National Tree-Planting Day
March 12th is China’s annual National Tree-Planting Day. On this day, millions of Chinese, from all
First
China’s Tree-Planting Day could date back to a proposal made by Sun Yat-sen (1866—1925), a great China revolution
In February 1979, the 5th National People’s Congress of People’s Republie of China made a decision that March 12th would be taken as Chinese Tree-Planting Day,
2 . The best UK hidden beaches for the perfect holiday
If you’re considering where to go at Easter or other holidays and searching for some family holiday ideas, why not make the most of your time off by planning a trip to one of Britain’s best beaches? Escape the bank holiday crowds, take a trip to one of these more secluded (僻静的)spots and make some wonderful memories on your own private piece of coastline.
Charming coves at Nanjizal Beach
Cornwall is known for having some of the best beaches in the UK. However, across peak times such as the Easter holidays, they can become overrun with holidaymakers.
Nanjizal Beach is usually very quiet, apart from those walkers who have made the hike on the coastal path from either Porthgwarra, Lands End or Sennen Cove. There are numerous coves to discover and the ruins of an old watermill too. If all of that walking has made you warm, it’s also a great spot for swimming, with inviting shallow water.
Don’t forget to pack a picnic though, as not only will you want to spend some time soaking in the salty sea air, it’s also a long walk back to the car.
Beautiful beaches at Rhu Point
With its white sands and crystal blue waters, Rhu Point might make you think that you’re in the Caribbean, rather than the west coast of Scotland, a wonderfully remote beach. It is simply attractive at low tide, and offers beautiful views once you arrive at the sandy shore. The walk to get there is also just as pretty; if the day is clear, there are some wonderful views over to the Isle of Skye.
Apart from some great rock pools nestling within the rocky outcrops (露出地面的部分), you can also collect shells which are common on the shoreline. If you’re looking for an Easter holiday getaway on a remote beach in a beautiful part of the country, this is a wonderful option.
1. What makes Nanjizal Beach an appealing place during peak times?A.Its easy accessibility to tourists. |
B.A large number of coves and ruins to explore. |
C.Its warm atmosphere due to large crowds. |
D.The availability of various water sports. |
A.Bringing along a guidebook for cave exploration. |
B.Carrying a picnic for the long walk back to the car. |
C.Leaving early to avoid heavy traffic on the coastal path. |
D.Reserving a parking spot in advance to avoid inconvenience. |
A.Its being close to the Isle of Skye. |
B.Rich marine life and bird species. |
C.Its similarity to Caribbean beaches. |
D.The presence of shallow, inviting waters for swimming. |
3 . It seems every country has one major event on the annual calendar that claims to please all others. Here we’ve boiled down the options to the absolute top 4 events to add to your travel bucket list.
La Tomatina Buñol, Spain August
Tomato lovers get their fill on the last Wednesday of August as over 100,000kg of tomatoes are thrown, pressed and splattered (飞溅) in the town square. It’s the climax of a week-long celebration of Buñol’s patron saint, which leaves the town in a bright red smattering like a horror film scene. We don’t envy whoever has to clean up that mess!
Songkran Thailand April
A water fight on a national scale, Songkran in Thailand is the celebration of the Buddhist New Year. Wherever you are in Thailand — anywhere from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya, Krabi or Koh Samui — you can expect to get thoroughly wet with everything from water guns to elephant trunks being employed for the purpose.
Snow & Ice Festival Harbin, China January — February
Harbin is transformed into a winter wonderland with ice sculptures across the city, decorated with lights and lasers, drawing thousands of artists and art enthusiasts alike. And if that’s not enough to appeal to you, there’s also the Ice Lantern Art Fair, dog sledding to watch and our favourite, “winter swimming watching”.
Holi Festival India February — March
A rainbow of colour and Hindu traditions combine to create this celebration of love, springtime fun and good triumphing over evil. Kicking off with a night-time bonfire where people gather, sing and dance, the next day is a carnival of colours where everyone plays about throwing dye powder, shooting water guns and coloured water-filled balloons, uniting rich and poor, children and big kids at heart.
1. A visitor who will only be free in summer holiday can go to _________ to attend the festival.A.Thailand | B.India | C.China | D.Spain |
A.They are both in celebration of the New year. | B.They both include water battles. |
C.They both provide a bonfire party. | D.They both involve casting color powder. |
A.A research plan. | B.A news report. | C.A travel magazine. | D.A book review. |
4 . Following the tradition of wearing new clothes for the Chinese New Year, hanfu, or traditional Chinese clothing, has experienced substantial growth during the festive season. The horse face skirt is particularly popular for its combination of traditional and modern elements, especially among young Chinese.
During the Spring Festival, many performers and tourists in Luoyang, Henan Province, showcased the horse face skirts. Gorgeous hanfu shows in Caoxian County, Shandong Province, one of the major hanfu production bases in China, highlighted the elegance of the long tradition of Chinese clothing.
