Alice was a stubborn girl     1     always wanted to be a singer. Music was the     2     important thing in her life. She took lessons for years and     3     (practice) hard, but in spite of all the efforts she made, her voice didn’t improve. In fact, it didn’t get better, it just got     4     (loud).

Her teacher     5     (final) gave up and stopped the lessons,     6     Alice refused to give in, and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her teacher     7     (attend). The teacher was very worried about     8     to say after the concert. She knew it would be terrible and it was. She didn’t want to tell a lie, but she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings, either. Then she got an idea and went backstage (后台) to greet her pupil.

“Well,” said Alice, “What do you think of     9     (I) singing?”

“My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll never be better     10     you were tonight.”

Confucius(孔子) is honored     1     setting the tone for much traditional Chinese music for thousands of years. He     2     (think) to be a great educator. However, he is also a     3     (talent) musician who was able to play several instruments expertly. Perhaps nowadays for people around the world, music     4    (mean) mainly for amusement. But during the time of the Zhou Dynasty about 500 BC, music had an important role in making society stable.

How music was used and performed is expressed in several main Confucian books. Confucius taught that     5     (educate) somebody, you should start with poems, emphasize ceremonies, and finish with music.

Musical knowledge was     6     matter of higher learning. It is said that he thought of the six most important subjects to study,     7    (rank) music higher than the other five necessary subjects like writing and mathematics.

Music was important because the ideal society was to be governed by ritual (礼制) functions, but not by law. In a culture     8     people function according to ritual, music is used to help govern them. So music wasn’t really     9     (entertain), but a means for musicians to accomplish political and social goals. Music is     10     (eventual) a means for social happiness.

Do you have any idea of New Year paintings?    1    (know) as “paper paintings” and “painted pictures”, New Year paintings    2    (recognize) as a special art form in Chinese folk culture so far. Without New Year paintings,our traditional Chinese folk culture would be much less     3    (color). The paintings get such a name because they are    4    (most) posted during the Chinese New Year holiday for decoration. Also,they have been accepted as    5     symbol of New Year’s greetings already. 

New Year paintings    6    (appear) around the Tang dynasty. In the Song dynasty,the New Year paintings were created on a large scale(规模). With the printing techniques improving, the forms of New Year paintings became various. The paintings became very popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

There are many traditional printing     7    (method) of New Year paintings and     8     include woodblock printing, stone-block printing,offset printing, watercolor painting, etc.    9     is reported, woodblock-printed New Year paintings are the most popular and interesting ones, according     10     a recent survey.