1 . This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.

Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.

Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected-much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that were usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.

Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. “Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”

At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”

1. The whole exchange program is mainly to ________

A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America

B．send students in America to travel in Germany

C．let students learn something about other countries

D．have teenagers learn new languages

2. What is particular in American schools?

A．There is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings.

B．There are a lot of outside activities.

C．Students usually take 14 subjects in all.

D．Students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car.

3. What did Mike think after experiencing the American school life?

A．A better education should include something good from both America and Germany.

B．German schools trained students to be better citizens.

C．American schools were not as good as German schools.

D．The easy life in the American school was more helpful to students.

4. What’s Mike’s attitude towards American education?

A．Praised.

B．Regretful.

C．Ignorant.

D．Blameful.

2 . A British friend told me he couldn’t understand why Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds（嗑瓜子）as a snack so much. “I’ve met a lot of older Chinese and many have a crack in their front teeth, I believe that’s from cracking the seeds,” he said.

I had never noticed the habit, but once he mentioned it, I suddenly became more aware. I realized that whenever I’m watching TV or typing a report, I always start mindlessly cracking sunflower seeds. My friend doesn’t like sunflower seeds, and, to him, it seems unnecessary to work so much just to get one small seed.

When we were young, the whole family would usually get together for Chinese New Year. Then, we all lived close to one another, usually in a small city, and sometimes even neighbors would go door-to-door on Chinese New Year’s Eve to check out what every household was making.

I remember my parents would be in the kitchen cooking. Out in the living room, a large table would already be laid out, complete with fancy tablecloth, ready-made dumpling fillings, and dishes full of candy, fruits and sunflower seeds. Some of the dishes were to be offered to our ancestors later, while others were for neighbors and children to eat before the evening feast. I must have learned how to crack sunflower seeds back then.

I don’t think it’s right to criticize one’s choice in food or eating habits, no matter how strange they may seem.

It’s not only in China. When I went abroad, I found people had all sorts of strange habits when it came to food. In Denmark, they put salted red fish on bread and eat it for dinner, no matter how much it ruins your breath. They think it’s。delicacy（美味佳肴）, and it’s connected to their certain culture. I think it’s a wonderful tradition.

1. Why can the British friend not understand when he found Chinese love eating sunflower seeds?

A．Because the seeds are too hard to crack.

B．Because he thinks they art harmful to teeth.

C．Because he doesn’t think the seeds are good.

D．Because he doesn’t thinks the seeds are worth eating.

2. What does the writer prove by mentioning Chinese New Year?

A．The families get together for it.	B．Eating sunflower seeds is related to it.
C．The traditions of celebrating it disappear.	D．Children can eat delicious food on that day.

3. What’s the writer’s attitude to Denmark’s way of eating bread?

A．indifferent

B．critical

C．understandable

D．doubtful

4. What idea does the writer want to express in this passage?

A．It is good to form healthy eating habits.

B．Eating habits come from a certain culture.

C．Changing your eating habits will change your life.

D．One kind of food doesn’t necessarily suit everyone.

3 . 假定你是李华，近期你市将于会展中心举办中国文化节，届时会有外国友人参加， 主办单位现向大众招募志愿者。请写一封信申请做志愿者。内容包括：
1. 写信目的;
2. 个人优势及能做的事情。
注意：
1. 词数80左右;
2. 开头和结尾已给出， 不计入总词数;
3. 可以适当增加细节， 以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：会展中心 Exhibition Center;
中国文化节Chinese Cultural Festival
Dear Sir,

My name is Li Hua, a student from a local high school.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

5 . 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.

2. What does the underlined word “That” in paragraph 6 refer to?

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.

3. What inspired Du’s creation most according to Shi Wenxue?

A．His work experience.

B．Hard life and his caring spirit.

C．An Lushan’s rebel army.

D．The Tang Dynasty’s cultural background.

4. In which section of a website may this text appear?

A．Entertainment.	B．Health.
C．Literature.	D．Science.

