1 . Most artists have to wait decades for their talents to be recognized. Some, like Dutch painter Van Gogh, only achieve _______ after they die. But this is not the _______ for Andres Valencia. The 11-year-old boy has already _______ millions selling his contemporary paintings to art collectors.

Andres’ parents are art lovers and collectors. They began _______ Andres to modern paintings when he was just a kid. The young boy soon began _______ famous artworks with great accuracy. His father, Lupe, says, “When he was 4 or 5, my wife and I would _______ him paint and do sketches(素描), and we were really surprised at what he would do.”

By age six, the _______ artist was selling his watercolor paintings to family and friends for $20 a piece. Over time. Andres began creating large-scale paintings with a _______ of oil stick and oil and acrylic paints. His masterpieces were all _______ contemporary artists like Picasso.

Bernie Chase, a family friend and owner of an art gallery, recognized Andres’ __________ from the start. He bought the young boy’s artwork every time he __________ and even paid $5,000 for one. In 2022, the young boy held his first __________ at Chase’s gallery. The 35 paintings __________ were sold for between $50,000 and $125,000 each.

When not painting, Andres is a __________ fifth-grader with math homework. “My son is an artist, but he is a __________ first.” His mother said. “He is a child, not a celebrity.”

2 . Najma Hashi (also named Nujuum) is a respected female artist, whose paintings are winning a global following. But Nujuum is not your _________ next-generation rising star. Nujuum, 26, grew up in Somalia, where new artists, especially female ones, are _________ from pursuing art.

This young artist grew up in a _________ living environment, which she has _________ to watching a horror movie: war, drought, poverty and hunger. Since Nujuum was seven, _________ Nujuum went, she felt moved to paint. As a child, on her way home from school, she would sit by the _________ and draw pictures in the sand. “I was thinking of creating my own little world, getting away from the _________. Art has always been a form of _________ for me.” As she went through school, she drew a whole city on her bedroom wall using her school pencils.

However, Nujuum was _________ that art isn’t a respected profession in her country. “Art, __________, in the Somalian community is not a good thing to do,” she says. Her mother did not share her dreams, nor did her neighbors who considered them __________.

This __________ made her give up art for a while. However, she realized that she had a __________: “Either I continue drawing and painting and create a beautiful life or I stay unhappy for the rest of my life.” Finally, Nujuum turned her __________ in art into something she could make a living from.

She __________ opening a school one day for other talented local artists, enabling them to choose art as a career too.

3 . Beethoven was a great musician. One evening, young Beethoven was out for a walk. As he was passing a wooden house, he ________ someone inside practicing one piece of his music. He stopped to listen, and a girl said that she wished she could hear a real ________ play it.

Beethoven went into the house, ________ the young lady at the piano was blind. A young man stood beside her. Beethoven asked ________, “Would you mind me playing for you?” ________ they didn’t know who the stranger was, the lady and the man said yes happily. Beethoven sat at the piano and began to play. He played so well that all of them lost themselves in the beautiful music. Even when the lonely candle in the room ________ and the moon shone brightly through the window, he was ________ playing!

When Beethoven left the house, the moon seemed even ________ in the night sky. He was deeply ________ by the young lady’s love for his music and was greatly encouraged by the beautiful night. He rushed back home ________ and spent the whole night writing down the music that he had played at the blind girl’s house.

This is a story of “Moonlight Sonata”, one of the classics in the history of music.