1 . New Year’s Day is meant for food. As the new year arrives around the world, there could be special cakes and breads, for example, long noodles representing long life, field peas representing coins, and pigs representing good luck. The particulars vary, but the general theme is the same: Enjoy food and drink to bring in a year of prosperity. Here are some of the New Year’s food traditions around the world.
Hoppin’ John, American South
A major New Year’s food tradition in the American South, Hoppin’ John is a dish of pork-flavored field peas or black-eyed peas—symbolizing coins—and rice, frequently served with cooked greens—as they’re the color of money and cornbread—the color of gold. The dish is said to bring good luck in the new year.
Twelve grapes, Spain
The people of Spain traditionally watch a broadcast from Puerta del Sol in Madrid, where people gather in front of the square’s clock tower to ring in the New Year. Those out in the square and those watching at home take part in an unusual annual tradition: At the stroke of midnight, they eat one grape for every toll of the clock bell. Some even get their grapes ready—peeling and seeding the—to make sure they will be as efficient as possible when mid-night comes.
Tamales, Mexico
Tamales, corn dough filled with meat, cheese and other delicious additions and wrapped in a banana leaf or a corn husk, make appearances at pretty much every special occasion in Mexico. In many families, groups of women gather together to make hundreds of the little packets to hand out to friends, family and neighbors.
Soba noodles, Japan
In Japanese households, families eat buckwheat soba noodles, or toshikoshi soba, at mid-night on New Year’s Eve to say goodbye to the year gone by and welcome the year to come. The tradition dates back to the 17th century, and the long noodles symbolize longevity and prosperity.
1. The common theme of food for New Year’s Day is _______.| A．to show its deliciousness and sell well in market |
| B．to celebrate new year and wish for blessings from nature |
| C．to eat and drink well and hope for a fancy new year |
| D．to say farewell to the old year and welcome the new year |
| A．Twelve grapes. | B．Hoppin’John. | C．Tamales. | D．Soba noodles. |
| A．The Americans. | B．The Mexicans. | C．The Spanish. | D．The Japanese. |
2 . Food festivals are a common occurrence in the UK and take place in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times. Whatever your taste, there’s a food festival to match — no matter how specialized.
1. Meatopia
This three-day, London-based festival takes place at the end of August and is a meat lover’s paradise. In addition to a range of legally sourced meat products, from juicy burgers to tender steaks, attendees can listen to live music, watch butchery demonstrations, and attend informal meat-based workshops.
2. The National Honey Show
If you have a sweet tooth, then it could be that the National Honey Show, which started in 1921 and is the largest event of its kind, is the place for you to be. This three-day event attracts many local entries who showcase their sweet golden honey, some of which is sold globally.
3. The Orange Sauce Festival
Have you heard about a festival that is devoted only to orange sauce? Held in Cumbria, this sweet, fragrant festival has been running for 3 years. What attracts people most is a competition to find the best homemade orange sauce. There are thousands of participants from over 30 different countries across the globe, bringing their local snacks to share here.
4. The Ginger and Spice Festival
If you’d prefer something with a little more kick to it, then you could attend The Ginger (姜) and Spice Festival held in Market Drayton. Unlike other food festivals, it celebrates its town’s historic connection to Robert Clive, who returned from India with ginger. Because of this, they specialize in baking gingerbread, but also sell a range of traditional spices from mild to hot.
1. What do Meatopia and the National Honey Show have in common?| A．Both of them last for three days. | B．Both of them hold workshops. |
| C．Both of them originated from London. | D．Both of them have a long history. |
| A．The Meatopia. | B．The Ginger and Spice Festival. |
| C．The National Honey Show. | D．The Orange Sauce Festival. |
| A．It has something to do with a historic figure. |
| B．The ginger used in the festival is from India. |
| C．It sells spicy food. |
| D．The food is cooked by Robert Clive. |
Shadow puppetry (皮影戏) is a Chinese folk art known for its special storytelling skills,
1. 欢迎他和家人来中国旅行；
2. 旅行前的准备：了解中国文化，学会用筷子，学一些简单的汉语。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：chopstick 筷子
Dear Charlie,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
5 . Chinese Culture Shown to the World with Love Li Ziqi, a short video blogger specializing in traditional Chinese cooking and handicrafts has gained worldwide popularity.
