Winter Solstice (冬至) is a very important traditional festival in China. On that day, the Northern part of the world has the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the day, the daytime will become longer and longer.
Winter Solstice Festival started from Han Dynasty (朝代). In Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a famous doctor called Zhang Zhongjing. He was once an official in Changsha. When he returned home for his life, he saw people lived a very hard life and their ears were red with cold in the snowing winter. He was very sad and thought of a way to help them drive out the chill. He asked his servants (仆人) to get some mutton, hot pepper and medicine. Then, cut them up. After that, wrap them with flour (裹上面粉). After boiling, Zhang gave the food to the people there. By eating this kind of ear-like food, these people’s ears all became better. Later, every Winter Solstice, people cook such kind of food which was called dumplings.
Such traditions and customs for the day vary in different areas of China. In northern part of China, people usually eat dumplings and mutton to celebrate the day. However, in the southern part, tangyuan and noodles are the festival foods.
【小题1】On Winter Solstice, the daytime in China will become the ________.
| A．longest | B．shortest | C．hottest | D．hardest |
【小题2】The underlined words in Paragraph 2 mean “________” in Chinese.
【小题3】From Paragraph 2, we can infer (推断) that ________.
| A．Zhang Zhongjing was a very famous doctor |
| B．Winter Solstice Festival started from Han Dynasty |
| C．all the people in Han Dynasty knew Zhang Zhongjing very well |
| D．the sad people learned to cook such food to stop their ears from being cold the next year |
【小题4】Chinese people usually eat the following food on Winter Solstice EXCEPT ________.
| A．mutton | B．tangyuan | C．hot pepper | D．dumplings |
【小题5】The best title of this passage may be “________”.
| A．Famous Doctor — Zhang Zhongjing | B．Culture of Winter Solstice |
| C．Origin (起源) of Dumplings | D．Culture of Eastern Han Dynasty |
