Beethoven was born in Germany. He is regarded     1     one of the greatest composers in the history of music. Unfortunately, he     2     (begin) to lose his hearing in his twenties. He thought about giving up, but he continued to write music until his death in 1827. Beethoven produced some     3     (amaze) pieces, including his Symphony No. 9 in D minor.

One day in February 1824, Beethoven’s ninth symphony was     4     (final) completed. Before the performance, Beethoven was afraid that the performance would be     5     disaster. After all, he could not hear his orchestra — even if he is a musical genius.

The audience did not hesitate     6     (clap) and cheer loudly as Beethoven walked out onto the stage. For more than an hour, Beethoven jumped about in front of the orchestra,     7     (wave) his arms wildly in the air, and madly turning the pages of his score.

As the final,     8     (joy) note signalled the end of the symphony, the audience jumped to their     9     (foot), clapping, cheering and waving their hats. But Beethoven continued conducting, his head buried in the score. It was not until one of the singers took his arm and turned him to face the audience     10    Beethoven realised his symphony was a success.

Shi Jing, also called the Book of Songs, is the oldest existing     1     (collect) of Chinese poetry. When Chinese musician Fang Jinlong read Shi Jing, he was interested in the stories in the poems. Because he couldn't     2     (full) understand the ancient Chinese language     3     (use) in the poems, he turned to experts to explore the poems.

Then he decided to portray the poems with musical language by inviting composer Ma Jiuyue     4     (create) an album. Titled Music and the Book of Songs, the album was released on Jan. 18, 2021,     5     (feature) 10 original songs composed by Ma. They     6     (perform) by Fang and won great popularity.

The 10 songs are based     7     10 poems from Shi Jing, including Qiong Yao, which conveys gratitude to people who are eager to help others, and Swallows, which sends farewell messages to friends.

“Young people gave warm feedback about traditional Chinese music     8     they had watched my performance. It has inspired me to create more works for them, which helps popularize traditional Chinese music,” says Fang.

“The 10 pieces sound     9     (enjoy) and easy. For the listeners, it's a fresh way to comprehend poems from Shi Jing,” says Ma. “We spent three years working on     10     project. There are so many meanings in the poems and we want to display them as deep as possible with music," Ma says. "It's our mutual goal to have traditional Chinese music reach a wider audience.”

What is your favorite cartoon? It may be     1     (difficulty) for you to decide. But for pianist Lang Lang, Tom and Jerry is the best one.

When Lang Lang     2     (be) two years old, he saw Tom playing     3     piano. This was his first time to enjoy Western music and this experience encouraged him     4     (learn) to play the piano. His talent at the keyboard has taken him from Shenyang     5     the world. Lang became a good piano student at three. Ever since, the boy     6     (do) better and better. In 1997, the 15-year-old boy studied at a famous American music college.

Lang’s performances are full of energy. He is well-known for     7     (make) facial expressions and moving around while playing the piano.

The road to     8     (succeed) has never been easy. Lang’s father stopped his job to look     9     him, while his mother stayed in Shenyang to make money. But Lang considers     10     (him) lucky and believes he should give something back. He has helped the children in poor areas a lot.

Artist Song Peilun is known    1     “The Father of Yelang Valley” after spending the last two decades turning a village into an artistic village.

Yelang was an ancient (古老的)     2     (history) centre first described in the 3rd century BC, and it was centered in     3     is now western Guizhou Province, China. Experts believe that many ancient cultures were rooted here, but there are     4     (unfortunate) no buildings left standing in the great valley. Inspired by Crazy Horse, a mountain monument in the US slate (石板), Chinese artist Song Peilun focused his attention on     5     (build) a memorial to the artistic culture of Yelang Valley.

    6     was in 1996 that Song quit his job as a professor and bought a 200,000 square meter plot of land in a mountainous forest area. Then he began to follow his dream.

When he first arrived in the area, most of the locals     7     ( work) in the mountain and selling the stones to make ends meet，but he invited many of them     8     ( help) him instead.

So far, Song Peilun and the villagers     9     (turn) the forest land that he bought into an artistic village full of stone sculptures,     10     were inspired by Chinese Nuo culture. It is now a relatively popular tourist attraction.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, who is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music. In his    1     (twenty), he had been very famous for his skills on the piano, but then he began to lose his hearing. Beethoven thought about giving up, but in the end he continued to write music.    2     (inspire) by his struggles with deafness, the composer produced some amazing pieces. He proceeded with the composition until his death in 1827,    3     (write) more than 130 musical works, including his Symphony No.9 in D minor, which took him several years and    4     (complete) in 1824. 

Before the    5     (perform), the backstage atmosphere at a very famous theatre in Vienna was tense. Beethoven was afraid that the performance would be a disaster. Happily, the audience did not hesitate    6     (applaud) loudly as the famous composer walked out onto the stage    7     the first time in 12 years. As the final, joyous note    8     (signal) the end of the symphony, the audience jumped to their feet, clapping, cheering and waving their hats. But Beethoven continued conducting, his head buried in the score. It was not until Caroline Unger, one of the singers, took his arm and turned him to face the audience    9     the great man realised his symphony was    10     success.

Every     1     (artist) wish is to create something     2    expresses an idea. But who or what     3     (inspire) them? Here are three artists and their sources of inspiration.

Florentijn Hofman is     4    visual artist. Rubber Duck and Floating Fish are his famous     5    (work). The sources of his inspiration are his children’s toys, Chinese folk tales     6     (pass) down through the generations, and the experience in Wuzhen West Scenic Zone.

Tan Dun, a composer, who is known for     7     (compose) music for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sources of his inspiration come from a mix of Chinese     8     (music) traditions and Western influences.

Yang Liping is a dancer known    9     the “Peacock Princess” because of her Spirit of the Peacock dance. As for     10     (she), the sources of inspiration are the life in Xishuangbanna, the dance style of the Dai people and the Dai people’s traditional belief.

Kenneth Williams     1     (consider) one of the greatest British comedy actors of the twentieth century. His voice is his outstanding gift; it virtually defined him as a     2     (perform).

Williams would often spend weeks deciding how a character should sound and this “voice” determined his approach to each role.     3     even after he had chosen his “voice”, he didn’t always stick to it. In the middle of     4     single performance, he would sometimes change the tone or speed of his speech, for     5     (great) comic effect. While still a beginner, he felt he should be given the freedom to do as he wished on stage and often     6     (ignore) his directors’ instructions. This greatly annoyed some directors, who refused     7     (work) with him. Sometimes, he would completely ignore the script and make up his own lines during performance. Although he was proud of his ability to go “off scripts”, he became extremely angry if other actors tried to do the same,     8     (argue) that they were simply not good at it.

Williams loved to make his audience laugh. When performing a scene     9     there were few laughs, he would often make up     10     own jokes, which always entertained the audience, but sometimes also ruined the scene.