1 . The Chinese Spring Festival

The Chinese Spring Festival is regarded as the most significant festival of the year among the Chinese.     1    .

There are a number of things people usually do before the Chinese Spring Festival. One of these is cleaning the house for the Lunar New Year. Dust makes people think of old things.     2    . Another important custom is to decorate their doors with red couplets. The phrases on the couplets express hopes for a new year.

The most important custom of the Chinese Spring Festival is the big family dinner on the eve of the Lunar New Year. This is usually a big reunion of grandparents, parents, and children.     3    . That is why millions of Chinese people travel long distances to get home before the eve of the Lunar New Year.

When the New Year comes, there are many interesting festival activities such as “lucky money” in red envelopes or greetings with “Xinnian Hao” or “Gongxi Facai”. Another part of this custom of is to pay visits to relatives and bring them gifts.     4    . In addition, friends and family go out to enjoy loud and colourful fireworks, spend time at temple fairs, and watch exciting dragon and lion dances.

    5    . It is a special occasion to return home and reunite with family members. This deeply rooted tradition has been a necessary part of Chinese culture for a very long time, and will continue to live forever in the hearts of the Chinese people.

A．Commonly exchanged gifts include food, wine or tea

B．They are occasions that allow us to relax and enjoy life

C．It reflects people’s wishes, beliefs, faiths, and attitudes towards life

D．It reflects how important family is to Chinese people around the world

E．It lasts 15 days but the days of preparation beforehand are considered important

F．Therefore, sweeping dust is a way of saying goodbye to the old and hello to the new

G．The Chinese Spring Festival symbolizes a farewell to the old and a welcome to the new

2 . In China, the Spring Festival is the most important of all the holidays in the year. Two important things ___________ to make this holiday different from all the others: giving presents and spending it ___________ the family. Many weeks ___________ the Spring Festival, we know it is coming. In the ___________ goods for this special holiday appear and outside them are the special New Year decorations. The advertisement ___________ all the newspapers tell us that there are “Only five ___________ shopping days to Spring Festival”. ___________ you go, you will realize that.

Spring Festival, which comes “only ___________ a year”, is coming again. Giving ___________ to one’s family is a very sweet custom. The spirit behind the present matters most, not the present ____________. It is good at Spring Festival to ____________ to the hometown and meet parents, grandparents and as many aunts, uncles and cousins as possible.

In the past, ____________ New Year’s Eve, all the members of a family ____________ stay at home making dumplings together. ____________ many people enjoy watching TV. During the day, children wear their new clothes. The evening is usually spent in games, talking, more eating and ____________.

1.

A．help

B．want

C．get

D．hope

2.

A．in

B．on

C．at

D．with

3.

A．after

B．before

C．during

D．at

4.

A．towns

B．schools

C．shops

D．restaurants

5.

A．on

B．in

C．from

D．above

6.

A．other

B．fewer

C．another

D．more

7.

A．Where

B．Wherever

C．Whatever

D．How

8.

A．a time

B．twice

C．one

D．once

9.

A．money

B．presents

C．wishes

D．cards

10.

A．itself

B．themselves

C．by itself

D．either

11.

A．go

B．come

C．return

D．turn

12.

A．in

B．at

C．on

D．by

13.

A．would

B．might

C．could

D．have to

14.

A．Now

B．But

C．And

D．So

15.

A．sleeping

B．playing

C．running

D．drinking

3 . 语法填空

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the st lunar month, usually in February or early March in the solar calendar.    1     (date) back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD), it    2    (become) a grand festival with great significance. Till today, the festival is still held each year around the country.

In the daytime of the festival,     3    (performance) such as dragon dances, lion dances, land boat dances and beating drums while dancing     4     (stage). At night, lanterns of different colors and shapes are it up in the streets, attracting crowds of people. Children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to walk on the streets,     5    (extreme) excited. People also like solving lantern riddles that day. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions    6     the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the owners to check their answers. If they’re right, they will get    7     small gift as a reward. Besides, the festival is a day    8     (appreciate) the full moon and eat yuanxiao.

Some aspects of the festival are fading nowadays,     9     people still see the Lantern Festival as a chance to spend with family and wish for    10    (happy).

4 . We have been doing cultural and environmental studies to understand the area. We work with local people who live there, work there and know the land. Wherever we can, we avoid disturbing cultural heritage sites.

