1 . Using Google’s unique digital technology, the stories of some English Heritage Sites around the country — from Tintagel Castle in Cornwall to Chesters Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall — are brought to life and shared by way of the Google Arts & Culture platform.
![]() Stonehenge Skyscape | The English Heritage’s Stonehenge Skyscape enables people around the world to experience the skies above the stone circle, and learn about movements of the sun, moon and planets. Experience live and special sunrise over Stonehenge, see the journey of the stars and the moon from within the stone circle and learn more about the design of Stonehenge and how its builders may have understood their place in the universe. |
![]() Osborne House, the Isle of Wight | Take a 360⁃degree video tour of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s palatial (富丽堂皇的) holiday home on the Isle of Wight in the company of English Heritage director Michael Hunter, including the Italian terraces (露台) with views over the Solent, which reminded Prince Albert of the Bay of Naples, and the Indian-inspired Durbar Room, designed to show Queen Victoria’s position as Empress of India. |
![]() Audley End House and Gardens, Essex | Explore the story of one of the greatest houses of early 17th-century England deep in the heart of the Essex countryside, and fly over the great formal gardens designed by Capability Brown. |
![]() Tintagel Castle, Cornwall | Explore this medieval (中世纪的) castle set high on Cornwall’s north coast. Linked with the legend of King Arthur, for centuries this impressive castle has inspired the imaginations of writers and artists. Discover the early medieval history of a distant outpost (偏远村镇) trading objects from Spain, North Africa and Turkey. |
A.Stonehenge Skyscape. |
B.Osborne House, the Isle of Wight. |
C.Audley End House and Gardens, Essex. |
D.Tintagel Castle, Cornwall. |
A.Both were built for their kings. |
B.Both were built in the same age. |
C.Both are related to previous rulers. |
D.Both were palatial holiday homes for the rulers. |
A.Language. | B.Education. | C.Geography. | D.Culture. |
2 . Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures crumbled into dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rapid development.
Becoming China’s best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old, often located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through dangerous conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China’s remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained (养护) roads by mule (骡子), or on foot. Inns (客栈) were often dirty, food could be polluted, and there was always risk of violence from rebels, soldiers and robbers.
Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was rebuilt in 857 A.D., making it the oldest building known in China at the time.
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple’s most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one hideaway inhabited by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. “In complete darkness and among awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.” Liang wrote of the experience in an account included in the book “Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past”.
1. What does the underlined word “crumbled” mean in Paragraph 1?A.Were stolen. | B.Fell down. |
C.Looked old. | D.Closed up. |
A.Transport and accommodations. |
B.Personal safety and weather. |
C.Communication with locals and food. |
D.Road conditions and funds. |
A.They considered their work was the most important. |
B.They were well-equipped before entering the temple. |
C.They found some surprising things in the temple. |
D.The conditions inside the temple were common to them. |
A.Tough Conditions in China’s Remote Areas |
B.Partners in Documenting China’s Architectural Treasures |
C.The Reason for Liang and Lin’s Exploration |
D.The Difficulties China’s Architectural Historians Are Facing |
Some people love to read books. They can’t get enough of the
In such festivals, people create projects and present
Sometimes, judges award prizes for the best projects like “Best Pun.” A pun is a funny play on words that sound similar but have different
Given the fun and often silly nature, it’s not surprising that many of these festivals
4 . Besides “wow” and “great”, what else would you say when flying over the Earth in space? Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian female astronaut in space, posted several lines of a famous ancient Chinese composition on Twitter to share her joy.
She first wrote in Chinese, and then attached an accurate translation of the lines in both Italian and English to help more people understand. “Looking up, I see the immensity of the cosmos; bowing my head, I look at the multitude of the world. The gaze flies, the heart expands, the joy of the senses can reach its peak, and indeed, this is true happiness,” it says. Two days before she landed on Earth, the beauty of space and Chinese literature resonated on her Twitter account. Before long, her posts went viral on Twitter with thousands of retweets, likes and replies.
