1 . Adding to the achievements of a remarkable year, Taylor Swift has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023.

Already a superstar before 2023, Swift’s career has reached new heights thanks to the beginning of her Eras Tour that brought her 3.5-hour performance to 66 shows in 23 cities across North America, Argentina and Brazil. Promoted by her tour, Swift has been named the most-streamed female artist in the history of Spotify and Apple Music. According to Billboard, the tour made about $900 million (about 6.4 billion yuan) in 2023. In addition, the tour’s movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the biggest concert movie of all time, taking more than $250 million globally.

As she was declared (宣布) a billionaire by Bloomberg in November, a hidden “Taylor Swift economy” also promoted sales for business owners across the US. From soaps to a cruise inspired by her different “eras”, interest in Swift-related products went way up.

Apart from her financial contributions, Swift made a significant cultural impact by taking back control of her music. In 2019, her old record label, Big Machine, sold the master tapes of her first six albums (专辑) to Scooter Braun. The sale meant that she didn’t have the rights to the albums. In response to this, Swift began re-recording her first six albums, tagging (加标签于) them “Taylor’s Version”. This move stressed her belief that artists deserve to own their work. “It’s all in how you deal with loss,” she told Time. “I respond to extreme pain by resisting.”

Heading into 2024, Swift will start the Eras Tour again in Japan and Australia. As USA Today noted, “Her current top has been a long time coming, but it may also be just beginning.”

1. What do we know about Taylor Swift?

A．She broke a new record on her tour.

B．She toured South America before 2023.

C．Her achievements received great recognition.

D．Her performance began with the Apple Music.

2. How did Taylor Swift benefit from her Eras Tour?

A．She proved herself to be an artist.

B．She learned to make some products.

C．She got rich and regained album rights.

D．She sold her master tapes to a company.

3. What can we learn about Taylor Swift from the last paragraph?

A．She will end her music career.

B．She will continue her Eras Tour.

C．She will reach her top in Japan.

D．She will make a record in Australia.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards Taylor Swift?

A．Admirable.	B．Uncaring.
C．Doubtful.	D．Critical.

2 . Singer-songwriters write songs, but how do they do it? Where do musicians get their inspiration from? What comes first — the music or the lyrics (歌词)? It turns out that everyone has their own way of writing which works for them.

Bob Dylan

He is a musician with a unique musical style, which has been described as folk rock, gospel, country and jazz. He told the BBC that he gets a lot of his writing inspiration from novels like Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe. He said “They give you a way of looking at life and understanding of human nature and a standard to measure things by.” He has had a career spanning six decades and has won many songwriting awards.

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim, a musical theatre composer who died in 2021, said in an interview with The New Yorker that, when it comes to songwriting, the stress in a phrase is very important for him. “You can start writing a lyric, and then the inflection (变音) of the lyric suggests a tune.” Therefore, in his way of writing, the music and lyrics come at roughly the same time.

Taylor Swift

In 2022, Taylor Swift won a Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award. In her speech, she said lyrics are her favourite part of songwriting. She describes the majority of her songs as having a “modern storyline or references, with a poetic twist” and commonly uses real life experiences and conversations as influence.

John Denver

Denver earned international reputation as a songwriter, performer, actor, environmentalist and humanitarian. John said, “I obtain endless muse from my experiences in environmental and humanitarian work.” John was one of the first artists to share an environmental message through his music.

1. What type of music does Stephen Sondheim compose?

A．Folk rock.

B．Musical play.

C．Country music.

D．Jazz.

2. Whose music conveys the message of nature protection?

A．Bob Dylan’s.

B．Stephen Sondheim’s.

C．John Denver’s.

D．Taylor Swift’s.

3. In which part of a newspaper can the text be found?

A．Culture.

B．Art.

C．Literature.

D．Language.

3 . Top Piano Players in the World

Martha Argerich

Martha Argerich could be considered the next Beethoven, as she is one of the most outstanding pianists ever to play. Argerich preferred being on stage with others instead of performing solo; therefore, she has been performing in a concerto format since the 1980s. Argerich was not one for the spotlight, as she often avoided public appearances such as interviews; however, her great talent was all the publicity she needed, standing out during concertos and sonatas.

