Xu Beihong (1895~1953),
One of the earliest Chinese
For those in the art community, Xu
2 . Dede Gardner was born in Chicago in 1967 and studied English at Columbia University. Seventeen years after her graduation, she worked as President of Plan B Entertainment, a production company started by Brad Grey.
At Plan B, Dede finds stories to make into films. Jeremy Kleiner, who is now co-president of Plan B, says Dede was his mentor (导师) before he joined her as a producing partner. “I’ve had the honor to work with her for almost 20 years,” he says. “She’s just a one-of-a-kind person in so many ways. She is very brave and views storytelling as the focus of her films.”
This year, Dede is the only woman to have won two Best Picture Oscars, for Moonlight and 12 Years a Slave. Before, together with Kleiner, she won seven films to Best Picture nominations (提名) including Selma in 2015, The Big Short in 2016 and Minari in 2021.
“Basically, whatever Dede does, it turns to gold,” says Jessie Buckley, one of the stars of Women Talking. “Dede has also changed the culture of making movies. She is always there to make the set feel comfortable when we are obviously coming across difficult things. She’s a great example to follow. She’s very careful with protecting the workers’ voice.”
Dede is actually exploring a much healthier and kinder way to make movies. She’s a producer who consciously thinks about creating a set where there is care. That includes making sure there are therapists (治疗专家) on set for all the workers in case there are emergencies happening.
1. Who set up the company Plan B Entertainment?| A．Brad Grey. | B．Dede Gardner. |
| C．Jessie Buckley. | D．Jeremy Kleiner. |
| A．Storytelling. | B．Action. | C．History. | D．Adventure. |
| A．Moonlight. | B．Selma. | C．The Big Short. | D．Minari. |
| A．She is strict with her partners. | B．She always avoids difficulties. |
| C．She is successful and thoughtful. | D．She is a medical expert. |
Since 1981, Pat Sajak has been the host of Wheel of Fortune. And the show
“It’s
With Pat Sajak being 75 years old and Vanna White being 65, he shares that their time on the show will not be for much longer.
“Years go by fast,” Pat Sajak acknowledged. “We
In all his time hosting Wheel of Fortune, Pat has only stepped away once, and that was
Back in December 2021, when this
4 . Giorgio Morandi was one of the greatest artists in the history of Italy. He was the eldest of five children born into a middle-class family in Bologna, Italy. His early love of art upset his father, who wanted his son to work with him in his export business. Morandi attempted the business unsuccessfully in 1906.
After that, Morandi entered the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts in 1907. He continued his study with the support of his friends when his father suddenly passed away in 1908, forcing him to support his mother and younger sisters. During that time, he was introduced to Cubism and Futurism, which influenced his early work.
After he graduated from the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts in 1913, Morandi continued his study by traveling around Italy, especially to the Venice Biennale. Those tours would finally prove important, as much of Morandi’s exposure (接触) to painters came from published art works on the journey. He was particularly interested in the work of Impressionists like Claude Monet, as well as following greats such as Georges Seurat and Paul Cézanne.
After Morandi finished his traveling, he returned home and lived with his family. For many years, Morandi kept a peaceful daily routine. And he did most of his work in his workshop, a small room in a flat he shared with his mother and sisters.
Life wasn’t easy for him at first, but he quickly established himself as an important modern artist. His mastery of a skill of color, light and arrangement began to gain notice, shining in the face of present painting in the manner of abstraction (抽象). And he was named “one of the greatest painters living” by Roberto Longhi in 1934.
1. Why did Morandi’s early love of art worry his father?| A．It took Morandi too much time. |
| B．His father didn’t have money to support Morandi. |
| C．His father wanted Morandi to follow in his footsteps. |
| D．There were no suitable art teachers for Morandi. |
| A．He tried his father’s business. | B．He started his university life. |
| C．He traveled with his father. | D．He finished his study in school. |
| A．His love for his family. | B．His tours around Italy. |
| C．His middle-class background. | D．His exposure to his father’s business. |
| A．By asking questions. | B．By providing examples. |
| C．By following time order. | D．By making a comparison. |
5 . A 16-year-old girl from Changsha, Hunan province, successfully reached the top of Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, on Monday morning, becoming the youngest Chinese female to conquer the world’s highest top from the southern slope (坡).
