1 . In 2018, the town of Carefree, in the USA was seeking a pumpkin carver to help their newly-planned Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Festival become an instant success. Luckily for them, the sculptor Ray Villafane fell in love with the four-acre Carefree Desert Gardens and agreed to carve pumpkins for the tourists. Then, the festival became a hit in 2018. Now the annual event, which began to take place from October 19 to October 28, in 2011, includes many fun activities for both kids and adults. However, it is the pumpkin carvings that remain the star attraction.

This year, Villafane and his team reached the garden in early October to carve the popular “pickled pumpkins”. Placed inside tanks resembling some kinds of plants to fit in with the environment, the 3D pumpkin artworks were put in a special liquid that helped preserve them for a longer period of time.

Throughout the festival, Villafane and his team also held several live demonstrations, adding to the impressive carved pumpkins on exhibition. They also volunteered to give many pumpkin-carving fans valuable tips.

Besides the wonderful carvings, guests had the chance to go into a pumpkin world, complete with tales. The tales featured pumpkin dead bodies running through the grass, and a group of helpless pumpkins attempting to free their peers imprisoned by a scary-looking figure with only bones. Then, there were the hard-working rats who were sewing a pumpkin.

The highlight of the festival came on October 27, when Villafane transformed a huge pumpkin into a dinosaur. The festival also featured activities including pie-eating matches, story-telling, face painting, and pumpkin-carving matches.

Villafane’s skill first came to light in 1996 after he sculpted a pumpkin for his students during Halloween. In 2007, while still teaching, he decided to use his skills to create action figures for Marvel Comics. Over the next two years, the artist created numerous popular characters. In 2009, Villafane accepted a full-time position about carving toys at DC Comics. In 2013, he finally decided to go after his true love — pumpkin carving. Since he first began carving, the expert has sculpted 2,576 pieces of outstanding works in 102 cities around the world.

The expert using basic carving tools for his most complex creations stands out in the festival.

1. How did the festival held in Carefree become very popular and successful in 2018?

A．Thanks to the fantastic songs and dances.

B．Owing to the pumpkins carved by Villafane.

C．Due to the four-acre Carefree Desert Gardens.

D．On account of quite a few celebrities attending it.

2. What is the right description of the tales?

A．Some large mouses eating a pumpkin.

B．Pumpkin dead bodies running through the forest.

C．Pumpkins trying to fight against a figure with only bones.

D．A pumpkin dinosaur attempting to free helpless pumpkins.

3. When did Villafane start focusing on carving objects that children would like to play with?

A．In1996.

B．In 2007.

C．In 2009.

D．In 2013.

4. In which column of a website can you most probably find the text?

A．Sports.

B．Innovation.

C．Politics.

D．Culture.

4 . You might think of martial arts movies when you see people performing graceful moves down the river, all standing on a bamboo strip, but actually it is a form of intangible cultural heritage: bamboo drifting (漂流).

Over 2,000 years ago, the high-quality wood, nanmu, in Guizhou was in great demand by the royal court more than 2,000 kilometers to the north. With no better transportation, people had to stand on one log (原木) to drift down the river. Later, local people began to compete along the way and the game of wood drifting was born. In the Qing Dynasty, wood drifting became bamboo drifting because of bamboo’s lower price. Due to the skills it takes for one to master this act, bamboo drifting was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list last year.

Yang Liu, a 24-year-old inheritor of bamboo drifting, learned it at 7. “Usually, the bamboo under your feet is about 9 meters long, and the bamboo in your hands is about 5 meters. If the length or diameter (直径) of the bamboo is not long enough, it will not float. Keeping our feet firmly positioned on the narrow bamboo pole is the key, so we should fight against the current by constantly changing the angle. I lost my balance and fell in the water many times while practicing. Once I fell, I gave it another try until I knew how to handle the most difficult part, ” she said.

The love for the ancient skill keeps Yang going. In the past 17 years, she has drifted all year round, in winter cold and summer heat. A hanfu culture has been on the rise, Yang started wearing hanfu while performing, creating a more beautiful feel. In 2020, Yang began to post her videos on social media. “I’m extremely proud to get responses from viewers that bamboo drifting makes the line between what is possible and impossible unclear. It’s my mission to keep it alive and known to more people,” Yang Liu told China Daily.