Leif Ove Andsnes

Known for his appealing performances of Edvard Grieg’s works, Andsnes has won praise for his performances at some of the world’s most famous concert halls. Andsnes has certainly made his mark in Norway, as he is the founding director of Norway’s Rosendal Chamber Music Festival. Because of his unique voice and interesting approach, he was praised by The New York Times as a “pianist of authoritative elegance, power, and insight.”

Alfred Brendel

Known for his beautiful interpretations of Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert and Mozart, Alfred Brendel was considered one of the greats. He played in various concertos throughout his career and became known for his interpretive coldness in recreating these works. Brendel was considered one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, as he made his mark in the classical music industry. Brendel was self-taught and learned his love of piano at an early age.

Arthur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein was certainly one of the greats. His career began in the early 20th century when he began to come into contact with some of the world’s most important composers, such as Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas, and Jacques Thibaud. He made various trips worldwide and visited nearly every continent, where crowds met him with great praise and encouragement.

1. What does the female pianist focus on in her career?

A．Skills in hosting concertos and sonatas.	B．Cooperation with other musicians.
C．Close relationships with the media.	D．Unique ways to interpret music.

2. Who learned music by himself or herself?

A．Martha Argerich.	B．Leif Ove Andsnes.
C．Alfred Brendel.	D．Arthur Rubinstein.

3. How is Arthur Rubinstein different from the other pianists?

A．He was the director of a Norwegian festival.

B．He made a difference in classical music.

C．He was the best musician of the 20th century.

D．He got in touch with some famous composers.

4 . For many people, music helps them escape reality. The musician Carter Hulsey is taking a different approach. He’s using his stage to help people face reality. He performed a selection of songs and then talked about some valuable financial (财务的) knowledge at Burkley Fine Arts Center recently. The rock artist gave a presentation (演讲) covering topics such as balancing a budget, making buying decisions, and how to spend money and save for the future.

“The message from Hulsey would be important for our students to hear,” the teacher Mrs. Dux said. “I believed listening to the band would be an interesting way to communicate that message. As I found out more information, I couldn’t pass up the chance our students to have this experience.”

Hulsey managed the budget for his band when they went on a tour years ago. But at that time, he didn’t know much about being smart with money. He shared his own experience with money management and the troubles that came with it.“When I was your age, we didn’t talk about money in school. We didn’t talk about it at home. I didn’t think about it,” Hulsey told students.“I just started heading around the country and learned all these things the hard way.” He hopes by showing students that even those who live the rock-star life need to understand financial wellness, he can help students to form good spending habits.

Terron Johnson, a teacher at Shiloh High School, is making sure students learn the lesson before they may go into debt. “It’s a real-world thing. A lot of times students will say, ‘Why do I need to know this math? How am I going to use this in real life?’ Well, you will use financial knowledge down the line,” Johnson said. If students understand how to effectively use their money to achieve their goals, they can make their dreams come true.

1. What can be learned about the musician Carter Hulsey?

A．He encourages people to enjoy life.

B．He shares financial knowledge with the audience.

C．His focus has moved from music to financial work.

D．His music is inspired by the life of young people.

2. What is Mrs. Dux’s attitude towards Hulsey’s presentation?

A．Positive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Negative.

D．Uncertain.

3. Why did Hulsey talk about his own experience?

A．To prove the success of his band.

B．To tell students how to find a hobby at a young age.

C．To explain the influence of artistic taste on students.

D．To show the necessity of learning money management early.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．A musician becomes popular with students

B．Young students talk with a great musician

C．A concert brings more than music to students

D．Teachers advise students to be smarter with money

5 . Auerbach is one of Britain’s most famous painters, with works in every major national gallery. He has been a significant member of the post-war artists, including Bacon, Moore and Freud, whose creative originality made the UK a major pulse (脉搏) for art.

He has also, over the decades, invented a language of art that is recognisably his own, stretching beyond any comfort zone, shocking himself and, in turn, the viewer. A special structural formality in his portraits exists alongside free-flowing marks arising from intense observation. A must-see exhibition of nine paintings and 11 drawings, it’s small and, as it is in a commercial gallery, completely free.

