1 . To Their Own Beat
When Los Lobos perform in concert today, audiences in the thousands cheer them on. It’s hard to believe that the group started out as just another garage band playing popular rock-and-roll tunes from the radio, In 1974 four high school friends from East Los Angeles formed Los Lobos ( Spanish for “The Wolves” ) .
Like many garage bands, these friends might have simply gone their separate ways after high school. But the members of Los Lobos wanted to keep making music together. They decided to change their musical style and began focusing on traditional Mexican music that showed their tradition.
“We pulled out all those records we used to beg our parents not to play around our friends and found an incredible wealth of music,” says Perez. “These guys (on the records) were doing amazing things with their instruments, and we started trying to pick up on it. ”
The group put aside its electric guitars for the acoustic ones used in traditional Mexican music. For several years Los Lobos played at weddings or parties—any event that needed live music. They also landed a regular engagement (合同) at a Mexican restaurant.
By 1978 Los Lobos had made enough money to record their first album (唱片) , and they sold copies of it wherever they performed. They also returned to their electric guitars to get closer to a Tex-Mex sound, which is a mixture of traditional Mexican music, rock and roll, country music, and the blues. This new, louder sound produced one unexpected result: the group was fired from the restaurant.
But it didn’t matter that Los Lobos had lost their one steady job, because they had found a position that no other group took up. They had combined electric and acoustic instruments and blended (混合) musical styles in their own way. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983 as the saxophone and keyboard player, adding to the band’s unusual sound.
“We didn’t so much want to recycle the music we’d grown up with as much as find the common links between it and all the other styles and sounds that were all around us,” Perez explains. “It became a mission ... bringing music together to bring people together. ”
In the 1980s Los Lobos gained the attention of several record companies. They were hired to perform on the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, which earned them a Golden Eagle Award. They have since earned many awards, including two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award. Their many records have been very successful, and they have toured the world.
Even after 30 years of making music together, Los Lobos continues to experiment with their sound. They never moved far away from their Mexican roots, however. They still include traditional music in their live performances, sharing their history—and their culture—with their fans.
1. Los Lobos recorded their first album after they_______.A.lost their job at a restaurant |
B.began playing acoustic guitars |
C.won an award for a film soundtrack |
D.added saxophone and keyboards to their sound |
A.Paragraph 1. | B.Paragraph 4. | C.Paragraph 6. | D.Paragraph 8. |
A.The way they recorded their first album. |
B.Their blending of different types of music. |
C.Their decision to play traditional Mexican music. |
D.The fact that they performed and toured the world. |
A.Music is best when played with traditional instruments. |
B.Music must be recorded to be passed down. |
C.Music should remain the same over time. |
D.Music can show many cultures. |
When it comes to the Chinese culture, we can’t ignore the importance of tea. Tea culture not only includes tea production, tea brewing, tea art and ceremony, but also
Before the Song Dynasty, people used to put tea into a pot
Drinking tea is not only a
3 . The kites in Weifang never disappoint. Every year the Weifang International Kite Festival amazes visitors and netizens (网民) with innovative kites, as “paper birds” of unimaginable designs keep appearing in the sky.
The origin of kites in China can be traced back to the Warring States Period when the great Chinese philosopher Mozi in the State of Lu (part of today’s Shandong Province) made the first “wooden kite”. Kites didn’t actually become popular until the Ming Dynasty. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, artists specialized in kite making began to appear in Weifang. In 1984, the first Weifang International Kite Festival was held.
Kites were used in China for military purposes at the very beginning. They were made to signal and measure distance, providing intelligence to aid moving large armies across difficult terrain (地形). For example, they can be used to calculate and record wind readings, similar to ship flags at sea. Over time, kites became associated with leisure activities, and were often flown during festivals and holidays.
Today, kite-flying is a popular leisure activity in China, and the Weifang International Kite Festival is one of the largest kite festivals in the world. In 2023, 622 kite artists from 59 countries and regions participated in the event. Compared with previous festivals, the 2023 event was highlighted by many innovations by both veteran (经验丰富的) and young kite makers. Zhang Xiaodong, 74, as a national intangible culture inheritor of Weifang kites, he has attended all 40 festivals. In the early days, he only brought traditional kites to take part in the competitions, but this time, he applied sound and light to make the fairy tale of Chang'e flying to the moon come “alive”.
