1 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.
When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an exhibition. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still impress people as they did long ago.” Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To raise a question. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To describe the art world. | D．To show a doubtful thought. |
| A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. | B．A Chinese blue-green landscape. |
| C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng. | D．An old Chinese traditional painting. |
| A．Traditional culture is accepted and loved by people. |
| B．Green mountains and rivers greatly impress people. |
| C．The poetic dance can be staged in the theaters later. |
| D．Increasing modern shows feature Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．It explains why Chinese art enjoys popularity. |
| B．It shows us art can come to life through dance. |
| C．It highlights the beauty of Chinese traditional art. |
| D．It tells us the love for Chinese traditional painting. |
2 . It’s been nearly two decades since the traditional clothing style Hanfu first started to reemerge in China. Since then it has gone from a small cultural movement celebrating an ancient fashion to a trend that is booming on social media, having been adopted by China’s Generation Z as a means of connecting with their past. Instead of following other cultures blindly, Generation Z now have different opinions about what trend is by promoting local culture while having an objective view of exotic cultural products.
The new tastes of Generation Z—young people born after 1995—are well represented on Bilibili. In the recent New Year’s Eve gala presented by Bilibili, it attracted more than 100 million views within 48 hours with a colourful set of programmes ranging from Peking Opera to classical Chinese cartoons. The same is also true of movie industry. Last year, for the first time, the top 10 most viewed films in China were all domestic films, while the ticket sales for imported films have dropped to only 16.28 percent.
”Generation Z grew up with the rapid development of China and under good economic conditions. With the development of the Chinese Internet industry, they have more access to diverse international information and culture, which bring them a much broader vision and makes them more open and confident in analyzing foreign culture. Apart from taking pride in China’s rapid development, this generation also pursues individuality and values devotion to the country,“ Professor Zhang Yiwu said.
He also noted that the popular rock and punk culture pursued by the 70s and 80s generation is more of a challenge against real life and local culture. Some people who were born in the 1970s and 1980s did not grow up in the Internet age—they experienced the transformation of China going from poor to rich first-hand. This kind of longing and admiration of the West came from a lack of confidence.
However, Generation Z now have the confidence to look at Western culture with equal status. This kind of cultural confidence will result in China being more active and creative in its development on the international stage in the future.
1. What does the underlined word ”exotic“ in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Foreign. | B．Fashionable. | C．Traditional. | D．Elegant. |
| A．To confirm the rise of new media. |
| B．To promote Chinese Internet industry. |
| C．To highlight the popularity of domestic art. |
| D．To show the popularity of New Year’s Eve gala. |
| A．They have a stronger cultural identity. |
| B．They are longing for cultural diversity. |
| C．They have made China develop rapidly. |
| D．They are more fond of foreign culture. |
| A．Confident China, Better Future |
| B．China’s Progress Results in Cultural Confidence |
| C．China’s New Generation Redefine Local Culture as Trendy |
| D．Hanfu Style, Connector of Ancient Fashion and Modern Trend |
Cultural relics are a part of history, and represent people’s cultural treasures. Therefore, it is important for us to protect
However, some cultural relics
Therefore, it is high time that we should take measures to protect cultural relics. To begin with, we can make speeches and put up posters
In a word, it is our duty to spare no effort to protect
| preserve, balance, throughout, prevent, donate, protest, attempt, promote |
A new high-speed railway was to be built through the small town. However, an archaeologist
In the course of economic development, there comes a time
6 . As William Shakespeare is to literature in English, so is the poet Du Fu to the Chinese literary tradition. “We have Dante, Shakespeare and Du Fu. These poets create the very values by which poetry is judged,” remarked Harvard Professor Stephen Owen in Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet, a BBC documentary that aired on April 7.
Aimed at introducing the charm and beauty of traditional Chinese literature to viewers around the globe, the documentary invited the famous British actor Ian McKellen, who played the wizard Gandalf in the film series The Lord of the Rings, to read 15 of Du’s poems that have been translated into English.
The one-hour film traces the poet’s life experiences in detail. Born in 712, Du lived in the reign of the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang(712—756), a time marked by extraordinary prosperity, inclusiveness and glorious cultural accomplishments.
However, as An Lushan’s rebel army floored the empire, the 43-year-old Du, the former civil servant at the Tang court, had to take his family out of his hometown, and faced starvation and sufferings. Through ups and downs, the poet never stopped writing and about 1,500 poems have been kept over the ages.
Even though he never held a high position in the government, Du still cared about common people. For example, in the poem My Cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales, he wrote that “Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I’d house all poor scholars and make them beam with pleasure”.
“That is why he is honored as the Poet Sage by later generations. A difficult life and his spirit of concern about the world helped him create so many masterpieces,” Shi Wenxue, a cultural critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times.
Without doubt Du is a cultural symbol of ancient China, but his brilliant works and core spirits have also inspired people outside China. As the documentary notes, his work represents a precious cultural heritage for the entire world, not just China.