Auerbach is today’s Grand Old Master of British Art, famously spending 365 days a year in the studio searching through paint for hard truths to give a picture of the human form. A personal connection exists between us as I took his photograph in his studio, marking our friendship lasting almost 40 years.

During the pandemic (流行病), for the first time in 70 years, Auerbach stopped having art models: so using himself. He stayed alone in his brown cave of a studio in Camden, North London and turned to self-portraits. Perhaps this is the ultimate portrait of the artist as an old man, as he explores his own face in a way he had previously avoided. “I didn’t find actual formal components (组成部分) of my head all that interesting when I was younger and less tired. Now that I’ve got bags under my eyes, things are sagging and so on, there’s more material to work with,” he writes.

Opposite to the belief that old age may not inspire great works, Auerbach’s late career proves otherwise. Like Titian, who influenced Rembrandt, Rubens, and Velázquez, Auerbach’s powerful expressiveness is shown in his painting. His new works give an example of the idea of late greats, proving his artistic skills even in his later years.

1. What do we know about Auerbach?

A．He made art a major in the UK.	B．He took pictures of the human form.
C．He created his own art language.	D．He exhibited his paintings regularly.

2. Why did Auerbach draw himself during the pandemic?

A．He stayed alone in the studio.	B．He stopped using art models.
C．He found his head interesting.	D．He wanted to explore his own face.

3. What can we infer about Auerbach in the last paragraph?

A．He created great works in his old age.	B．He took up painting with other artists.
C．He had opposite belief in great works.	D．He had a deep influence on some artists.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A literature textbook.	B．An art magazine.
C．A research paper.	D．A science fiction.

6 . “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage.” Ke Huy Quan said after winning an Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal(演绎) of the unfortunate yet heroic Waymond Wang.

“They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.” But Quan has acknowledged the difficulties in his journey, too, and how he almost gave up his dreams when opportunities dried up.

Quan was born in Saigon and came to Los Angeles in 1979 after fleeing Vietnam and living in Hong Kong as a refugee after the war ended. He began his Hollywood career as a beloved child actor in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies.” He kept on auditioning(试镜) after that, but his phone stopped ringing.

Quan reimagined his career path, going on to study film at the University of Southern California and to work behind the scenes as a stunt coordinator(武术指导) and assistant director. He wouldn’t have another film role for nearly 20 years.

Seeing the Asian cast of the 2018 movie “Crazy Rich Asians” made him realize how much he missed acting. And as soon as he came across the “Everything Everywhere” script, he knew he was the right person to play Waymond.

His big-screen comeback has earned him good reviews and numerous accolades, including Golden Globe, Critics Choice and SAG awards for best supporting actor. And Quan, 51, says these days he’s feeling more optimistic about the Hollywood prospects for him and other Asian actors.

1. What can be inferred from Quan’s words in Paragraph 2?

A．He gave up his American dreams.

B．He loved watching movies very much.

C．It’s difficult for him to read stories in America.

D．It’s hard for him to win an Academy Award for best actor.

2. What does the underlined word “accolades” probably mean in last paragraph?

A．Decisions.	B．Prizes.
C．Comments.	D．Opinions.

3. What can we learn about Quan from this passage?

A．Quan’s career path was flat.

B．Quan had a happy childhood.

C．Quan hesitated to play Waymond after reading script.

D．Quan has a positive attitude to the Hollywood prospects recently.

4. According to this passage, which of the following word can best describe Quan?

A．Confident.	B．Determined.
C．Hospitable.	D．Selfless.

7 . Chinese ink paintings once were on the edge of being forgotten-at least according to a paper of Li Xiaoshan, a postgraduate art student.

At the time, many Chinese painting professionals passed away without finding younger artists to fill their shoes. Young artists were left on their own to find breakthroughs and define themselves as artists. While extremely exaggerated (夸张), Li’s comment sent shock waves through the Chinese painting community. Since then, many experimental painters have taken to their studios in China, creating many astonishing and inspirational ink paintings using new methods and concepts, marking an important step for the development of contemporary Chinese paintings.