The Weifang kite festival is not only a platform to share kite-making skills, but also a way to enhance friendship between people from different countries. The innovative kites presented in 2023 brought many pleasant surprises to kite lovers all over the world, and brought the people of China and other countries closer. As one netizen put it, “No matter how far away kite lovers go, there is always a ‘thread’ in their heart that can pull them together.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?A.The history of kites in China. | B.The popularity of kites in Weifang. |
C.The introduction to great kite artists. | D.The development of kite-making skills. |
A.To serve as gifts at festivals. | B.To judge the height of mountains. |
C.To measure wind speed for sailors at sea. | D.To provide important information for armies. |
A.It involved more creative kite artworks. |
B.It became the largest kite festival in the world. |
C.It contained plenty of Chinese traditional elements. |
D.It attracted many young kite artists’ wide attention. |
A.It inspires artists to create a lot of surprises. |
B.It is a good platform for kite makers to share skills. |
C.It promotes the spread of traditional Chinese culture. |
D.It strengthens the bond between kite lovers all over the world. |
4 . Tea originated in China over two thousand years ago. Today, the country owns over 2,000 varieties of tea, differing in taste, sweet and purpose. Some teas, such as Huang Shan, refresh the sense of taste with their special flavor, while others, such as spicy chai, are added with spices (香料) .
China first started exporting tea during the Ming dynasty (1368—1644), and the drink has since come to lead humanity’s drinking habits far beyond Asia. It is the most widely consumed drink on Earth today, aside from water and coffee.
In Chinese mythology, tea was first discovered by Chinese Emperor Shennong (“Divine Farmer”) in 737BC, when a soft wind carried some leaves into a pot of boiling water. However, the oldest dependable evidence comes from ancient plant remains found in 2016 in Xi’an and western Tibet, showing that tea was grown at least 2,100 years ago during the Western Handy nasty when it was most likely used as medicine.
Generation after generation of tea makers experimented with different brewing (冲泡) techniques, leaves, and ceremonies, resulting in today’s tea culture full of life. There’s no doubt that China’s tea culture has become one of the most popular, diverse, and unique traditions in the world.
China is already the world’s largest tea exporter. The inclusion of the country’s traditional tea-making process on the UNESCO list will obviously generate practical benefits for tea makers in the country and across the world as more resources are given to protect and preserve such millennia-old tea culture and technical practices. As additional attention is brought to this traditional technique, the Chinese tea sector will further tap its potential and improve its growth.
As one of China’s oldest cultural practices, traditional tea processing techniques show the spirit of modesty (谦逊), peace, and comity (礼让). No matter your preference for green or dark tea, with milk or without, Chinese tea isn’t just brews. Instead, it is a bridge connecting different cultures and peoples.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?A.Chinese tea has a fresh taste. | B.Chinese tea is added with spices. |
C.Chinese tea has a long history. | D.Chinese tea has a rich variety. |
A.In about 737 BC. |
B.Two thousand years ago. |
C.During the Ming dynasty. |
D.During the Western Handy nasty. |
A.Hopeful. | B.Objective. | C.Careless. | D.Disapproving. |
A.Chinese Tea Benefits the Globe a Lot |
B.Chinese Protect and Develop Its Tea Culture |
C.Chinese Tea Is Included in the UNESCO List |
D.China Plays a Vital Part in Cultural Diversity |
5 . On April 18—the International Day for Monuments and Sites, China Daily’s digital employee Yuanxi and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes’ official virtual cartoon figure Jiayao together introduced an interactive digital platform that hosts a virtual copy of the Mogao Grottoes’ Library Cave(藏经洞) to the world.
The platform was developed jointly by the Dunhuang Academy and the Chinese tech firm Tencent. It uses gaming technologies to show the historical scenes of the Library Cave in the digital world.
The Library Cave in Mogao Grottoes was discovered in 1900, with more than 60,000 cultural relics dating from the 4th century to the 11th century unearthed. It was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.
On the platform, visitors can role-play and “time travel” to ancient dynasties and talk with eight historical figures. The public can enter the platform through the Digital Dunhuang website and its WeChat mini program.
In the digital age, the model of “culture+technology” has been introduced to promote the development of Chinese culture. The digitalization rate of China’s precious cultural relics is now over 70 percent, according to the 2022 China Digital Collection Industry Research Report released by iResearch.
