1 . Argentina lies in the South America. There are many festivals in Argentina during the year. Therefore, you can enjoy the different interesting festivals when traveling there.
First of all, we should talk about the Tango (探戈) Festival inArgentina, which is held in the capital of this country — Buenos Aires, from February to March. You ought to know that Argentina is the home of tango, so Argentinians admire this dance very much. Even if you cannot dance perfectly, you should join the people and try to perform this dance.
The next festival in Argentina is Open Polo (马球) Tournament. You should go to Palermo to see this festival in Argentina. This festival is held every year and is the most important polo tournament in Argentina.This kind of sport is considered the most important in Argentina.
Attending this festival in Argentina, you will be able to communicate with different people and admire the fascinating competition between the teams of different countries, such as Argentina, England, Australia, as well as the US. This festival in Argentina is usually held between November and December every year. So don’t miss the opportunity if you travel to Argentina at this time.
The other festival in Argentina is the Semana Musical Liao Liao. This is a festival of classical music. The festival was created in 1993 and is held at the Liao Liao Hotel, near Bariloche. The festival is held yearly in October. So if you admire this kind of music, you should travel toArgentina in October.
There are also many carnivals in Argentina in summer. Of course, it’s impossible to put everything about festivals in Argentina into just one article. We hope that you have found this article interesting and eye-catching.
1. What would be the best title for the passage?| A．Entertainments in Argentina | B．Festivals in Argentina |
| C．Travel to Argentina | D．A brief introduction to Argentina |
| A．is organized by the government |
| B．welcomes everyone to take part in it |
| C．is held in summer |
| D．holds parties for different dances |
| A．Open Polo Tournament. | B．Every carnival in Argentina. |
| C．The Tango Festival. | D．The Semana Musical Liao Liao. |
| A．Buenos Aires in spring | B．Palermo in April |
| C．Palermo in winter | D．Bariloche in October |
1.中国茶文化简介；
2.饮茶的好处；
3.邀请他来中国体验茶文化。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jack,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
1.演出的时间和地点；
2.去大剧院的方法；
3.见面的地点。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，使文章连贯通顺；
3.邮件的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Chirs,
The West Chamber will be put on at Grand Theatre
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hope you will come!
Yours,
Li Jin
4 . Avi Bendahan and Shijia Jiang are unlikely collaborators (合作者).
Jiang is a classically trained performer of Peking Opera, or Jingju. Bendahan is a local actor, dancer in Canada. He and Jiang together are the core (核心) of Jingju Canada, a theater company that adapts the ancient Chinese art in Montreal and across Canada.
“I really want people in the West to know Peking Opera,” says Jiang. The two are, in a sense, building an audience for the art form in and outside of the city’s Chinese community.
“Peking Opera is very strict, and hard to understand. They don’t speak Standard Chinese. No, they speak the Peking Opera dialect (方言),” Meng Rong, the leader of the Confucius Institute in Quebec says of the language used, which is comparable to Shakespearean speech. “You need to have special skills to understand.” As a result, the popularity of Peking Opera is fading (逐渐消失).
One of Jingju Canada’s approaches to that problem is to translate.
Their first show was 2011’s Crossroads.
“It was the first time Jingju Canada translated a Chinese opera show into English,” says Bendahan. “And it was the first time we created newish characters.”
Bendahan handles the translations. “The language is very hard for me,” says Jiang, referring to English. Jiang’ strong point in performance is combat — she trained in China as a wudan, a fighting woman.
But change, of course, presents challenges.
“They don’t want to lose the core things from Peking Opera,” says Rong. That's where Jiang’s other speciality (专长), besides combat, comes in. She was among the first in China to study the new‑for‑Jingju program of directing. “We learned new ways of directing,” she says. “We used music, dance, movies, and then put them together with Peking Opera.”
“Crossroads was very successful,” says Rong. “The audiences really loved it. And I think for every culture, if the nice part can be shown to the public, and everybody understands and everybody enjoys it, why don’t we do it?”
