As William Shakespeare is to literature in English, so is the poet Du Fu to the Chinese literary tradition. “We have Dante, Shakespeare and Du Fu. These poets create the very values by which poetry is judged,” remarked Harvard Professor Stephen Owen in Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet, a BBC documentary that aired on April 7.
Aimed at introducing the charm and beauty of traditional Chinese literature to viewers around the globe, the documentary invited the famous British actor Ian McKellen, who played the wizard Gandalf in the film series The Lord of the Rings, to read 15 of Du’s poems that have been translated into English.
The one-hour film traces the poet’s life experiences in detail. Born in 712, Du lived in the reign of the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang(712—756), a time marked by extraordinary prosperity, inclusiveness and glorious cultural accomplishments.
However, as An Lushan’s rebel army floored the empire, the 43-year-old Du, the former civil servant at the Tang court, had to take his family out of his hometown, and faced starvation and sufferings. Through ups and downs, the poet never stopped writing and about 1,500 poems have been kept over the ages.
Even though he never held a high position in the government, Du still cared about common people. For example, in the poem My Cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales, he wrote that “Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I’d house all poor scholars and make them beam with pleasure”.
“That is why he is honored as the Poet Sage by later generations. A difficult life and his spirit of concern about the world helped him create so many masterpieces,” Shi Wenxue, a cultural critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times.
Without doubt Du is a cultural symbol of ancient China, but his brilliant works and core spirits have also inspired people outside China. As the documentary notes, his work represents a precious cultural heritage for the entire world, not just China.
1. What can we know about the documentary?| A．It introduces Shakespeare. |
| B．Du Fu is acted by Ian McKellen in it. |
| C．Its target audience is Chinese. |
| D．It shows 15 of Du Fu’s poems to the audience. |
| A．The concern about common people. |
| B．My Cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales. |
| C．The low position in the government. |
| D．The sentence of the poem. |
| A．His work experience. |
| B．Hard life and his caring spirit. |
| C．An Lushan’s rebel army. |
| D．The Tang Dynasty’s cultural background. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. |
| C．Literature. | D．Science. |
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【推荐1】As a Fulbright（富布莱特法案基金）scholar at Yale, I wanted very much to get some individual help from some famous professors, but their office-hours were only once a week and there were always students waiting outside. At first, I was too polite to get their help. Then I realized that Chinese politeness does not work in this society. I needed to be aggressive to get what I wanted. I also noticed that Chinese students or Asian students were very polite in class while American students often interrupted the professor, asking questions and dominating the discussion. The Chinese students were not as aggressive as American students.
I was impressed by the role of the professor in the class. The professor didn’t act as an authority, giving final conclusions, but as a researcher looking for answers to questions together with the students. One linguistic feature of his interacting with his students was that he used many modal verbs-far more than I did in Beiwai. When answering questions, he usually said: “this is my personal opinion and it could be wrong. It would be a good idea if you could read the book I mentioned the other day.” Or,“ You may find the book I recommended helpful.” Or,“You could be right, but you might find this point of view also interesting.” When making comments on students’ performances, the professor usually said:” It might have been much clearer if you had taken in some of the ideas we discussed earlier this semester.”
In China, authorities are always supposed to give wise decisions and correct directions. Therefore students always expect the professor to give an answer to the question. I still remember how annoyed they were when foreign teachers did not provide such an answer. Their expectations from authorities are much higher than those of American students. Once the Chinese students got the answer, they were sure about it. That is why they make far more certain statement than American students. That is why Chinese students find it difficult to use modal verbs because the function of modal verbs is to provide room for negotiation and different ideas.
1. The American professors use many modal verbs because they want to______.| A．argue with their students |
| B．be more sure about their answers |
| C．express their ideas more clearly |
| D．develop their students’ own way of thinking |
| A．Chinese professors can always give correct answer to the question. |
| B．American professors are not responsible since they don’t give students answers. |
| C．American education produces aggressive students. |
| D．Education in China is not helpful in developing students’ creativity. |
| A．Comparison and contrast. | B．Cause and effect. |
| C．Giving examples. | D．Description. |
| A．Positive | B．Negative |
| C．Neutral | D．Unsure |
【推荐2】This is a typical (典型的) day for Yang Jinlong.
