Part B Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a text about cross-border marriage. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A - F for each numbered paragraph (41 - 45).The first and last paragraphs of the text are not numbered. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) A. Town hall, a happy bride and groom B. Temple and atheistic groom C. Wedding hall D. Angels, children escorting the bride E. The foreign groom and the local bride F. The golden wedding-ring was put on her finger Ornamenting the two fingers is only the first step of the "long march". Angel was never as overloaded as today, running from here to there, busy ordering invitation cards and wedding clothes, booking church and restaurant, checking availability of the photographer, the pastor and the official in the town hall, looking for a new home. She was happy and excited. However this long wedding preparation process loaded down with trivial details, gave me a big headache. In France, more and more French cohabit instead of marrying. However, when they decide to marry, they still take their wedding ceremony seriously and usually follow the never changing three traditional chapters. 41._____________________________ The third chapter is the wedding breakfast followed by a dance. (The first and the second chapter are the civil wedding and the church wedding). After the church wedding, the newly-weds normally invite their parents and friends to take part in a sumptuous meal and dance in the evening. After champagne flutes are raised all around, the dancing starts. The newly-weds take the lead, dancing lightly and finish the evening by tiredly tripping into their bridal chamber and thus terminate the last chapter of the French marriage. 42._____________________________ I grew up in the last seventies and early eighties, the "simple wedding" advocated by the Chinese government had been ingrained in any mind. One day finally I could not help revealing my wish for a simple wedding:" Darling, your wedding plans are far too long and over-elaborate. Let’s simplify them and reduce three chapters to only one. It’s enough to get married in the town hall!" " No! Marriage is the most important event in my life. I want to make it grand and unforgettable." Angel refused to concede. However I really wanted to escape the church wedding. "Honey, I wasn’t baptized and being an atheist, I am not allowed to go to church. A church wedding is a burden for an atheist like me, and the church wedding for an atheist is also against church rules!" I presented my views vehemently, believing I had the best excuse in the world. "My dear, marriage is a sacred affair; we must go to the church. You are only aware of one aspect of a thing, but ignorant of another. I am a Protestant; there are no strict canons and mumbo-jumbos in Protestantism. If one of the two is Protestant, they are still allowed to marry in a Protestant church." I was rendered speechless. 43._____________________________ The sacred moment arrived. The foreign groom and the local bride, surrounded by her family members, arrived at the marriage hall. "Do you take this woman as your wife " " Yes! "A myriad of thoughts welled up in my mind: "I’d quit my highly-coveted job in China and gone through innumerable trials and tribulations to come to Europe to join my Chinese lover, but I was jilted. Now I’d found an oasis of love, but far from my homeland. The girl with me today, though from a different cultural background, with a different way of thinking and behaving, is simple, pure and kind-hearted like an angel. I’d suffered from the wandering life in Europe. But after suffering comes happiness. In a few minutes she will proclaim the end of my wandering and homeless life." Full of deep feeling, I gazed at this western beauty, shining with dazzling splendor and held her hand tight in mine. 44._____________________________ "Do you take this man as your husband T" Brimming with tears, choking with sobs, Angel nodded her approval. Being a traditional French girl, she’d never expected that she would have fallen into the temptation of the "good but cheap Chinese merchandise "before her and would have crossed the frontier between Chinese and French cultures to marry a man with an exotic accent and a flat nose! 45._____________________________ The church was resounding with the wedding sonata, Angel and I walked up to the pastor to the beat of the music. Hand in hand, heart with heart, full of tender affection, we gave all the right answers to his questions. The golden wedding-ring on her left finger and paired up with her engagement ring on the right ring finger, both complementing each other’s radiance and beauty. Angel, now with two rings, became a real "valuable" bride. She slipped my finger with a simple ring onto my finger, and at the same time capturing my wandering heart. That evening, I, the foreign groom, with my Erru, two-stringed Chinese violin, together with Angel, the local bride, with her violin, successfully performed the most beautiful concerto of cross-border marriage. "The spring is coming, the earth is smiling..." the hall was resounding to the strains of Strauss’ joyful waltz while We were tripping away in a dance. At the climax of the music we swirled so quickly that both of us felt ourselves swoon in the glamour of our cross-border marriage. 44