Little New Year (Chinese: Xiaonian), usually a week before the lunar New Year, falls on Feb 8 this year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.
1. Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God
One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family's conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig's head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God's mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.
2. House cleaning
According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities' timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.
3. Eat Guandong candy
Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.
4. Paste paper-cuts to windows
In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.
5. Bath and hair-cut
As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they're rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.
6. Preparations for Spring Festival
People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.
1.What is the most unusual tradition in the Little New Year?
A. Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God
B. Burning paper image of Kitchen God
C. Preparing the necessity for the New Year
D. Cleaning house and people themselves
2.What is the Kitchen God’s duty in the man’s world?
A. Collecting the information of the man’s world
B. Protecting the character of each home
C. Gathering sacrifices for other Gods in heaven
D. Overseeing the moral people in the world
3.Why are most of the offerings sweets?
A. Because the Kitchen God loves sweet foods.
B. As it is the traditional customs.
C. As people hope the God says good for them.
D. Because sweets are the best sacrifices.
4.Which of the following statements is probably TRUE according to the passage?
A. Little New Year always falls in February.
B. House cleaning is to welcome the New Year.
C. In the Little New Year only paper-cuts are pasted up.
D. People will make full preparations for the coming New Year.
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant is a winner in retirement, too. The former Los Angeles Lakers star won an Oscar in the animated short category for “Dear Basketball,” a poem he wrote after ending his 20-year career on the court in 2016.
He’ll add it to an already jammed trophy collection that includes five NBA championships with the Lakers, two Olympic gold medals, NBA Finals most valuable player awards, a league MVP award and four All-Star game MVP awards.
As executive producer, Bryant accepted his golden Oscar statue from “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill on Sunday night. He shared the award with Disney animator Glen Keane.
Among those offering their congratulations via Twitter were Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant’s former Lakers teammate who admitted, “I’m jealous!”
Since hanging up his basketball shoes, Bryant has thrown himself into business (a new Nike shoe) and various forms of storytelling.
“As basketball players, we’re told to shut up and dribble,” Bryant said on stage. “I’m glad we did a little bit more than that.”
He thanked his wife, Vanessa, and his three daughters, naming each of them. He spoke a few words of Italian — a language he learned as a child growing up in Italy — and closed by telling them, “You are my inspiration.”
1.According to the passage, Kobe Bryant won the Oscar because of_________.
A. his taking part in the animation movie
B. his famous reputation in basketball
C. his poem written after his former career
D. his winning in the animated short category
2.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “trophy”?
A. award
B. present
C. harvest
D. possession
3.Where is the passage most probably taken from?
A. A personal diary
B. A science report
C. A newspaper
D. A textbook
Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one of those trains that take travelers from the main terminal to their boarding gates. Free, and impersonal, the trains run back and forth all day long. Not many people consider them fun, but on this Saturday I heard laughter. At the front of the first car – looking out the window at the track that lay ahead – were a man and his son.
We had just stopped to let off passengers, and the doors were closing again. “Here we go! Hold on to me tight!” the father said. The boy, about five years old, made sounds of sheer delight.
I know we’re supposed to avoid making racial distinctions(种族歧视) these days, so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most people on the train were white, dressed for business trips or vacations.
As I got off, I remembered some thing I’d wanted to buy in the terminal. I was early for my flight, so I decided to go back.
I did – and just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate, I saw that the man and his son had returned too. I realized then that they hadn’t been heading for a flight, but had just been riding the shuttle.
“I want to ride some more!”
“More?” the father said, mock-exasperated(嗔怪模仿) but clearly pleased. “You’re not tired?”
“This is fun!” his son said.
“All right,” the father replied, and when a door opened we all got on.
There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or Disneyland, but the children turn out rotten. There are parents who live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools, yet something goes wrong. Rich and poor, black and white, so much goes wrong so often.
“Where are all these people going, Daddy?” the son asked.
“All over the world,” came the reply. The other people in the airport were leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their journeys. The father and son, though, were just riding this shuttle together, making it exciting, sharing each other’s company.
1.Why did the father take his son to ride the train?
A. To take the flight.
B. To receive someone.
C. To accompany and have fun.
D. To buy something in the terminal.
2.It can be inferred from the text that________.
A. The father and son were black, dressed in inexpensive clothes.
B. Every Child from rich family is not as happy as this little black boy.
C. Parents always offer everything for their children to make them better.
D. The shuttle is running all day long and free of charge to every passenger.
3.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Free Shuttle for the Passengers
B. Happy Boy with Father’s Company
C. Rich Family without Happy Children
D. Moved by the Funny Father and Son
假如你是李华，你书法班的英国同学 David 因为在汉语书法大赛中表现欠佳而心情沮丧。请你给他写 封信表示安慰。要点如下：
1、表示理解；
2、帮他分析原因及提出改进的建议。
注意：1、词数 100 左右； 2、可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯.
参考词汇：汉语书法 Chinese calligraphy
Dear David
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours, Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误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：在错的词下画一横线，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。
If asked whether there is anyone I want to apologize to, I will say Pete. He is my best friend at school and he has been my roommates for two years. He is very generous. Whenever his parents come to see him for snacks and fruits, he will share it with others. However, I made a unforgivable mistake the other day when I thought he had used with my lunch box without my permission. I shout at him, and I was very rudely. But it turned out that it was another student took my lunch box mistakenly. I’m really shame of my rudeness and hope Pete will accept my apologize.
As Victor Hugo once said, "Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face", and up to now nobody has been able to do this better than Charlie Chaplin. He brightened the lives of Americans and British through two world wars and the hard years in between. He made people laugh at a time 1., so they could feel more content with their lives.
Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and produced the films he starred in. In 1972 he was given a special Oscar for his outstanding work in films. He lived in England and the USA but spent his last years in Switzerland, where he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great actor who could 2. .
Which theme park would you like to visit? There are 3. theme parks, with a different park for almost everything: food, culture, science, cartoons, movies or history. Some parks are famous for having the biggest or longest roller coasters, others for 4. and sounds of a culture. 5. , there is a theme park for you!