Shao Ge is a representative of this new form. Born to an ordinary family in Beijing in 1962, Shao was keen on traditional Chinese paintings. As a child, he spent much of his time staring at the ink masterpieces in the Palace Museum. There was an elder neighbor, who was good at Chinese painting and calligraphy. In his spare time, the kind elder talked about traditional Chinese culture to young Shao. Some years later, Shao decided to study painting after graduating from high school. After graduating in the Beijing Arts and Crafts School in 1978, Shao was sent to work at a small crafts factory. Before long, the factory went bankrupt. Shao later passed an exam and became a painter for RongBao Zhai, a famous Chinese art gallery established in 1672.This career jump allowed Shao to springboard into a lifetime of ink paintings.

“At first, I just drew everything-landscapes, figures, flowers, birds, and fish,” Shao said. “But I soon found sticking to traditional thoughts and skills of Chinese paintings would be a brake on my development as a professional painter. For this reason, I decided to innovate my own style.”

1. What do the underlined words “fill their shoes” mean in Paragraph 2?

A．Calm them down.

B．Ask them for help.

C．Focus on themselves.

D．Take over their roles.

2. What does Paragraph 3 mainly introduce about Shao Ge?

A．His journey to art.

B．His family background.

C．His neighbor’s influence.

D．His passion for learning.

3. What will be probably talked about in the next paragraph?

A．People’s view of Shao’s painting.

B．Shao’s impact on Chinese painting.

C．The development of traditional painting.

D．Shao’s successful experiment in painting.

4. In which column of a newspaper can this text probably be found?

A．Fashion.

B．Feature.

C．Education.

D．Literature.

8 . João Carlos Martins, the 80-year-old Brazilian classical pianist, had lost the ability to play for almost 20 years due to a series of unfortunate events in his life. But everything changed thanks to a pair of special bionic (仿生的) gloves.

He is one of the best pianists alive today. He had already won a contest playing Bach when he was only 8 years old. Then at the peak of his skills, he could play 21 notes per second. However, luck wasn’t always on his side. At 24 years old, he suffered an accident that caused nerve damage to his arm, atrophying (使萎缩) three of his fingers. Then when he was 55, an accidental brain injury completely paralyzed (使瘫痪) his arm.

João went through 24 surgeries, but nothing could help his hands, forcing him to stop playing the piano, seemingly for good.

However, João didn’t give up on his musical career. He became a conductor in 2003. He couldn’t turn the pages in the score, so instead, he just tried his best to memorize every score, note by note. He still played the piano sometimes, but extremely slow, since he could play only one note per second.

That might have been his life, were it not for an engineer who saw the pianist playing live and decided to work out something to help him. After a concert, he approached João with the first pair of special bionic gloves. Yet, they didn’t work. When the engineer first showed João the gloves, he joked that they were for boxing, not to play the piano.

But neither of them gave up, and after testing out several models, the perfect match was created. The gloves provide the necessary support for each finger and can even “tune” to what he plays.

João knows that he might never recover his speed of the past. But he’s starting over, as though he were an 8-year-old again. João says, it can take years, but he will keep pushing. He won’t give up.

1. What can we learn about João Carlos Martins from the second paragraph?

A．He lost three fingers during an accident.

B．He showed great talent for the piano as a child.

C．He went through many hardships to succeed.

D．He suffered brain injuries when he was young.

2. What did João do after a series of misfortunes?

A．He asked engineers for help.	B．He lost hope for his future life.
C．He prepared to give up his dream.	D．He struggled to continue his career.

3. What did João think of the first pair of special bionic gloves?

A．They should be improved.	B．They cost too much money.
C．They were too heavy to carry.	D．They could bring fun to his life.

4. Which of the following can best describe João Carlos Martins?

A．Smart and helpful.	B．Gifted and confident.
C．Determined and positive.	D．Creative and generous.

9 . Bags and rolls of circulation (发行) quality 2022 American Women, Anna May Wong quarter dollars will be offered to the public on Oct 25 by the United States Mint (美国铸币厂).

The American Women Quarters Program is a four-year program that celebrates the achievements and breakthroughs made by women to the development and history of the US. Beginning in 2022, and continuing through 2025, the US Mint will bring out up to five new designs each year.

