1 . Passing the Cities through the Lens (镜头) of Women, a solo exhibition by Swiss artist Catherine Gfeller, is being held at the Swiss embassy in Beijing.

Between 2016 and 2019, Swiss artist Catherine Gfeller embarked on a journey to a number of Chinese cities, weaving a narrative as she engaged with the stories of women from different backgrounds. Her vision of the women, the challenges they confront, and their distinctive spirit are the focuses of the artist’s subsequent explorations.

In the bustling streets of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Hong Kong, Beijing and Kunming in Yunnan province, Gfeller found a means of exploring the essence of these urban landscapes by focusing her lens on women. On Saturday, the Swiss embassy in Beijing launched a solo exhibition, Passing the Cities through the Lens of Women, which spotlights the perspectives and voices of women with photographs, texts, and videos. Through her lens, Gfeller skillfully establishes a dialogue and builds a bridge between the narratives of the women and the liveliness of the cities they inhabit.

For Gfeller, women’s voices are very important in modern Chinese society. During shooting, she learned how the women perceive the new ways of life and how they find an anchor in their cities. “The moment I pressed the shutter, I felt like I became part of the city,” Gfeller says.

Ambassador of Switzerland to China Jurg Burri said at the opening ceremony, “Ms Gfeller cares very much about people, especially women in cities. Women’s issues are a global topic and I hope that more women’s voices will be heard.”

The exhibition is open to the public until the end of March. The 58-year-old artist is known for her focus on landscape photography. Using techniques like montage, collage, and superimposition, she creates unique photographic artworks.

1. Where is the passage probably taken from?

A．A leaflet.

B．A newspaper.

C．A brochure.

D．A research paper.

2. What does Catherine Gfeller’s exhibition focus on?

A．Chinese women’s viewpoints.	B．Chinese urban landscapes.
C．Chinese traditional roles of women.	D．Chinese women’s status in society.

3. Why does the author cite Jurg Burri’s words?

A．Jurg Burri is the Ambassador of Switzerland to China.

B．The theme of Catherine Gfeller exhibition is a global topic.

C．Jurg Burri is in favor of Catherine Gfeller’s means of exploring cities.

D．Catherine Gfeller attaches great importance to women’s perspectives.

4. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To introduce an exhibition.	B．To educate readers.
C．To persuade readers.	D．To advertise an exhibition.

2 . 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.

3 . It was October 2005, and the catastrophic earthquake killing some 79,000 people in Pakistan had reduced the valley to mud and ruins.

Yasmeen Lari, a 65-year-old architect, was there to help lead the reconstruction of settlements, but she had never done disaster work before. Lari was known for designing smooth towers of glass and concrete. But here, she’d be drawing plans for earthquake-resistant homes using stone and timber debris(木材碎片). With each passing day, she felt deeply right to do disaster-relief work. So she made it her new mission, spending the next four months working with volunteer architects and engineers from Pakistan and abroad.

Inspired by local buildings made with sustainable materials such as timber debris, bamboo and mud, Lari’s shelters can better withstand disasters. Lari says this local, cost-effective and zero-carbon approach is creating an ecosystem. Anyone can learn by watching DIY videos on Lari’s Zero Carbon Channel on YouTube.

The design won a UN World Habitat Prize in 2018.“We need to believe in people’s capacity to bring about change. I treat displaced people as partners, not victims. They know what to do,” says Lari.

Over the decades, Yasmeen Lari has won many awards as architect and environmentalist. While it may seem like an unlikely path for a girl who was born into a well-to-do family in1941, she had an unconventional upbringing. At home, her father would talk about the desperate need for housing. Listening to her father talk about the housing crisis and need for architects made an impression on Lari. On a family visit to London when she was 15, she applied to architecture school at Oxford Brookes University. She laughs as she recalls her bravery.

At age 83, Yasmeen Lari is still full of ideas about zero-carbon designs, skills building and self-sustaining villages. “Architects can no longer work for just the one percent,” she says. “That doesn’t allow them to serve humanity as much as they could.”

