1 . Although the piano keys come in black and white, the music it produces is full of color. Chinese pianist Tian Jiaxin explores creative performances and crossover cooperations with traditional Chinese music, with the hope of bringing the music of the East to the Western world.
Tian attended regular school instead of studying at a music school in her childhood. This enabled her to absorb China’s rich culture and understand the bigger picture later in her pursuit of a career as a professional pianist. “There’s so much to grasp when explaining a piece. What we`re conveying is not only the notes, but the culture behind the music,” Tian said.
As a Chinese pianist, Tian is looking to add more depth to her performances, stressing the contrast between Eastern and Western cultures. “No matter which country I am performing in, I always include Chinese music in my program. With Western pieces, I hope to show the world that a female musician from China can perform the music that they are familiar with and love.” Tian says that she believes her mission is to make China heard on a wider stage.
Tian believes that music is developing over time and that music from different ages has its own unique meaning. “I’ve found that people’s understanding of Chinese music is often limited to certain pieces like Jasmine Flower,” Tian said. “However, there are so many great pieces of Chinese music that are unacquainted outside of China. So, I always try to feature both the time-honored classics of Chinese music and the newly created pieces,” she added.
“Chinese music has the magic to cause resonance(共鸣) with the audience and convey the various and deep culture of Chinese civilization,” Tian said.
1. What can we learn about Tian Jiaxin from the first two paragraphs?| A．She went to music school at a young age. |
| B．She adapted some well-known Chinese pieces. |
| C．She is a professional pianist known for her unique style. |
| D．She believes the culture behind each piece should be conveyed. |
| A．Unknown. | B．Unpopular. | C．Unacceptable. | D．Unlimited. |
| A．It is setting the fashion. | B．It develops at a low speed. |
| C．It delivers rich culture of China. | D．It holds little appeal for foreigners. |
| A．Differences Between Eastern and Western Music |
| B．Chinese Cultural Fueling International Music Trends |
| C．A Pianist Combing Chinese Music with Western Keys |
| D．A New Generation of Artists Promoting Chinese Culture |
2 . Do you have a hobby that you have loved for a long time? Carlos Santana does! Carlos Santana has loved music from a young age. Music has been his passion. At age 5, he started playing the violin. At age 8, he began playing the guitar. Santana worked hard to develop his musical talent, especially on the guitar. He became one of the most famous Mexican American musicians in history.
Santana grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, playing music in many bands. Even though his family moved to San Francisco in the 1960s, he visited Mexico often. He was inspired by Mexican blues music as well as American rock music. He combined many different types of music to create a unique style.
He got his big break in 1969 at the Woodstock music festival.Woodstock was a huge music festival that around 400,000 people attended. Many people did not know who Santana was before his performance. But they knew who he was after it! Many people said Santana was one of the highlights of the three-day festival. They said his guitar playing was incredible! It was full of passion and soul.
Santana and his band began producing hit after hit, including “Oye Como Va” and “Evil Ways”. The band’s songs show off a unique musical style, combining Latin and rock rhythms. Santana has won 10 Grammy Awards throughout his career. He has had or contributed to many great songs and impressive performances.
Carlos Santana wanted children to have the opportunity to discover their passions, like he did. He and his family created the Milagro Foundation, which helps children succeed by giving money to the arts, education, and health. Today, Carlo s Santana continues sharing his musical talent with people all over the United States and beyond.
1. Carlos Santana’s career began to take off after __________.| A．his family moved to San Francisco | B．the Woodstock music festival |
| C．he started to play the violin | D．he began playing the guitar |
| A．The band’s songs became very popular. |
| B．The band went through a lot of failures. |
| C．It took the band much time to produce songs. |
| D．The band’s performances were different from others. |
| A．To support children to succeed in education. |
| B．To help children explore their hobbies. |
| C．To share his musical talent with others. |
| D．To raise money for organizing music festivals. |
| A．Music: A Lifelong and Important Hobby |
| B．The Unique Musical Journey of a Guitar Legend |
| C．The Rise of Mexican American Music Talents |
| D．Milagro Foundation: Inspiring the Next Generation |
3 . Four Self-Portraits (自画像) by Famous Artists
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)—“Self-Portrait”, 1506
One of the beautiful self-portraits by famous artist Raphael was drawn at the age of 23. It measures around 45cm×33cm and is located at the world-famous Uffizi Gallery. The Italian painter used oil on board to draw his self-portrait, which was the clearest and the most recognizable self-portraits of Raphael himself.
