Western China is a large and beautiful region. It includes one major city, Chongqing, six provinces, and five autonomous regions (自治区). The six provinces are Sichuan, Shanxi, Gansu, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Guizhou. The five autonomous regions are Tibet, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uygur, Guangxi Zhuang, and Inner Mongolia. Among all these provinces and autonomous regions, Xinjiang is the largest region and Ningxia is the smallest region.
Western China has an area of 5,400,000 square kilometers. This is about 56% of the total area of the country. However, there are many mountains, highlands, and deserts, and there are fewer rivers and lakes than in the East. Only around 22% of the population (人口) of China lives in the West, so there are far more people living in the East than living there.
Western China has a lot of natural resources. It is rich in oil and gas and it has many different kinds of minerals (矿). Tourists like to visit the area. There are many famous museums, ancient palaces, tombs (坟墓), and caves (洞), such as the Dazu museum, Shanxi History Museum, the Potala Palace, the Dunhuang Caves, and many other beautiful places such as Yunnan Dali and Sichuan Jiuzhaigou Valley.
Western China
Regions It includes the city of Chongqing, six provinces and five autonomous regions. Among them, Ningxia is 【小题1】         than any other region.
Land
It covers over half of the total area of China, more than five 【小题2】       square kilometers. It has many mountains but 【小题3】         water than that in the East.
Population  Only about 22% of the population of China is here.
【小题4】         resources    It is rich in oil, gas and different kinds of minerals.
Tourism Travellers can visit the famous【小题5】         , old palaces, tombs and caves.

根据汉语提示及句子意思，在句中横线上填入适当的单词或词组（每空限填一词）。
【小题1】We have a history lesson on         （星期五）.
【小题2】Mr. Chen told us a          （滑稽可笑的）story yesterday.
【小题3】 —I think quiz shows are wonderful. I can learn a lot from them.
—I        （同意）with you.
【小题4】 —What about the piece of music?
—It        （听起来）sweet.
【小题5】I haven’t finished my homework________(仍然).
【小题6】 The students talked about a moving movie                 （ 刚才）.
【小题7】Everyone knows the Olympic rings                  （代表）the five parts of the world.
【小题8】 Sometimes the police wear plain clothes to                   （执行）special tasks.
【小题9】There is                  （无疑地）that the Great Wall is one of the greatest wonders in the world.
【小题10】It’s such a big table that it                  （占据）half of the room.

Food may help you understand more about yourself. Choose your favourite food from the five below. See the answers. Does your choice really tell you who you are ?

 A. noodles with beef (the hotter, the better );

 B. big dinner with all kinds of dishes;

 C. pizza;

 D. fried chicken;

 E. cakes.

Answer :

 A. You always try to make yourself different others. Success and fame are your only interests.

 B. You finish things quickly and don’t like changing your ideas. You’re never afraid of hard work. But you always buy lots of things that you don’t need.

 C. You work hard and always save money. But sometimes you aren’t kind to others and always think you are right.

 D. Exercise is not your favourite thing. You don’t like staying by yourself very much. People think that you’re shy but sweet.

 E. Because you are nice and easy-going, you have lots of friends. You are always ready to help others.

1.The passage is probably a/an _________ .

    A. news report          B. science discovery  

C. personality test       D. interesting story

2. According to the passage, a person who has a lot of friends may choose _______ .

    A. noodles with beef                 B. fried chicken   

C. big dinner with all kinds of dishes    D. cakes

3.Who will works hard, but always wastes money according to the passage ?

    A. the man who chooses pizza

    B. the man who chooses cakes

    C. the man who chooses noodles with beef

    D. the man who chooses a big dinner with all kinds of dishes

Hangzhouhua (杭州话)：use it or lose it
There are about 6.000 languages in the world and some experts say that as many as half of these languages will disappear(消失) in the next one hundred years. Will Hangzhouhua be one of 1)________? It’s a 2)________ that more people are asking.
In China, Putonghua is the official language. That 3)________ it’s the language of government, business and the media (媒体). And it’s also the language that is 4)________ in schools.
Hangzhou is a special city. It used to be the capital of Wu and Yue States in the 10th century during the Five Dynasties period. Now it is modern, fashionable and also beautiful. And Hangzhouhua shows that by being modern, fashionable and beautiful.
Young people still speak Hangzhouhua but not as 5)________ as their parents and grandparents. They are under more and more pressure to speak Putonghua. So the language is being used 6)________ often in everyday life. Some people want to keep the language from disappearing completely 7)_________ building museums and having cultural festivals to save it. But a language isn’t a painting 8)________ a book. It’s a living thing and you 9)________ use it or lose it.
If people 10)________ using it in their daily lives, a museum or a festival will not help. It will be lost forever, like the Yangtze River dolphin.