1 . The dragon is a great animal in Chinese culture. It brings the wind and rain. It is said that every year on the second day of the second lunar month the dragon wakes up from its winter sleep and raises its head. Because of this, the day is called “Dragon Head-raising Day (Longtaitou) ”. This year, it falls on March 4.
Old people believed that after Longtaitou, there would be more rain. And rain is very important to farming. So Longtaitou was the start of spring and farming.
People have many ways to celebrate the Longtaitou Festival. The most popular one is to have a haircut. Many believe that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to your uncles, mainly your mother’s brothers. They hope getting a haircut on Longtaitou sweeps away bad luck.
Among Chinese people’s festival traditions, there is always a place for food. During the Longtaitou festival, people eat food named after dragons. Noodles are called dragon’s beard (longxu) . Dumplings are dragon’s ears (long’er) . And spring rolls are dragon’s scales (鳞片) (longlin) .
People also have activities like dragon dancing on the day. In some places in Shandong Province, people make dragon lanterns too. Small boats go down the rivers and carry the lanterns, which stand for people’s best wishes and good luck.
1. Which is NOT TRUE about the time of Longtaitou Festival?| A．It falls on Mar. 4 this year. |
| B．It’s on February 2 every year. |
| C．It comes on a different day every year. |
| D．It comes on the second day of the second lunar month. |
| A．It was the start of farming. | B．It was the end of Spring Festival. |
| C．It meant the weather would become windy. | D．It was a good time for bringing people luck. |
| A．It may bring more rain. | B．It may help their hair grow. |
| C．It’s believed it will get rid of bad luck. | D．It’s believed it will bring good luck to their uncles. |
| A．Spring rolls are called dragon’s beard. |
| B．Dragon dance is held before and after the festival. |
| C．There are different traditional food and activities on the festival. |
| D．Noodles and dumplings are the only traditional food of the festival. |
2 . Museum Day
Museum Day is here for one day and one day only — so you’ll need to hurry if you want to take advantage of the chance to get free Saturday admission to one of the hundreds of participating museums.
This event is hosted annually by Smithsonian Magazine and involves museums and cultural institutions coming together to offer free admission for visitors who would otherwise have to pay for entry.
You just need an email address to get a free ticket.To get a ticket you’ll need to go to the Smithsonian Magazine website and pick which museum you want to go to. You’ll be able to search to see which museums near you are participating, and you just have to put in your email address and name. After that, you can download your ticket and head out for some fun.
A lot of museums are still feeling financial stress from the pandemic.The event is happening as museums are still struggling from the hits they took during the first few years of the pandemic.
The American Alliance of Museums estimated it will take years for museums to fully recover. In February, the group released survey results that detailed those financial losses.
But there’s hope that a free day at the museums might contribute to more future visits.
1. How often is Museum Day held?| A．Once a week. | B．Once a day. | C．Once a year. | D．Once a month. |
| A．By writing an email. | B．By signing up on the Internet. |
| C．By visiting the nearest museum. | D．By downloading Smithsonian Magazine. |
| A．From a textbook | B．From a postcard | C．From a diary | D．From a magazine |
3 . Following its recent success in hosting the 19th Asian Games, Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, celebrated the opening of a related grand sporting event, the 4th Asian Para Games, with an emotohally engaging opening ceremony on Sunday night.
The ceremony, themed “Hearts Meet, Dreams Shine”, was held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium. also known as the “Big Lotus”.
While the opening ceremony on Sept 23 of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou showcased to the world the host city’s rich cultural heritage, picturesque scenery and technological prowess (造诣), the opening ceremony of the Asian Para Games focused more on the softer side of Hangzhou and its people.
The ceremony featured the osmanthus (桂花), the city flower of Hangzhou, as the key element to convey the “sunny, harmonious, persevering and sharing” spirit of the Para Games.
Following an opening show featuring a first-person narration by a partially sighted young girl who welcomed guests from a long distance while the osmanthus is in full blossom, spectators cheered as Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang declared the opening of the sporting gala.
Twenty-two massive bunches of golden osmanthus, which represent the 22 sports featured in the event, served as the centerpiece of the ceremony.