Leonardo da Vinci—“Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk”, 1512
“Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk”is a self-portrait of da Vinci at the age of 60 and measures around 33.3cm×21.6cm, which is on display in Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy. It is drawn with red chalk on paper and represents the head of an elderly man in a three-quarter view. In the portrait, the length of the hair is uncommon in Renaissance (文艺复兴) portraits.
Rembrandt van Rijn—“Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-up Collar”, 1659
Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn painted his self-portrait in 1659 when he was 53 years old. It shows his worried expression that clearly portrays the troubled condition of his mind at that point of his life since the year 1659 was a year of anxiety for him. This self-portrait found its place among the Benjamin Altman Collection, which has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1913.
Edgar Degas—“Degas Au Porte-Fusain’”, l855
Edgar Degas made this self-portrait only when he was twenty-one years old. It was one of the most remarkable of his fifteen self-portraits. Degas was seated as seemingly without fear and anxiety. The pose in the painting was formal and academic. The painting is located in the musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.
1. Where should visitors go if they want to admire Raphael’s self-portrait in 1506?| A．Uffizi Gallery. | B．Biblioteca Reale. |
| C．The musée d’Orsay. | D．The Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
| A．The red clothing. | B．The formal pose. |
| C．The long hair. | D．The worried expression. |
| A．Raphael. | B．Edgar Degas. |
| C．Leonardo da Vinci. | D．Rembrandt van Rijn. |
4 . For more than 40 years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has annually selected a group of Jazz Masters. Here are the NEA Jazz Masters selected for 2024.
Amina Claudine Myers
Amina Claudine Myers grew up in Dallas, Texas. She moved to New York City in the 1970s. The former elementary school teacher also worked in theaters and cooperated with musicians around the world.
Willard Jenkins
Willard Jenkins is familiar to jazz fans in New Orleans and Washington, D. C., where he’s hosted radio programs on stations such as WWOZ and WPFW. The Pittsburgh native first started writing about jazz for the Black student newspaper as an undergraduate at Kent State University. He also taught at various universities and contributed to leading jazz publications.
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz has played with generations of jazz stars. In the 1960s, after graduating from Juilliard, he joined the Max Roach/ Abbey Lincoln Group and the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop. In the 1970s, he played with Miles Davis and founded the Ntu Troop, which united jazz with African folk and other kinds of music. He has published more than 40 personal albums.
Terence Blanchard
It’s almost amazing that Terence Blanchard was named the NEA Jazz Master. He is only 61. It’s relatively young for the recognition.
Born in New Orleans to an opera-loving father, Blanchard started playing the trumpet (小号) as a child. Over the years, he has won multiple Grammys and a Peabody Medal. He made history in 2021 when his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones became the first by a Black composer to be staged by the Metropolitan Opera.
1. Who was born in Pittsburgh?| A．Gary Bartz. | B．Terence Blanchard. |
| C．Willard Jenkins. | D．Amina Claudine Myers. |
| A．In the 1950s. | B．In the 1960s. | C．In the 1970s. | D．In the 1980s. |
| A．He is the first Black composer to be the NEA Jazz Master. |
| B．He is the youngest to be selected as the NEA Jazz Master. |
| C．He won a Grammy and a Peabody Medal in the same year. |
| D．One of his works was performed by the Metropolitan Opera. |
5 . 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. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Negative. | D．Uncertain. |
| 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. |
| 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 |
6 . “Do what you love, not what others tell you is right,” says Georgia Lines of New Zealand.
I spoke with the 24-year-old singer-songwriter earlier this month about her rise to fame. In 2022, Lines was named breakthrough artist of the year at the annual Aotearoa music awards ceremony. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand, an island country in the Pacific Ocean that is home to more than 5.1 million people.
Lines makes success look easy, but she has worked hard to perfect her skills. “I love what I do,” she told me. “I love it when I get lost in music, and everything works together.”
Already, Lines has opened for pop singer George Ezra. She hopes “to open for Harry Styles one day,” she added.
Lines has written more than 20 songs and worked together with several top artists, including Jack Burton, Alex James and Cassie Henderson. “I love working with other people and cooperating,” Lines said. “I find I work better when I’m with others, because we can exchange ideas with each other.”
When asked about her musical ambition growing up, Lines smiled. “I was never a musical genius as a child,”she said. “But I always loved singing and music.”
In recent years, Lines has drawn enthusiastic crowds for her concerts. The video for her hit song, “No One Knows”, won best music video of the year in New Zealand in 2021.
