1 . Different countries celebrate Christmas in different ways. We asked some of our friends to explain what happens in their countries. This is what they told us:
France
In France, Christmas is always called Noël. Everyone has a Christmas tree, sometimes decorated in the old way with red ribbons and real white wax candles. Fir trees in the garden are often decorated too with lights on all night.
Father Christmas is called Père Noël. The Christmas meal is an important family gathering with good meat and the best wine. Few people send Christmas cards. More people send New Year cards to wish everyone good luck and joy for the New Year. These days Christmas lunch is a starter of foie gras (a strong tasting pate made from goose liver) followed by lunch of seafood — usually including lobsters and oysters.
New Zealand
Christmas starts for us with gifts under the tree, to be opened on Christmas morning. Then it’s onto a Christmas lunch either at home or at one’s parents place. Turkey or chicken with all the trimmings (佐料) is eaten. Then comes tea time. It is a BBQ for friends and family to get together, and have a few beers or wines with the meal!
Russia
In the days of the Soviet Union, Christmas was not celebrated very much. New Year was the important time — when “Father Frost” brought presents to children. With the fall of Communism, Christmas can be openly celebrated either on December 25th; or more often on January 7th. This unusual date is because the Russian Orthodox church uses the old “Julian” calendar for religious celebration days. Special Christmas food includes cakes, pies and “meat dumplings”.
Sweden
The most important day is Christmas Eve. A special Christmas meal is eaten on Christmas Eve — ham (pork), herring fish, and brown beans — and this is the time when families give presents to each other. Many people attend a church meeting early on Christmas Day.
1. Why do people in France send New Year cards?A.To tell their friends the New Year is coming. |
B.To ask for some special presents. |
C.To invite their friends to family gathering. |
D.To send their friends best wishes and happiness for the New Year. |
A.A special meal is prepared. |
B.Everyone has a Christmas tree. |
C.Parents give gifts to their children. |
D.People attend a church gathering. |
A.France. | B.New Zealand. | C.Sweden. | D.Russia. |
1. 表示欢迎;
2. 专家介绍;
3. 讲座内容。
注意:1. 词数80左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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3 . The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Minor Snow (小雪) refers to the time when it starts to snow, mostly in China's northern areas, and the temperature continues to drop.
Here are four things you should know about Minor Snow.
Wearing hats and scarves
In China, starting in Minor Snow, the wind blows from the northeast a lot. Because it's still not bitterly cold, many people do not wear hats or scarves yet. In fact, according to an old Chinese saying, "The head is the place where all passages of the body gather". It's sensible to keep one's head warm.
Drinking soup
During Minor Snow, indoor heating begins to work, which means the air indoors is dry and most people might find their nose and mouth feels a bit dry. According to practices in traditional Chinese medicine, this accumulation of "inner heat" in one's body can cause problems, including oral ulcers and breakouts (口腔溃疡和破损). The solution is to drink more hot soup, such as cabbage and bean curd soup, spinach and bean curd soup, and mutton and radish soup.
Making preserved pork
After Minor Snow, the temperature declines sharply and the air becomes dry. It is the best time to start making preserved pork, which by the Chinese Spring Festival would be ready to enjoy. In the past, when storage conditions were poor, people developed many ways to store food and preserved pork is one such example. So even in the bitter winter, the whole family could enjoy meat. Some even say preserved pork tastes more delicious than fresh meat.
Avoiding spicy food
On cold days, people may crave some hot and spicy food to keep warm. Experts say it's wise not to eat overly spicy food, since that will increase your inner heat.
1. Which of the following can best describe Minor Snow?A.Snowy and cold. | B.Warm and cozy. |
C.Golden and windy. | D.Comfortable and cool. |
A.To save food. |
B.To keep warm. |
C.To solve problems caused by "inner heat". |
D.To chase after fashion and follow the tradition. |
A.Eat overly spicy food. |
B.Do not go outside and stay in bed. |
C.Make preserved pork with your family. |
D.Wear hats and scarves and eat proper hot and spicy food. |
提示词语:eat, get together, share, happy, special
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5 . Sunday Bakeshop in Oakland, California, makes foods that mix American and Asian cultures. The restaurant makes foods that are cooked or baked in an oven. Many of them are sweet. For example, the shop sells something called a dim sum cookie. It looks like a sugar cookie but has sesame (芝麻) seeds on top and sweetened red beans inside. Dim sum is a word for Cantonese foods from southern China.
The dim sum cookie is Elaine Lau’s way of honoring her grandmother who would make a kind of food that had a similar taste. Lau’s restaurant also makes Chinese White Rabbit candy cookies. Those sweets would not be found in any bakery in Asia but are a mixture of Asian and Western foods. Lau said she speaks to Asian Americans and others at her store. She said: “We get a lot of comments, for example, ‘The cookies are just like little lovely kitties and puppies.’ ‘Oh this took me back to several years ago when I was growing up.’” She added that it was nice to create good memories and feelings with her pastries (糕点).
Bakeries that combine the feeling of growing-up Asians and Americans have been opening up more often in recent years. Traditional Asian ingredients are being mixed with European or American pastries into something new. The creations are a way for young Asian Americans to celebrate their identity.
