J. Palacio bases Wonder on August or “Auggie” Pullman, a ten-year-old boy born with a deformed (残缺的) face that made him usually discriminated (歧视) against. Due to the twenty-seven     1    , he was forced to be homeschooled. Before learning officially in Beecher Prep, August went to meet the principal, Mr. Tushman, who invited three kids in the same grade to take him on a school tour.     2     (a boy’s name) and Charlotte were nice, but Julian was noticeably rude. Then August struggled in the first few months of school, especially when he realized there existed a rumor (谣言) that touching him would catch the “     3    ”. Luckily, he still befriended Jack and     4     (a girl’s name) who sat with him at lunchtime. Things, however, got a lot worse on     5     typically August’s favorite day. He overheard Jack badmouthing him while he was disguised in Bleeding Scream costume. August’s fragile world came tumbling (坍塌) down with this betrayal, and he stopped going to school. Eventually,     6     (August’s sister’s name) convinced (说服) him not to let the bullies (霸凌) win. August returned to school and later learned that Jack stood up for him by     7     Julian who made the entire class against Jack. But Summer, August, and Jack grew closer as real friends. Later during a school     8    , a group of older kids assaulted (袭击) August when Henry, Miles, and Amos protected him. It was at that time that August realized that he had more friends than he thought. With time, Auggie fit in within the school system and other students began to notice how brilliant he was. At the graduation ceremony, August received an     9     for bravery and kindness. Now, everyone knew him for who he was as a person and not for what he looked like. At the end of the narrative (叙述), August’s mom thanked him for being such “a     10    ” to others.

4 . Within the last decade, music festivals have grown into a major moneymaker in a competitive industry that sees hundreds of such events each year in the U. S. There are the big ones with big ticket prices, multiple stages, camping options and nearly endless lists of performers.     1    .

The origins of music festivals date back to ancient Greece, where such events often involved competitions in music, arts and sports. Modern music festival in the U. S. grew out of the establishment of Woodstock. Though it was not the first event of its kind, the 1969 event holds a mythical place within American pop-cultural history.     2    . Coachella, one of the most popular festivals in the country, grossed $ 114. 6 million in 2017, setting a major record by earning more than $ 100 million.

The mechanics that drove music festivals to becoming top earners have a lot to do with the effects of modern life, says Chirinos, a professor of clinical music and global health at New York University.     3    . He says, arguing that sharing a clip from a Billie Eilish or Cardi B performance with one’s Instagram followers is more satisfying than buying something expensive. A 2019 Deloitte survey of millennials — a group that makes up at 45% of the 32 million people who attend music festivals — finds that most value experiences: 57% of them said they prefer travel and seeing the world over owning a home.

    4    . As streaming becomes one of the most popular ways to listen to music, sales of tickets and products make up a large part of fans’ expenditures on music. Because listening to music has become practically free, the access is unprecedented and makes live music much more special, according to Chirinos. “Audiences are keen to connect to the artist and,” he says.

On the other hand, for artists, appearing at music festivals is an easier way to make money than depending on record sales or long tours. As record sales saw a sharp decline in the early-to-mid-2000s thanks to the growth of digital music, artists began depending on touring to earn money.

An animated short film, based on the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, is coming to Apple TV+ on December 25. It is about a boy who     1     (lose) and afraid but gets comforting     2    (wise) from animals he meets as he looks for his home.

British illustrator(插图画家) and artist Charlie Mackesy, the author of the book, co-wrote and co-directed the film. He said the     3    (origin) inspiration for his book came from drawings he made and sent to friends. He put them in a book     4    more people could enjoy them, and it became     5     bestseller.

The story’s lesson, such as “Asking for help isn’t giving up. It’s refusing to give up,” didn’t come    6     Mackesy all at once. “I just kept drawing and writing and they emerged(出现),” he said. “I think we all have things deep within us if we dare to listen.” Mackesy said that at first he didn’t think the book had enough in it     7    (become) a film, but there ended up being too much. “We had to carefully select     8     we felt was important and keep the gentle pace,” he said.

There are many important messages in the film, but there are some specific ones Mackesy would like kids to take away from it. “I hope very much that it helps children feel good about themselves,     9    (love), and enough as they are,” he said. “I hope it inspires friendships and shows that the greatest things in life     10    (be) kindness and love.”

The Art of Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam (新疆维吾尔木卡姆艺术) is a     1    (represent) name of various kinds of Muqam in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (自治区),     2     was declared one of the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

Muqam,     3    (recognise) as the mother of Uyghur music, is not only     4     artistic creation with a long history, but also a record of     5    (communicate) between China and the regions to the west of it in history. It can be found in 19 countries and regions in Central, South, and West Asia, and North Africa, which is     6    (particular) due to Xinjiang’s central location along the Silk Road.