1. What can we know about the documentary?| A．It introduces Shakespeare. |
| B．Du Fu is acted by Ian McKellen in it. |
| C．Its target audience is Chinese. |
| D．It shows 15 of Du Fu’s poems to the audience. |
| A．The concern about common people. |
| B．My Cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales. |
| C．The low position in the government. |
| D．The sentence of the poem. |
| A．His work experience. |
| B．Hard life and his caring spirit. |
| C．An Lushan’s rebel army. |
| D．The Tang Dynasty’s cultural background. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. |
| C．Literature. | D．Science. |
7 . 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 six 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. Eat Guandong candy
Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 most unusual tradition in the Little New Year?| A．Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God. |
| B．Burning a paper image of the Kitchen God. |
| C．Preparing the necessities for the New Year. |
| D．Cleaning houses and people themselves. |
| 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．Because it is the traditional custom. |
| C．Because 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. |
8 . Up to now, UNESCO has granted official recognition to over 800 cultural sites that are thought to be specially significant to human history and culture. Among them are the following four.
The Taj Mahal
It was built between 1631 and 1648, known as a masterpiece of architecture. It took over 20,000 workers and 1,000 elephants to complete the project. In the early 17th century, an emperor named Shah Jahan ruled India. The emperor loved his wife Mumtaz so much that when she died, he built the Taj Mahal in her memory. The beautiful mausoleum (陵墓) was designed to look like what the emperor hoped would be Mumtaz’s home in the afterlife.
The Temple and Mansion of Confucius
Located in Qufu, Shandong Province, the temple is a memorial to Confucius, the Chinese great educator. On the grounds, there are more than 900 halls and rooms. But the building that people visit most is the Temple of Confucius. Originally built in 478 BC, the temple has been rebuilt many times. Besides the temple, visitors can enjoy the grounds outside, where there are more than 1,000 stone tablets (碑碣) and over 100, 000 tombs.
The Imperial Tombs of the Qing and Ming Dynasties
Built by several emperors between 1368 and 1915 in Beijing, Hubei, Hebei and Liaoning, the Imperial Tombs represent Chinese cultural and historical values that have been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. What makes them unique even among amazing buildings such as Angkor Wat (吴哥窟) and the Cologne Cathedral (科隆大教堂) is that they bring together architecture and philosophy.
The Terracotta Army
In 1974, while some Chinese farmers were digging a well, they accidentally found a tomb, where they found more than 8,000 statues. They were said to be made in the third century BC to guard the tomb of the Chinese Emperor Qinshihuang! More than 700,000 people worked for nearly 40 years to build this tomb! It is recognized as one of the greatest archaeological findings in the world.
1. ________ can be viewed as a labor of love.| A．The Temple and Mansion of Confucius | B．The Terracotta Army |
| C．The Imperial Tombs of the Qing and Ming Dynasties | D．The Taj Mahal |
| A．The Temple and Mansion of Confucius | B．The Terracotta Army. |
| C．The Imperial Tombs of the Qing and Ming Dynasties | D．The Taj Mahal |
| A．They are located in China. |
| B．They are World Cultural Heritage Sites. |
| C．They are archaeological wonders. |
| D．They were built in honor of a famous person. |
Last year at Christmas time, my wife, three children and I were on our way from Paris to Nice. Somehow everything went wrong. Our hotels were “tourist traps” and our rented car broke down. On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a dirty hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts.
It was raining and cold when we went out to eat. We found a small restaurant poorly decorated for the holiday. Only five tables in the restaurant were taken. There were two German couples, two French families, and an American sailor, by himself. They were eating in stony silence except the sailor. He was writing a letter, and a half-smile lighted his face. In the corner a piano player was listlessly (无精打采地) playing Christmas music.
All of us were interrupted by an old French flower woman through the front door. She had a worn overcoat and her old shoes were wet. Carrying her basket of flowers, she went from one table to another. No one bought any. Exhausted and sad, she sat down at a table.
The sailor finished his meal and got up to leave. Putting on his coat, he walked over to the flower woman’s table.
“Merry Christmas,” he said, smiling and picking out a handful of flowers. “How much are they?”
“Two francs, sir.”
The sailor put a twenty franc note in the woman’s hand.
“I don’t have change, sir,” she said. “I’ll get some from the waiter.”
“No, ma’am,” said the sailor, leaning over and kissing the ancient cheek. “This is my Christmas present for you.”
注意：1．所续写短文的词数应为80左右；
2．续写部分的开头语已为你写好；
Then the sailor headed for our table with the flowers in his hand.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Chinese Spring Festival Going Global
Nowadays, more and more countries around the world are holding celebrations for Chinese Spring Festival. What’s more, not only are these attended and enjoyed by Chinese citizens living abroad, but by many other nationalities, too.
With colourful decorations of lanterns and lamps, shopping centres have been organising events and activities to celebrate Chinese Spring Festival for years, while concerts and other performances are also proving a big success. Tickets for the 2017 Grand Chinese New Year Concert in St Petersburg sold out, with 90% of the audience local Russians. People are also discovering the fun of interacting with the celebrations, rather than simply watching as part of an audience. To celebrate the 2017 festival, over 1,000 Ghanaian junior high school students got up on stage to perform Chinese songs and dances. Students in New York City, meanwhile, have since 2016 been able to enjoy an official day’s holiday for Chinese Spring Festival.
It seems that Chinese Spring Festival is becoming a global celebration of joy and love. What do you think of this phenomenon? Write to us to share your opinion!
1. Which countries are mentioned and how do they celebrate Chinese Spring Festival?2. Which event would you most like to attend? Why?
3. Why do you think Chinese Spring Festival is “going global”?