At 9 a. m., he drives to primary schools and middle schools in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, to teach students about Shaanxi kuaiban. It is a traditional Chinese form of storytelling to the rhythm (节奏) of bamboo clapper (响板), which the art form is named after. Sometimes, he helps students prepare for competitions. Usually, his classes run until about 6 p. m. and then he returns home to prepare classes for the next day.
On June 10, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced 325 national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) items in Beijing, increasing the list to1, 557 items. Shaanxi kuaiban, which appeared during the late Qing Dynasty, has been included. The form has been introduced to local schools as part of their art education.
Yang has been teaching young people the art form since 2003 after graduating from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing. He studied quyi there. Quyi is a general term for Chinese folk art forms, including storytelling crosstalk and clapper talk.
“Art education is important for students in China. Just as many students learn to play Western musical instruments like the piano and vioiin, there are many people learning traditional Chinese folk arts, including Shaanxi kuaiban, which I’ll work for my whole life,” he said.
Kuaiban is popular in northern China, including Beijing and Tianjin. According to Yang, Shaanxi kuaiban was influenced by the art of different areas. The art form can be played by a group of players or only one. With one or two pairs of kuaiban of different sizes in hand, the players speak in the local dialect (方言) while telling stories, which are usually about heroes. The player tells stories while playing kuaiban, and it’s easy for the watchers to remember the stories since all the lines rhyme.
Thanks to artists like Yang, this traditional Chinese form of storytelling is passed on and stays alive in our country.
1. Why is today a typical day for Yang Jinlong?| A．He is teaching students about kuaiban as usual. |
| B．His work starts at 9 and lasts 6 hours like every day. |
| C．He is preparing for a kuaiban competition today. |
| D．His life today is as busy and boring as every day. |
| A．It is named after the Shaanxi dialect. |
| B．It is listed in the national intangible cultural heritage. |
| C．It is more popular than the piano and violin in northern China. |
| D．It is played to tell stories usually about common people. |
| A．Devoted. | B．Stressed. | C．Generous. | D．Curious. |
| A．To show how to play Shaanxi kuaiban in the local dialect. |
| B．To tell the difference between Chinese and Western arts. |
| C．To prove that kuaiban players are living a busy life. |
| D．To praise the work of spreading traditional Chinese art. |
【推荐3】Learning how to cope with death has always been a central part of human existence. Even the Pixar movie Coco bases its story on the Mexican traditions of Dia de los Muertos. In this article, you will find out why and how Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead.
I once visited the Museum of Mummies in the Mexican city of Guanajuato with a Swedish friend. The mummies were displayed among fake cobwebs ( 蜘 蛛 网 ), and other cheap adornments (装饰物). Confronted with this seeming lack of respect for the dead, I explained to my shocked companion that Mexicans have a peculiarly different relationship with death to other cultures. As the Nobel Prize-winning Mexican writer Octavio Paz explained in his work:
“The Mexican ... is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, and celebrates it. True, there is as much fear in his attitude as in that of others, but at least death is not hidden away: he looks at it face to face, with impatience, disdain (鄙视) or irony.”
The celebration of the Day of the Dead — a week of festivities from 28 October to 2 November — is an essential part of this embracement of death that is particular to Mexican national identity. The popular belief is that the dead have divine permission to visit friends and relatives on earth and enjoy once again the pleasures of life. Therefore, Mexicans visit the graves of families and friends and adorn them with colorful flowers and offerings of food. The period is a joyous celebration of life, rather than a sober mourning of its passing.
The origins of the festival lie in the 16th-century fusion of the Aztecs’ belief in death as merely one part in the wider cycle of existence, their ritual venerations (仪式崇拜) and offerings to the goddess Mictecacihuatl (“Lady of the Dead”) for the deceased, and the Spanish conquerors’ desire to accommodate these festivities within the Catholic celebrations of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
In a country as socially and geographically diverse as Mexico, there is significant regional variation in the nature of festivities: the southern state of Chiapas is far more likely to focus its efforts on processions ( 队 伍 ) and public commemorations( 纪 念 ) of death than the valley of
Mexico, where the decoration of altars ( 供 坛 ) in homes and tombs of the deceased is more popular. Urbanization, too, plays a large role in regional variations. For the south and rural areas the period holds far greater social and cultural significance than in the north and large cities; families and communities in rural areas will often spend large parts of the year preparing for the occasion.
