1 . Joao Carlos Martins is a famous pianist and conductor. However, his career has been ________ and his life has taken him in many different ________.

As a teenager Martins began to perform in concerts. But in his late twenties, he had to ________ after badly breaking his arm. It was really a terrible time. He couldn’t look at a piano or ________ listen to music. ________, he decided to become the manager of a boxer, who won the world championship later. This ________ Martins to take up the piano and practise much harder. Six years later, he gave his first concert at the Carnegie Hall, which was the most ________ moment of his life. He performed in concerts for years before he had to quit because of the unbearable ________ in his hands caused by too much ________.

Martins, in his forties, became a politician. However, he couldn’t stand this ________, so once again, he went back to the piano. All was going well until something unexpected ________ while leaving a concert. He ________ a serious brain injury and lost all the movement in his right hand. Again, with great ________ he played just with his left hand. Years later he lost the use of the left hand and ________ himself a conductor. Now, in his late seventies, Martins is still taking ________ to work and has conducted over a thousand concerts.

2 . Mariah Reading is an environmentalist, who grew up with an early appreciation for nature. While studying art at Bowdoin College, she saw the vast amounts of_______from her painting and sculpture classes. She began to seriously consider her footprint as a(n)_________“How can I paint landscapes if I’m _________them?” she thought. Then she started using the refuse as her canvas (画布).

After graduation, Mariah travelled throughout the country,_________ rubbish to bring to her studio. One day, a_________ hubcap (轮毂盖) she found by the side of the road gave her a new ___________ . She noticed the half hubcap had cracked off to_________the line of the mountain range that she was in. So she_________ the mountain landscape on it and held it up in front of the real _________ and took a photo. It became the first in her __________ series.

Over the years, she has painted more than 100 pieces of rubbish and photographed her transformations__________matching real-life landscapes. It’s like __________ new life into forgotten objects. Her practice__________the principle of “leaving no trace” by __________ painting with sculpture and photography.

Mariah hopes people see themselves and their own habits __________ into her works and make small changes in their everyday lives.

3 . At just 21 years old, Nija Charles is one of today's most popular songwriters.

She has been ________ with Beyonce, Jay Z, Cardi B, and many other today's popular music artists. Their works have been ________ . And she was even included in three Grammy nominations（提名）.

But just a few years ago, Charles was only a（n） ________ in the crowd. She was ________ in a musical family. "My dad is a DJ. My mom is a dancer," Charles ________ . "So growing up in this family, I was always ________ by music and crazily chased after musicians."

Charles said she first ________ music at age 13, when she asked her mom for a mini keyboard because she was ________ to produce. "So she got one for me, and I started tapping on the keys," she said.

Charles continued to learn music at New York University, where she'd make songs in her dormitory and post them online. Soon she was ________ in flying across the country on weekends, performing on stage and then studying at school.

"It was tough for me. There were some classes I ________ had to skip. But yeah, it was must time management and 1 had to ________ and finish my homework before I got on the plane or I'd finish the ________ on the plane. I wrote songs during the weekend. I made sure I studied hard so I could finish ________ that year," she said.

Talking about her success, Charles said, "It's ________ that my favourite artists are now the people I cooperate with. Several years ago, I was at their ________ but now I'm in the studio with them."