2 . To Their Own Beat

When Los Lobos perform in concert today, audiences in the thousands cheer them on. It’s hard to believe that the group started out as just another garage band playing popular rock-and-roll tunes from the radio, In 1974 four high school friends from East Los Angeles formed Los Lobos ( Spanish for “The Wolves” ) .

Like many garage bands, these friends might have simply gone their separate ways after high school. But the members of Los Lobos wanted to keep making music together. They decided to change their musical style and began focusing on traditional Mexican music that showed their tradition.

“We pulled out all those records we used to beg our parents not to play around our friends and found an incredible wealth of music,” says Perez. “These guys (on the records) were doing amazing things with their instruments, and we started trying to pick up on it. ”

The group put aside its electric guitars for the acoustic ones used in traditional Mexican music. For several years Los Lobos played at weddings or parties—any event that needed live music. They also landed a regular engagement (合同)   at a Mexican restaurant.

By 1978 Los Lobos had made enough money to record their first album   (唱片) , and they sold copies of it wherever they performed. They also returned to their electric guitars to get closer to a Tex-Mex sound, which is a mixture of traditional Mexican music, rock and roll, country music, and the blues. This new, louder sound produced one unexpected result: the group was fired from the restaurant.

But it didn’t matter that Los Lobos had lost their one steady job, because they had found a position that no other group took up. They had combined electric and acoustic instruments and blended (混合) musical styles in their own way. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983 as the saxophone and keyboard player, adding to the band’s unusual sound.

“We didn’t so much want to recycle the music we’d grown up with as much as find the common links between it and all the other styles and sounds that were all around us,” Perez explains.   “It became a mission ...   bringing music together to bring people together. ”

In the 1980s Los Lobos gained the attention of several record companies. They were hired to perform on the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, which earned them a Golden Eagle Award. They have since earned many awards, including two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award. Their many records have been very successful, and they have toured the world.

Even after 30 years of making music together, Los Lobos continues to experiment with their sound. They never moved far away from their Mexican roots, however.   They still include traditional music in their live performances, sharing their history—and their culture—with their fans.

You wanted to know about Chinese paper cut. Here I’m glad to tell you something about it.

Best wishes.

Yours,

Li Ming

China has a history of more than five thousand years,     1     makes its culture profound. The     2     (various) of Chinese culture always attracts foreigners to come to visit China. As the carrier of Chinese culture, Chinese costume occupies a place. Chinese costume is very special and its feature is always added in the foreign style. And the classic Chinese costume is cheongsam (旗袍), which is full     3     charm.

Cheongsa m has become     4     representative of traditional Chinese style. Many foreign ladies wear cheongsam to show respect in great occasions. And Chinese beauties dress cheongsam     5     (confident) to show the world the Chinese style in the great competition of Miss World. Cheongsam     6     (make) a lady’s body shape look so     7     (attract), and men are attracted by women’s charm.

Recently, in the fashion week, more and more Chinese features     8     (see). Cheongsam style is favored by a lot of famous designers. They combine their own fashion with cheongsam style,     9     (present) the world with the beauty of female’s body and the charm of Chinese costume style. As more and more foreigners become interested in Chinese culture, they have a strong desire     10     (know) the real China.

10 . The term Scotch­Irish is an American term used to describe those Scots­Irish who live in America.In Britain the term Scots­Irish used for these people is Ulster­Scots. Then, where did the Scots­Irish come from on earth? To find the answer, you should get to know a little bit about the history of Scotland.

After the Celtic invasion (入侵) of Britain about 500 BC, what is now Scotland was controlled by the Celtic people known as the Picts. This name came from the Latin word pictus meaning “painted”. They painted their bodies with dyes (染料).

In the fifth century, the Scots from northern Ireland invaded what is now western Scotland and established a kingdom in the highlands. They spoke Gaelic, a Celtic language. At this same time the Anglo­Saxon invasion of Britain was taking place. Scotland is made up of the highlands and the lowlands, and the Gaelic name for the lowlands is a’Ghalldachd, meaning “the place of the foreigners”．And whom might those foreigners be? The Anglo­Saxon invasion of Britain included the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The Jutes came from what is now northwestern Denmark.They settled (定居) in the southernmost part of Britain. The Saxons came from the northwest coast of Germany and they settled in the southern third of Britain. The Angles came from southwestern Denmark and they conquered what is now northern England and the lowlands of Scotland. They were the foreigners referred to in the Gaelic name for the lowlands.

In the 17th century, the British leaders decided to settle some of its people in the Northern Ireland province of Ulster. They chose the people from Lowland Scotland. This migration (移民) started about 1605.

When the British colonization (殖民) of North America began many of them chose to join this migration. By the time of the American Revolution it was said that one­sixth of the population was the Scots­Irish.