1. Why does the author say “Mexicans have a peculiarly different relationship with death to other cultures?”| A．Because Mexicans always show their respect for death in the form of mummies. |
| B．Because Mexicans do not fear death or respect it. |
| C．Because adornments like flowers can be seen everywhere during the Day of the Dead. |
| D．Mexicans face death bravely rather than hide it away. |
| A．It was the Aztecs who determined how to celebrate the Day of the Dead. |
| B．The Aztecs believed death was part of the wider cycle of existence. |
| C．The Aztecs would give offerings to the goddess of death for their lost loved ones. |
| D．The Spanish conquerors wanted to fit the festivities into some of their Catholic celebrations. |
| A．Because they can ask God to permit the dead to visit them in this way. |
| B．To celebrate the joy of new life in spring. |
| C．Because the dead will be permitted to visit their families and enjoy the pleasure of life again. |
| D．Because this is an essential part of embracement of death. |
| A．People in the south and rural areas put more emphasis on the occasion. |
| B．People in the valleys usually decorate the alters in homes and the tombs of the dead. |
| C．People in the north and big cities spend large part of the year preparing for the celebration. |
| D．The southern states do not care about the decoration of alters at home. |
Having Dinner with Children
Even if you are not there at home for a whole day, you should make sure that you have dinner with your children. Moreover, you should make it a point that you are having dinner with your entire family. Also, you should avoid watching TV when you are having dinner with your family.
Helping Child Complete Homework
Helping your child complete homework will help you know how he/she is at studies. It is not that you have to spend hours regularly helping your child with homework. But, sometimes you can help your child solve some questions. In this way, you will get to spend time with your child as well as get to know about his or her studies.
Fun Activities
During weekends you can indulge your child in fun activities like gardening, painting etc. However, do not force your child to do so. You can also spend some time in teaching your child finger painting, vegetable painting and craft work. You may even help your child complete his or her art and craft assignments. These activities will help you improve creativity of your child as well as the interaction between you and your child.
1. The passage is mainly about_________.
| A．the importance of spending time with children |
| B．the ways to spend time with children |
| C．the reasons to spend time with children |
| D．the activities children like to take part in |
| A．watch TV with their children |
| B．stay at home a whole day |
| C．spend time with the whole family |
| D．avoid listening to some music |
| A．push | B．put | C．ask | D．allow |
| A．Spending time with children for parents is a must. |
| B．Parents should spend time regularly with children’s homework. |
| C．Helping children with homework will help improve their creativity. |
| D．Parents should pick up their children regularly. |
【推荐2】Why do you like the music you do? You would think that it is because of the music itself. But that’s only half the story. Surprisingly, the other half of the story doesn’t have much to do with music at all. By analyzing the public personalities of famous musicians, and the personality traits of their fans, a group of researchers found that people prefer the music of artists whose public personalities are similar to their own.
In three separate studies of more than 80,000 people, the researchers looked at several factors, personality ratings of 50 of the most famous musicians, listener reactions to music, and the lyrics in the artists’ music. The musicians studied were different, ranging from Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Elton John. Whitney Houston, The Rolling Stones to Beyonce, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, and Ozzy Osbourne.
The results from the three studies show that the fit in personality between the listener and the musician predicts musical preferences. It’s important to note that the public personalities of the musicians were measured, not their real personalities. The findings show how music gives fans a sense of pride and belonging to a social world. Even more, the results shed light on the evolutionary origins of music, which say that music evolved as a way to communicate groups’ characteristics which helped group members decide whether or not to work with each other. All of those make the findings a major advance in this area of research.
The findings are showing us how music can be “a common denominator” to bring people together. They can also pave the way for a new approach for record companies to attract audiences. Besides, the findings can be applied to situations involving mental health. For example, in times of stress and uncertainty, listeners can seek music of artists with similar personalities to themselves and feel understood and a sense of connection.