In Muqam ensembles (乐团), the lead instruments, called satar, are made from local materials and vary in form. The dancing skills involve unique steps, rhythms, and formations as well as     7    (figure) such as flower-picking-by-mouth, bowl-carrying-on-head, and imitation of animals in solo dances.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, every possible means     8    (use) to preserve the Twelve Muqam by the Chinese government. About 20 study centres have been set up     9    (train) professional researchers on Muqam. Moreover, the government has introduced Muqam     10     the national artistic education system.

For centuries, two of the most intriguing question about Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” were “Who?” and “When?” A discovery made at Heidelberg University in 2005 pretty much answered both. A note written in a manuscript in the library confirmed the     1     of da Vinci’s first biographer, Giorgio Vasari: that the sitter was a merchant’s wife, Lisa Gherardini. The note also helped     2     the masterpiece to between 1503 and 1506.

A third mystery—“Where?”—is still in dispute, But on June 3rd a French engineer, Pascal Cotte, declared that he and a collaborator had identified the landscape in the background of the painting. Arguments had once been made for     3     of countryside in the Marche region and between Milan and Genoa. During a presentation in Vinci, near Florence, Mr. Cotte argued that the artist was more     4     depicting a part of his native Tuscany-one that much interested him at the time. According to this theory, da Vinci     5     the area not as it was, but as, in an unrealized scheme, he intended it to be.

Mr. Cotte, who was asked by the Louvre (where the “Mona Lisa” hangs) to create a digital image of the painting, is the inventor of the multispectral (多光谱的) camera: a device that can detect not only the drawing below the surface of an oil painting, but also, where they exist, intermediate layers of work. It was among these, under what appears to be a     6     rock, that he found a preparatory sketch showing that da Vinci intended it to represent a castellated(城堡形的) tower.

The landscape of the “Mona Lisa” also includes a huge steep cliff. That is similar to one that da Vinci included in a sketch of a fortress(堡垒)     7     by Pisa and Florence in the war that broke out between them in 1503 (around the time he was painting Gherardini). The fortress with the nearby cliff—and a tower, known as the Caprona tower—all overlook the river Arno as it snakes from Florence to Pisa. All three also     8     in drawings made by da Vinci to illustrate a plan about which, says Mr. Cotte, he became “obsessive”.

Mr. Cotte argues that a channel that     9     through desolate countryside at the right of the “Mona Lisa” is too wide to be a road, as some have speculated, and is instead the dried-up bed of the Armo as da Vinci pictured it once his plan had been adopted.

It never was. But if Mr. Cotte’s theory is right, it might just explain why Gherardini, a Florentine, wears such a     10    , if mysterious, smile.

Barry Jenkins: ‘When you climb the ladder, you send it back down’

“So, you saw the film?” Barry Jenkins is eager to ask the minute we are introduced. He gives good eye contact through those stylish thick-rimmed glasses – not the big-time, Oscar-winning writer-director speaking, but a nervous artist, anxious     1     the new work he is starting to screen. I love it, I tell him. If Beale Street Could Talk may be only Jenkins’ third feature-length film,     2     it has already been nominated for three Oscars (best adapted screenplay, best supporting actress, best score), just two years     3     his Moonlight walked away with the Academy Award for best film. A passionate film about race and love, it’s an     4     (add) pleasure to see black characters of such complexity on the big screen.

Adapted from James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, Beale Street tells the story in which the personal experiences of a young black couple     5     (interweave) with the big picture in 1970s Harlem. When Tish (KiKi Layne) becomes pregnant, they plan to marry – until her fiancé Fonny (Stephan James) is set up by a racist police officer for a rape he did not commit. The film explores the different reactions of their siblings (兄弟姐妹) and parents, led by Regina King in a standout performance as Tish’s mother, as they fight for Fonny’s freedom.

Baldwin has been dead for 30 years, but his depiction of the fight against a country’s powerful prejudice is a sad reminder     6     not enough has changed. Yet Jenkins turns a bleak story into a fascinating romance, as the young lovers strive     7     (regard) as human beings. With its lingering, saturated-colour photography – the director has cited Wong Kar-Wai’s In The Mood For Love as an influence – Beale Street is one of     8     (visually-arresting) films I’ve seen.

Beale Street     9     (film) on location in New York and the Dominican Republic – filling in for Puerto Rico, still devastated by 2017’s Hurricane Maria. It was shot on an Arri Alexa 65 camera. Throughout the film, as he did in Moonlight, the director lingers over often wordless scenes between his characters,     10     (present) them as a series of moving photographs.