Li has about 20 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter，plus 7 million followers on overseas social media networks. Many foreigners say they have got to know traditional Chinese food culture via her channel.
It is the spirit of craftsmanship（技艺） behind her works that makes Li's video clips attractive. She strictly follows the authentic traditional steps and procedures in making traditional Chinese food and handicrafts, such as peach flower wine and silk, and goes to great lengths to ensure her videos are accurate. Sometimes she spends several months producing one of her videos.
Li has been inheriting（继承） traditional Chinese culture in a rather creative way. A closer look at her videos will show that they are never with any "analysis" that makes people feel bored. They just show the audience each and every detail of traditional Chinese culture so that the latter knows how Chinese live their beautiful and elegant lives. It is that universal appeal that makes her works so attractive. Thanks to Li's efforts, many intangible cultural heritages that only existed in memories and written records now appear before our eyes. Via her short videos, Li presents the image of a beautiful and friendly China.
With the growth of the Chinese economy, people overseas are showing more interest in traditional Chinese culture. Li has shown how to satisfy that interest in a good way, namely showing the best parts of traditional Chinese culture with her heart.
To effectively present the beauty of Chinese culture to the world, we need more Li Zigi.
1. What can we learn about Li Zigi's video clips?| A．They promote the sales of Chinese food and handicrafts. |
| B．They attract a large number of foreigners to visit her online shop. |
| C．They aim to introduce traditional Chinese food culture and handicrafts worldwide. |
| D．They are based on her family's recipes of making traditional Chinese food. |
| A．Analysis of Chinese culture in Li's videos makes people bored. |
| B．Details and accuracy play significant roles in the success of Li's videos. |
| C．Li makes sure all of her video clips are short enough to be downloaded. |
| D．Cultural heritages usually exist in memories and written records. |
| A．nonphysical | B．inaccessible | C．invaluable | D．unnoticeable |
| A．To provide guidance on cooking and making handicrafts. |
| B．To suggest a way of attracting more followers on Sina Weibo. |
| C．To give an example of how to gain worldwide popularity as a short video blogger. |
| D．To encourage more people to make efforts to bring Chinese culture to the world. |
While you are traveling abroad, cultural mistakes are more serious than language mistakes, which can lead to serious misunderstanding and even ill-feeling between people. Look out for the following cultural mistakes and try to avoid them.
Touching Someone
Personal space varies as you travel around the globe. In Mediterranean countries, if you don't touch someone's arm when talking to them or if you don't greet them with kisses or a warm hug, you'll be considered cold. But backslap(拍背)someone who isn't a family member or a good friend in Korea, and you'll make them uncomfortable. In Thailand, the head is considered sacred(神圣的)-never even pat a child on the head.
Talking Over Dinner
In some countries, like China, Japan and some African nations, the food's the thing, so don't start chatting about your day's adventures while everyone else is digging into dinner. You'll be likely to meet with silence. It's not because your group is unfriendly, but because meal times are for eating, not talking.
Removing Your Shoes or Not
Take off your shoes when arriving at the door of a London dinner party and the hostess will find you rude, but fail to remove your shoes before entering a home in Asia, Hawaii, or the Pacific Islands and you'll be considered disrespectful. So, if you see a row of shoes at the door, start undoing your laces(解开鞋带). If not, keep the shoes on.
Once you are on the ground of a different country, remain highly sensitive to native behavior. Never be completely surprised by anything. And don't feel hurt or upset if something seems offensive(冒犯的)-like queue jumping. After all, this is a global village, and we are all very different.