1. What can we learn about Lari from the first two paragraphs?

A．She felt considerably proud to do disaster-relief work.

B．She started a brand-new volunteer working experience.

C．She was good at designing earthquake-resistant houses.

D．She reconstructed the settlements with glass and concrete.

2. How did Lari make her design practical and environmental?

A．By creating an ecosystem.

B．By strengthening local buildings.

C．By using local sustainable materials.

D．By watching DIY videos on YouTube.

3. Why did Lari decide to apply to architecture school?

A．Her interest in architecture drove her.

B．Her father encouraged her to path unusual.

C．Her father talked about the demand for architects.

D．Her rich family allowed her to pursue the most of dream.

4. Which of the following best describes Yasmeen Lari?

A．Sensitive and brave.

B．Determined and cooperative.

C．Honest and generous.

D．Sympathetic and eco-responsible.

4 . Milan Kundera, the son of a famous concert pianist and musicologist, was born on April 1, 1929. Brno, Czechoslovakia (now in Czech Republic). The young Kundera studied music but gradually turned to writing, and he began teaching literature at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Prague in 1952. He joined the Communist Party in 1948, was expelled in 1950, and was readmitted in 1956, remaining a member until 1970.

He published several collections of poetry in the 1950s. Then his short stories and highly successful one-act play, The Owners of the Keys, were published in the 1960s, followed by his first novel. One of his greatest works, The Joke, a comic and ironic (讽刺的) about the private lives and destinies (命运) of various Czechs, was translated into several languages and achieved international recognition. His second novel, Life Is Elsewhere (1969), about an unlucky, romantic-minded hero who supported the Communist takeover of 1948, was forbidden of its Czech publication. Kundera refused to admit his political errors to the authorities, who banned all his works, fired him from his teaching positions, and drove him away from the Communist Party.

In 1975 Kundera was allowed to emigrate with his wife from Czechoslovakia to teach at the University of Rennes in France. In 1979 the Czech government took away his citizenship. In the 1970s and 80s his novels were published in France and elsewhere abroad but were banned in his homeland until 1989. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, one of his most successful works, is a series of ironic meditations (沉思录) on the modern state’s tendency to deny and clear out human memory and historical truth.

Kundera began writing in French with Slowness in 1994, followed by Identity (1997), Ignorance (2000), and The Festival of Insignificance (2013), which is about a group of Parisian friends.

On July 11, 2023, Milan Kundera died in Paris, France.

1. What does the underlined word “expelled” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Rejected.

B．Promoted.

C．Introduced.

D．Punished.

2. What can you learn about Kundera from the passage?

A．He wrote his first novel before The Owners of the Keys.

B．His second novel was translated into several languages

C．He created his works in French in his old years of life.

D．He moved to France with his wife to learn French.

3. According to the passages, Milan Kundera used to be anyone but a _______________.

A．playwright

B．poet

C．novelist

D．translator

4. What is The Book of Laughter and Forgetting aimed at?

A．Preserving human wisdom.

B．Uncovering a political truth.

C．Teaching modern history.

D．Praising the government.

5 . How Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die?

On November 20th, 1791, Mozart suddenly came down with fever and was wracked with pain. His arms and legs were severely swollen. In the following days his health significantly deteriorated. He died on December 5 after lapsing into a coma. The death certificate states he died of “severe miliary fever”. Exactly which disease led to Mozart’s death has been a mystery for the last 200 years.

Speculations

Many myths —some more plausible than others — entwine (缠绕) Mozart’s early demise. One of the most popular myths — that Mozart was poisoned by his rival Antonio Salieri — rose to prominence due to the popularity of the film Amadeus. This theory is supported by the fact that Mozart had been living through a phase of depression before his death, suffering from paranoia and existential fear. Mozart himself suspected that the cause of his deteriorating health was being poisoned over a long time. However, it is highly likely that this was just his subjective view of reality.

Many other speculations circulate. Syphilis and trichinellosis are frequently mentioned. In 1905, a French physician assumed uric acid poisoning due to a never fully healed nephritis. In 1961, lead poisoning was suggested as a possible cause of death.

