As we all know, the Dragon Boat Festival is our country’s traditional festival, but do you know there is also a Dragon Boat Festival in South Korea, which also falls on May 5 of the lunar calendar(阴历)? It has been reported that South Korea will apply to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 联合国教科文组织) to make the celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival its own intangible cultural heritage (非物质的文化遗产). If successful, people from other countries may see the Dragon Festival as a Korean creation.
As the birthplace of the yearly event more than 2,000 years ago, China is not happy with the situation. "It would be a shame if another country successfully made a traditional Chinese festival part of its own cultural heritage ahead of China," said Zhou Heping, deputy(副) culture minister. The Ministry of Culture is even thinking of making its own application to UNESCO, covering all traditional Chinese festivals, including the Dragon Boat event.
It is thought that the festival is held in memory of the great poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), who lived in the State of Chu during the Warring States Period. Qu was known to be a patriot (爱国者) and admired by ordinary people.
He is said to have jumped into Miluo River, because he had lost hope in his country's future. When people heard about Qu's death, they sailed up and down the river searching for his body. They also beat the drums to frighten away the fish and threw Zongzi into the water to stop the fish touching Qu. Dragon boat racing is said to come from this search for the poet's body.
Over the years, the Dragon Boat Festival has spread throughout the world. In Japan and Viet Nam, as well as South Korea, the festival has mixed with and become part of the local culture.The Dragon Boat Festival _______.
A.is also kept by South Korea |
B.comes from South Korea |
C.was created by South Korea |
D.is South Korea’s cultural heritage |
What is the reaction of the Ministry of Culture to South Korea’s intending to make the Dragon Boat Festival its own cultural heritage ?
A.Fighting against South Korea |
B.Telling South Korea it’s not right to do so |
C.Considering to do the similar thing |
D.Asking South Korea not to do so. |
What is the purpose of the Dragon Boat Festival’s being held?
A.In memory of Qu Yuan |
B.In memory of all the patriots of China |
C.To frighten away the fish |
D.In honor of QuYuan’s birthday |
After Qu Yuan’s death, Zongzi was thrown into the water to _______.
A.feed him. |
B.protect his body from going bad. |
C.prevent the fish biting his body |
D.attract his soul |
Now, the Dragon Boat Festival has become ______ activity.
A.a nationwide | B.a worldwide |
C.an Asian | D.a foreign |
It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.
I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!
Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.
Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb comes from an adjective not a noun.
Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself!“I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means.
A.it was a firm arrangement |
B.he prefers a pencil to a pen |
C.the arrangement should be written as a diary |
D.it was an uncertain arrangement |
A website address can be easily found if it has been______.
A.favorited | B.messaged | C.emailed | D.texted |
Which of the following has not been used as a verb yet?
A.message | B.mobile | C.email | D.page |
The best title for this passage is____.
A.Technology and Language. |
B.Development of the English language |
C.New Technology and New words |
D.New Verbs from Nouns |
That “Monday morning feeling” could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday morning and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.
The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 percent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.
Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 percent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.
A study of 11,000 Italians proved 8a.m on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewest heart attacks in both countries.
The finding could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr. Stefan Willich of the Free University. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol(胆固醇)but we don’t know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can’t give clear advice on how to prevent them.” he said.
Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity and from the relaxing weekend to the pressure of work.
“When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal(内分泌)changes in their bodies.” Willich explained. “All these things can have an unfavorable effect on the blood system and increase the risk of a clot(血凝块)which will cause a heart attack.”
“When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activities.” said Willich.“Monday morning feeling ”, as this passage shows,.
A.is not as serious as people thought |
B.is the first killer in Germany and Italy |
C.is created by researchers in Germany and Italy |
D.is harmful to working people in developed countries |
To protect people from a heart attack, doctors have paid much attention to .
A.people’s working time | B.people’s living place |
C.people’s lifestyle | D.people’s nationalities |
It can be learned from this passage that the heart attack has something to do with all the following EXCEPT .
A.blood pressure | B.heart rate |
C.hormonal changes | D.blood type |
If the researchers give us some advice to avoid Monday morning feeling, what might it be?
A.Improving working conditions | B.Never go to work on Mondays |
C.Stay with a doctor on Monday. | D.Get up late on Monday morning |
Every ten years there is a national census (人口普查)to count the number of people. The Census Office asks every household to answer questions on a census form.
The census counts...
● the number of people in each area
● the numbers of men and women and whether they are single, married, widowed or divorced
● how many children there are, how many teenagers, people in their twenties, thirties, forties... retired people and so on
The census counts people by...