Consumers expressed their desire to promote traditional Chinese culture as hanfu styles become more common.
The sales of horse face skirts are booming, leading production enterprises to optimize processes to meet demand. With annual sales surpassing 7 billion yuan, the sales of new year’s clothes for the Year of the Dragon, primarily horse face skirts, exceeded 300 million yuan in Caoxian County.
Data from e-commerce platforms indicate a significant surge in the search volume for hanfu since January. Among the various hanfu styles, the horse face skirt has become the most popular item, with sales of many hot-selling items surpassing one million yuan.
Zhang Mingqiang, the general manager of Haining Xucun Mingji Fabric Factory, expressed both happiness and concern due to the steady stream of daily orders. He currently faces a pile of more than 30,000 orders for horse face skirts.
Expanding production capacity is a top priority for many local enterprises. Newly purchased fabric production equipment is being installed and commissioned by the fabric manufacturer and will be put into use after the Spring Festival holiday.
Additionally, local companies are making efforts to the production and development of more Chinese-style clothing fabrics. The new trend of Chinese-style fashion, led by horse face skirts, is gaining popularity among overseas consumers as well.
1. Why is the horse face skirt particularly popular?A.Because of its sustainable growth. | B.Because of its combined elements. |
C.Because of its display by people in Luoyang. | D.Because of its long tradition. |
A.Unclear. | B.Neutral. | C.Supportive. | D.Opposed. |
A.Because he was happy with the quality of his products. |
B.Because he was pleased with the production capacity of his company. |
C.Because he was worried about the slow-selling of horse face skirts. |
D.Because he gained steady orders but couldn’t keep up with them. |
A.The efforts local companies make to horse face skirts. |
B.The improvement of production capacity. |
C.The popularity of horse face skirts overseas. |
D.The fame of horse face skirts in other seasons. |
Shen Congwen
Cuicui is raised by her grandfather. 17 years ago, her mother was pregnant (怀孕的) before marriage and she committed suicide after giving birth to Cuicui by drinking cold water in the river. When Cuicui grows up, her grandfather begins to worry about her
From this simple story of love, family duty, and doubts about what the future might bring, Shen Congwen paints a vivid picture of early 20th Century rural life in China. Recently, this book
1.简介运动的好处(结合国际体育日的宗旨);
2.如何培养良好的运动习惯(至少两条建议);
3.发起倡议。
注意: 1. 字数应为80—100;
2.要点齐全,可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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Mo and Terry were best friends. Whether they were walking to school, doing homework or just hanging out at the weekend, they were hardly out of each other’s sight. But several weeks ago, Terry started to stay away from Mo, which confused Mo.
This day, they had a physics exam, so Mo was waiting outside her class. She hated physics, because it was her worst subject. Terry looked back at her from the front, then looked away quickly. Mo thought she looked guilty. Terry didn’t have a problem with physics.
“Hi, Mo. What’s wrong with Terry? I thought you were friends,” said one of her classmates, as Mo arrived.
“Yes, so did I,” said Mo, “but she hasn’t spoken to me for two weeks. She promised to help me revise for the physics exam, but then she ignored all my calls and texts. And when I rang her house, her mum told me she was busy. She doesn’t remember who her friends are!” said Mo angrily.
The other students were going into the exam room. The exam started. Mo couldn’t answer question number five. She looked up and saw Terry sitting in the next row. Mo was surprised. Terry was holding her phone under the table and she was reading from it. Is that how Terry always got good grades? She felt really angry at Terry but didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t fair! Mo never cheated and she failed lots of exams.
Terry had already put her phone away when Mo looked up again. She looked back at Mo and smiled sadly. Actually, Terry’s family were having a terrible time: her father was in the hospital because of a heart attack. Her father had a big operation today, and Terry was very worried. She couldn’t wait to check her mother’s message on the phone. But Mo knew nothing about it.
The bell rang. “Stop writing and put your pens down,” said Mr. Reed, a caring and easygoing teacher who was popular among students. Oh no, Mo hadn’t answered two of the questions. She was going to fail again!
After the test, Mo wanted to talk to Terry, but she couldn’t find her. She was angry with Terry but she didn’t know what to do about Terry. Then, Mo decided to go to the office.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150字左右;
2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
“Mr. Reed, I have something to tell you.” Mo whispered.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Knowing the truth, Mo felt guilty.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . Jiang Shumei learned her first Chinese character at the age of 60. Now, the 87-year-old grandmother is the proud author of six books.
She learned her first character in 1996, after her husband died in a devastating car accident, when her daughter Zhang Ailing suggested that she learn to read to take her mind off the loneliness and sorrow.
The elderly woman had her own way of learning. She composed lyrics for songs, and asked children to write them down, so that she could read each character as she sang the songs again and again. Whenever she came across characters she didn’t know on pamphlets, bus stops, or shop signs, she found someone to ask.
