3 . Elito Circa is a Filipino artist who rose to fame for using his own blood to create canvas (油画布) paintings, which has attracted both praise and criticism over the years.

Born in a poor family that couldn’t afford to buy proper art supplies, Elito Circa experimented with a variety of unusual mediums as a child, including tomatoes, but it was when he accidentally scraped (刮破) his hand that he discovered the art medium that would mark his artistic career—his own blood. He quickly realized that the blood was not only harder to erase from the canvas, but it also made his artworks his own in a way that he had never imagined before.

Every time he scraped his body, young Elito used the blood as paint, but as he grew older he realized that his “paint” needed to be supplied stably, so he started visiting a clinic in Manila to have it drawn periodically. Nowadays, he stops by the clinic about once every three months. He then stores his blood in a freezer in his studio.

Although Elito has been criticized for his use of blood as paint in the past few years, the Filipino artist has always made it clear that he wants to change people’s view of blood through his art. “People are afraid of blood, because in their minds, blood means death,” Elito said in an interview. “But I want to twist that belief. That’s why I’m addressing its use because I want people to think that it’s not death, but love and life.”

It’s unclear how much of his own blood Elito Circa has stored in his art studio, but it must be a lot, because he has announced a plan to create the largest ever “blood painting” on a 100-meter canvas next year, expecting to set a new world record.

5 . Mozart was one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He was born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1756. Even when he was very young, Mozart loved music. His father, who was the leader of an orchestra, was very happy that his son was so interested in music. When Mozart was three years old, he learned to play the harpsichord, which is a kind of piano. Mozart began to compose music at the age of five, and his father took him to play in front of the kings and queens of Europe.

At one concert, one of the violinists was missing from the orchestra. Mozart picked up a violin and played the music without a mistake. Mozart’s father and the other players in the orchestra were surprised. Mozart had never been taught to play the violin! Mozart continued traveling around Europe with his father, who was his teacher in everything. He composed many pieces for the piano, the violin, and later for full orchestra.

Mozart could write down a piece of music even if he had heard it only once. One day, he went to hear a group of people singing in a big church in Rome. The song was very special. The church leader said that people could sing the song only once a year, and only in his church. No one else was allowed to have the music. Mozart listened to the song. Although it was very difficult and long, Mozart went back home and wrote down the whole piece from memory. The head of the church heard about this, and instead of being angry with Mozart, he gave him a prize. When Mozart grew up, people were not so interested in him. He worked as a teacher and pianist, but he did not make much money. In 1791, at the age of 35, he died. He was so poor that there was not enough money for him to have a proper grave. No one knows where he is buried.

7 . Spider-Man has made a net of wonder for 60 years. The superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first appeared in 1962 for a comic ( 连 环 漫 画 )titled Amazing Fantasy. The story began with an ordinary teen, Peter Parker, who obtained supernatural abilities after being bitten by a dangerous spider.

Today, Spider-Man is the world's favorite superhero. The character earns billions of dollars in licensing fees for toys, clothing, entertainment, books, and more. Visitors can even explore his heritage in an exhibition at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego, California. It's called Beyond Amazing:Spider-Man.

On July 20, Spider-Man entered the Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame, which was created in 2019. Spider-Man is the fourth superhero to receive the honor. He joins Batman, Pac- Man, and Wonder Woman.

“Everyone relates to this extraordinary character,” said Rita Vandergaw, the museum's executive director, as she presented the honor. “Spider-Man, a friendly neighborhood superhero, is one of the most recognizable icons (偶像) in the world and a great testament to the power of comics and the popular arts.”

C. B. Cebulski, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and Brian Crosby, creative director of themed entertainment, accepted the award on behalf of Marvel.

“The message of Spider-Man is that anybody can wear the mask, ”said 14-year-old film fan Zaky Lozuk of San Diego. “There's a Spider-Man story for everybody to find themselves in. ”

The Spider-Verse is a universe of stories and spin-off characters, including the female Ghost- Spider and the biracial teenager, Miles Morales. “Peter Parker leaves us a tremendous heritage, and Spider-Man has taught us that with great power comes great responsibility, ”Crosby said.

Exhibits like the one in San Diego encourage visitors to step into the story and imagine the heroes of tomorrow. “The Spider-Verse just continues to grow,” Crosby said to young fans “Someday, you kids are going to write the next chapter of Spider-Man, and we'll have a front-row seat for whatever that story is. ”

8 . Daniel Brush, an astonishing worker in gold, jewels and steel died on November 2022, aged 75. Students from a jewellery school once came to Brush’s studio, a loft in mid-Manhattan, awed to be meeting a figure who, to them, was a worker of miracles.

For 45 years in that loft, he had pursued his calling. His wife Olivia was the only company. He produced hundreds of objects of all sorts, most of them exquisite and many astonishingly small. Rather than use electricity, he laboured alone in a forest of antique machines and when tools frustrated him he made his own, displaying them in cupboards as art in themselves.

Above all else, he worked in gold. His obsession took fire when at 13 he saw an Etruscan gold bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The ancient technique of applying gold beads as fine as sand-grains to a curved gold surface without solder (焊接), was stunning, but so was the lightness of spirit.

He resolved then that he would make such a bowl, and gold became the study of his life. Simply to watch it melt, turn to red-hot and white-hot, then glow purple, was magical. To hold pure gold grain and let it move slowly through his fingers restored his calm of spirit. His chief motivation, he said, was to understand the material and, through that, himself. He wondered why his heart had beaten so fast in the museum that day. Gold in particular had a message for him. His contact with this glorious metal might focus all his attention and help him to hear it.

He developed delicate craftsmanship, with each object virtually a museum piece. For Daniel Brush, he loved the idea that one might take a piece made by Brush out of a pocket, let its beauty pass from mind to mind, and smile. That too was what its maker was after.

Su Mingjuan, the former poster girl for China’s most     1     (influence) education charity, has recently come back in the national spotlight as a delegate(代表) to the 20th National Congress of the Communism Party of China.

In 1991, a photograph of the then 8-year-old Su,     2     a pair of large, bright eyes crying for knowledge,     3    (touch) the hearts of numerous people. Su was born into     4     poor farming family in Jinzhai, East China’s Anhui Province. The image of Su, then a first-grader, was     5     (actual) taken by a photographer who went into the remote mountainous areas to see how the Project Hope had helped rural drop-outs.

Su became the poster girl for Project Hope after this image impressed many people in China. Project Hope, which     6     (found) by the China Youth Development Foundation in 1989, is devoted to     7     (help) poor children get education. Over the past three     8     (decade), it has made a difference in the lives of 6 million students from poor families nationwide, among     9     is Su. The picture of Su, entitled “I want to go to school”, has been reprinted nationwide in newspapers, magazines and billboards, and has since become a symbol of the country’s efforts     10    (promote) nine-year compulsory education among all school-age children.