1 . Art and magic often go hand in hand. These four new releases explore the magic of the arts and art of magic.
Wolfwood by Marianna BaerIndigo’s mom used to be a celebrated artist. Finishing the painting series — Wolfwood, which shows four teenagers in a terrifying jungle, can make her famous and wealthy again, but she is unwilling to. Desperate, Indigo begins working on the paintings herself, but soon she realizes there’s a horrifying reason why her mother stopped painting Wolfwood.
Blood Debts by Terry Benton-WalkerTwins Chris and Clem’s family once ruled over the magic world in New Orleans until a horrible incident ended that forever, and since then the family has suffered and Chris has sworn off magic. Then they discover their mother is being slowly killed by a curse (诅咒). The twins begin to pick apart the secrets and lies, and realize the only way to make things right is to fight for justice.
That Self-Same Metal by Brittany WilliamsJoan Sands has a special bond with metal. She uses her powers to help her goldsmith father in his workshop and to tend the stage weapons used by William Shakespeare’s acting company. When some evil powers flood London, Joan discovers she may be the only one to stop them and that she must decide how to protect the people she loves.
Unraveller by Frances HardingeIn a world where anger can grow into curses, you might end up turned into a frog. A boy named Kellen can unravel (解除) your curse, setting you free. With the mysterious power, he tries to right the wrongs with his companion Nettle, which in turn made himself cursed. So they must go into the unpredictable wilds to seek out the truth behind curses once and for all.
1. What discourages Indigo’s mother from finishing Wolfwood?| A．Surprising difficulty. | B．Horrifying secrets. |
| C．Declining interest. | D．Serious diseases. |
| A．Dealing with metal. | B．Designing stage weapons. |
| C．Fighting against evil powers. | D．Introducing an acting company. |
| A．They solve real-life problems. | B．They show the power of friendship. |
| C．They contain supernatural elements. | D．They transform art works into magic. |
2 . Today, poetry and science are often considered to be mutually exclusive(互相排斥)career paths. But that wasn’t always the case. The mathematician Ada Lovelace and the physicist James Clerk Maxwell were both accomplished poets. The poet John Keats was a licensed surgeon. Combining the two practices fell out of favor in the 1800s. But translating research into lyrics, haiku, and other poetic forms is resurging(再现)among scientists as they look for alternative ways to inspire others with their findings.
“Poetry is a great tool for questioning the world,” says Sam Illingworth, a poet and a geoscientist who works at the University of Western Australia. Through workshops and a new science-poetry journal, called Consilience, Illingworth is helping scientists to translate their latest results into poems that can attract appreciation from those outside of their immediate scientific field.
Stephany Mazon, a scientist from the University of Helsinki in Finland, joined one of Illingworth’s workshops. In the workshop, she was grouped with other scientists and tasked with writing a haiku, a 17-syllable-long poem, which spotlighted water, a fluid that featured in all of the group members’ research projects. “It was a lot of fun, and surprisingly easy to write the poem,” Mazon says. She plans to continue writing. “We do a disservice(伤害)to ourselves to think that scientists can’t be artistic and that art can’t be used to communicate scientific ideas,” Mazon says.
That viewpoint is echoed by Illingworth, who thinks science communication initiatives are too often dominated by public lectures with their hands-off PowerPoint slides. “Actually, when science communication involves writing and sharing poems, it invites a two-way dialogue between experts and nonexperts,” he says. Scientist-poet Manjula Silva, an educator at Imperial College London, agrees. Poetry provides a way to translate complex scientific concepts into a language that everyone can understand, Silva says.
Scientists and poets are both trying to understand the world and communicate that understanding with others. The distinction between scientists and poets is less than people might think. We’re all just people with hopefully really interesting things to say and to share.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning the celebrities in paragraph 1?| A．To display they were talented. |
| B．To confirm they were out of favor. |
| C．To encourage different career paths. |
| D．To show poetry and science can be combined. |
| A．Promote a new science-poetry journal. |
| B．Inspire outsiders to pursue their careers in science. |
| C．Encourage science communication through poems. |
| D．Get scientists to exchange ideas about the latest research. |
| A．Conventional. | B．Effective. | C．Innovative. | D．Complex. |
| A．Scientists Take on Poetry |
| B．Scientists and Poets Think Alike |
| C．Poetry: A Great Tool to Question the World |
| D．Science Communication: A Two-way Dialogue |
3 . Riding through the royal forest of Sherwood on a wonderful May morning, you don’t have a care in the world. Then you hear a bird call, the faint rustling of trees, and suddenly a man armed with a longbow appears in your path.
