One Direction was one of the most popular bands, and it     1    (make) up of five artists. After years of breaking records, the band started to slow down. In early 2015, it was announced on Facebook that Zayn Malik, one of the members, would be leaving the band. In his first interview after leaving the band, Zayn Malik said that the reason why he left was     2     it didn’t fit his style. And he said he “never    3     (true) spoke to Harry”, his former bandmate and that he had never been under the    4    (impress) they would keep in touch after Malik left the band. “Our relationships     5     (change) since we were in a band together, but I think that’s just life,” said Malik. This came as    6    surprise to fans because in the Facebook post announcing his departure, Malik wrote that he had “four friends for life”. In contrast to the typical pop music, Malik shared an R&B album in 2016 and his    7    (late) album Nobody Is Listening, in 2021.

    8     (speak) with Vogue UK, he referred    9    One Direction as a “machine”. He describes the band’s sudden rise to fame and busy touring plans by saying, “I wasn’t really ever able    10     (enjoy) the experience. The machine had gone too fast.”

Living Heritage: Guqin

Wandering sounds, irregular rhythms and a carrier of gentle emotions. This is the musical language of guqin, a seven string instrument     1       (create) in ancient China.

The earliest piece of guqin in China, unearthed in Hubei province in 2016,     2     (date) back to the Zhou Dynasty. The body of a guqin is made     3     painted wood and the strings of twisted silk. Unlike its seemingly simple appearance, making a guqin is     4     (extreme) demanding. An outstanding piece can take anywhere from two to several decades to craft. It is a crystallization of art and time.

The guqin     5     (favor) by the literati (文人) in ancient China. The most renowned guqin     6     (music) was Yu Boya in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. As he played his guqin in the mountains, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard the music and understood exactly     7     Yu wanted to express. This deep understanding formed a strong bond between them, and they became close friends. This is     8     famous tale behind the guqin masterpiece, Flowing Water, High Mountains. The piece has been passed down through generations and is considered one of the most famous and important     9     (composition) in Chinese guqin music.

This graceful dialogue,     10       (flow) from brushed fingertips and travelling for thousands of years, is continuing to this day.

The Goddess of the Luo River comes alive in a video, which was shared by Henan TV Station on social media platform Sina Weibo. The ancient tale of romance is given    1    new setting (背景) and still provides attractive viewing for a modern audience. The tale is presented in    2    seems like slow motion. Not    3    (surprise), it became popular and has been viewed more than 20 million times.

The story of the Goddess of the Luo River has been the    4    (inspire) for countless contemporary artists, who have described the goddess of unmatched beauty through    5    (variety) art forms, like movies and dance dramas.

But the reason why the video,    6     runs for around two minutes and is titled Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess, created such an impression and has generated such a wave of publicity, is that it    7    (shoot) underwater. He Haohao plays the role of goddess. She masters not only her art but the technique of holding her breath as her lungs struggle to carry out    8    (they) function. All this is done    9    the most peaceful facial expression.

It’s not the first time that Henan TV Station has gained attention with its appealing videos    10    (highlight) traditional Chinese culture. On Feb 13th, a dance piece, titled A Tang Dynasty Banquet, which is less than six minutes long, was staged during a gala aired on Henan TV Station to mark Spring Festival.

Music is all around us. Music plays     1     important part in daily life and a     2     (various) of kinds of music are enjoyed in the world, such as Blues, Black music, Rock & Roll and so on.

Music     3     (apply) widely in many fields. It is a generally     4     (recognize) form of art. It is used in healthcare and educational process. Besides, music also helps in engineerin.

Why do so many people like music? Music can be a part of our identity — the set of qualities and     5     (belief) that make us who we are. It makes us part of our culture or community. It can also affect emotions and make us     6     (energy). Moreover, music can make us want to move. Movement stirs our hearts and our blood up,     7     is good for our health. Another of the many reasons to listen to music is     8     it helps you to think more     9     (creative). The combination of words and tone does something magical in the brain     10     (encourage) new connections. If you ever find yourself stuck on a problem, put on some tunes and see if they shake a new idea loose.

