As the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, mooncakes are turning up all over China, from traditional teashops to Starbucks counters. The holiday is one of China’s four most important festivals, and in the weeks before the date arrives, top hotels get into the spirit with lavish(奢华) treats in lovely packaging. Traditionally, the cookie-sized round pastry(馅饼) has a rich thick filling usually made from red-bean or lotus-seed paste and covered by a thin crust. It may also contain yolks from salted duck eggs, integrating a beautiful savory tinge into the sugary taste. Fillings and crusts have become more diverse over time, especially in the hands of skilled pastry chefs. The mooncakes in Chinese culture represent homesickness, and the top crust of each moon-shaped pastry is generally imprinted with the Chinese characters for longevity or harmony.
This year, the fancy gift boxes that have long driven the mooncake trade are particularly striking and rich with tradition.
For example, the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, built in 1929 and a magnet for Hollywood celebrities in the 1930s, has prepared a selection of mooncake gift boxes with designs inspired by the beauty and elegance of the hotel’s famous art deco style. The simplest box of four pieces (red-bean paste, creamy custard, plain cheese, green-bean paste) is 198 yuan($29.64), while more lavish selections of five or six pieces, including mooncakes with egg yolk, run up to 338 yuan for a box.
Beijing’s Nuo Hotel, meanwhile, has created Ming Dynasty (1368－1644) inspired mooncake gift packs based on the design of porcelain vases in the hotel lobby, with the essence of landscape painting using Zhang Dai’s poetic passages to show the peaceful harmony of man and nature. The box of six is 158 yuan, and includes mooncakes ranging from cheese mango to charcoal burning fragrant Pu'er tea and white lotus with egg yolk. A box of eight cakes of different flavors is 228 yuan.
1.What feeling does the mooncake stand for in our country?
A. Separation. B. Harmony. C. Homesick. D. Happiness.
2.Which place selling mooncakes doesn’t mention in the passage?
A. Stations B. Teashops. C. Starbucks. D. Hotels..
3.What do the last two paragraphs mainly tell us about mooncakes?
A. The high price. B. The various shapes.
C. The rich fillings. D. The fancy boxes.
4.Which kind of mooncakes is’t made by Beijing’s Nuo Hotel?
A. Green-bean paste. B. Cheese mango.
C. White lotus with egg yolk. D. Charcoal burning fragrant Pu’er tea.
“We all know that exercise is good for us, but can you get the benefits without actually doing the exercise?” asks Michael Mosley.
Having a hot bath or a sauna is a good way to soothe your limbs after exercise, but what happens if you do it instead of exercise? Dr. Steve Faulkner of Loughborough University asked me to take part in an experiment comparing the relative benefits of having a long, hot bath versus an hour of hard pedalling.
For this study I join a group of volunteers who have all been fitted with monitors which continuously record blood sugar levels. Keeping your blood sugar levels within the normal range is an important measure of your “metabolic” fitness.
The first part of the experiment is very relaxing, consisting of having a long, hot bath. While I sit in the bath, which they keep at 40℃, Steve closely monitors my core temperature. Once it has risen and stayed there, I am allowed out.
A couple of hours after my bath I have a light meal. Since we want to see how having a hot bath compares with exercise we repeat the experiment.
So what’s the result?
“One of the first things that we were looking at,” Steve says, “is the energy expenditure while you’re in the bath and what we found was an 80% increase in energy expenditure just as a result of sitting in the bath for the course of an hour.”
This is nothing like as many calories as cycling for an hour (which comes out at an average of 630 calories) but we do burn 140 calories, the equivalent of a brisk 30-minute walk.
1.What is the meaning of the underlined word in Paragraph 2?
A. exercise B. strengthen C. relax D. build up
2.What is the purpose of the experiment?
A. To compare energy expenditure of hot bath and pedalling
B. To tell people how to lose weight.
C. To show the benefit of hot bath.
D. To encourage people to have a hot bath instead of pedalling.
3.What does normal sugar level mean?
A. It means you are healthy. B. It means your temperature is normal.
C. It means you don't need exercise. D. It means your metabolic system is normal.
4.If you want to burn 600 calories, what can you do?
A. Have a hot bath for one hour. B. Cycle for one hour.
C. Have a brisk 60-minute walk. D. Have a brisk 30-minute walk.
It took place at the Biltmore Hotel. My grandmother, my mother, and I were having lunch after a morning spent shopping. I gladly ordered a Salisbury steak. When brought to the table, it was accompanied by a plate of peas. I do not like peas now. I did not like peas then. I have always hated peas.
“Eat your peas,” my grandmother said.
“Mother,” said my mother in her warning voice. “He doesn't like peas. Leave him alone.”
