BEIJING—Eating at a Beijing restaurant is usually an adventure for foreigners, and particularly when they get the chance to order “chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head”.

Sometimes excited but mostly confused, embarrassed or even terrified, many foreigners have long complained about mistranslations of Chinese dishes. And their complaints are often valid(有效), but such an experience at Beijing’s restaurants will apparently soon be history.

Foreign visitors will no longer, hopefully, be confused by oddly worded restaurant menus in the capital if the government’s plan to correctly translate 3,000 Chinese dishes is a success and the translations are generally adopted.

The municipal(市政) office of foreign affairs has published a book to recommend English translations of Chinese dishes, which aims to help restaurants avoid bizarre translations. “It provides the names of main dishes of famous Chinese cuisines in plain English,” an official with the city’s Foreign Affairs office said. “Restaurants are encouraged to use the proposed translations, but it will not be compulsory.” It’s the city’s latest effort to bridge the culture gap for foreign travelers in China.

Coming up with precise translations is a daunting task, as some Chinese culinary(烹饪) techniques are untranslatable and many Chinese dishes have no English-language equivalent. The translators, after conducting a study of Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries, divided the dish names into four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste and name of a person or a place. For some traditional dishes, pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, is used, such as mapo tofu(previously often literally translated as “beancurd made by woman with freckles”), baozi(steamed stuffed bun) and jiaozi(dumplings) to “reflect the Chinese cuisine culture,” according to the book.

“The book is a blessing to tourist guides like me. Having it, I don’t have to rack my brains trying to explain Chinese dishes to foreign travellers,” said Zheng Xiaodong, a 31-year-old employee with a Beijing-based travel agency.

“I will buy the book as I major in English literature and I’d like to introduce Chinese cuisine culture to more foreign friends,” said Han Yang, a postgraduate student at the University of International Business and Economics.

It is not clear if the book will be introduced to other parts of China. But on Tuesday, this was the most discussed topic on weibo.com, China’s most popular microblogging site.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?

A．An adventure for foreigners who eat in Beijing.

B．Confusing mistranslations of Chinese dishes.

C．Chinese dishes to have “official” English names.

D．The effort to bridge the culture gap.

2. “chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head” are mentioned in the beginning of the passage to show              .

A．some Chinese dishes are not well received

B．some Chinese dishes are hard to translate

C．some Chinese dishes are mistranslated

D．some Chinese dishes are not acceptable

3.What measure has the municipal office taken?

A．Recommending a book on Chinese dishes.

B．Advocating(提倡) using precise translation for Chinese dishes.

C．Publishing a book on China’s dietary habits.

D．Providing the names of main Chinese dishes.

4.What’s the meaning of daunting in paragraph 5?

A．confusing         B．disappointing       C．discouraging       D．Worthwhile

 

Schools and parents in Shenzhen City have been asked to take better care of children’s eyesight as 45 percent of them, were found to be shortsighted. Too much reading, poor lighting and too much TV are blamed. Of the city’s high school graduates who applied to attend college this summer, two-thirds had to have their choices limited because of poor eyesight, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily said.

1.This piece of news was reported by____ .

A．People’s Daily                         B．Shenzhen Special Zone Daily

C．school in Shenzhen City                   D．parents in Shenzhen City

2.The purpose of this passage is to _____ .

A．criticize children who are shortsighted

B．blame parents and schools for children’s being shortsighted

C．ask the high school graduates to pay attention to their eyesight

D．draw people’s special attention to eye hygiene(卫生)

3.Only____ of the children in Shenzhen City have good eyesight.

A．55 percent        B．less than half       C．45 percent        D．two—thirds

4.Because of being shortsighted many school graduates_____ .

A．weren’t allowed to enter college

B．couldn’t graduate from high school

C．couldn’t choose to study what they liked best

D．lost their limited time

 

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第三节：摘录信息

阅读短文，根据所读内容在文后71—80的空格里填上适当的单词或短语。注意：每空不超过3个单词。

There are a total of seven billion tons of garbage kept in Chinese cities and this garbage together takes up 600 million square meters of land space. Urban garbage has now become one of the four major polluting sources in China.