He wears a feathered cap. You can’t see the man’s face clearly, but you don’t have to. He is dressed in Lincoln green, the color of Robin Hood — the most famous English outlaw of all time.
Don’t worry; he won’t harm you — not yet, anyway. He’ll invite you to join him and his outlaw band for a feast. The meal of choice? Venison — freshly-killed deer. Only a king is allowed to hunt it, but then Robin never did worry about the law.
After your feast, Robin, or his faithful lieutenant Little John, will ask you a question. How much money are you carrying? If you answer truthfully, you may keep all that you have. If you need money, then Robin will give or lend you some. But if you lie to him — if you hoard your money, well ... you won’t have that money for very long. You’ll be stripped of your clothes and cash, tied backwards on your horse and sent back to Nottingham in shame. And your money? It will go to help someone in need.
Most people love Robin Hood. And that’s a good thing. Just as common people are allowed to hunt harmful wolves, anyone can hunt Robin Hood. The sheriff would pay for Robin’s capture just as surely as he would pay for a wolf’s head. Robin and his band are often called wolfsheads by their enemies.
Robin Hood is an outlaw. That means he lives outside the protection of the law. But Robin is a law to himself. He’s the self-styled king of the greenwood —either Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire or Barnsdale in Yorkshire.
Robin is no common criminal. As the famous saying goes, he robs from the rich and gives to the poor. The poor have little to fear from Robin Hood. His enemies are the rich and corrupt, especially the Sheriff of Nottingham and the bad apples in the Church like the Abbot of St. Mary’s and the Bishop of Hereford.
Robin defends the underdog against oppression.
1. Which of the following is NOT a usual practice of Robin Hood and his band?| A．Hunting deer and serving their guests with their meat as dinner. |
| B．Robbing the dishonest rich people of their money and clothes. |
| C．Hunting harmful wolves and cutting their heads for money. |
| D．Protecting and giving money to the low life in need of help. |
| A．hide away | B．give away | C．give up | D．save up |
| A．They are as fierce as wolves when they robbed people. |
| B．They are as harmful as wolves and should be hunted. |
| C．They are as valuable as wolfsheads because both will bring money if caught. |
| D．They sometimes put on masks of wolfsheads to scare people. |
| A．The King of England. | B．Little John. |
| C．The Bishop of Hereford. | D．The Sheriff of Nottingham. |
| A．to warn people of the danger of traveling through the forest of Sherwood |
| B．to advise people to be honest with Robin Hood when he questions you |
| C．to describe the fights between Robin Hood and his enemies |
| D．to introduce to you the self-styled king of the greenwood — Robin Hood |
4 . Four Great classical pieces inspired by animals
Catalogue of the Birds by Oliver Messiaen
Messiaen transcribed 13 birdsongs to piano pieces. Each piece is written for a French province with a title of bird chosen for each region. Messiaen uses the "colour of tones" at its most powerful, where different sounds interconnect and lay the birdsong among the nature most beautifully.
The Cat and the Mouse by Aaron Copland
We can hear so vividly different plots and the tune is easily accessible to all listeners. Copland uses the pace and rhythm successfully, which creates the animation in the music. Lots of loud and dissonant （刺耳的）chord is fully applied in the entire piece, giving the” storytelling“ nature to the music.
The Maid and the Nightingale by Enrique Granados
In the music, the maid sings a mournful song to the nightingale as her lover has gone to fight another guy out of jealousy, and eventually dies. After her mournful "song" ends, the last part of the piece is pure bird sound. Granados mainly uses quick and light single notes to paint the melodies of birdsongs.
Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Sans
The Carnival of the Animals is the most famous work from Saint-Sans. Interestingly, he forbade the work to be published during his lifetime as he felt it did not represent him properly. The different musical techniques and the fast and light rhythm of the full suite truly make this set of works the most typical music for animals.