Xu Zhuoyuan is a first year high school student from Hunan province. On April 15, she left Changsha for Nepal. On April 21, she began her long walk from Lukla. On April 28, she arrived at the base camp and started her altitude adaptation training at once. At 10 pm Beijing time on May 14, Xu Started walking from Camp 4 at an altitude of 7,950 meters on the southern slope of Qomolangma. After a punishing 10-hour climb, she successfully reached the summit.
Xu Zhuoyuan’s father, Xu Jianglei, was the first person from Hunan province to reach the top of Qomolangma. Xu Zhuoyuan has been exploring remote areas with him since she was very young. Despite her young age, Xu Zhuoyuan has already climbed five mountains over 5,000 meters in China. When she was 12 years old, she made a statement on Hunan TV saying, “I will climb Qomolangma.”
Four years later, she achieved her promise. Although Xu Zhuoyuan has rich climbing experience, she has been experiencing high-intensity professional training non-stop to conquer Qomolangma. Last year, she climbed Mount Muztagata, which stands 7,546 meters. “Human beings are small in the face of nature. We should respect nature and get closer to Qomolangma,” said Xu Zhuoyuan.
She brought the gloves her father used when he reached the top with her as a form of inheritance and to bear witness to her own dream coming true. After finishing her university studies, she hopes to continue climbing and achieve the “7+ 2” (7 tops plus the North and South Poles).
1. When did Xu Zhuoyuan arrive at the base camp?| A．On April 15. | B．On April 21. | C．On April 28. | D．On May 14. |
| A．Honest and sincere. | B．Clever and smart |
| C．Caring and devoted. | D．Determined and brave. |
| A．To describe his achievements. | B．To show his impact on his daughter. |
| C．To recognize his support for the girl. | D．To stress girls should be taken good care of. |
| A．A Great Father Shocks the Whole World |
| B．Qomolangma Draws More and More People |
| C．16-year old Girl Tops World’s Highest Mountain |
| D．Father and Daughter Conquer the Highest Mountain |
Yu Rong, a Chinese artist, thinks of a new way to introduce
Hua Mulan,
To better tell the story, Yu Rong takes inspiration from her several
7 . Who Was David Bowie?
David Bowie, born David Robert Jones in South London on January 8,1947, wasn’t just an incredible singer; he had an amazing talent for keeping his fans happily guessing about what he would do next. He alternated (交替) between different kinds of music with ease and established a successful acting career.
Who Is Jimmy Carter?
Everyone was rather surprised when small-town farmer Jimmy Carter first announced that he’d be running for president in 1976. When Jimmy told his mother, she replied, “President of what? “But this former naval officer and governor of Georgia was ready for the role. In this book, readers will learn about Jimmy Carter’s life as a farmer, a Sunday school-teacher, a president, a Nobel Prize winner, and more.
Who Was Walt Whitman?
Walt Whitman was a printer, journalist, editor, and schoolteacher. But today, he’s recognized as one of America’s founding poets, a man who changed American literature forever. Throughout his life, Walt journeyed everywhere, taking in all that America had to offer. Though hated and misunderstood by many at the time, Walt’s writing introduced an entirely new writing style.
Who Was Ernest Hemingway?
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t just a novelist. He was a hunter and a fisherman; he became an ambulance officer in Paris, France, during World War I; and he worked as a reporter during the civil war in Spain in the 1930s. All of these experiences had such an important impact on Ernest’s life that he used them as inspiration for some of his most famous novels, including The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea.
1. How did Jimmy Carter’s mother feel about his announcement?| A．Surprised. | B．Delighted. | C．Confused. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．His family origin. | B．His life experiences. |
| C．His hobbies and interests. | D．His education background. |
| A．They all came from America. | B．They were fond of literature. |
| C．They liked trying new things. | D．They showed interest in music. |
80-year-old Tatsuo Horiuchi from Japan is known all around the world for his incredible drawing skills. He doesn’t use pencils, pens or paint for his art. Instead, he
Around 20 years ago, before retiring, Horiuchi thought that he needed a new challenge in his life. So he settled on painting. However, he didn’t want to spend money on art
“I didn’t expect
“For the first 3 years, I focused
Six years after
Since then, he has become somewhat of a legend and he gets a great sense of
9 . Dmitry Doronin, a doctoral student from Russia, is keen (热衷的) to share his experience in rural villages in Zhejiang with his 1.4 million followers online.