China has about 700 cities. Every day, these cities produce 100 tons of garbage in total and the amount still increases by 8%-10% every year. In China, about two-thirds of the cities are surrounded by garbage. In many cities, the garbage is in the open air with on one to take care of it. The garbage not only damages the city’s image, it also pollutes the air, water and soil, and puts a threat to human health.

China will face a critical (关键的) period in its modernization drive in the fifty years to come. As urbanization(城市化) process has quickened, the garbage in cities will become a serious problem to our human life and we should pay great attention to the problem, said Dong Suocheng, executive director of the China Resources Institute.

In the next fifty years, China’s population scale(规模) and urbanization process will reach its top, which will produce more garbage. Considering this, China should make great efforts to develop recycled economy. On the one hand, China should make sure that less garbage will be produced; on the other hand, China should make good use of garbage resources and turn garbage handing into an industry, and make sure that garbage industry will cover every part of garbage processing, from garbage collecting and classifying to garbage transportation and treatment. This might serve as a good way to solve the garbage problem in cities, he said.

Title:71.      has been one main polluting source

Conditions

At presentGarbage in cities has become one of the four 72.       in China

About two-thirds of the cities in China are surrounded by garbage.

In many cities, garbage is in the 73.      with no one to take care of it.

74.      

Garbage in cities will become 75.       .

More garbage will be produced.

Effects

76.      

Polluting air, water and soil

Putting a threat to 77.      

78.      

Developing recycled economy

Making sure less garbage will be produced

Making good use of 79.      

Turning garbage handling into an industry

Making sure garbage industry will cover every part of 80.      

 

As the quality of the city’s air continues to give rise to ______, the residents are encouraged to set off fewer fireworks.

A．descriptions       B．concerns          C．compromise       D．emergency

 

Today, we complete our story about the influential English writer William Shakespeare. He wrote plays and poems during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, which remain very popular today.
During earlier times, people would probably have learned several ancient Roman and Greek plays. It was not unusual for writers to produce more current versions of these works. For example, in Shakespeare's play "The Comedy of Errors"（《错误的喜剧》）Shakespeare borrowed certain details from the ancient Roman writer Plautus. For his play "Macbeth"（《麦克白》）, Shakespeare most likely used a work on Scottish history by Raphael Holinshed for information. Shakespeare might have borrowed from other writers, but the intensity（强度）of his imagination and language made the plays his own. While many plays by other writers of his time have been forgotten, Shakespeare and his art live on.
Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. He described the sights and sounds of London in his plays. His works include observations about political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city’s tradesmen. Shakespeare's knowledge of the English countryside is also clear. His works include descriptions of deep forests, local flowers, and the ancient popular traditions of rural people.
It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which Shakespeare’s works have influenced the world culture. But the first and greatest example would be his great influence on the English language. During his time, the English language was changing. Many new words from other languages were being added. Shakespeare used his sharp mind and poetic inventiveness to create hundreds of new words and rework old ones. For example, he created the noun forms of "critic", "mountaineer” and "eyeball". Many common expressions in English come from his plays, including "pomp and circumstance（装腔作势）"from "Othello"（《奥赛罗》）, "full circle（绕圈子地）" from "King Lear"（《李尔王》）, etc. The list of cultural creations influenced by Shakespeare is almost endless. From paintings to television to music and dance, Shakespeare was well represented. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into every major language in the world.
Shakespeare became a well-known writer during a golden age of theater. His years of hard work paid off.
【小题1】What can we infer from the passage？

A．Many of Shakespeare's works were influenced by earlier writings.

B．Shakespeare was hard­working when he was a student.

C．The experience of living in London helped a lot with Shakespeare's works.

D．Shakespeare became rich later because of the popularity of his works.

【小题2】Shakespeare might have learnt some information from ancient Roman works in 　　　　 .

A．"King Lear"

B．"The Comedy of Errors"

C．"Macbeth"

D．"Othello"

【小题3】Shakespeare's greatest influence should be on　　　　.

A．the English language

B．paintings

C．television

D．music and dance

【小题4】The passage is mainly about　　　　.

A．an introduction to Shakespeare’s life and his works

B．the main features and styles of Shakespeare's plays

C．how culture influenced Shakespeare and he influenced culture.

D．Shakespeare’s greatest influence on the world culture.