1. When did the magician first perform professionally?
| A．In 1964. | B．In 1968. | C．In 1972. |
| A．His TV show. | B．His global tours. | C．His teaching job. |
| A．Project Magic. | B．Box office records. | C．The Magic of ABC. |
| A．He practises hard. | B．He believes in wonder. | C．He started his career early. |
The Man’s Biography | |
Time | Event |
| Left school. | |
| In 1960 | Wrote his first novel Rag Doll. |
| In 1961 | Went to Indonesia and stayed there for |
| In 1965 | Met his wife. |
| In 1970 | |
| In 1973 | Started making |
| His second novel came out. | |
1. At what time did Yuja become internationally famous?
| A．When she was 21 years old. |
| B．When she studied in Canada as a teenager. |
| C．When she was a young child. |
| A．Casually. | B．Traditionally. | C．Fashionably. |
| A．She leaves the stage right away. |
| B．She is asked to play more by the audience. |
| C．She feels free when the performance is over. |
1. When did jazz get popular?
| A．During the early 20th century. |
| B．During the middle 20th century. |
| C．During the late 20th century. |
| A．About half a decade. | B．About a decade. | C．About two decades. |
| A．Guitar. | B．Bass. | C．Drums. |
| A．A music show. | B．Band practice. | C．A radio interview. |
5 . He is a Chinese superstar, a piano genius who has sold millions of albums worldwide. Lang Lang has also used his fame and fortune to help state schools around the world that lack music, warning at a 2019 awards ceremony in London that such lessons had become “a real challenge” for children in the most disadvantaged communities.
Now he is bringing music to British state schools in an ambitious project that will set up modern “piano labs” in needy schools across the nation. Each lab will have 20 to 30 keyboards. The plan is inspired by his programmes in the US and China, in which he has invested tens of millions of pounds.
In the US, he has set up piano labs in 86 schools, giving 70,000 kids access to keyboards. In China, he has installed them in 104 schools, enabling 110,000 children to make music. This is primarily for pupils aged seven to 12.
The first UK school to benefit is the Winns primary school in Waltham Forest, London’s 12th poorest area. It will receive 30 keyboards within the next few weeks. Every lab is accompanied by a curriculum created by the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto and Lang Lang, with ongoing teacher-training, financial support, and headphones, allowing group piano classes.
Asked what inspired him to support UK schools, Lang told the reporter: “We were able to identify many similarities between state schools in the UK and public schools in the US in terms of the way access to music and arts can be extremely limited when budgets are cut…I was so surprised by how music classes are never guaranteed. The schools and teachers are incredible, and are so dedicated to providing their students with everything they can. But it shocked me how access to music education can be so limited.”
His charity quotes the Greek philosopher Aristotle: “Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it.”
Lang Lang said: “When I visit our partner schools and see the joy on the students’ faces or hear from our teachers about the progress students are making, I’m reminded of why we created this programme—to give children an opportunity to discover what they’re capable of achieving and to find their voices through music.”
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To offer background information. | B．To introduce an argument. |
| C．To discuss Lang Lang’s plans. | D．To highlight Lang Lang’s reputation. |
| A．Private schools. | B．Ambitious schools. |
| C．Remote schools. | D．Disadvantaged schools. |
| A．The teachers are doing a good job. |
| B．Music classes aren’t always available. |
| C．The budgets are always being cut. |
| D．The schools are dedicated to helping students. |
| A．Lang Lang—a kind and caring pianist |
| B．Lang Lang teaches the world to play piano |
| C．Chinese superstar brings music to British kids |
| D．Chinese piano genius looks for future piano stars |
Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature
US music legend Bob Dylan won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, the first songwriter to win the prestigious award in a decision
The 75-year-old Dylan —best known for tunes like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone”
The choice was met by gasps and a long round of applause from reporters
“Dylan has the status of
The Nobel is the latest award for the singer, who has come a long way from his humble beginnings as Robert Allen Zimmerman, born in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and who taught
Initially
A Great musician Brings Ancient Chinese Sounds to London
On the afternoon of the second Saturday of every second month, Cheng Yu dresses in traditional Chinese attire(服装)and takes a guqin and pipa to a special gathering she started in London 20 years ago. Cheng is a master of the two instruments who was trained at Xi’an Conservatory of Music before
Cheng Yu has been active since she started educating people and performing Chinese music in the United Kingdom. To Cheng, sharing and promoting Chinese
The bimonthly yaji in London
Charlie Thomas from Birmingham said: “It’s not just Chinese people who come. I met a German lady who also liked guqin. People here are so welcoming and they have
8 . Uygur musician, Sanubar will give two concerts in Beijing and Shanghai on Jan. 13 and 14, featuring songs with dutar — a traditional folk instrument, which her father loved playing at home. “The instrument was hanging on the wall at my home and my father often played it for fun. My mother always sang along and we danced together,” recalls Sanubar, who was born into a Uygur family in Xinjiang. When her father died, Sanubar, who was 8 years old, composed her first song to honor him.
One of the songs she will perform is White Horse, adapted from an old Xinjiang folk song and telling a love story. “I get inspired by poems. Poems are as rhythmic as music. So when I read a beautiful poem, I easily connect it with its sounds, which allows me to turn the poem into a song,” says Sanubar. Some other songs are selected from the Xinjiang Uygur Muqam recorded on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 by UNESCO, which includes songs, dances, folk and classical music.
Sanubar learned to play dutar at Xinjiang Arts University and, after graduation, she joined the Xinjiang Art Theater Muqam Art Troupe. From 2003 to 2005, she came to Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music to study music production. In 2010, at the age of 39, Sanubar enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she spent four years learning to compose and got her Bachelor’s degree.