7 . As more and more people speak the global language of English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, other languages are rapidly disappearing. In fact, half of the 6,000-7,000 languages spoken around the world today will be likely to die out by the next century, according the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In an effort to prevent language loss, scholars from a number of organizations — UNESCO and National Geographic among them — have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.

Mark Turin, a scientist at the Macmillan Center, Yale University, who specializes in the languages and oral traditions of the Himalayas, is following in that tradition. His recently published book, A Grammar of Thangmi and Their Culture, grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.

Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. But he is not content to simply record these voices before they disappear without record.

At the University of Cambridge Turin discovered a wealth of important materials —including photographs, films, tape recordings, and field notes — which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection. Now, through the two organizations that he has founded — the Digital Himalaya Project and the World Oral Literature Project — Turin has started a campaign to make such documents, found in libraries and stores around the world, available not just to schools but to the younger generations of communities from whom the materials were originally collected. Thanks to digital technology and the widely available Internet, Turin notes, the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities.

1. Many scholars are making efforts to ________.

A．promote global languages	B．rescue disappearing languages
C．search for languages communities	D．set up language research organizations

2. What does “that tradition” in Paragraph 3 refer to ________.

A．having detailed records of the languages	B．writing books on language users
C．telling stories about language speakers	D．living with the native speakers

3. What is Turin’s book based on?

A．The cultural studies in India.	B．The documents available at Yale.
C．His language research in Bhutan.	D．His personal experience in Nepal.

4. Which of the following best describes Turin’s work?

A．Write, sell and donate.	B．Record, repair and reward.
C．Collect, protect and reconnect.	D．Design, experiment and report.

8 . This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.

Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.

Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that were usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.

Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. “Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it. ”

At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”

1. The whole exchange program is mainly to ________.

A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America

B．send students in America to travel in Germany

C．let students learn something about other countries

D．have teenagers learn new languages

2. What is particular in American schools?

A．There is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings.

B．There are a lot of outside activities.

C．Students usually take 14 subjects in all.

D．Students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car.

3. What did Mike think after experiencing the American school life?

A．A better education should include something good from both America and Germany.

B．German schools trained students to be better citizens.

C．American schools were not as good as German schools.

D．The easy life in the American school was more helpful to students.

4. What’s Mike’s attitude towards American education?

A．Praise.	B．Regret.
C．Ignore.	D．Accuse (指责).

9 . Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal, or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.

Different cultures emphasise the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example,business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work,it is necessary to spend a lot of time in“small talk”, usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries—like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.

Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realised that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.

Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.

People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a better chance to us to understand and learn from each other.

1. What’s the benefit of eating together at restaurants in some countries according to this passage?

A．People can develop closer relations.	B．People can share the same culture.
C．People can get to know each other.	D．People can keep each other company.

2. Why does the author mention his experience in Thailand?

A．To show the English prefer to make long speeches.

B．To show too many words are of no use.

C．To show people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature.

D．To show even talk and silence can be culturally different.

3. According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?

A．By sharing different ways of life.	B．By accepting different habits.
C．By recognising different values.	D．By speaking each other’s languages.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Multicultural Environment	B．Cross-cultural Differences
C．How to Understand Each Other	D．How to Build up a Relationship

10 . 阅读下面的短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Sugar sculpture blowing is    1     Chinese folk art where artists blow and sculpt hot sugar to create 3D    2     (figure).The finished sculptures not only look good, but also have a good taste,    3     (make) them popular among children.

The main raw material for sugar sculpture blowing is malt sugar (麦芽糖).The malt sugar     4     (use) in sculpture blowing has to be heated to high temperatures. It can only be used after several steps,    5     include the sorting and cooking of the malt sugar followed by the firing and melting of it.

Sugar sculpture blowing is     6     (careful) made. It can be divided    7     two methods—one uses molds (模子) ; the other does not, and involves sugar figures taking shape through a combination of blowing air into the processed malt sugar and the artist's flexible hand skills.

The complex process may explain why there are fewer people making sugar sculpture. To protect and promote this     8     (tradition) craftsmanship, the government of Hebei Province founded a sugar figure art     9     (organize) in 2011.Now it     10     (consist) of over 90 artists recognized as the inheritors (继承人) of the technique.