“Older traditional Asian bakeries make foods that immigrants miss from their home country. The new bakeries celebrate Asian culture and are part of a natural progression,” said Robert Ku, who is an Asian American studies professor at Binghamton University in New York state. He also wrote the book Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA.
“The bakers are showing that their foods, which mix cultures, are just as American as apple pie. It’s sort of the artistic side of Asian American identity that’s often ignored,” Ku said. “They’re instead really trying to fuse things together.”
1. What does Lau think of her work?A.Tiring. | B.Demanding. | C.Confusing. | D.Rewarding. |
A.Create a new way of showing their identities. |
B.Celebrate the Asian culture in foreign countries. |
C.Remind the immigrants of their hometown flavor. |
D.Introduce young Asian Americans to new culture. |
A.Combine. | B.Improve. | C.Invent. | D.Consume. |
A.Asian American Cookies Become American's Favorite Food |
B.Varieties of New Asian Foods Are Created by American Cooks |
C.Asian American Bakeries Mix Together Cultures to Create New Foods |
D.Traditional Asian Food Becomes Popular with American Young People |
6 . There are many traditions around the world that are interesting and fun, but there are also those that are bizarre (奇异的) and even a little cruel.
In Sweden it's common for parents to leave their babies outside to nap (小睡) even when the temperatures are below zero. Many of us would find this custom dangerous, but many Swedes actually consider it good for their babies. They believe that by exposing their young ones to their country's cold temperature they can help their babies to grow up healthily and protect them from diseases. They also believe doing so will help them sleep longer and better.
In Bali, Indonesia, babies are forbidden to touch the ground for three months. The reason is that during the baby's first months its connection to the “spirit” is still unbroken and clean and letting it touch the ground would defile it. For three months, the baby is constantly held in someone's arms―the father, mother, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and even neighbours. After 105 days, a special ceremony called the Nyabutan is held where the baby touches Mother Earth for the first time.
In Guatemala, it's common to see babies being bathed with cold water. Maya mothers commonly practise this bizarre ritual (仪式) with the belief that it's beneficial to the baby's health. Bathing their babies with cold water is also an effective means to eliminate heat rashes, and this custom helps babies sleep better.
Some Indians allow their babies to be thrown from temple roofs as high as 50 feet. This strange custom started 500 years ago and continues to this day, though there's a movement to ban it for obvious reasons. However, Hindus believe that performing this ritual brings good luck and health to their babies. Below the roof is a bed sheet that's held tightly by several men. The baby lands safely on the sheet. The tradition's practitioners and believers strongly prove that it's safe, saying no babies have ever been injured.
1. What does the author think of the baby custom in Sweden?A.It is interesting and fun. | B.It is unique and thoughtful. |
C.It is dangerous and a little cruel. | D.It is beneficial and practical. |
A.Make the best use of. | B.Make something dirty or no longer pure. |
C.Leave or break away from. | D.Achieve or realise completely. |
A.to get rid of their heat rashes and make them sleep better |
B.to prevent them from feeling hot during summer |
C.in order to stop them from getting all kinds of illnesses |
D.in order to bring good luck and health to those babies |
A.It is a new custom and many people hate it. |
B.They think the custom leads to babies' injuries. |
C.They have no religious belief. |
D.Lots of babies have been seen injured in the past years. |
7 . The traditional Chinese Longtaitou Festival, or Dragon Head-Raising Festival, falls on the second day of the second lunar month every year, and recognizes the start of spring and farming. This year it falls on March 14.
Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall increases because the rain-bringing Dragon King has awoken from his winter sleep. A well-known phrase goes, “Er yue er, long tai tou”, meaning “On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon lifts his head.”
The festival celebrates ancient Chinese agrarian culture, and while some of traditional ways to celebrate it are no longer practised, others continue to exist.
The most famous tradition is getting a haircut. Some believe that going to the barber on this day gets rid of bad luck, while others believe getting a haircut during the first month of the lunar calendar brings bad luck. Another saying warns that cutting your hair in the first lunar month will cause your uncle to die. Although today few pay attention to it, it was once a tradition to line up outside barbershops on the day of Longtaitou.
People eat tofu balls in East China’s Fujian Province during the festival, and often make tofu and vegetable balls to pray for family and business. Fried beans are the traditional festival food for people in parts of Shandong Province. Eating chengyao cakes, which are made with sticky rice, during the festival is a tradition in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, owing to the saying, “If you eat chengyao cakes on Longtaitou, your waist won’t hurt all year.” Meanwhile other foods, like noodles, dumplings, and spring rolls, are named after dragon body parts to mark the day. Noodles are dragon’s beard (long xu), dumplings are dragon’s ears (long er), and spring rolls are dragon’s scales (long lin).