1. What are the key factors that influence listeners’ preference according to the researchers?| A．The lyrics in the music |
| B．The styles of the music. |
| C．The listeners’ former experiences. |
| D．The musicians’ public personalities. |
| A．They have shown the social power of music. |
| B．They can make people improve their personalities |
| C．They encourage musicians to produce better music. |
| D．They can help listeners develop better taste in music. |
| A．A. secret. | B．A. purpose. |
| C．A similarity. | D．A skill. |
| A．The importance of listening to popular music. |
| B．The methods of treating mental illness with music. |
| C．The reasons for the progress of the music industry. |
| D．The potential applications of the research findings. |
| A．Health | B．Culture |
| C．Education | D．Science |
【推荐3】Never play games with a bot(robot)—it will find a way to cheat if it can. A team from OpenAI, an artificial intelligence lab in San Francisco, has developed artificially intelligent bots that taught themselves to cooperate by playing hide-and-seek. The bots also learned how to use basic tools to help them win.
Bowen Baker at Open AI and his colleagues wanted to see if the team-based dynamics of the OpenAI Five could be used to produce skills that could one day be useful to humans.
The researchers set their bots loose in a simulated (模拟的) environment filled with fixed walls, movable boxes and ladders, and left them to play team games of hide-and-seek. The bots each had their own view of the world and couldn’t communicate with each other directly.
At first, the hiders simply ran away. But they soon worked out that the quickest way to stop the seekers was to find objects in the environment to hide themselves from view. The seekers learned that they could move boxes around and use them to climb over walls. The bots then discovered that being a team-player -passing objects to each other or cooperating on a hideout -was the quickest way to win.
But the real surprise came when the bots started making use of problems or faults. Seekers found that if they pushed a ladder towards a wall, they could launch themselves into the air and spot hiders from above. Hiders found that they could get rid of the ladders by pushing them aside.
It shows that AIs are able to find solutions that humans miss, says Baker. “Maybe they’ll even be able to solve problems that humans don’t yet know how to.” However, it is a large leap (跳跃) from virtual hide and seek to real problem-solving. “The main limitation is that it is in simulation,” says Chelsea Finn at Stanford University.
1. Why did Bowen and his colleagues conduct the research?| A．To teach bots to play games. |
| B．To train bots to use basic tools. |
| C．To find if bots may cheat like humans. |
| D．To see the potential of robots cooperation. |
| A．The tools of the research. | B．The design of the research. |
| C．The competitors of the game. | D．The environment of the game. |
| A．Making use of faults. | B．Moving boxes around. |
| C．Passing objects. | D．Hiding themselves from view. |
| A．It can bridge a gap in the AI research. |
| B．It will not be influenced by the real world. |
| C．It may not be realized out of the virtual world. |
| D．It will definitely help the real problem-solving. |
【推荐1】Nancy Tillman’s wonderful On the Night You Were Born is one of my favorite books. Its celebration of the uniqueness of each and every child told in lyrical language makes it the gift I choose most often for expectant or adoptive parents. I also read it regularly with my grandchildren and talk with them about how special they are.
Tillman feels that the most important message for children to receive is simply, “You are loved.” And it’s that message that is the focus of this, her newest book, Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You. Once again, it is her turn of phrase that most fascinates me: In the green of the grass ... in the smell of the sea ... in the clouds floating by ... at the top of a tree ... in the sound crickets make at the end of the day ... “You are loved. You are loved. You are loved,” they all say. Phrases encourage children to grow, to try new things, to “march to the front” of their “own parade” and assures them that, no matter how far they go or what they do, they will be loved.
Though the words alone would convince me to buy, share and recommend this book, Tillman is also a gifted artist and her lovely work makes this book a visual treasure as well. Through the pages, a child rides hippos, splashes in the surf with elephants, plays hide and seek with rabbits, shares a trampoline (蹦床) with a kangaroo and enjoys some quiet time with a pair of pandas. My favorite drawing has the child walking away along a wide path that runs between trees covered in mist. In all of the drawings, swirls of sparkling lights wrap around the child--the love that will always be with him/her.
I’ve read On the Night You Were Born dozens of times and with every single reading, I am incredibly touched. Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You creates the same feeling of wonder, peace and happiness in me. It’s a keep-forever book and I’m so happy to have it in my collection to share with the children I love most.