Institutions such as the Palace Museum have also started online digital services of their own. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology allows the public to view the interior of the buildings through the Palace Museum’s WeChat mini program.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also encouraged the development and transformation of cultural intellectual property(知识产权) by digital means. China Central Television has created a series of digital collections with different Dunhuang themes, such as the Dunhuang divine deer(神鹿) Youyou. It was created based on the image of the nine-colored deer from Dunhuang murals(壁画). The public can see the divine deer on CCTV’s own digital platform.
Digital collections cater to the consumption habits of young people, who grow up in the information age. They not only protect the intellectual property of the collections but also bring the public closer to China’s “excellent traditional culture”, noted Dunhuang Art Institute.
Su Bomin, director of the Dunhuang Academy, told Xinhua that more efforts will be made to explore new forms for showing cultural relics and offer the public greater cultural experiences to develop Dunhuang culture.
1. What can visitors do on the interactive digital platform for the Mogao Grottoes’ Library Cave?A.Play role-playing games set in ancient times. |
B.Play video games featuring historical figures. |
C.Talk to the designer of the digital Library Cave. |
D.Design digital caves showing historical scenes. |
A.To show the latest gaming technologies. |
B.To help cultural institutions make a profit. |
C.To promote the development of Chinese culture. |
D.To encourage people to explore new forms of cultural relics. |
A.To stress the importance of digital collections. |
B.To describe its popularity among young people. |
C.To present how digital collections are developed. |
D.To introduce a successful example of digital collections. |
A.Ignore. | B.Satisfy. |
C.Challenge. | D.Change. |
6 . Tea is a simple drink, and one that has long been central to the lives of millions of people, originally in the East, and now almost worldwide. There are six major types of tea in China—green tea, black tea, Oolong tea, dark tea, white tea, and reprocessed tea, distinguished(区分) mainly by different methods of production.
China, the homeland of tea, is a leading producer and customer, and the discovery and usage of tea have a history of four or five thousand years. Tea developed from the earliest fresh-boiled tea taken as a kind of soup, to later dried-and-preserved teas, and from simple green tea to the blending(融合) of six major kinds of tea.
Drinking tea first started to become popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has continued into contemporary(当代的) times. The flavour of tea, which may be drunk weak or strong, contains both bitter and sweet elements. The origin of tea is lost among history and legend. What can be roughly confirmed is that tea originated in southwest China. In Yunnan, and elsewhere, there are still some wild tea trees that are over 1,000 years old.
It is said that the first person to discover the effects of tea was Shen Nong—the father of agriculture and herbal medicine in China. In ancient times, people knew very little about plants. In order to find out which plants could be eaten safely, Shen Nong tasted various kinds of plants to test them as food or medicine. After he had eaten the plants, Shen Nong observed their reactions in his stomach—he is said to have had a “transparent stomach”!
With the popularization of tea, people in different regions and of different nationalities developed their own unique customs of taking tea. In Guangdong, for example, people like drinking morning tea, while people of the Bai nationality treat their guests with “Three-Course Tea”. Tibetan people prefer buttered tea and those from Inner Mongolia like milk tea.
These various tea customs make up the rich and profound(深厚的) Chinese tea culture. Many traditional Chinese families drink tea after dinner or when greeting visitors. This is not only a healthy habit but also reflects rich culture and history.
1. How can we tell different types of tea?A.By its colour. | B.By its popularity. |
C.By its drinking way. | D.By its production method. |
A.It has been known for about 4,000 or 5,000 years. |
B.It originated in Yunnan, southwest China. |
C.It is most accepted for the sweet flavour. |
D.It’s taken in a similar way despite regions. |
A.How the effect of tea was discovered. |
B.What the origin of tea is. |
C.Why our ancestors grew tea. |
D.When Shen Nong tasted tea. |
A.Out of fashion. | B.Worthy of praise. | C.Money-making. | D.Eco-friendly. |
1. 日常生活中的友善行为;
2. 友善行为的意义或价值;
3. 提出倡议。
注意:
1. 词数100左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:传统美德traditional virtues
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8 . It is no secret that China has an amazingly rich history and culture. My first exposure (接触) to Chinese culture came totally by chance. One day, I entered my grandfather’s personal library and took a book named Tao Te Ching from one of the shelves. As an 8-year-old, the book’s content completely confused me, but it provided me with an early connection to a beautiful and great philosophical (哲学的) tradition that still influences me today.
