1 . Winter Solstice Celebrations From Around the World
The winter solstice (冬至), the longest night of the year, falls on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 20 or 21 in the Southern. Since ancient times, people all over the world have celebrated this important astronomical occurrence in different ways. Here are some solstice traditions both new and old to help light your way to longer days.
Soyal
Soyal is the winter solstice celebration of the Hopi Indians of northern Arizona. Ceremonies and rituals include purification, dancing, and sometimes gift-giving. On the day, Hopi welcome the protective spirits from the mountains.
Saturnalia
The ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia is perhaps the most closely linked with the modern celebration of Christmas. This festival happened around the time of the winter solstice and celebrated the end of the planting season. There were games and feasts and gift-giving for several days.
Midwinter in Antarctica
Even Antarctica gets its share of solstice celebration, thanks to the researchers staying there over the long, dangerously cold season. While those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying the most daylight hours, in the Southern Hemisphere they are celebrating Midwinter. Festivities include special meals, films, and sometimes even handmade gifts.
Dong Zhi
Dong Zhi, the “arrival of winter”, is an important festival in China. It is a time for family to get together and celebrate the year they have had. The holiday generally falls between the 21st and 23rd of December. It is thought to have started as an end-of-harvest festival. Special foods, such as Tang Yuan and Jiaozi, are enjoyed. Friends and family members occasionally express their blessings and care to each other through gifts.
1. Which of the following festivals has something with Christmas?| A．Soyal. | B．Saturnalia. |
| C．Midwinter in Antarctica. | D．Dong Zhi. |
| A．They fall on the same day. |
| B．They welcome protective spirits. |
| C．They mark the end of the year’s harvest. |
| D．Their celebrations all include gift-giving. |
| A．News. | B．Sports. | C．Culture. | D．Weather. |
A North Carolina woman had her first birthday party at 105 years old. Although she is so old, she never realized her dream—she wanted to have a birthday party. She also wished to receive 105 birthday cards, the same number as her age.
Lorene Summey is an elderly person at Somerset Court, a nursing home in Cherryville, North Carolina. Two months ago, a worker in the nursing home asked Summey what she would like for her upcoming birthday.
“We have an old lady that has a birthday next month and she will be 105 years old! She has never had a big birthday party before, so I asked her several months ago what she would like to do for her birthday. She said she would love to have square dance at her birthday party,” Jodie Lankford wrote in a Facebook post. “I think this wish is not quite too difficult, and we can help her to achieve.”
“She explained to us her experiences in her childhood. She said her sister could always go out to enjoy herself but she had to stay home most of the time to take care of the younger ones. She felt unfairly treated by her parents at the time,” she said. “She wanted her hair and makeup done, and she wanted to wear the same dress she wore when she was young.”
“She is also concerned about another thing—she doesn’t think she could have 105 birthday cards sent by mail to her for her birthday! I’ve told her that we will have more. I have made her believe that her wish is sure to come true,” Lankford added.
Last Friday night, her great birthday party began on the square of the nursing home. The time came for the old lady to realize her wish.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右;
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Summey looked especially beautiful that day.
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Back to her room, the caregivers showed Summey the birthday cards.
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要点如下：
1. 活动时间：9月15日晚6点至8点；
2. 活动地点：人民广场(People’s Square)；
3. 活动内容：赏月，品尝月饼，朗诵诗歌等。
注意：1.词数80词左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，使文章连贯；
Dear Adam,
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Yours,
Li Hua
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；2.只允许修改 10 处，多者（从第 11 处起）不计分。
On Children's Day last year, our city held an interested activity, in which children and their parents play the rich and the poor. In the dinner, the rich could have more delicious food, but the poor could only have breads with porridge(粥).Parents both hoped to have the dinner for the poor with the children. They hoped that their children could be taught the lesson from the dinner. Now many people in the world don't have enough food and clothes.
Every day only one half the world could enjoy enough food. The activity was holding to make the families understand the differences from the poor and the rich and also make the parents know that too much material life won't always do good to the children.
5 . A Housewarming Party
A housewarming party is a special party to be held when someone buys or moves into a new apartment or house.The person or people who bought the apartment or house or moved are the ones who throw the party.
It is traditional to bring a gift to a housewarming party.
Housewarming parties get their name from the fact that a long time ago people would actually bring firewood to a new home as a gift so that the person could keep the home warm for the winter.
| A．You can also bring food or drinks to share. |
| B．Different activities are held to make guests satisfied. |
| C．There are usually no planned activities at a housewarming party. |
| D．Now most homes substitute(替代) fires with central heating to keep warm. |
| E．Different people hold or attend housewarming parties for various reasons. |
| F．Some people register a list of things they would like to give as gifts at local stores. |
| G．The party is an opportunity for friends and family to congratulate the person or people on the new home. |
1 简单介绍国庆节；
2 国庆节的庆祝活动；
3 欢迎他来中国。
参考词汇：国庆National Day 阅兵Military Review and Parade
注意：1 词数100左右；
2 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Terry，
I am more than happy to know you are extremely interested in Chinese National Day, also a public national holiday and I am willing to share some information with you.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Looking forward to your reply!
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假设英语课上，老师要求同桌之间互换修改作文，请修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误, 每句中最多有两处, 每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加, 删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^）,并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改:在错词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意: 1. 每处错误及其修改均限一词。
2. 只允许修改10处, 多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last weekend we go mountain climbing. Even the heavy rain in the morning could not prevent us going. Set off very early, we went along an extreme narrow road, all in high spirits.
On every side of the road was green fields and some farm houses. We could hear the sound of the rain and our footsteps mixing with our laughter. At noon we reached the top of the mountain. That surprised us most there was the beauty of scenes. After having short rest there and sharing with the food we had brought, we started going down. It rained even harder. We were wet to the skin, and we still sang and laughed happily.