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1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
| A．Chinese tea culture. |
| B．Famous places in China. |
| C．Different kinds of tea in the world. |
| A．Sweet. | B．Heavy. | C．Light. |
8 . What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word “culture”？ Do you think of different groups of people across the world with various
Sam Williams,executive director of the Macaw(金刚鹦鹉）Recovery Network in Costa Rica, helps to
＂In a cage,you can't
This type of knowledge is known as cultural knowledge. Cultural knowledge can be
Culture helps animals to
Other important parts of cultural knowledge include things like group identity, using different tools,taking different
These traditions can especially be seen in chimpanzee communities. Cat Hobaiter,who studies chimpanzees in Uganda,said:"It's not just the
Culture isn't just for
| A．communities | B．zones | C．traditions | D．divisions |
| A．squeeze | B．reduce | C．wrestle | D．delete |
| A．encaged | B．enlarged | C．encouraged | D．ensured |
| A．tentative | B．slow | C．lame | D．abrupt |
| A．elect | B．swap | C．assess | D．train |
| A．brochure | B．seminar | C．framework | D．information |
| A．passed down | B．taken up | C．followed up | D．put together |
| A．management | B．survival | C．currency | D．cooperation |
| A．cater to | B．push for | C．adapt to | D．dive in |
| A．safely | B．desperately | C．surprisingly | D．hopefully |
| A．irrigation | B．migration | C．suspension | D．collision |
| A．loss | B．dilemma | C．adjustment | D．prevention |
| A．enterprising | B．flexible | C．artificial | D．terrifying |
| A．animals | B．plants | C．humans | D．nails |
| A．refreshing | B．weeping | C．negotiating | D．socializing |
The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, is a much-visited and much-photographed tourist
However, it still has secrets, and a new program
In each one-hour-long episode, the actors and actresses switch between playing guides and historical
10 . Almost all calligraphy(书法) lovers agree that writing characters with a brush and ink on straw paper offers a way to communicate with not only history and culture, but also oneself. But now Chinese character handwriting is under threat from computers and mobile phones.
A college graduate looking for a job was reportedly turned down by a company because he wrote 24 characters incorrectly in a 400character handwritten resume. A survey by HorizonKey, covering people from 12 major cities in China, found that nearly one third of those interviewed often experience “character amnesia(遗忘)”， with 94 percent saying this is a problem for them.
The main reason is that most Chinese rely too much on the pinyinbased Chinese language input method, which is replacing the tradition of writing characters stroke(笔画) by stroke. The software will conveniently choose the right characters according to the context or word frequency, as there are dozens of characters with the same pronunciation in Chinese.
Education is another problem. In college, most homework and papers are printed out, instead of handwritten. And few teachers use chalk and blackboards, with Microsoft's PowerPoint the mostoften used software to teach knowledge to students.
The number of electronic devices in the classroom is thought to be another reason why students are easily satisfied with just a poor knowledge of the Chinese language and characters. It is quicker to look up a character in an electronic dictionary, but traditional printed dictionaries offer more detailed information on the usage and meaning of the characters. Students pay more attention to remembering a character's pronunciation, but not the other knowledge related to it, which edictionaries rarely provide.
Another worry is the “pollution” of Chinese characters by Internet language. Young people regard using Internet language as cool and fashionable. After they learn to use these expressions, they automatically include them in their writing.
1. With the example of a college graduate, the author shows ________.| A．that practicing can improve writing |
| B．why certain people are poor writers |
| C．that there are differences in students' writing |
| D．why Chinese character handwriting is in great danger |
| A．are not good at handwriting |
| B．can't write characters accurately |
| C．show no interest in handwriting |
| D．find jobs much more difficultly |
| A．Dependence on electronic devices. |
| B．Advantages of electronic dictionaries. |
| C．Mastery of knowledge of the characters. |
| D．Disadvantages of published dictionaries. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Uncaring. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Friendly. |