With the help of technology, the bouquets took on different configurations —sometimes as water, sometimes as arched bridges —before eventually turning into a giant crown hung in the air, welcoming the athletes as they entered the stadium.
Majid Rashed, the president of the Asian Paralympic Committee, expressed appreciation for the Chinese host’s thorough organization. “The huge efforts of the Chinese government and the organizing committee in making these Games a success, is helping us to get closer to achieving our vision of creating an inclusive Asia through sport,” said Rashed, who thanked the organizing committee for its “tireless efforts, which will make these the best ever Asian Para Games, I’m sure”.
In the next six days, the Para Games will see 3,100 athletes from 44 countries and regions compete in 564 medal events in 22 sports.
1. What is special about the opening ceremony of Asian Para Games?| A．The host city’s inner spirit. |
| B．The host city’s pretty scenery. |
| C．The host city’s abundant cultural tradition. |
| D．The host city’s advanced skills of technology. |
| A．forms | B．styles | C．equipment | D．modes |
| A．The host city is ill-prepared. |
| B．Success of the event is just down to Hang Zhou. |
| C．The host city gains only minimal recognition for its efforts. |
| D．What the host city does contributes a lot to an inclusive Asia. |
| A．The grand opening ceremony was held at HangZhou involved with advanced technology. |
| B．sports taking center stage during holiday inspired by HangZhou Asian Games. |
| C．The 19th Asian Games and the 4th Asian Para Games were a huge success. |
| D．The 4th Asian Para Games are fully prepared and win wide recognition. |
4 . The Tomatina Festival (西红柿节) is a festival that is held in a town named Bunol in Spain, on which people throw tomatoes for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August each year.
In 1945, during a parade (游行) in the town one day, young men who wanted to be in the parade started a fight in the town square. They used tomatoes as weapons (武器) .
At around 10: 00 a. m. on Wednesday, activities that are organized to celebrate the festival begin.
The Tomatina Festival has inspired other similar celebrations in other parts of the world, for example, in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, a tomato fight is held on October 19th.
| A．The first one is climbing a pole with a ham on top. |
| B．There are also various competitions held during the festival. |
| C．The local government has made some rules for the safety of people. |
| D．This is the most popular story about how the Tomatina Festival started. |
| E．The whole square becomes red because there is tomato juice everywhere. |
| F．Hotels, parks, or convention centers are common places for large festivals. |
| G．The tomatoes there are less expensive and are grow n specially for the festival. |
5 . Party themes are a popular way to add something special to birthdays, anniversaries or any type of gathering. There are many options for putting together a French-themed party.
Including French phrases in your invitation is an easy way to set the mood for a French-themed party. Conveniently enough, a number of standard invitation and party phrases are already French. “Hors d’ oeuvre” can be substituted for “appetizer (开胃小菜)”, for instance. The commonly-used “R. S. V. P.” stands for the French “repondez sil vous plait”, meaning please respond.
You can use the French spellings for other words, too, particularly if you are throwing a French-themed party for an anniversary or other occasions. For instance, “Coeur” is French for “heart”, “enchante” means “enchanted”, and as many are already aware, “l’ amour” means “love”.
Decoration can be an important part of carrying off any theme. For a French-themed party, one way to improve your decoration is to use well-known French icons. The Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are both recognizable architectural structures, for instance.
| A．So consider spelling out this phrase to add effect. |
| B．You might also post prints by famous French artists. |
| C．Music and food can add much to your French-themed party. |
| D．Anyone who has been to France will be eager to talk about it. |
| E．Besides, it can be relatively easy and inexpensive to create one. |
| F．These words can also be used in your decoration, thank-you notes and more. |
| G．Color schemes for French-themed parties can vary according to your preferences. |
6 . Adults generally dislike getting older.
In the United States, the 16th birthday is a mark that a girl has come of age. She is not a legal adult yet, but at 16, many girls can begin to learn to drive.
Society and media often put great importance on a girl’s 16th birthday.