Consult with the natives

    1    , we consult with those for whom the cultural heritage site has significance. We work with them to preserve its value – for example by relocating artefacts – and we make sure we rehabilitate the land the right way afterwards. Where possible, we also enable native peoples to maintain access to sites of cultural significance to maintain their connection and customary practices.

    2    

We will fully cooperate with the Inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia. We are also continuing to support the government of Western Australia in the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA). We are committed to engaging with the rest of the industry, Traditional Owners, and federal and state governments across a number of areas relating to cultural heritage approvals and processes, and the broad contribution of the resources sector to Australia.

Avoid Disturbance

    3    , we look for ways to avoid disturbing it. This could be by adapting the design of a mining project to exclude significant sites from the mining lease, or mining around areas. Where we cannot avoid a site completely, we work with Traditional Owners to find ways we can preserve its cultural value.     4     so they can coexist with our activities, working with archaeologists to excavate and conserve artefacts, or recording oral history and other information for future generations.

Site Conservation

    5    . This can include fire management, feral animal management, erosion control, installation of protective and interpretative signage, auditing, monitoring and measuring the condition of sites, and managing public access.

A．Work with Governments in Australia

B．What the government can do?

C．Where we have to disturb land

D．We work with native peoples to look after cultural places or objects

E．Cultural mapping is closely linked to ethnographic recording.

F．Where an area is identified as being of high cultural significance

G．This can include carefully securing and managing heritage sites

5 . Every month, Zhang Lingling holds a party with her friends in a KTV room. At the party, all the people wear hanfu—a type of dress worn by the_________ Han people—and sing songs that are _________ by traditional instruments or inspired by ancient poems. “I’m _________ by the clothes, songs and games based on traditional culture. I’m not buying the items just because they are Chinese—they just satisfy my aesthetic needs,” she_________ China Daily.

Like Zhang, there are many young people who have a_________for traditional Chinese culture. _________ the reason behind this fascination with traditional culture, Ji Fangfang, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it’s_________traditional culture is the best way for young people to_________their national identity.

_________some prefer inheriting (继承) traditional Chinese culture, others are creating on it to be more__________to the young generation. Pop culture__________ Yu Yang is one of them. When he made a (an) __________of products featuring the ancient God of Fortune, the god wore __________ Chinese shoes and a cap, and had a microphone in his hand. “Pop culture is a __________ language. I hoped more people would accept and love my work and __________Chinese culture through my art pieces,” he said in an interview with China Daily.

1.

A．previous

B．sharp

C．awkward

D．typical

2.

A．recovered

B．accompanied

C．reminded

D．sold

3.

A．attracted

B．made

C．removed

D．used

4.

A．warned

B．told

C．whispered

D．shouted

5.

A．passion

B．position

C．talent

D．tip

6.

A．Looking after

B．Looking for

C．Looking forward to

D．Looking through

7.

A．so

B．why

C．because

D．but

8.

A．prohibit

B．earn

C．organize

D．recognize

9.

A．While

B．Whether

C．Since

D．Before

10.

A．different

B．accessible

C．familiar

D．addicted

11.

A．volunteer

B．tutor

C．designer

D．editor

12.

A．bit

B．range

C．kind

D．pair

13.

A．particular

B．disappointing

C．amazing

D．fashionable

14.

A．interesting

B．entire

C．frequent

D．universal

15.

A．revise

B．seek

C．prohibit

D．know

6 . In America, we have a thing called stand-up comedy. This popular form of entertainment consists of a comedian standing up at the front of a club, holding a microphone, and telling jokes. Of course, comedy is popular in Chinese culture as well, but the performances are quite different from the style in the US. In China, it’s called cross-talk, which usually involves two guys engaging in an entertaining dialogue.

It’s believed that cross-talk came into being in the Qing Dynasty as a bit of a by-product of the imitation shows that were a popular form of entertainment in the Song Dynasty. After the PRC was established in 1949, this comedic art became more and more popular. Today, it’s still heavily featured in the CCTV New Year’s Gala programmes in China. The 1990s was the golden age of cross-talk; even foreigners studied the art of cross-talk. Mark Roswell, a Canadian named Da Shan in Chinese was relatively unknown in his native land but was a superstar in China. At the turn of the century, cross-talk began to decline, and many well-known actors left the stage.