Since Dmitry started to live in the countryside last August, the 32-year-old has created hundreds of video clips that record the relaxing lifestyle in Hengzhang village, Lishui city. “The rice is grown in the fields together with fish, which helps to increase local agricultural (农业的) products,” said Dmitry, while introducing products from Hengzhang village on the popular Chinese short-video platform Douyin. Besides filming videos, Dmitry also enjoys working with farmers in the fields, doing activities such as planting vegetables and feeding chickens.
Living in a village provides him with unique experiences, he says, quite different from busy life in big cities, such as Shanghai, where he studies. And he has been a pleasant surprise to the villagers as well. Villager Bao Mingyue, 76, says, “To our surprise, the young Russian not only knows how to cook Chinese food but is interested in working in the fields.”
Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, the sales of local agricultural products had dropped rapidly, so Dmitry volunteered to help sell the products in his videos. In a few months, 10, 000 kilograms of oranges, 4, 000 kilograms of dried sweet potatoes and 300 kilograms of honey had been sold.
“Thanks to his videos, it seems that more tourists have come to visit our village,” says 72-year-old Pan Xianyu, who is very pleased to see the great changes in her hometown. Dmitry loves his country life. “In the countryside, you can immerse (沉浸) yourself in the traditional way of life and understand this country better,” he says.
According to Dmitry, some Russians’ opinions about China are still out of date, although China has progressed greatly. “I would like to become a people-to-people envoy (使者) of friendship between the two countries by using the Internet,” he says.
1. It can be learnt from the passage that Dmitry .| A．is good at doing farm work | B．sells farmers’ products in Russia |
| C．gets much attention on the Internet | D．has lived in the countryside for years |
| A．common | B．special | C．similar | D．hard |
| A．show Dmitry’s influence on Hengzhang village |
| B．explain why the sales of sweet potatoes dropped |
| C．make more tourists interested in Hengzhang village |
| D．advise people to buy the products of Hengzhang village |
| A．improve their lives more quickly | B．make rapid progress in farming |
| C．study Chinese traditional way of life | D．have a better understanding of China |
10 . Think of somebody you really admire. You will probably find that their success didn’t come easily. As the “Father of Hybrid Rice(杂交水稻)”, Yuan Longping got over great difficulties and spent his whole life working to reduce world hunger and helping to feed the country with the largest population.
Wu Mengchao, the “Father of Chinese Hepatobiliary Surgery(肝胆外科)”, focused on saving people’s lives for nearly eighty years. He performed more than 16,000 operations during his life. Holding the surgeon’s knife for such a long time deformed his fingers, which are not in the shape of normal ones. Wu once said, “It would my greatest happiness if I could work at the operating table until my dying day.”
In 1969, in order to solve the problem of treating malaria(疟疾), Tu Youyou, the pharmacologist(药学家) took on the job as head of a research team. She and her teammates performed different kinds of experiments. However, the results were disappointing. Instead of giving up? They kept trying. Finally, in 1972, they made it! In 2015, at the age of 85, she received Nobel Prize.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb(灯泡) believed that every failure was a step towards success. He once said, “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong try is another step forward.”
Some people only became successful after their deaths. Not like Pablo Picasso who became famous and very rich during his lifetime, the artist Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting all through his life and that was to a friend. But he kept painting and he painted more than 2,000 artworks in the following ten years. Now his paintings are very popular and they sell for millions of pounds.
One thing all these people have in common is sticking to their goals no matter what.
1. What do Yuan Longping and Wu Mengchao have in common?| A．They succeeded in solving world problems. |
| B．They spent all their lives serving people. |
| C．They achieved a lot in the medical field. |
| D．They are remembered for their happiness. |
| A．changed the shape of his fingers | B．made him feel down |
| C．gave him too much pressure | D．got his fingers cut off |
| A．Pablo Picasso became famous after his death |
| B．Vincent van Gogh painted 2,001 artworks in his life |
| C．it took Tu Youyou’s team about 3 years to reach their goal |
| D．Thomas Edison tried 10,000 ways before he invented the light bulb |
| A．Not everyone can be successful. |
| B．The more difficulties, the better. |
| C．Great achievements aren’t made naturally. |
| D．Great hopes make great men. |