Anna May Wong was born in 1905 in Los Angeles to second-generation Chinese-American parents. Wong always took a strong interest in movies and often spent her time and money as a child seeing films in theaters. As early as the age of nine Wong began asking filmmakers for roles, and by age 11 she had come up with her stage name: Anna May Wong.

Anna May Wong is considered by many to be the first Chinese-American Hollywood movie star. She starred in dozens of productions, with some of the more famous ones being Shanghai Express (1932), Bits of Life (1921), and The Toll of the Sea (1922), which was one of the very first films made in color.

She was a figure of foreign fashion around the world, loved by high society in London, Berlin and elsewhere. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the “world’s best dressed woman”; in 1938 Look magazine named her the “world’s most beautiful Chinese girl” .

However, Hollywood’s unfair treatment against Asian people continued to influence Wong’s entire career, looking her as “foreign atmosphere” rather than recognizing her talent and skill.

Wong was straightforward about her disappointment with Hollywood, and she worked against the unfair treatment. “I was so tired of the parts I had to play,”she said in an interview with Film Weekly. “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the bad guy and so cruel? We are not like that.”

1. What do we know about the program?

A．It is an international event.	B．It is mainly for Chinese Americans.
C．It focuses on the women’s needs.	D．It will produce 20 new designs in total.

2. What is special about Anna May Wong?

A．She starred in the first color film.

B．She put her dream into practice young.

C．She liked nothing but theater in her childhood.

D．She is the most productive Hollywood movie star.

3. Why did Anna feel disappointed with Hollywood?

A．Hollywood stopped her working.

B．Asians like her were treated unfairly.

C．She was regarded as a foreign fashion.

D．She paid more but gained less in Hollywood.

4. Which word can best describe Anna May Wong?

A．Changeable.

B．Traditional.

C．Determined.

D．Wealthy.

10 . Cimabue, the greatest painter in medieval(中世纪的)Italy, was surprised one day when he came back from his lunch break and discovered a fly was under the nose of a character he had been working on. So he reached out to touch the insect. To his surprise, he found only wet paint. Turning around, he saw that his apprentice(学徒), Giotto di Bondone, was doing everything he could to keep from laughing. Giotto had painted the fly when Cimabue was away, and it looked so real that Cimabue had been completely fooled.

Giotto was born into a poor farming family. Legend has it that one day when Cimabue was walking around the countryside, he spotted a young shepherd(牧羊人)boy. The boy was not tending his sheep. Instead, he was drawing pictures of them, and the sheep he drew were so lifelike that Cimabue stopped to ask the boy his name. The boy replied that it was Giotto, and Cimabue immediately asked him to come to Florence so that the young shepherd could learn how to paint.

In the Middle Ages, an artist not only had to concern himself with things like design and technique, but he also had to learn how to make paints. Almost all artists were men, and they began their apprenticeships at an early age. An apprentice’s job was to copy his master as exactly as he could. The unfortunate result of this imitation(模仿)was a lack of new ideas.

In fact, art in the Middle Ages remained the same for hundreds of years. The people in paintings didn’t look like real people, and the symbolism of art was often so remote that it must have been difficult for viewers to connect with it on a personal level. Giotto used many techniques that were uncommon at the time to bring the paintings to life for viewers. He painted people the way he saw them, instead of the overly tall people that other artists painted. He created three-dimensional space by using perspective, something that had not been done since Roman times. Finally, he threw out parts of the symbolism associated with medieval painting.

1. Why does the author mention the fly event in paragraph 1?

A．To indicate Giotto drew better than Cimabue.

B．To indicate Giotto liked making fun of others

C．To show the fly painted by Giotto looked real.

D．To show Cimabue disliked painting flies very much.

2. What was Giotto doing when Cimabue first met him according to legend?

A．He was taking a walk.	B．He was feeding sheep.
C．He was playing with a shepherd boy.	D．He was drawing pictures.

3. What is typical of medieval artists?

A．Lacking creativity.

B．Having an unhappy childhood.

C．Having a short period of apprenticeship.

D．Supporting themselves by making paints.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．Giotto’s study on medieval painting.

B．The competition between medieval artists.

C．Giotto’s efforts to change art in the Middle Ages.

D．The most popular forms of painting in the Middle Ages.