There are four skills that are essential in cross-talk: speaking, imitating, teasing, and singing. Most of the time, it is performed with two actors—one serves as the lead actor while the other plays a support role. However, sometimes it is performed simply as a one-man show, and at other times there are several actors. In order to criticize something, the humor involved in cross-talk is satirical.

1. What’s the difference between American stand-up comedy and Chinese cross-talk?

A．Chinese cross-talk actors don’t use a microphone.

B．American stand-up comedy actors are all men.

C．Chinese cross-talk is more liked by Canadians.

D．American stand-up comedy is only a one-man show.

2. Which word can best summarize Paragraph 2?

A．History.

B．Future.

C．Features.

D．Difference.

3. What can we know about Mark Roswell?

A．He was an American stand-up comedian.

B．He was very popular with Canadians.

C．He was a famous cross-talker in China.

D．He left the stage in the early 1990s.

4. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “satirical” in Paragraph 3?

A．Acid-tongued.	B．Good-tempered.
C．Warm-hearted.	D．Smooth-tongued.

7 . In early February, an old stove with rich vivid images (zaotou painting) took center stage at a village Spring Festival gala in Haiyan county, Zhejiang province.     1     . They feature historical and legendary figures, animals and flowers, which are painted in bright colors and have a way of drawing attention from admiring viewers. Zaotou is a part of a kitchen stove in the shape of a square or rectangle, on which are some images showing the beauty of nature and humanity.

    2    . In ancient time, villagers would hire bricklayers (瓦工) to build a mud stove in their new home and then painted pictures on a day of good fortune.     3    . They whitewashed (粉刷) the mud-made stove with lime-water, sketched out the patterns based on the shape of the stove, applied the final coat of paint and even created a three-dimensional effect.

At first, simple tools had been used to produce such art, including a selection of brushes, rulers, and paint. With people’s aesthetic appreciation growing, watercolors were used, mostly red, yellow and blue, the three auspicious (吉祥的) ones to the Chinese people.     4    . No matter what material is available, the stove painting is always symbolic and harbors good wishes for the owners.

Now many people are devoted to the inheritance and popularization of zaotou painting and more and more support has been received from various sides including local authorities.     5     .

A．Zaotou painting has a history of at least 300 years

B．Villagers were occupied in building zaotou for their houses

C．Folk craftsmen painted to express their passions for life later on

D．They all consist of a base and a body that embraces inserted pans

E．Zaotou painting has been definitely greeting its new spring and hope

F．Later new materials replaced watercolors to solve the color-fading problem

G．The images represent people’s respect to heroes and wishes for good fortune

8 . Christmas cards are a big tradition in the English-speaking world. In 2017, people in Britain sent and received about 900 million cards. That’s an average of about twelve cards for every person, from tiny babies to the oldest grandparents. The number of cards that are sent around Britain causes an annual headache for the postal service. Each year, the postal service has to take on seasonal staff to help with the extra mail, and postal sorting offices are stretched to their maximum capacity and sometimes beyond it.

In 1994, before the age of email and social media, the service handled about 1.6 billion cards! In spite of advertisements telling people to “Post Early for Christmas”, few people got round to sending their cards off before December 10th; and from that point on, the postal service slowed down. Until the age of faxes, emails and social media, the pre-Christmas period often caused a lot of problems for firms, as “urgent” letters and documents took several days to reach their destinations by post, which were slowed down by the mass of Christmas mail!

During the month of December in Britain, a house with no Christmas cards is like a pub with no beer. For the most part, however, people of all faiths and of no faith join in the tradition of celebrating Christmas as a festival, whether they do so for religious reasons or not. Every British home at Christmas is merrily decorated not just with hollies, but also with a display of Christmas cards received from friends, family members, neighbors, employers and a variety of other people. In some places, the number of Christmas cards people receive is seen as a measure of their status among their friends and neighbors.

As for the subjects of Christmas cards, the range, today, is enormous. At one time, two principal themes predominated (占多数): the Christmas story, with pictures of the biblical scenes; and “traditional Christmas”, with imaginary scenes of Christmas which included burning wood fires and happy-looking parents and kids sitting together. Today, while “traditional Christmas” is favored by most people, there is no limit to the variety of pictures on cards.