As for her future goals, Lines said that she wants “to have a promising career and to keep doing what I love.” That means focusing on her own career and artistic achievements. “Comparison is the robber of success, “she said. “If I had stopped to compare myself with others, I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have.”
1. What is the main topic of the author’s conversation with Lines?| A．Her childhood. | B．Her family. |
| C．Her style of music. | D．Her way to success. |
| A．She likes teamwork. | B．She respects top artists most. |
| C．She has a gift for music. | D．She always loves music. |
| A．Valuing money too much. | B．Ignoring her future career. |
| C．Comparing herself with others. | D．Taking others’ suggestions. |
| A．Honest. | B．Knowledgeable. | C．Hard-working. | D．Kind-hearted. |
7 . Making marks or signing names in the sand is a great fun for most travelers on a vacation beach. But for Dubai-based Filipino artist Nathaniel A. Alapide, it’s how he became a Guinness World Record holder.
Dubai’s 72 kilometers coastline, and the vast Arabian Desert, are Alapide’s canvas (画布). Using only a simple garden tool, he draws enormous lines across the beaches and deserts, making huge and complex designs. His average drawing is around 20 meters squared. When he includes a written message, the pieces can be more than 100 meters long.
Alapide’s sand art began in 2014, when he drew a tree in memory of his late grandmother on the beach, near Jumeirah Beach Hotel. The size of the drawing appealed to the hotel which offered him his first full-time job as a sand artist in 2015. Since then, he has decorated the sands with around 1,900 drawings. He’s been assigned by big brands, and he created a work for National Geographic for the program “The Emirates From Above”. In 2022, Alapide set a new record for the world’s largest sand image.
Though Alapide has crafted a career from the practice, he says creating an artwork from sand isn’t always plain sailing. “On the 20th day of creating the world-record piece, we were almost 70% done but there was this weather that happened,” he says. “It was raining, and the wind was so strong, which removed almost the whole piece.”
“I think where I find this kind of work interesting,” Alapide continues. He says that the temporary nature of his work reminds him that everything is in constant change. “And I think making sand art is a great way to connect with people,” he adds. “I like to watch how people interact with the work and I have found that the kids notice the drawings more than the adults. I think because they’re more aware of their environment.”
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about Alapide’s drawing?| A．Its origin. | B．Its size. |
| C．Its materials. | D．Its features. |
| A．By decorating a hotel as required. |
| B．By impressing a hotel with his work. |
| C．By transplanting a tree on the beach. |
| D．By creating works for big brands. |
| A．Challenging. | B．Worthless. | C．Influential. | D．Impractical. |
| A．A candle lights others but consumes itself. |
| B．He who makes no mistakes makes nothing. |
| C．Happiness lies not in things, but in ourselves. |
| D．The longest journey begins with the first step |
8 . In 1978, Ang Lee had applied to study film at the University of Illinois, which his father was against as a large number of people would apply for the few roles. However, Ang Lee insisted (坚持) on flying to the U. S., which had a bad effect on his relationship with his father.
It was a few years later when he graduated that he understood why his father tried to stop him. It was nearly impossible for a Chinese newcomer to make it big in the American film industry. The next six years were full of struggles for him. All he would do was support the film workers with the equipment, help the editor or take on any other miscellaneous (混合的) duty. Moreover, what hurt him the most was shopping screenplay at more than 30 different production companies, only to get turned down each time. He turned 30 that year.
In Chinese, they say, “At 30, one stands firm.” However, he had no idea about what to do. The household was run on his wife's income. Ang Lee felt guilty as this kind of life was shameful for any other man. When nothing worked, he decided to face reality and signed up in a computer course. He believed that only knowledge of computers could make him ready for work now. His wife noticed a timetable in his bag though she didn't comment on it. The next morning right before she went to work, she turned back and said, “Ang, don't forget your dream.” It was this one sentence that brought his dreams back to life.
He slowly began to get money support for his screenplay and made his films. He has been nominated (提名) for 9 Academy Awards, His film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” won the Best Foreign Language Film award and he also won the Best Director award for the films “ Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.