There are many theories about how the sweet 16th birthday came into being. Most connect the birthday celebration with the Mexican Quinceanera, which takes place on a girl’s 15th birthday, or European ancient coming-of-age celebrations.
| A．She is still just a little kid. |
| B．Many parties show a girl’s interest. |
| C．However, kids find “growing up” exciting. |
| D．The big part of a sweet 16th birthday is the party. |
| E．They can get jobs and take other adult responsibilities. |
| F．No matter where the celebration began, it has become a tradition. |
| G．Many movies show girls’ 16th birthdays are just as important as graduations. |
7 . People around the world take celebrating seriously, and many of them are willing to go to great effort and expense to plan and participate in public celebrations.
Exactly when and where human beings began coming together in public to celebrate as a group can date back to hunter-gatherer societies, when success in the never-ending search for food, clothing, and shelter must have aroused the need to celebrate together.
Besides the need for food and survival, there are records of religious parades dating back to 3000 B.C. Parades were also used to demonstrate military power and celebrate military victories; to attract customers to events such as the circus by giving the public a sample of the entertainment; or to celebrate ethnic (民族的) connection and holidays. The New York Times of October 28, 1917, summed it up by saying, “If you take the parades out of history, you have precious little history left.”
Of course, many modern celebrations are not connected to any religion. In the Internet era, electronic communication makes it possible to organize celebrations almost instantly. “Flash mobs” are a new way of gathering and celebrating. Secretly planned online, they bring together tens, hundreds, or thousands of individuals to perform some unusual or funny act in a public place. Flash mobs not only reflect the increased speed of communication but also a lighter attitude to celebration. No longer is public celebrating something necessarily linked to human survival, religion, or deep traditions.
This does not mean, however, that modern celebrations are not socially conscious. One striking image inspiring community spirit is Edwards’ photograph of crowds in Australia, who were gathering in the rain for a music festival to raise funds for wildfire relief. Throughout history, across countries and cultures, celebrations are always worth significant amount of time and money spent planning, preparing, organizing, and carrying out an event. The priority given to celebrating seems to put it alongside food, shelter, love, and freedom as a basic need of humanity.
1. According to the passage, which one of the following events can make celebrations happen?| A．A business has made a huge profit. | B．It has been sunny for a week. |
| C．Farmers harvest in the autumn. | D．A new museum opens in the city center. |
| A．If there is no parade, human history will be more precious. |
| B．Students should be taught the importance of parades in history class. |
| C．Only parades can be recorded in history books. |
| D．Many significant historic moments featured a parade. |
| A．Four strangers meet at a concert and then decide to perform together in a public square. |
| B．Someone announces openly a series of performances to take place at school. |
| C．An online group plans and performs a dance in a crowded train station. |
| D．The number of people watching a street performer grows to several hundred. |
| A．Why We Celebrate? | B．Celebration and Social Responsibility |
| C．Planning a Parade | D．The Origin of Celebration |
Interesting Traditions Around the World
Traditions are passed down from generation to generation to inform us of our history. Some are widespread and taken on by one and all, like celebrating New Year and birthdays, and then there are some that are quite strange or interesting and practiced only by a small group of people.
Famadihana, also called the turning of the bones, is a festival in Madagascar that honors the dead and celebrates family ties. Every seven years or so, families who can afford rich dinners for guests and new clothes for the living families and the dead, celebrate the festival. They give out gifts for the dead and crying is discouraged during the celebration.
Bali’s Day of Silence, or Nyepi, as they call it, is a holiday celebrated with eating little or no food as well as meditation, the practice of thinking deeply in silence. The whole island shuts off all sounds, lights, and all other activities, so there is peace all around. Days before the actual celebration, Balinese people make the ogoh-ogoh (dangerous animals) statues (雕像) that will be used and paraded through the streets the day before Nyepi. The statues are then usually burnt after supposedly attracting dangerous animals.
Having started in Middle Ages, flag throwing has long been popular in Tuscany. As the Italians love a good celebration, army parades were held with marching bands and flag bearers. Since flags are considered sacred, the flag bearers have to make sure that they do not fall to the ground. Today, flag throwing is not just popular in Tuscany but also in the whole of Italy.