Wandering sounds, irregular rhythms and a carrier of gentle emotions. This is the musical language of guqin, a seven-string instrument    1    (bear)in ancient China.

The earliest piece of guqin in China, unearthed in Hubei province,    2    (date)back to the Zhou Dynasty. The body of a guqin is made of wood and the strings of silk. Unlike its    3    (seeming) simple appearance, making a guqin is extremely demanding.    4    outstanding piece can take from two to five decades to craft. The tone of a guqin is quiet, distant, pleasant and    5    (charm).

The guqin has been embraced by musicians for centuries, the most popular one    6    (be) Yu Boya in the Spring and Autumn and Waring States periods. As he played his guqin in mountains, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi passed by. No sooner had he heard the music    7     he understood it. This deep understanding formed a strong bond    8    them. This is the famous tale behind the masterpiece, Flowing Water, High Mountains,    9    has been passed down through generations. It is also considered as the most marvelous    10    (compose) in Chinese guqin music.

A traditional Chinese dance performed underwater    1    (become) famous on social media recently. The show led to renewed     2    (excite) of traditional Chinese art and culture among audiences. The dance featured a character from the famous ancient Chinese painting Ode to Goddess Luo (洛神水赋), the daughter of Fu Xi in Chinese mythology (神话) who drowned and became a goddess, according     3     the legend. The moves     4    (film) underwater at 4.5 meters from the ground. The short dance,    5    lasted less than two minutes, was seen as     6    creative combination of contemporary art and traditional Chinese culture. “The water made the costume even     7    (beautiful) and the moves more graceful!” said one observer online. “I’m just     8     proud of our traditional culture that I couldn’t help    9    (cry) a little bit at the end of the show,” said one netizen. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson also posted the video on Sunday    10     (display) the dance, saying that it was “unbelievably beautiful and the actress danced gracefully like a swan and flexibly like a Chinese dragon”.

Have you ever dreamed of being famous    1    a musician? At first many singers may form a band to practice their music. And then they may get the chance to give     2    (perform) in pubs or clubs. Later they may gradually become popular. However, the Monkees started in     3     different way. They began as a TV show. The TV organizers had put an advertisement in a newspaper,     4    (look) for rock musicians who could act as well as sing.     5    (honest) speaking, only one of them was good enough and the other three members pretended     6    (sing). So it couldn’t    7    (call) a real band in the beginning. Anyhow, their shows were     8    (creativity) and they became popular. After a year or so, they worked harder, produced     9    (they) own records and started touring. In about 1970, the Monkees broke up but they reunited in the mid-1980s and in 1996 produced a new record, with     10     they became more successful.

Argentina in the late nineteenth century was an     1    (excite) place. Around 1870, it was experiencing     2     economic boom (繁荣), and the capital, Buenos Aires,     3    (attract) many people. Farmers, as well as a flood of foreigners from Spain and Italy, came to Buenos Aires seeking jobs. These jobs didn’t pay well, and the people felt lonely and     4    (disappoint) with their new life in the city. As the unhappy newcomers mixed together in the poor parts of the city, the dance     5    (know) as the tango (探戈舞) came into being.

At the beginning the tango was a dance of the lower classes. It     6    (dance) in the bars and streets. At that time there were many fewer women     7     men, so if a man didn’t want to be left out, his only choice was to dance with another man so that he could attract the attention of the few available women.     8    (gradual), the dance spread into the upper classes of Argentinean society and became more respectable.

The popularity of the tango continued to grow in many other     9    (part) of the world. Soldiers     10     returned to the United States from World War I brought the tango to North America. It reached Japan in 1926, and in 2003 the Argentinean embassy in Seoul hired a local tango dancer to act as a kind of dance ambassador, and promote tango dancing throughout South Korea.