New holiday plan

Good news for all Chinese people!  We will have one more day holiday every year starting in 2008, according to a new government plan.

The plan was passed by the State Council（国务院）this month and is likely to be formally announced before the new year. Under the new plan, New Year’s Day will remain a one-day holiday and Spring Festival will still last three days. However, it will now start a day earlier.

People will only have one day for the May Day holiday. But three traditional festivals, including Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival will be added on to the annual（每年的）holiday calendar. “Celebrating traditional festivals will help keep folk customs and Chinese traditional culture among the young,” said Cai Jiming, a professor at Tsinghua University.

Millions of people agree with him. In November, the government sought the public’s opinion about the holidays. According to Xinhua News Agency（通讯社），more than 1.55 million Chinese took part in an online survey and nearly 80 percent supported the plan.

Other people are happy about the change as there will be three more 3-day weekends with the traditional festivals. “There will be more choices when you choose to travel. We won’t have to squeeze through the crowds in scenic spots（景点）during Golden Weeks,” said Jin Lihua, a white-collar worker in Beijing.

The Golden Week system was first introduced in 1999, in the hope of encouraging people to spend more for the benefit of economic growth. The 8-year-old system achieved its goal with tourism profits increasing from 14.1 billion yuan during the first Golden Week to 64.2 billion yuan during the last National Day Holiday.

But voices calling for their cancellation are becoming ever stronger. People complain that having a nation of 1.3 billion on holiday during the same week resulted in crowded scenic spots, packed hotels and chaos（嘈杂） on trains and buses. Nationwide travel has also done harm to the environment around scenic spots.

1．In what way did the government seek the public’s opinion about the new holiday plan?

A．Written questronaire.              B．Face-to-face interview.

C．Newspaper survey.               D．Online survey.

2．The Colden Week system was first introduced in 1999     .

A．in order to encourage people to travel.

B．in order to encourage people to consume.

C．in order to increase tourism profits.

D．in order to please the Chinese people.

3．The underlined word “squeeze” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to     .

   A．pull             B．press        C．push          D．walk

4．Why do more and more people hope to call off the Golden Week system?

   A．The Golden Week system caused many unpleasant problems in tourism and environment.

B．The Chinese people hope to celebrate traditional festivals.

C．Travelling is harmful to scenic spots.

D．The Chinese people need more holidays and more choices.

5．According to the new holiday plan, how many traditional festival holidays will the Chinese enjoy?

A．3.              B．4.           C．5.           D．6.