1. What characteristic do The Cat and the Mouse and Carnival of the Animals share?| A．Mournful | B．Dynamic |
| C．Discouraging | D．Peaceful |
| A．Catalogue of the Birds | B．The Cal and the Mouse |
| C．The Maid and the Nightingale | D．Carnival of the Animals |
| A．Each piece of Catalogue of the Birds is named after a French province. |
| B．The tune of The Cat and the Mouse is accepted by all listeners. |
| C．The Carnival of the Animals is the first hit of Saint-Sans. |
| D．The creation of the bird sound in The Maiden and the Nightingale is different from Catalogue of the Birds. |
5 . Whatever you've got planned this summer — time at the beach, traveling to exotic destinations,or barbecuing in your backyard — you need a good book to keep you company. Luckily, our “GMA” book editor has picked an exciting list of must-reads to keep the pages turning through the summer.
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
What if your version of the story is the wrong one? That's what "Trust Exercise" asks. What starts as a love story between two teens at an arts school with a charming teacher becomes an investigation into the ways teenagers protect themselves. As the perspective of the book shifts, the truth breaks. Susan Choi keeps you on your toes until the very last sentence.
Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane
This beautiful novel tackles loneliness in the digital age and the lost art of visiting. Shy May is given some unexpected time off as a university gardener and is inspired to reconnect with four once-close friends. She chooses to bypass her friends' online lives to instead meet them IRL( in real life) . Gives a whole new meaning to Instagram vs. reality.
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
Get a box of tissues and get ready to meet Jo and Bethie Kaufman — two very different sisters — whose lives, twists and turns we follow over 70 years. New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner tackles what it means to be a woman over various generations in this exciting novel.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
From the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of “Eat Pray Love” comes a delicious love story about showgirls in 1940s New York City. Gilbert brings charm, adventure and the idea that you don't have to be a good girt to be a good person.
1. What does Trust Exercise focus on?| A．Teen love. | B．Arts school education. |
| C．Truth and lies. | D．Teenagers' self-protection. |
| A．Trust Exercise, | B．Rules for Visiting. |
| C．City of Girls. | D．Mrs, Everything. |
| A．They feature history stories. |
| B．The two stories happened in the 1940s. |
| C．They are by New York Times best-selling authors. |
| D．The characters have influenced various generations. |
| A．To recommend. | B．To review. |
| C．To compare. | D．To advertize. |
6 . Winning literary competitions doesn't always lead to fame. But having a few such wins to boast about does you no harm when approaching editors or agents, so if you have dreams of a writing career, these could be the place to begin. Below is a list of the most interesting competitions. Bear in mind that contests with smaller prizes attract fewer entries and are therefore easier to win.
Wundor Editions Poetry Competition
Wundor Editions are looking for creative writers to enter their latest poetry contest. If you happen to be 16 or over, send in a poem on any subject running to as many words as you think you can get away with before the judge's eyes glaze over(兴趣丧失).
Closing: Nov.30. Prize: £ 500. Entry Fee: £ 10.
Manning's Pit Poetry Competition
It doesn't sound very attractive but it seems Manning's Pit is something of a beauty spot with more than its share of wildlife. But it's now under threat. This contest aims o raise funds to help save it. Your task is to write a poem of up to 40 lines about Manning's Pit or a similar treasured and threatened piece of countryside near a town or village.
Closing: Nov.30. Prizes: £ 100, £ 30, £ 20. Entry Fe: £ 3.
Commonwealth(英联邦)Short Story Competition
This contest from Commonwealth Writers is for unpublished short fiction of between 2,000 and 5,000 words aimed at adults. But you have to be a citizen of a Commonwealth country. You can write your story in English, Bengali, Chinese, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil, Kiswahili or Malay.
Closing: No.1. Prize: £ 5,000. Entry Fee: £ 25.
Southword Fiction Chapbook Competition
To enter this international contest from the Munster Literature Centre in Cork，Ireland you should submit 10,000 to 15,000 words of fiction in the form of a collection of short stories. Stories can have been published previously in web or print journals, but not in a stand-alone publication by the author.
Closing: Oct.31. Prizes: Best International Entry and Best Irish Entry. Entry Fee: £ 5 for one, £ 10 for six.
1. What's the purpose of the literary competitions?| A．To attract more kids to write poems. |
| B．To bring up more Internet celebrities. |
| C．To make people know more about literature. |
| D．To offer a platform to those with writing dreams. |
| A．They should be Commonwealth citizens. |
| B．Their works should be up to 40 lines. |
| C．Their works should be aimed at teenagers. |
| D．They should write their stories in English. |
| A．Manning's Pit Poetry Competition. |
| B．Wundor Editions Poetry Competition. |
| C．Commonwealth Short Story Competition. |
| D．Southword Fiction Chapbook Competition. |