So far, Sanubar has written over 100 songs and released about 10 albums. She teaches dutar at an art school in the regional capital Urumqi. Sanubar and other folk musicians sang and danced with smiling faces. “I notice that many young people in Xinjiang are learning traditional instruments and singing old songs, which makes me very happy.” says Sanubar.
1. What originally inspired Sanubar’s music career?| A．The rhythm of poems. | B．The impact of her father. |
| C．The honor of her first song. | D．The company of her mother. |
| A．She promoted the beauty of traditional folk art. | B．She wrote many beautiful poems from old songs. |
| C．She gained reputation both at home and abroad. | D．She helped complete the Xinjiang Uygur Muqam. |
| A．Sanubar’s main achievements. | B．Sanubar’s learning experiences. |
| C．The composition of folk songs. | D．The preservation of local music. |
| A．Intelligent and sensitive. | B．Elegant and reliable. |
| C．Energetic and productive. | D．Motivated and cautious. |
9 . Zheng Xiaoying was born in Shanghai in September 1929. Her youth and passion for music helped her become a conductor in an art troupe (巡回演出团). In the early 1960s, Zheng was sent to the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory to study opera and symphony conducting, becoming the first professionally trained female conductor in China at that time.
As a student, she conducted the Italian opera “Tosca” in public at a large opera house in the Soviet Union and won great applause not only for the wonderful performance, but also for the Chinese woman on the stage. Recalling this experience, Zheng said it was of great importance for her to become an opera symphony conductor and served as one of the turning points in her life.
After return to China, she did her best to combine Western and Oriental music. In addition to lectures and performances, in 1998, she founded the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. With the concept of “attracting more audiences to the concert hall to enjoy the beauty of music,” the musical orchestra has now gained worldwide recognition. It has also become a popular travel destination in the city of Xiamen.
Besides being a conductor, Zheng is also a teacher. As one of the most famous Chinese conducting professors, she has taught many famed musicians. Many of them are still active on stage, both in China and abroad. Still, as a daughter of the Hakka people, she follows the tradition of valuing education. The Hakka culture enabled her to create a Chinese symphony called “The Echoes of Hakka Earth Building” which promotes China’s cultural achievements in music. So far, the symphony has been performed 80 times in over 12 countries and regions.
Zheng not only promotes the Chinese symphony to the world, she also presents traditional Chinese music. She said the thought of spending her last few seconds on the conductor’s podium (乐队指挥台) would be what she calls “the most romantic” of a desirable career. Now in her 90s, Zheng Xiaoying is still active on the stage, sharing China with the world through her music.
1. What’s a turning point in Zheng’s life?| A．Joining in an art troupe. |
| B．Studying conducting in Moscow. |
| C．A job at a large opera house in Italy. |
| D．A public performance in the Soviet Union. |
| A．It is a characteristic of Xiamen. |
| B．Its concept is to draw people’s attention. |
| C．It combines Western and Oriental music. |
| D．Its aim is to inspire people’s music talent. |
| A．By asking questions. | B．By listing examples. |
| C．By analyzing reasons. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Her desire for romanticism. | B．Her ideal of spreading musical ideas. |
| C．Her enthusiasm for music career. | D．Her achievement in music field. |
10 . Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to EGOT: to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. But come a little closer, and Moreno’s is another kind of immigrant (移民的) story.
She was a teen when MGM (米高梅电影公司) signed her in the 1950s. Major studios were still dominated by the men who’d run them for decades. They had her change her name. While recognizing her talent, they didn’t know what to do with a Latin girl. Moreno played small parts, including a girl from India and a Burmese (缅甸的) woman. What should have been her big break came when she was cast as Anita in West Side Story. She’d remember Anita as “the very first Hispanic (西班牙的) character I had ever played who had dignity, a sense of self-respect. She became my role model. ” The night Moreno won the Oscar, the Hispanic community across the USA broke out into cheers.
But that career turn didn’t happen. Instead, she received more offers to play what she described as “dusky servants”. The racial and ethnic prejudice was still at play. “It broke my heart, ”she says. Rita Moreno didn’t make another movie for seven years.
Then began her new act. Holding to her mother’s philosophy — Never give in, never quit, keep on moving — she survived professionally during those years with work on the London stage and in nightclubs, slowly reemerging on film and television, and eventually she earned herself a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Peabody Career Achievement Award.
But even as she continues to perform, her work continues off the screen, speaking out for and representing the Latin community. “I’m now known as la pionera, or the pioneer,” Moreno says. “I really don’t think of myself as a role model. But it turns out that I am, to a lot of the Hispanic community. Not just in show business, but in life. But that’s what happens when you’re first, right?”
1. What do we know about Moreno in Paragraph 2?| A．She was an actress contracted with MGM. |
| B．She had her future well-planned for her talent. |
| C．She was treated as a Hispanic girl with dignity. |
| D．She won the Oscar for acting a Burmese woman. |
| A．She did not receive any film offers. |
| B．She rejected roles of racial prejudice. |
| C．She was tired of performing on the stage. |
| D．She focused on her stage career in nightclubs. |
| A．Generous and brave. | B．Kind and grateful. |
| C．Honest and trustworthy. | D．Tough and determined. |
| A．She prefers to be a role model in show business. |
| B．She is unhappy with what happened to an actress. |
| C．She makes a difference to the Hispanic community. |
| D．She feels pressured about being a Hispanic pioneer. |