The text she quoted is from the Preface to Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion,a Chinese calligraphy masterpiece by Wang Xizhi (303-361) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). She also attached three photos taken in space of China’s Bohai Bay and the day-night view of Beijing. “The poem and views are both magnificent as well as healing. If everyone could enjoy the same sight, a lot of pain in the world would be ‘dissipated’,” one user comments.
As the first Italian female astronaut in space, Cristoforetti carried out her first space mission on Nov 23, 2014. In 2022, she started the second mission in April and returned to Earth on Friday night after a 127-day stay in orbit.
Cristoforetti has also been active in Sino-European cooperation in the field of manned spaceflight. She was a working group member with Chinese counterparts to define and implement cooperation in the field of astronaut operations. When not traveling for work, she is an eager reader and has a great passion for languages. Speaking clear Chinese, Cristoforetti once told the media that the teams from China and Europe were working very well together in the field of astronaut training.
1. What is the result of Cristoforetti’s post online?A.The birth of a masterpiece. |
B.A trend of journey to space. |
C.An instant hot issue on Twitter. |
D.Different translations of the lines. |
A.Relieved. | B.Caused. |
C.Increased. | D.Recognized. |
A.Cristoforetti’s devotion to her career. |
B.Cristoforetti’s language learning strategies. |
C.The leadership Cristoforetti plays in her team. |
D.The possible motivation for Cristoforetti’s post. |
A.A female astronaut becomes online star |
B.A Chinese poem gets popular abroad |
C.Literature conveys the beauty of space |
D.An Italian astronaut promotes Sino-European cooperation |
If you have not heard of Yangshi Lei, the
All the above great cultural relics and popular tourist attractions have been included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List,
Yangshi
With so many architectural
6 . Culture often refers to things like food, holidays, clothing, and music, but it also goes much deeper than that.
One of the best ways to understand others’ cultures is to first examine your own. Do you take your shoes off when you go inside?
However, sometimes, learning a lot about a different culture can lead you into a trap. You may think you know much about a culture, which may lead you to show off your knowledge when you meet someone from that background. But it’s a problem to assume that everyone from one particular culture has the same attitudes and experiences. Your assumptions that lead you to pre-judge against others can be harmful.
Differences between us are what make life so interesting. So accept the differences between yourself and your friends from different cultures.
A.It is a simple thing, but it’s a huge marker of culture! |
B.Learning is another great way to understand different cultures. |
C.Behaviors, customs, beliefs, and values are also part of your culture. |
D.To achieve it, do strike a balance between curiosity and appreciation. |
E.So don’t do it to others even if you understand their culture really well. |
F.The more you learn, the more used you get to respecting cultural differences. |
G.Wherever you live, there are probably immigrant communities (侨民团体)with their own customs. |
7 . “When I first started learning calligraphy, I just copied the teacher’s strokes (笔画), and my work was ugly.” said Aryan from Afghanistan. He is currently a graduate student in Beijing,
During his six-year stay in China, he discovered the
To his surprise, the curriculum for foreign students in China
“Initially, I didn’t know much Chinese and thought calligraphy would be difficult,” Aryan said.” Later on, I found out that calligraphy can help me
He used to
Not only did Aryan gain a deeper
A.majoring | B.settling | C.bringing | D.resulting |
A.problem | B.pattern | C.richness | D.resource |
A.native | B.official | C.international | D.formal |
A.goes against | B.takes up | C.takes over | D.goes beyond |
A.conferences | B.activities | C.subjects | D.competitions |
A.economy | B.life | C.work | D.pleasure |
A.competition | B.content | C.combination | D.contact |
A.improve | B.recognize | C.adjust | D.find |
A.hold | B.oppose | C.break | D.suspect |
A.positive | B.contradictory | C.wrong | D.objective |
A.direction | B.step | C.attitude | D.effort |
A.supply | B.represent | C.sense | D.recall |
A.responses | B.admissions | C.reactions | D.keys |
A.function | B.ability | C.form | D.knowledge |
A.stressed | B.inspired | C.determined | D.interrupted |
8 . 假设你是红星中学高三学生李华,请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序,写一篇英文周记,记述你们上周接待外国学生,带领他们体验中国茶文化的全过程。
注意:词数不少于60。
(请务必将作文写在答题卡指定区域内)
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9 . You might think of it as a scene from 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 (非物质文化遗产): bamboo drifting.