1. What is Jiang’s reason for working with Bendahan on Jingju Canada?| A．To help Bendahan study Chinese. |
| B．To develop her friendship with Bendahan. |
| C．To help foreigners know more about Peking Opera. |
| D．To perform Peking Opera in more Chinese communities. |
| A．Its boring settings. |
| B．Its outdated music. |
| C．Its unique language. |
| D．Its special characters. |
| A．She used a new method of directing. |
| B．She gave up her directing program. |
| C．She trained other performers. |
| D．She translated the text. |
| A．He's shocked. |
| B．He's satisfied. |
| C．He's doubtful. |
| D．He's thankful. |
5 . Check your calendar. You will find the third Monday in February is Presidents’ Day, a holiday you may know to recognize the achievements of all past U．S. presidents. Do you know the history behind this holiday?
After George Washington died in 1799, his supporters began recognizing his birthday, February 22, as a day of remembrance for America’s first president.(At least, those who used the Gregorian calendar did. The Julian calendar said he was born on February 11.) Washington’s birthday became a federal (联邦的) holiday for the District of Columbia in 1879 and for the rest of the country in 1885.
Then in 1968, Congress (国会) introduced the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill (法案), which hoped to change certain federal holidays from special dates to Mondays, creating more threeday weekends. The idea was that more long weekends would make people work hard during shorter workdays.
The bill also wanted to combine (结合) Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays into one holiday (some states, like Illinois, already celebrated Lincoln’s birthday, February 12). Illinois Senator Robert McClory suggested this holiday be called “Presidents’ Day”. In 1971, the bill passed, and President Richard Nixon made an order that the third Monday in February should be now a holiday. Here’s the thing though: According to the United States laws, that holiday is still called Washington’s Birthday. The name never officially changed to Presidents’ Day. But since the laws allowed local governments and private businesses to name federal holidays whatever they want, most states call it Presidents’ Day. Many stores also make use of this second name to boost February sales.
Two other presidents celebrated birthdays in February, William Henry Harrison (February 9) and Ronald Reagan (February 6)．
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us?| A．The beginning of Presidents’ Day. | B．People’s love for George Washington. |
| C．The story behind America's first president. | D．The difference between different calendars. |
| A．To create more federal holidays. |
| B．To give the holiday an official name. |
| C．To celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday. |
| D．To increase the number of longer weekends. |
| A．President Richard Nixon created it. | B．It is the official name for the holiday. |
| C．Illinois was the first state to celebrate it. | D．It's called Washington's Birthday officially. |
| A．Hold. | B．Increase. | C．Record. | D．Show. |
If you’re looking for a way
Tai chi is an ancient Chinese tradition that, today, is practiced as a graceful (优雅的) form of exercise. It involves a series of movements
There are different
Tai chi is low-impact and puts the least stress on joints,
You may also find tai chi attractive because it is inexpensive and requires no special equipment. You can do tai chi anywhere, including indoors or outside. And
Although tai chi is generally safe and really
7 . Thanksgiving is an important festival in North America. We interviewed several students from the USA and Canada. Here is what they have told us about their Thanksgiving experiences.
Josie from New York, USA
“In America, Thanksgiving is celebrated every year at the end of November. It is to remember the first group of people from Europe to live in America. When they first arrived, they found the environment strange. But they learned to survive after some native American friends showed them how to grow and find food. Thanksgiving is meant to be a traditional celebration.”
Todd from California, USA
“Thanksgiving is the first day of Christmas shopping. That means we have four weeks to buy Christmas presents for our families and friends. For me and my friends, the most important part of the festival is the big football game on TV. The match is watched by millions of people all over America. Thanksgiving is seen as an exciting day for football!”
Ian from Saskatoon, Canada
“In Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday in October. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, many people go to church. Thanks is given for all the good things that happened to them during the year. I always give thanks for the nice big turkey I’m going to have at the family dinner! Like all festivals, Thanksgiving is about food!”