My grandmother did not reply, but leaned in my direction, looked me in the eye, and spoke out the fateful words that changed my life, “I’ll pay you five dollars if you eat those peas.”
I only knew that five dollars was a huge, nearly unimaginable amount of money, and awful as peas were, only one plate of them stood between me and the possession of that five dollars. I began to force them down my throat.
My mother looked livid (铁青色的). My grandmother had a self-satisfied look and said, “I can do what I want, Ellen, and you can't stop me.” My mother glared at her mother. She glared at me. No one can glare like my mother. If there were a glaring Olympics, she would undoubtedly win the gold medal.
I, of course, kept shoving peas down my throat, and every single pea made me want to throw up, but the magical image of the five dollars floated before me, and I finally swallowed every last one of them. My grandmother handed me the five dollars with satisfaction. My mother continued to glare in silence.
That night, at dinner, my mother served two of my all-time favorite foods, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Along with them came a big, steaming bowl of peas. She offered me some peas, and of course I declined. My mother fixed me with a cold eye as she heaped（堆积) a huge pile of peas onto my plate. Then came the words that were to haunt (萦绕) me for years. “You ate them for money,” she said, “You can eat them for love.”
1.From the passage, we can conclude the mother’s attitude towards the author is .
A. sympathetic but disappointed B. annoyed but satisfied
C. sympathetic and scared D. scared and disappointed
2.The author uses “fateful words” in Paragraph 4 to show that he .
A. regarded these words as dangerous
B. didn't expect it to be so influential
C. believed in the existence of fate (命运)
D. knew they would change his life
3.The mother looked livid because she thought .
A. the way her son ate the peas was harmful to his health
B. she had lost face for losing the competition of glaring
C. her son shouldn’t have had peas because of money
D. her mother shouldn’t have been so kind to her son
4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. A powerful mother and a more powerful grandmother.
B. An argument caused by a plate of peas.
C. A choice between money and love.
D. The haunting of a plate of peas.
Pakistan should be everyone’s tourist destination for 2018, but what if you already live there?
Then perhaps you should consider visiting these five must- visit places for the new year.
Lake Saiful Muluk
At an altitude of 3, 224m, surrounded by now mountains, the lake rewards those that make the three-hour uphill walk from Naran. You will find the pathway just above the free market, but there is a superior option to get a jeep and split the costs with some other tourists; expect to pay about 700 rupees, worth it to view this natural beauty.
Deosai National Park
As another high point in Pakistan, it has an average altitude of 4,114m --- the Deosai Plains are one of the highest plateaus(高原 )in the world. If you make it to the park, you expect to find rich plants and wild animals. The breathtaking scenery on show at the plains is enough to make 2018 a memorable year.
Naltar Valley
Accessible via a 2.5----hour drive from Gilgit, well worth visiting. Covered with pine trees and other plants, it has a dreamlike feel about it. Various colors all year around make you fall in love.
Shangrila Resort
Right in the north of Pakistan in the Central valley of Gilgit-Baltistan. Locals call this a paradise(乐园）,and that’s what it feels like. No visit is complete without checking out the restaurant which is built in the structure of an aircraft.
Rama Meadow
Doesn’t feel like Pakistan at all, more like somewhere in Minnesota. Watch the sheep and cows feeding while clear water flows in streams from high in the mountains. Against Chongra’s ice-covered peak, this little meadow is a piece art.
1.What is the best means to go to Lake Saiful Muluk?
A. Drive a jeep in person.
B. Take the way of ride sharing
C. Choose an uphill walk from Naran
D. Follow the pathway above the free market
2.Where may you go if interested in wild animals?
A. Lake Saiful Muluk B. Deosai National Park
C. Rama Meadow D. Naltar Valley.
3.What can we know about Rama Meadow?
A. It is what the Pakistanis like best.
B. It is just located next to Minnesota
C. It is an attractive and peaceful place.
D. It is a dream destination for adventurers.
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.Who is the speaker?
A. An invited guest. B. A news reporter. C. A radio host.
2.In what way has the speaker changed?
A. He speaks faster. B. He becomes heavier. C. He cooks more often.
3.What is difficult for the speaker to get used to?
A. The food. B. The weather. C. The language.
4.What does the speaker think of the French people?
A. A bit cold. B. Generous. C. Easy-going.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.When will someone come to check the hot water?
A. This afternoon. B. Tomorrow. C. At the weekend.
2.How did the students know about the flat?
A. From a friend. B. From a newspaper. C. From a house agency.
3.What will the woman do to settle the problem about the fridge?
A. Pay the students for the new one.
B. Get someone to fix the old one.
C. Order one on the Internet.