Some traditions may sound strange, yet people hold them close to their hearts and still practice the age-old rituals to this day. These rituals are part of their culture and history and are able to shape and describe people.
Outline:
I. Introduction
As a form of historic culture, some traditions are shared altogether and others are
II. Body part
People in Madagascar celebrate Famadihana to honor the dead and
During Nyepi in Bali, people eat little or no food and
Flag throwing features army parades and gains popularity in Italy.
III. Conclusion
People still hold fast to some age-old rituals, because these traditions can
9 . The Torch Festival (火把节) is a traditional festival which is celebrated among some ethnic groups in southwestern China, such as the Yi, Bai, Hani, Lisu, and Lahu, etc. It usually falls on the 24th or 25th of June, with three days of celebrations. The festival came from worship (崇拜) of fire by ancestors ( 祖 先 ). For some ethnic groups, it’s a tradition in the festival for elders to share farming experience with young people and educate them about taking care of crops.
During the festival, big torches are made to stand in all villages, with small torches placed in front of the door of each house. When night falls, the torches are lit and the villages are bright. At the same time, people walk around the fields and houses, holding small torches and placing the torches in the field corners. Inside the villages, young people are singing and dancing around the big torches that keep burning throughout the night. Other activities like horse races are also held during the festival.
In a horse race of the Yi people in Yunnan, torches are used to form hurdles for riders to get through. The Hani people in Yunnan traditionally tie fruits to torches with strings. When the strings are broken after the torches are lit, people struggle for the fruits for good luck.
For the Lisu people in Sichuan, the festival is an occasion for holding torch parades. Big torches are carried by teams of people, which is like a fire dragon. If different teams meet, it’s a tradition to exchange the big torches with one another.
1. What can we know about the Torch Festival from the first paragraph?| A．It is a festival to show worship of fire. | B．Its celebrations usually last two days. |
| C．It is a traditional festival of all China. | D．It has nothing to do with farming. |
| A．Why the festival is enjoyed. | B．How the festival is celebrated. |
| C．What torches are used for the festival. | D．Where the festival is celebrated. |
| A．Small torches are put in front of the door. |
| B．Big torches are burnt all day and all night. |
| C．Yi people use torches to form hurdles to get through. |
| D．Young people like singing and dancing around the big torches. |
| A．Struggling for fruits for good luck. | B．Tying fruits to torches with strings. |
| C．Holding torch parades. | D．Using torches as hurdles for a horse race. |
10 . Community Celebrations
The Story of Artist John BiggersAs the 100th birthday of the late (已故) John Biggers is coming near in 2024, the MFAH celebrates his legacy (遗产) . These videos present a conversation with art it she encouraged, and a look at the wall painting he was invited to paint, describing Black longshoremen of Houston.
A Mosaic of Art and CommunityMeet the Jubilee Quilt Circle, created in the 1990s to protect the legacy of African American quilting (被子) while encouraging personal growth opportunities and experiences in Houston. In this two-part video series, hear from Jubilee members and learn about the central community spirit that goes into the art of quilt-making.
I, Too, Am America.Virtual(虚拟的) experiences―dance, music, spoken-word performances, interviews and more-pay honour to the African American artists whose work is on view in the Museum’s Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. The heading “I Too, We Two!” recognizes the team spirit between the Ensemble Theatre and the MFA Hand also includes the Ensemble Theatre’s virtual.
My Journey with FlamencoSee the different styles of flamenco, a form of Spanish song and dance based on the music traditions of southern Spain from the 9th to 14th centuries. These videos’ leading role is An a María Barceló and the founders of Houston flamenco performance company Solero Flamenco: Jeremías García and Irma La Paloma. The show Glory of Spain: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & amp; Library provides the inspiration (启发).
1. What is the purpose of The Story of Artist John Biggers?| A．To celebrate a festival. | B．To honor a late artist. |
| C．To introduce a tradition. | D．To show the life of the Black. |
| A．World-famous paintings. | B．Online art performances. |
| C．Spanish songs and dance. | D．Art of making bedclothes. |
| A．I Too, We Two! | B．My Journey with Flamenco. |
| C．A Mosaic of Art and Community. | D．The Story of Artist John Biggers. |