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 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 great strength and balance it takes for one to master this act, bamboo drifting was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2021.
Yang Liu, a 25-year-old inheritor of bamboo drifting, learned it at seven. “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 of the bamboo is not long enough, it will not be buoyant (有浮力的) enough to 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 18 years, she has drifted all year round, in cold winter and hot summer. As hanfu culture has been on the rise, Yang started wearing hanfu while performing, creating a more beautiful scene. 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 says.
1. What can be learned from the first two paragraphs?A.Bamboo drifting involves lots of skills. |
B.Nanmu was delivered to the north by land. |
C.Bamboo was costly in Guizhou 2,000 years ago. |
D.The martial arts movie is a form of cultural heritage. |
A.Keeping balance. | B.Maintaining a fixed angle. |
C.Finding the proper bamboo. | D.Holding the bamboo firmly in hands. |
A.Impossible. | B.Confusing. | C.Unbelievable. | D.Complicated. |
A.Balancing with Grace | B.Yang Liu: a Creative Performer |
C.Transporting Bamboo down the River | D.Intangible Cultural Heritage in Guizhou |
10 . Tea originated in China over two thousand years ago. Today, the country owns over 2,000 varieties of tea, differing in taste, sweet and purpose. Some teas, such as Huang Shan, refresh the sense of taste with their special flavor, while others, such as spicy chai, are added with spices (香料) .
China first started exporting tea during the Ming dynasty (1368—1644), and the drink has since come to lead humanity’s drinking habits far beyond Asia. It is the most widely consumed drink on Earth today, aside from water and coffee.
In Chinese mythology, tea was first discovered by Chinese Emperor Shennong (“Divine Farmer”) in 737BC, when a soft wind carried some leaves into a pot of boiling water. However, the oldest dependable evidence comes from ancient plant remains found in 2016 in Xi’an and western Tibet, showing that tea was grown at least 2,100 years ago during the Western Handy nasty when it was most likely used as medicine.
Generation after generation of tea makers experimented with different brewing (冲泡) techniques, leaves, and ceremonies, resulting in today’s tea culture full of life. There’s no doubt that China’s tea culture has become one of the most popular, diverse, and unique traditions in the world.
China is already the world’s largest tea exporter. The inclusion of the country’s traditional tea-making process on the UNESCO list will obviously generate practical benefits for tea makers in the country and across the world as more resources are given to protect and preserve such millennia-old tea culture and technical practices. As additional attention is brought to this traditional technique, the Chinese tea sector will further tap its potential and improve its growth.
As one of China’s oldest cultural practices, traditional tea processing techniques show the spirit of modesty (谦逊), peace, and comity (礼让). No matter your preference for green or dark tea, with milk or without, Chinese tea isn’t just brews. Instead, it is a bridge connecting different cultures and peoples.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?A.Chinese tea has a fresh taste. | B.Chinese tea is added with spices. |
C.Chinese tea has a long history. | D.Chinese tea has a rich variety. |
A.In about 737 BC. |
B.Two thousand years ago. |
C.During the Ming dynasty. |
D.During the Western Handy nasty. |
A.Hopeful. | B.Objective. | C.Careless. | D.Disapproving. |
A.Chinese Tea Benefits the Globe a Lot |
B.Chinese Protect and Develop Its Tea Culture |
C.Chinese Tea Is Included in the UNESCO List |
D.China Plays a Vital Part in Cultural Diversity |