● the kind of housing they live in
● the country in which they were born
● the kind of job they do and how they travel to work
Some uses of the census:
Housing: to work out present and future needs we must know how people are housed now, and the sizes and ages of their families.
Hospitals, schools and other local services: the size of annual grants made by the Government to these services depends largely on the numbers and needs of people in the area. Many of the figures come from the census.
Planning: the census shows how many people have moved from one area to another and how the local workforce is changing. This information is used when factories, offices, shops, public transport and places for leisure are being planned.
In strict confidence
The census is taken in order to provide figures about the nation as a whole; it does not give information about any named person, family or household.
Names and addresses are needed to take the census accurately, but they are not fed into the computer. After the census, the forms are locked away and will not be released to anyone outside the Census Office for 100 years.
The answers you give on your census form will be treated in strict confidence. NO one outside the Census Office will see your completed form. Everyone working on the census is sworn to secrecy and can be charged if he or she improperly reveals information.The writer is mainly ________ in this passage.
A.persuading people to support census |
B.giving information about the importance and practice of census |
C.showing the government’s determination in conducting census |
D.warning people not to provide inaccurate information |
The census is not interested in ________.
A.how many houses you have | B.how old you are |
C.what your job is | D.how much money you have |
The census shows the changes that have taken place regarding ________.
A.the size of hospitals in the area |
B.the types of public transport in the area |
C.the number of people who work in the area |
D.the use of power in the area |
The following statements are true except _________.
A.the information is not fed into a computer |
B.the census gives information about the whole country |
C.the people who don’t work on the census will not see the completed forms |
D.it is illegal for people to disclose the confidential information on census |
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is also the most neglect (忽视). Common reasons for not eating breakfast include having no time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike and dieting.
Breakfast simply means “break the fast’’. Your body spends at least 6 to 12 hours each night in a fasting state. In the morning your body needs energy for the day’s work ahead.
A good breakfast should provide 1/3 of your total calorie(卡路里)needs for the day. On average, we eat 400 less calories for breakfast than for dinner. If breakfast doesn’t appeal (吸引) to you in the morning, try eating a lighter dinner earlier in the evening or save half of your dinner for breakfast in the morning.
If you still aren’t hungry in the morning, start with something small like juice or toast or have a nutritious (有营养的) mid-morning snack (小吃) later when you are hungry.
So, you say you are on a diet. Some people fear that eating breakfast will make them hungrier during the day and they will eat more. It is true that eating breakfast is likely to make you feel hungry throughout the day. That is because your body is working correctly. Although you may feel as if you are eating more all day long, in reality you are probably not.
Not eating breakfast can also cause you overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later. To make matters worse, since your body is in a slow state, it will not be able to burn those extra calories very efficiently (有效). If you feed your body healthy snacks and meals throughout the day, you are less likely to become hungry and stuff (填饱) yourself as soon as you begin to eat.
Since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, choosing the right food is important. The best breakfast foods are fruits, juice, lean meat and grain products such as bread, rice, noodles and cereals.What is the meaning of the word “fast” in the phrase “break the fast”?
A.movement | B.going without food |
C.quickness | D.certain kind of food |
If you don’t want to have breakfast in the morning, according to the writer’s suggestion, you should________.
A.see a doctor to have an examination |
B.have a little supper |
C.go to a restaurant to enjoy a good meal |
D.have a good supper |
Eating breakfast, in fact, makes your body_________.
A.work out of order | B.produce too much energy |
C.work well | D.feel hungry quicker |
In the last paragraph the writer mainly_________.
A. persuades us to have a good breakfast
B. tell us what food isn’t suitable for breakfast
C describes when and how we should have our breakfast
D .tell us what food we should have for breakfast
Two American scientists told the people in industrial nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of foods eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since human first appeared on earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times. So they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes(中风) are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that early stone-age people used very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and life today.
Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than farm animals. They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables, and fruits. They did not use milk and other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of dairy products and grain foods. We eat six times more salt than stone-age people. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live as people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate as those ancient people did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods.The people in industrial nations would be much healthier if they ate ______.
A.more foods as humans living 10,000 years ago did |
B.as humans living 10,000 years ago ate |
C.more kinds of food eaten by people living over 10,000 years ago |
D.more of the same kinds of foods eaten by people over 10,000 years ago |
New kinds of sicknesses have been found because ______
A.the human body has changed compared with human first appearing on earth |
B.the way we live has changed a little |
C.our body can’t deal with the changes in life style |
D.the way we live today are improper for the human body |
What is the main cause mentioned in the article why people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
A.Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise. |
B.People today have a lot of alcohol. |
C.People today have more tobacco. |
D.Food is quite different between life today and life in ancient times. |