While more and more people send e-cards to their friends and family members, you can’t hang an e-card on the wall, and you can’t decorate a room with rows of e-cards. Sending and receiving Christmas cards is still best done by “snail mail” which includes a real card and a real envelope. It’s much more fun.

1. How did the postal service handle the problem of Christmas cards?

A．By hiring temporary employees.	B．By sending the cards off earlier.
C．By turning to social media for help.	D．By delaying sending letters from firms.

2. What does the author want to tell us in Paragraph 3?

A．The popularity of Christmas.	B．The decoration of British homes.
C．The religious belief in Christmas.	D．The significance of Christmas cards.

3. Which scene of Christmas cards is the most popular among modern people?

A．The religious story.	B．The holiday gift.
C．The family reunion.	D．The landscape painting.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the e-cards?

A．Positive.

B．Negative.

C．Neutral.

D．Unclear.

9 . Beijing Opera is a kind of Chinese opera.    1    . With its fascinating and artistic accompanying music, singing and costumes, Beijing Opera is China’s national opera.Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents the audience with an encyclopedia (百科全书) of Chinese culture, as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, nice costumes, graceful gestures and martial arts.    2    , and it is popular among Chinese people, especially seniors.

The Peking Opera band mainly consists of an orchestra and percussion (打击乐) band.    3    while the latter provides the right atmosphere for battle scenes.The commonly used percussion instruments include castanets (响板), drums and bells.

    4    . Its main melodies originated from Xipi and Erhuang in Anhui and Hubei respectively and, over time, absorbed music and arias from other operas and musical arts such as the historic Qinqiang as well as being very strongly influenced by Kunqu, the form that preceded it as court art.Techniques from many other local operas were incorporated into Beijing Opera.

It is believed that Beijing Opera gradually came into being after 1790.    5    . Beijing Opera underwent fast development during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Dowager Cixi under the imperial patron, eventually becoming more accessible to the common people.

In 1828, some famous Hubei troupes came to Beijing. They often jointly performed in the stage with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Beijing opera’s main melodies.

A．Many people like to watch Beijing Opera

B．Beijing Opera has a 200­year­long history

C．Beijing Opera enjoys a higher reputation

D．Most of them are middle­aged or elderly men

E．The former frequently accompanies peaceful scenes

F．It is widely regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China

G．At that time the famous four Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing

10 . While telling others your zodiac sign (星座), you are being evaluated (评估). Evaluations are being made about your luck, your personality, future development and how you will do in a given year. So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? It’s a 12-year cycle labeled (标记) with animals, starting with a Rat and ending with a Pig. For example, if you were born in 2004, you are a Monkey.

The Chinese believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon. Unlike in Western tradition, the Chinese Dragon stands for power, strength and wealth. It’s everyone’s dream to have a Dragon baby. Ma Yun’s parents must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, the birthrate in China increased by about 5%. That means another one million more babies. With a traditional preference for baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys grow up, they will face much more serious competition in love and job markets.

According to the BBC and Chinese government reports, January 2015 saw a peak of cesarean sections (剖腹产术高峰). Why? That was the last month for the Year of the Horse. It’s not because they like horses so much, it’s because they try to avoid having unlucky Goat babies.

Tiger is another unwelcome animal, because of its dangerous and unstable (不稳定的) personality. Many Chinese places saw a considerable decline of birthrate during those years.

Perhaps one should consider zodiac in a different way, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see the most unwelcome two animals, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the list, even higher than the Dragon. So maybe we should consider that it’s much better to have less competition.

1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．Dragon boys are much more competitive when growing up.

B．There were about one million dragon babies in 2012.

C．There were 20% more boys than girls born in 2012.

D．Ma Yun is proud that he is a Dragon.

2. Why was there a peak of cesarean sections in January 2015?

A．People wanted to have Horse babies very much.

B．People considered Goat babies to be unlucky.

C．It’s the first month of the year.

D．People tried to avoid dangers.

3. What does the underlined word “decline” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Drop.	B．Need.
C．Increase.	D．Change.

4. What does the author say about Tiger and Goat babies?

A．They have fewer competitors.

B．They are difficult to get along with.

C．They will be more popular in job markets.

D．They will become richer than Dragon babies.