Around this time, I also came across several cartoons heavily inspired by traditional Chinese culture and martial arts such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat. Both cartoons describe beautiful landscapes and buildings similar to those found in classical Chinese paintings. This further developed my love of the rich and beautiful culture.
At school I began studying Chinese. My interest in the language developed early on, combining my love of travelling with my love of meeting new people. Later on, my interest in the language developed into exploring widespread Chinese culture. I wanted to challenge myself in a totally new linguistic (语言的) landscape and listen to the lives and stories of others in their own language. I have been lucky enough to have lived in China for around three years. I loved every second I spent there and there is never a shortage of things to see and do, people to meet, and foods to enjoy.
It is safe to say that my journey to studying Chinese has only just begun and these first steps are only a drop in the ocean of lifelong learning, but as the Chinese philosopher Laozi says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
1. How does the author like the book Tao Te Ching?A.It encourages him to go to the library. |
B.It improves his behavior and habits. |
C.It has a long lasting influence on him. |
D.It makes him know Chinese society better. |
A.Watching some cartoons. | B.Admiring Chinese paintings. |
C.Living abroad for long. | D.Cooking Chinese food. |
A.Chinese culture differs greatly from others’. |
B.Travelling takes up much of the author’s time. |
C.It’s easy for the author to get on well with others. |
D.The author learns languages in real surroundings. |
A.My Grandpa’s Influence on Me | B.My Exploration of Chinese Culture |
C.My Travel Experience in China | D.My Exposure to TaoTe Ching |
9 . While the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong has been closed in light of the COVID-19 (新冠肺炎), art lovers can take a virtual (虚拟的) tour of the former home (故居) of the renowned Chinese painter who lived from 1895 to 1952.
The hall hosted a live streaming (直播) show on International Museum Day, which falls on May 18 every year, and a docent (讲解员) described for viewers the story behind Xu’s artworks. The show attracted nearly 2.9 million views online within 90 minutes.
Nine other Beijing-based former residences of late celebrities—such as Chinese writer Lu Xun, political persons Soong Ching Ling and Li Dazhao—did the same that day in an effort to connect online viewers with art.
Altogether, the 10 shows were watched by 35.13 million people.
“The number of virtual visitors has exceeded that of physical visitors since last September,” said Li Qing, deputy curator (馆长) of the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong. Live streaming has an edge. It helps us highlight the most iconic collections and interact with more audiences. It has extended the scope and functions of museums’ public services, he added.
“Amid the virus outbreak, works of literature and art displayed in our museum have played a role in lifting moods and giving people hope,” said Liu Qing, a staff member of Beijing Luxun Museum and the New Culture Movement Memorial of Beijing.
According to officials with the Beijing Information Office and the Beijing Administration of Cultural Heritage, 94 themed events were rolled out on May 18 including 50 online exhibitions and 15 live streaming shows.
They are part of the city government’s plan to build Beijing into a city of museums, according to local officials.
“There are 187 registered museums in Beijing. It is a large number,” said Ling Ming, deputy director of the Beijing Administration of Cultural Heritage. “The plan, on the one hand, can help each of them find out their own characteristics and on the other hand, help build a more diverse museum system.”
Beginning in 2018, the Beijing government created interactive programs and mobile apps and encouraged residents to engage in International Museum Day celebrations online, Ling added.
“This year, cloud computing technology was utilized,” he said.
1. Why has the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong been closed?A.Because it has been seriously damaged. |
B.Because his relatives are strongly against it. |
C.Because the COVID-19 has broken out. |
D.Because people don’t like his paintings now. |
A.Lifting spirit and giving people hope. |
B.Teaching people more technology. |
C.Raising more money. |
D.Connecting the Chinese people with the outside world. |
A.COVID-19 Broke Out Suddenly |
B.Internet Technology Offers Closer Look at Fine Art |
C.A Brief Introduction to Xu Beihong’s Works |
D.Beijing’s Cultural Plans |
Liu Ruying,
“Sometimes I was tired,“ she said. ”I had to balance my studies and other
When Liu got the news that her region would have a cultural exchange with other countries, she had the idea of
“I