into trouble. This plan of yours sounds risky. ''

''My plan is foolproof. Nothing will go wrong as long as you do exactly as I say. ''

A．Not even a fool could mess it up.

B．And that is the purpose of April Fools' Day.

C．They celebrated the New Year on April 1st.

D．Even a smart person can be a fool at times.

E．But the tradition remains the same—to fool someone.

F．Fools also find themselves in many proverbs.

G．But how did this tradition begin?