“It sounds unbelievable, and my brother used to laugh at my daydreams.” the grandmother says. She first put pen to paper in 2012, at the age of 75. It was not easy. Sometimes, completing a single sentence could take a day. As a college teacher and a writer herself, Zhang gave her mother a lot of encouragement and help.
The first book, Time of Trouble, Time of Poverty, was published later that year, and proved to be a success. Some critics even hailed it as the “lived history of a nation plagued by war, death and hunger”.
So far, the elderly woman has published six books, totaling more than 600,000 characters in length. In her spare time, she is also learning painting and calligraphy. “I would like to be a writer, a painter and a calligrapher,” she says, adding that her dream now is to have her own art exhibition when she is 90. “If I could live as long as 130, would you still say that it is too late for me to start after 60?” she asks, jokingly.
1. Why did Jiang Shumei start to learn characters?A.The suggestion of her husband. | B.Her daughter’s car accident. |
C.To get rid of sadness. | D.To learn something more. |
A.How she learned characters. | B.How she wrote down characters. |
C.How she met new characters. | D.How she learnt to sing the songs. |
A.He spoke highly of it. | B.He thought she was daydreaming. |
C.He worried about her. | D.He didn’t care about it. |
A.No pains, no gains. | B.Don’t judge a book by its cover. |
C.Reading enriches the mind. | D.It’s never too late to learn. |
9 . Bees are responsible for one in every three bites of food: from almonds (杏仁) to berries and the alfalfa (苜蓿) that feeds dairy cows. Our diets and agricultural economy hinge on a healthy bee population.
However, rapid declines in bee population around the world put additional stress on an already unstable food supply by depressing yields and agricultural efficiency. While bee biologists do not foresee upcoming food system collapse without honey bees, we do know that agriculture would quickly become unrecognizable—and much more limited.
Farmers are on the frontlines of the economic impacts of bee decline. For example, the cost of almond pollination (授粉) has nearly tripled since colonies began collapsing in 2004, costing that industry over $83 million per year.
The causes behind recent bee declines are not a “mystery”. Independent scientists now largely agree that bee declines are caused by a combination of several factors, including: poor nutrition, habitat loss and pesticide (杀虫剂) exposure.
In the last several years, pesticides — both alone and in combination with other pesticides — have emerged as a key catalyst (催化剂) behind this disturbing phenomenon, both because of their direct toxicity to bees and their indirect and cascading effects.
Scientists know that individual bees can be acutely poisoned while flying through pesticide-contaminated planter dust in a recently planted corn field. More commonly, they are chronically poisoned at sublethal (亚致死) levels by eating and drinking contaminated pollen, nectar and water over time. Bees are then more likely to get sick.
As an indicator species, honey bees are sounding an alarm that we ignore at our peril. Among their lessons: industrial agriculture has gone off the rails. The pesticide treadmill has kicked into high gear with a class of dangerous systemic pesticides—while regulators were asleep at the switch. So let’s keep the heat on decision makers to take meaningful action.
1. What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 1 mean?A.Cut down. | B.Contribute to. | C.Depend on. | D.Go against. |
A.The impact of rapid declines in bee population. | B.The role of farmers in agriculture. |
C.The ignorance of the effect on food system. | D.The cost of almond pollination. |
A.Poor in nutrition. | B.Economic impacts. |
C.Loss of habitat. | D.Exposure to pesticides. |
A.To express sympathy for the affected farmers. | B.To show the factors resulting in the bees’ crisis. |
C.To explain a key catalyst to the bees’ problem. | D.To urge decision makers to take action for bees. |
10 . Lightning can strike anyplace on Earth. In fact, there are about 6,000 lightning strikes every minute, which is more than 8 million strikes every day. The risk of being struck by lightning is low, but the consequences of lightning strike injuries are serious. Even though your home is a safe shelter during a lightning storm, you might still be at risk. About one-third of lightning-strike injuries occur indoors.
Avoid water.
Do NOT bathe, shower, wash dishes, or have any other contact with water during a thunderstorm.
Do NOT use anything connected to an electrical outlet (电源插座), such as computers, game systems, washers, or stoves. Lightning can travel through electrical systems, radio and television reception systems, and any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring.
Avoid windows, doors, porches, and concrete.
Don’t use corded (有线的) phones.
Corded phones are NOT safe to use during a thunderstorm. Do NOT use them.
Follow the safety measures above can minimize your risk of being injured indoors on lighting days. Don’t take it for granted that only outdoor activities can put you in a dangerous place. Keep it in mind that inappropriate indoor activities can also be disastrous.
A.Here are some tips to keep safe and reduce your risk of being struck while indoors. |
B.In addition, follow up on the latest information about the storm. |
C.However, it is safe to use cordless or mobile phones during a storm. |
D.Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches. |
E.Some outdoors measures can keep you safe and prevent you from being attacked. |
F.Lightning can travel through a building’s water pipe system. |
G.Don’t touch electronic equipment. |