Katie from Maritimes, Canada
“On Thanksgiving Day, we have dinner with all our cousins, aunts and uncles. It is always very busy. Sometimes we have two Thanksgiving dinners because we go to both our grandparents’ houses. The dinner is usually attended by more than twenty people at each house! My mother and my aunts do all the cooking but the washingup is done by me and my cousins. And that’s not an easy job! But I don’t mind because Thanksgiving is meant to be a time to give thanks.”
1. People in the USA and Canada ________.| A．all have the same opinion of Thanksgiving | B．have different opinions of Thanksgiving |
| C．feel that Thanksgiving is about food | D．have no interest in Thanksgiving |
| A．On the second Monday in October. | B．On the second Monday in November. |
| C．At the end of October. | D．At the end of November. |
| A．New York. | B．California. | C．Saskatoon. | D．Maritimes. |
Xuan paper, known as one of the Four Treasures of Study, first came into
Take papermaking master Zhou Donghong, for example. He uses a fine screen to filter (过滤) a mixture of water and fibers. He lifts it up, and it’s a sheet of paper. It takes him and his partner only 15 seconds
“There are a lot of tricks of filtering the fibers, and timing is the
The skill of papermaking,
9 . Here are some famous festivals for tourists to select in the United States in the coming summer.
San Francisco Film Festival
The films at this unusual event have a variety of musical accompaniments, including piano, violin and guitar. A few classic silent movies are shown in the film festival. If you want to see them all, you are supposed to have a festival pass.
May 29 to June 1; www.silent film.Org
Union Street Festival
This popular street fair extends more than six blocks of the city,in the fashionable shopping area of Union Street. The themes include beer and wine tasting and other separate ones — fashion, cuisine, tech, local craft, fitness, health and so on.
June 7 to 10; www.Union street festival.com
North Beach Festival
This festival is San Francisco’s oldest street party where tourists can enjoy a variety of live entertainment, tasty food, handcrafts and art works. Located in the Little Italy district, known for its associations with the “Beat Generation”, festival goers are guaranteed plenty of good Italian food. Besides, there is also an event called “blessing of the animals”, a San Francisco tradition which takes place at the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi (610 Vallejo Street) at 2 pm on the days of the festival.
June 14 to 16; www.North beat.Org
Stern Grove Festival
This festival is recognized as the oldest summer art festival in America. It includes plenty of performances, from the local symphony orchestras to well-known artists such as Frank Hurley.
Sundays from June 22 to August 24; www.Stern grove.org.
1. When can you enjoy the oldest art festival in the United States?| A．Weekdays in June. | B．Saturdays in August. |
| C．Weekends in May. | D．Sundays in July. |
| A．San Francisco Silent Film Festival. | B．Union Street Festival. |
| C．North Beach Festival. | D．Stern Grove Festival. |
| A．It has the longest history of food. | B．Hands-on activities are guaranteed. |
| C．Exotic food is available to visitors. | D．Foreign cultures are presented in it. |
10 . Little New Year usually falls a week before the lunar New Year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are five things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.
1.Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God
One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family’s conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig’s head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God’s mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.
2.House cleaning
According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities’ timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.
3.Paste paper-cuts to windows
In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year’s posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.
4.Bath and hair-cut
As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they’re rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.
5.Preparations for the Spring Festival
People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.
1. What is the Kitchen God’s duty in the man’s world?| A．Collecting the information of the man’s world. |
| B．Protecting the character of each home. |
| C．Gathering sacrifices for other Gods in heaven. |
| D．Watching out for the moral people in the world. |
| A．Because the Kitchen God loves sweet foods. |
| B．As it is the traditional customs. |
| C．As people hope the God says good for them. |
| D．Because sweets are the best sacrifices. |
| A．Little New Year always falls in February. |
| B．House cleaning is to welcome the New Year. |
| C．In the Little New Year only paper-cuts are pasted up. |
| D．People will make full preparations for the coming New Year. |
| A．Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God. |
| B．Burning paper image of the Kitchen God. |
| C．Preparing the necessity for the New Year. |
| D．Cleaning house and people themselves. |