1. What can be learned from the first two paragraphs?

A．The martial arts movie is a form of cultural heritage.

B．Nanmu was delivered to the north by land.

C．Bamboo was costly in Guizhou 2,000 years ago.

D．Bamboo drifting involves lots of skills.

2. What is the biggest challenge in bamboo drifting?

A．Finding the proper bamboo.	B．Holding the bamboo firmly in hands.
C．Maintaining a fixed angle.	D．Keeping balance.

3. What do the viewers think of bamboo drifting?

A．Unbelievable.

B．Elegant.

C．Confusing.

D．Complicated.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Transporting Bamboo down the River

B．Intangible Cultural Heritage in Guizhou

C．Balancing with Grace

D．Yang Liu: A Creative Performer

5 . 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。

Students at a primary school in Hangzhou had their first class on movable type (活字印刷)     1     March 1. This is     2     ancient Chinese printing system.

The West Lake Primary School in Zhejiang Province has introduced the course in the new term. An expert in Chinese characters culture has been invited to the campus,     3     major responsibility is to teach students how     4     (use) the ancient printing technology. Students attend lectures on the history of movable type along with interesting classes on typesetting     5     printing. They then print their own document,     6     (apply) the knowledge they’ve learned. One student printed her newly written     7     (word) “Do you know zero-waste lifestyle?”.

    8     (wide) known as one of the four great inventions of ancient China, movable type printing     9     (invent) by Bi Sheng in the 1040s during the Song Dynasty. It is about 400 years     10     (early) than the German’s.

The school said the course is aimed at improving the students’ awareness of Chinese characters and their appreciation of Chinese culture.

6 . 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.

2. What pushed the poetic dance?

A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala.	B．A Chinese blue-green landscape.
C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng.	D．An old Chinese traditional painting.

3. Why did this poetic dance enjoy welcome?

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.

4. What’s the main idea of the whole text?

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.

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。

The youth version of The Peony Pavilion (《牡丹亭》) successfully entered the stage of the Spring for Chinese Arts at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

The Peony Pavilion,     1     cultural treasure of the world, was written by China’s Ming Dynasty playwright and writer Tang Xianzu, who is compared to William Shakespeare. And Kunqu Opera,     2     (combine) songs performed in the Suzhou dialect, graceful body movements, martial arts and dance, was     3     (origin) born in the region of Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. It was listed as one of the representative     4     (work) of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2001.

Kunqu Opera uses a seemingly endless     5     (vary) of gestures to express specific emotions and has distinguished itself by its rhythmic patterns. It also has a major impact     6     all the more recent forms of opera in China, such as Peking Opera.

    7     excites the organizing committee is that The Peony Pavilion     8     (attract) a growing young audience since its first performance in Beijing. Up to now, Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center,     9     aim is to emphasize the inheritance, promotion, development and popularization of traditional Chinese culture and arts, has also held many exhibitions related to traditional drama, and established the Peking Opera inheritance class     10     (popularize) the traditional art to children.

10 . 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。

Lion Dance, a folk show acted by people wrapped around in lion costume, is usually performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional,     1     (culture) and religious festivals. It may also be performed on important occasions such     2    business opening events, special celebrations or wedding     3     (ceremony), or may be used     4     (entertain) special guests by the Chinese communities.

There are usually two performers in a lion dance, one handling the lion’s head while     5     other playing the body and tail. What impresses the audience most     6     (be) all kinds of lions’ movements conducted to the music played by gongs and drums.

With the Chinese migrating abroad, lion dance is famous all over the world.     7     (particular) in Southeast Asian countries; each country and region, however, has their own dancing style. The most well-known Lion Dance style is Southern Lion Dance     8     originated from Guangdong Province. In Hongkong, ever since the 1980s when Chinese classic and martial arts movies enjoyed great     9     (popular), kong fu movies including Jet Li’s “Huang Feihong” series     10     (reach) a large audience and attracted movie lovers all around the world, whatever their races or ages.