1. Why did Ang Lee's father get angry?| A．Ang Lee went against his advice. | B．He had no money to send Ang Lee abroad. |
| C．He failed in entering film industry. | D．No roles were suitable for Ang Lee. |
| A．Ang Lee's career as a director. | B．Ang Lee's hardship in the U.S. |
| C．Ang Lee's duties in the company. | D．Ang Lee's meetup with his father. |
| A．She was a talkative person. | B．She starred in Lee's films. |
| C．She received many awards. | D．She gave Lee great support. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．Well begun is half done. |
| C．Do hold on to your dream. | D．A good name is better than riches. |
9 . A year after Walt Disney made history with the release of Snow While and the Seven Dwarfs, his artists were struggling to find the right design for the woodland backgrounds of Bambi, the coming-of-age tale of a young deer. The film’s production team realized they needed an alternative to the style in their first feature length animated film. Soon they got their inspiration from Tyrus Wong, whose work was on display at New York City’s Museum of Chinese in American Wong, an immigrant (移民) from Taishan, China, arrived in California at 9 with his father in 1919. Wong eventually settled near Los Angeles, where he developed his passions for art and drawing and got trained at the Otis Art Institute.
In 1938, The Walt Disney Studio hired him to draw the frames between the main drawings of the animators. Wong soon learned that the studio was trying to turn Felix Salten’s novel Bambi into an animated film. After reading the story, he saw an opportunity to break out of his boring job.
Inspired by Chinese landscape paintings, he used watercolor and crayons that created the forest scenes with simple strokes (笔画) of color and special attention 10 light and shadow. Wong’s skills caught Disney’s eye and became the guide for Bambi s background artists, who were later trained to mimic (效仿) his style.
By the time Bambi hit theaters in 1942, a strike at The Walt Disney Studio had left Wong jobless after three years of working on the project. He later became an illustrator for Warner Bros, where he worked for more than two decades.
“People admire his work because of Bambi, but Bambi was just a rally small part of his art life,” said Wong’s youngest daughter. “He considers himself not a great artist but a lucky artist, who was at the right place at the right time.”
1. Why did Tyrus Wong catch the attention of The Walt Disney Studio?| A．His painting style fitted Bambi. | B．He impressed the studio with honors. |
| C．He was fond of taking photos. | D．His work won popularity with students. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Fearful. | C．Excited. | D．Regretful. |
| A．He is generous. | B．He is demanding. | C．He is humorous. | D．He is productive. |
| A．Business. | B．Science. | C．Culture. | D．Health. |
10 . The Malaysian actress, Michelle Yeoh, 60, shared some wisdom with the American Film Institute’s newest graduating class in a speech as she accepted an honorary doctorate of fine arts at the class of 2022 graduation ceremony.
She recalled her early years in the industry. After an injury dashed her dreams of going into ballet, Yeoh bounced back at a gym where several stuntmen (特技替身演员) trained and ended up learning some tricks of the trade from them.
“The first thing they taught me what to do was to tuck and roll, then how to fall on my side, and then how to fall on my back. And after a while, it dawned on me that they were teaching me how to fall,” she recalled. “And they said to me, ‘How are you going to go up if you don’t know how to come down?’” “That lesson sticks with me to this day. I had to learn how to fall. Well, you could say I learned it in my bones, literally,” Yeoh added.
The actress mentioned jumping off a 20-foot highway overpass for one stunt, in which she over-rotated (旋转), causing her back to fold in half and a stunt went wrong. “I didn’t land properly, but I completed the scene,” she said.
“These moments taught me perseverance, courage and humility,” she said. “They also taught me to hone my skills and eventually progress to the point where I was running on rooftops and jumping onto moving trains. I’m not asking you all to do that, okay? What I want to share with you today is that our slips and stumbles(绊跌)are the secrets to our flight. Trust me, that’s part of the deal. Success without failure is called luck. It cannot really be repeated or relied upon. It is from failure that we learn and grow,” Yeoh continued.
The Crazy Rich Asians star concluded her speech: “Be courageous, take chances, break barriers, be proud of what makes you unique.” “And most importantly, don’t be afraid to fall, for you are learning to fly,” Yeoh said.
1. What can we learn about Michelle Yeoh from the first two paragraphs?| A．She was tricked by several stuntmen. |
| B．She was passionate about working out in a gym. |
| C．She won a doctor’s degree in fine arts despite her old age. |
| D．She was terribly defeated by an injury and discouraged in her early years. |
| A．God helps those who help themselves. |
| B．Misfortune might be a blessing in disguise. |
| C．Successful people are learning experiences with others. |
| D．The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. |
| A．Believe. | B．Sharpen. | C．Restore. | D．Dominate. |
| A．Mistakes and failure. | B．Luck and humility. |
| C．Courage and pride. | D．Opportunities and skills. |