1. What did ancient people believe after Dragon Head-Raising Festival?A.The dragon lifts his head. |
B.There’s more rainfall. |
C.The dragon is still sleeping. |
D.There’s less rainfall. |
A.Agricultural. | B.Industrial. | C.Travelling. | D.Manufacturing. |
A.Tofu balls. | B.Fried beans. | C.Chengyao cakes. | D.Dumplings. |
A.The history and development of China’s Longtaitou Festival |
B.Cut your hair on China’s Longtaitou Festival |
C.The culture and traditions of China’s Longtaitou Festival |
D.Food about China’s Longtaitou Festival |
8 . I have always found the Chinese to be a very polite people. In particular, Chinese frequently compliment (称赞) foreign friends on their language skills, knowledge of Chinese culture, professional accomplishments, and personal health. Curiously, however, Chinese are as loath to accept a compliment as they are eager to give one. As many of my Chinese friends have explained, this is a sign of the Chinese virtue of modesty.
I have noticed a difference, though, in the degree to which modesty is emphasized in the United States and China. In the US, we tend to place more emphasis on “seeking the truth from fact”, thus, Americans tend to accept a compliment with gratitude.
Chinese, on the other hand, tend to reject the compliment, even when they know they deserve the credit or recognition which has been awarded them. I can imagine a Chinese basketball fan meeting Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. He might say, “Mr. Jordan, I am so happy to meet you. I just want to tell you, you are the best basketball player in the world; you’re the greatest!” to which Jordan would probably respond, “Thank you very much. I really appreciate it! I just to try to do my best every time I step on the court.” If an American met Deng Yaping, China’s premier pingpong player, he might say much the same thing: “Ms. Deng, you’re the best!” but as a Chinese, Deng would probably say, “No, I really don’t play all that well. You’re too much kind.”
Plainly, Americans and Chinese have different ways of responding to praise. Ironically, many Americans might consider Ms. Deng’s response the less modest, because it is less truthful—and therefore less sincere. Americans generally place sincerity above manners; genuine gratitude for the praise serves as a substitute for protestations of modesty. After all, in the words of one of my closest Chinese friends, modesty taken to the extreme is pride.
1. What does the underlined word “loath” in paragraph 1 refer to?A.Polite. | B.Uncertain. | C.Curious. | D.Unwilling. |
A.To note they do as much as they can each time they play against others. |
B.To remind readers they are the best players in basketball and table tennis. |
C.To explain they deserve the credit or recognition for their great contributions. |
D.To show they as Chinese and Americans are different in accepting praise. |
A.They think sincerity matters the most. | B.They think her reply is against the fact. |
C.They think she is too modest to believe. | D.They think manners is more important. |
A.Education. | B.Sports. | C.Culture. | D.People. |
9 . The traditional Chinese lunar calendar(农历)divides the year into 24 solar terms(节气).Start of Winter, the 19th solar term of the year,begins this year on Nov 7 and ends on Nov 21.
Start of Winter is the first solar term of winter,which means winter is coming and crops harvested in autumn should he stored up.
In ancient times, the Start of Winter was regarded as the beginning of winter, however,due to geographical factors, the actual winter time varies from place to place.
In fact,the Start of Winter is not the beginning of winter in terms of meteorology(气象学)。The weather every year is different, so the beginning of winter could be quite different.And as China is very large, it starts at different times in different areas.
The beginnings of the four seasons were important festivals in ancient times. Before the Start of Winter,the ancient emperor would take a shower and have no more meat.On that day,the emperor would lead his officials to the countryside and"welcome the winter".
People eat dumplings on the beginning of winter. Legend has it that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty,Zhang Zhongjing invented "Jiao Ear"(娇耳)to treat typhoid(伤寒) patients with ear frostbite(冻疮).He cooked mutton,hot peppers and herbs to drive out the cold and warm up the body.He put these materials into a dough skin and made them into an ear shape.Since then,people have learned to make the food which became known as "dumpling" or jiaozi. Today there is still a saying that goes "Eat dumplings on Start of Winter Day, or your ears will be frostbitten.”
1. Which of the following is right about Start of Winter?A.It is one of the solar terns in Chinese calendar. |
B.People begin to harvest crops on this day. |
C.Winter begins on November 7 this year. |
D.It begins in different months in different places. |
A.the Start of Winter |
B.the change of weather |
C.the important festival |
D.the beginning of winter |
A.Importance of Start of Winter. |
B.Customs of Start of Winter. |
C.Origin(起源)of Start of Winter. |
D.Food eaten on Start of Winter. |
A.Because dumplings can drive away typhoid. |
B.Because they wish for good luck for themselves. |
C.Because eating dumplings can warm up their ears. |
D.Because they want to prevent the coming of winter. |
10 . International tourism is becoming interestingly popular, and large numbers of people from all over the world come to visit famous places such as the Great Wall of China and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
As for the damage, there are many different causes. For example, the paintings in the Sistine Chapel are being damaged by people breathing onto them when they visit.
In short, it is necessary to control tourism at famous places.
A.For example, special paths can be built. |
B.What can we do to deal with these problems? |
C.The Great Wall was built over 2,000 years ago. |
D.However, these visitors have caused many problems. |
E.Traveling is the best way for us to get to know the world. |
F.If we do not do this, these places will disappear from our planet. |
G.Their breath contains very small drops of water that are present in the air. |