1. The purpose of this passage is to _____.| A．encourage people to buy Nancy Tillman’s books for their children |
| B．recommend Tillman’s new book--Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You |
| C．advocate the theme of love among family members |
| D．Let children know they are loved and educate them to love others |
| A．Nancy Tillman’s book On the Night You Were Born encourages children to try new things. |
| B．The most important focus of Tillman’s books is for children to know they are loved. |
| C．The writer considers Tillman a gifted artist for her vivid use of words and rich imagination. |
| D．The writer has bought and read both of Tillman’s books mentioned in this passage. |
| A．The words alone makes Tillman’s books the writer’s favorite. |
| B．Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You is published earlier than On the Night You Were Born. |
| C．My favorite drawing shows the feeling of wonder with the child swirling in sparkling lights. |
| D．The drawings in Wherever You Are convey love with pictures involving animals. |
【推荐2】Louise Gluck has been no stranger to awards over her long and storied career, since her first publication in 1968. In 1993, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, The Wild Iris. And on Oct 8 she became the 16th woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature with the Nobel prizes first awarded in 1901.
Gluck was honored “for her unmistakable poetic voice that, with plain beauty, makes individual existence universal”. Often said to be an autobiographical poet, drawing from her life, “she is not to be regarded as a confessional poet (告白派诗人). Gluck seeks the universal,” Nobel Committee Chair Anders Olsson said in a statement.
Gluck, 77, the author of 12 poetry collections, has been able to turn her life experiences into universal themes covering life, loss, and loneliness. Because of this, readers have often found her poetry to be “dark”. However, there is much more than darkness in her voice, as noted by Olsson. “It is straightforward and a voice full of humor and biting wit,” he said.
For example, in her poem Snowdrops, she uses the coming of spring after winter to show rebirth of life after death. She leads readers down a depressing path only to reconnect with the light at the near end. At the conclusion of the poem, readers are left to feel the “raw wind of the new world” as they watch a new spring. This is often the case in Gluck’s poetry, being able to feel joy even after not having done so for a long time.
When her work Faithful Virtuous Night received a National Book Award for Poetry in 2014, a judge for the award went on to say, the collection comes from “a world where darkness blurs (使模糊) ordinarily sharp edges around the oppositions of our lives－loss and renewal, male and female, the living and the dead”.
Although she’s already a well-known writer, experienced in exploring pain and healing, Gluck did feel honored to be given the Nobel award. However, when asked what the prize means to her, the poet responded by saying, “It’s too new... I don’t know really what it means.” Her only hope is that she can continue her daily life.
1. What can we know about Louise Gluck?| A．Her first book was published in 1993. |
| B．The Wild Iris won her the Nobel Prize in literature. |
| C．She draws from her life experiences in her writing. |
| D．She is seen as a successful confessional poet. |
| A．They focus on individual existence. | B．They are too dark for readers. |
| C．They are mainly about human psychology. | D．They are frank and humorous in style. |
| A．To introduce the main plots of this poem. |
| B．To describe Gluck’s creativity in choosing themes. |
| C．To show the features of Gluck’s poetry. |
| D．To explain Gluck’s purpose in writing Snowdrops. |
| A．She is not qualified for the prize. | B．It is not meaningful for her. |
| C．It may influence her daily life. | D．The history of the award isn’t long. |
【推荐3】Writing poetry is a way to express emotions without directly stating what you are describing. Writing poetry for the first time can be challenging, but there are so many ways to start and finish a poem.
Keep in line with your emotions.
Decide on a theme for your poem. A theme is your topic and your opinion on the topic.
Use rhyming (押韵的) words if you’d like your poem to have rhythm. Some poetry uses rhyming words at the end of each line or every other line to create a flow. If you’d like to use rhyming words in your poetry, try to insert them as you write, instead of thinking of them before you start writing. For example, a poem could use rhyming words, like seen, clean, mean and glean. Feel free to use rhymes in your poetry!
Don’t feel like your poem has to be a certain length. There is no limit as to how long a poem is. Some are a mere sentence long, while others are paragraphs long or even the length of a novel. It all depends on when you are satisfied with your work.
| A．Your first poem can be short |
| B．Revise your first draft of your poem |
| C．Remember that not all poems rhyme |
| D．A lot of poetry is flooded with feelings |
| E．Read famous poems as examples to follow |
| F．Something like “a sunflower” is just a topic |
| G．Use descriptive language to create a picture |
