1 . About 20 years ago, Daniel Hoffman, a classically trained violinist met a young musician playing in the town square in Marrakech, an ancient city in Morocco. They communicated in the little French they both knew, but their main common language was music. On the back of a motorbike of the fellow violinist, Hoffman weaved through the back streets of the city and then learned his first lessons in Andalusian music, the classical music of North Africa.
That experience gave birth to an idea: What would it be like to try to learn how to play different violin styles around the world in just one week? Oh. yes, and at the end of that week, play a concert. He even got a name for the concept “musical extreme sports”.
It took him almost two decades to launch that dream with a friend, who introduced him to the wonders of Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects. Up to now, the dream has taken the form of a new documentary currently airing on American public television stations called “Otherwise, It’s Just Firewood.”
In the documentary, Hoffman travels to County Clare, Ireland, where he takes lessons with James Kelly, a master Irish violin player, for less than a week and then performs together with him in front of an audience, many of whom are star Irish musicians.
The film is what Hoffman hopes will be the first of an eventual series of short documentaries, showing him learning to play the violin in a variety of styles, including the folk music of south India, Sweden, Greece, Romania, and West Virginia.
That would add to his extensive repertoire (全部曲目), which already includes Balkan, Middle Eastern, and Turkish styles. “The big joke is what’s the difference between the fiddle and the violin? It’s the person who plays it,” says Niall Keegan, a traditional flute player. “It’s the music you make on it that makes it Irish or English or French or classical or jazz or whatever else. It’s how we imagine it and how we create through it that make it and give it character.”
“Otherwise, it’s just firewood,” he says, words that became the film’s title.
1. Where does Hoffman’s idea of musical extreme sports come from?| A．His exploration of the local music. |
| B．His cooperation with the young violinist. |
| C．His sightseeing tour on a motorbike seat. |
| D．His constantly changing taste in violin styles. |
| A．help Hoffman to become a master violin player |
| B．are funded by American public television stations |
| C．introduce different styles of musicians around the world |
| D．record Hoffman’s experience in learning various violin styles |
| A．the power of diversified artistic expression |
| B．the pleasure in learning traditional music |
| C．the technique of instrument playing |
| D．the importance of famous artists |
Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius: wildly imaginative, passionately curious and creative across multiple disciplines—painting, architecture, aeronautics, and engineering. Yet oddly the word “genius” minimizes him by making it seem as if he were touched by lightning.His early biographer made this mistake: “Sometimes, in a supernatural fashion, a single person is gifted by heaven with beauty, grace, and talent in such abundance that seems that his every act is divine(天赐的)”. In fact, the self-taught Leonardo’s genius was shaped by his own will and ambition. It did not come from being the divine recipient, like Newton or Einstein.
Part of what made Leonardo a genius, what set him apart from people who are merely extraordinarily smart, was creativity. His talent for combining observation with fantasy allowed him to make unexpected leaps that related things seen to things unseen.
Leonardo was also a very human genius. He made mistakes. He left a trail of unfinished projects, flying machines that never flew, tanks that never rolled. “Tell me if ever I did a thing…Tell me if anything was ever made.”
His flawed humanity makes Leonardo more accessible. Even though we may never be able to match his talents, we can learn from him and try to be more like him. His life offers a wealth of lessons.
Seek knowledge for its own sake. Not all knowledge needs to be useful. Sometimes it should be pursued for pure pleasure. Leonardo did not need to know how heart valves work to paint the Mona Lisa, nor did he need to figure out how fossils got to the top of mountains to produce Virgin of the Rocks. By allowing himself to be driven by pure curiosity, he got to explore more horizons and see more connections.
Keep a childlike sense of wonder. At a certain point in life, most of us quit puzzling over everyday phenomena. We might savor the beauty of a blue sky, but we no longer bother to wonder why it is that color. Leonardo did.
Be curious, observe things, see things unseen, respect facts, be open to mystery...We can never learn enough from Leonardo.
1. What set Da Vinci apart from people who are merely extraordinarily smart?2. Why was Da Vinci regarded as a very human genius?
3. Please paraphrase the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1
4. Which quality of Da Vinci’s do you appreciate most? How can it benefit you in your life?（In about 40 words）
