Beethoven was born in Germany. He is regarded     1     one of the greatest composers in the history of music. Unfortunately, he     2     (begin) to lose his hearing in his twenties. He thought about giving up, but he continued to write music until his death in 1827. Beethoven produced some     3     (amaze) pieces, including his Symphony No. 9 in D minor.

One day in February 1824, Beethoven’s ninth symphony was     4     (final) completed. Before the performance, Beethoven was afraid that the performance would be     5     disaster. After all, he could not hear his orchestra — even if he is a musical genius.

The audience did not hesitate     6     (clap) and cheer loudly as Beethoven walked out onto the stage. For more than an hour, Beethoven jumped about in front of the orchestra,     7     (wave) his arms wildly in the air, and madly turning the pages of his score.

As the final,     8     (joy) note signalled the end of the symphony, the audience jumped to their     9     (foot), clapping, cheering and waving their hats. But Beethoven continued conducting, his head buried in the score. It was not until one of the singers took his arm and turned him to face the audience     10    Beethoven realised his symphony was a success.

Shi Jing, also called the Book of Songs, is the oldest existing     1     (collect) of Chinese poetry. When Chinese musician Fang Jinlong read Shi Jing, he was interested in the stories in the poems. Because he couldn't     2     (full) understand the ancient Chinese language     3     (use) in the poems, he turned to experts to explore the poems.

Then he decided to portray the poems with musical language by inviting composer Ma Jiuyue     4     (create) an album. Titled Music and the Book of Songs, the album was released on Jan. 18, 2021,     5     (feature) 10 original songs composed by Ma. They     6     (perform) by Fang and won great popularity.

The 10 songs are based     7     10 poems from Shi Jing, including Qiong Yao, which conveys gratitude to people who are eager to help others, and Swallows, which sends farewell messages to friends.

“Young people gave warm feedback about traditional Chinese music     8     they had watched my performance. It has inspired me to create more works for them, which helps popularize traditional Chinese music,” says Fang.

“The 10 pieces sound     9     (enjoy) and easy. For the listeners, it's a fresh way to comprehend poems from Shi Jing,” says Ma. “We spent three years working on     10     project. There are so many meanings in the poems and we want to display them as deep as possible with music," Ma says. "It's our mutual goal to have traditional Chinese music reach a wider audience.”

Charles Darwin, a young man just out of university in 1831,    1    (offer) a job on a ship on a voyage of discovery around the world. Life on board was tough. Darwin was    2    (terrible) seasick and was only happy when he was ashore collecting plant samples and observing animals. It was to be the most important journey in his life. It    3    (last) for five years. 

Darwin studied nature in South America and in a group of small islands in the South Pacific. On each island there were birds. They were very similar,    4     the shape of their beaks, and even their eating habits varied. Darwin wondered why they were different. Then he realized that over millions of years, all plants and animals have gradually changed into the forms we see today.    5     we call “the survival of the fittest” he named “natural selection”. He also called this slow process of change “evolution”. 

By 1846,he had published an article describing his voyage. Darwin spent the years    6     followed developing his theories and making them perfect. In 1859, he published them in The Origin of Species. It caused a huge    7    (argue). His The Descent of Man, 1871, pointed out that mankind    8    (come) from the same ancestor. Other scientists agreed with his ideas and took up    9    (he) cause. The church prohibited the    10    (teach) of The Theory of Evolution in some countries. However, today most people believe that Darwin is right.

Unlike most of her fellow postgraduates, who found jobs in big cities, Zhang Xiaoyang, after graduation from Zhejiang University three years ago, chose to go to DunHuang Academy,     1     (land) a job as an archaeologist.

Despite being the world’s largest treasure of Buddhist art, living conditions in Dunhuang, which sits in the Gobi Desert in Northwest China’s Gansu province,     2     (be) tougher than in China’s big cities. People working here have to battle with sand and wind and suffer from     3     (lonely).

Zhang,     4     her late 20s, has an intense routine. Assigned two stressful tasks, she spends most of the day       5     (work) with the excavation team in Tianwangtang. At night. she writes academic reports on the discoveries in Cave 254, which     6     (create) during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534).

“Dunhuang is a place of magic. For those who once planned to work here     7     (temporary), maybe it will be a few years     8     they move to bigger cities. But I’m totally fascinated by the site and amazed at     9     the ancient people lived in the desert around then. So I have decided to stay for decades,” said Zhang Xiaoyang.

Her story is featured in The Master of Dunhuang,     10     three—episode documentary, currently available on the streaming site Tencent Video, which has gained a lot of attention online.

Every     1     (artist) wish is to create something     2     expresses an idea. But who or what     3     (inspire) them? Here are three artists and their sources of inspiration.

Florentjin Hofman is     4     visual artist. Rubber Duck and Floating Fish are his famous     5     (work). The sources of his inspiration are his children’s toys, Chinese folk tales     6     the experience in Wuzhen.

Tan Dun, a composer, who is known for     7     (compose) music for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sources of his inspiration come from a mix of Chinese     8    (music) traditions and Western influences.

Yang Liping is a dancer known     9     the “Peacock Princess” because of her Spirit of the Peacock dance. As for     10     (she), the sources of inspiration are the life in Xishuangbana, the dance style of the Dai people and the Dai people's traditional belief.

The person I respect most is the geophysicist Huang Danian, who committed himself to     1     (make) many technological advances.

Huang     2     (acknowledge) as an extraordinary scientist. He had studied and worked in Britain for 18 years, but upon     3     (know) his country needed him, he quit his well­paid job and returned to China. Over the next seven years, Huang developed many     4     (device) needed for deep­sea exploration.

Unfortunately, such     5     (remark) achievements didn’t come cheap. As     6     consequence of the frantic pace of his research, Huang was absent from his father’s funeral, and even his own cancer went undetected as he had no time     7     (see) a doctor. To sum     8    , Huang sacrificed everything for his research, so it is vital that more people should honour him.

As a player, Lang Ping was     1     (remark) for bringing honour and glory to China. As a coach, she led the China women's volleyball team to medals at world championships and the Olympics. As a person, Lang Ping is loved by fans at home     2    abroad. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her     3     (determine) was tested. The team that Lang Ping    4     (build) was falling apart. One of the best players had been injured, and the team captain had to leave because of heart problems. Lang Ping was seized by     5    burst of sadness, but she did not lose heart. She had faced difficulties before, and she knew that her young players could live up     6    her expectations and could never     7     (defeat) if they carried on     8     (cooperate) with each other as a team. Two weeks later, their efforts paid     9    and they were world champions! Then in 2016, Lang Ping led her volleyball team to Olympic gold in Brazil.

After     1     (inform) of the advertisement in the newspaper, Perce Blackborow was delighted     2     (join) the Antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton no matter what challenges might lie ahead. But     3     upset him that his application     4     (reject) because he was too young and not qualified for the expedition. Nevertheless, he managed to get aboard the Endurance with his friend’s help. He hid in a cupboard, but was soon discovered     5     embarrassment and brought to Shackleton. Although the captain was angry,     6     gentleness he assigned the boy to cook for the crew. Their voyage did not go smoothly, and the Endurance became stuck in the ice. Before the Endurance was crushed and sank into the sea, Shackleton thought it worthwhile     7     (give) up the ship, and the crew had to camp on ice. They then sailed to Elephant Island. Soon after that, Shackleton selected a boat party and set off     8     a quick pace for South Georgia Island to seek help.