Scientific attempts to explain Mozart’s death

In 2000, a group of American scientists proposed rheumatic fever caused by a strep infection after conducting meticulous detective work. The symptoms stated in literature and the reports of Mozart’s contemporaries yielded the clues. Without antibiotics, such an infection would inevitably lead to death. Rheumatic fever causes a weakening of the heart, which could explain Mozart’s swollen limbs.

In 2009, the Dutch scientist Richard Zegers extensively studied surviving documents and concluded that Mozart had been suffering from pharyngitis, a throat infection with symptoms including cramps, fever, rashes and a swollen neck. Mozart’s sister-in-law Sophie Haibel had described these symptoms. The death registry of Vienna for winter 1791 lists several deaths caused by this disease.

Whatever the cause of Mozart’s death, it came far too early. Let us thank him for his manic urge to create art and remember him on December 5th!

1. Which of the following is similar in meaning to the underlined word “deteriorate” (Paragraph 1)?

A．To become worse.	B．To change greatly.
C．To recover quickly.	D．To be harmed rapidly.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．It is generally believed that Mozart was poisoned by his friend.

B．Mozart’s depression paranoia and existential fear led to his death.

C．Mozart had been poisoned sustainably for a long time before he died.

D．Mozart once got a nephritis and it was never healed.

3. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Mozart’s disease was recorded in contemporary literature and reports.

B．Antibiotics were not discovered at that time.

C．Rheumatic fever can only be caused by strep infection.

D．Mozart’s illness cannot be cured even today.

4. What is the author’s purpose mentioning Mozart’s sister-in-law’s words?

A．To back up the Dutchman’s study.

B．To prove they were common symptoms causing death in 1791.

C．To prove Mozart did have such symptoms before his death.

D．To emphasize her special identify as a witness to Mozart’s death.

6 . Since winning the BBC Young Musician competition in 2016, Sheku Kanneh-Mason has performed at a royal wedding and released music that has topped the charts. Now he has released a new album called Song. “Because the cello (大提琴) sings,” he explains. “There are no boundaries to music,” he said. “I enjoy what Ienjoy.”

Sheku comes from an incredible musical family in which all six of his siblings (he is the third child of seven) play instruments to a high standard—yet neither parents are musicians. Every spare penny goes into the children’s musical education. The whole family practised at home, which meant he sometimes had to play cello in the bathroom.

Every Saturday, Sheku wakes up at the crack of dawn in order to catch the train to London. He uses the journey to catch up with his A-Level homework. However Sheku still finds time for his other hobbies — he enjoys football, table tennis and listens to a wide range of music. Sheku began to play the cello at the age of six, after attending a concert. By the time he was nine, he had achieved Grade 8 and earned the top marks in the country. Since then he has won numerous awards.

“I would love to inspire more diversity in young people taking up classical music.”

Sheku is also passionate about building better opportunities for young people of any background to learn music at school. “You might never want to go on to become a musician, but it’s still so important. I’d love to help bring more music to schools.”

Many schools are having to cut music lessons to save money, which Kanneh-Mason believes deprives young people. “Children should study music for music’s sake,” he said. “It connects the emotional side of your brain — the creativity, the empathy (understanding how other people feel)— with something practical. To bring them together is a very powerful thing.”

1. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?

A．Sheku’s hard work and talent.	B．Sheku’s family’s music atmosphere.
C．Music talent of Sheku and his siblings.	D．Sheku’s parents’ support for music education.

2. What can be inferred about Sheku from Paragraph 3?

A．He is social and energetic.	B．He has a lot of homework.
C．He stood out when young.	D．He prefers sports to music.

3. According to Sheku, why should young people take up music?

A．It can encourage the young when they are in difficulty.

B．It can provide more opportunities for people at school.

C．It can make them role models for others if they learn music.

D．It can combine the emotional side of the brain with real situations.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To advertise a competition.	B．To introduce a young cellist.
C．To stress the value of teachers.	D．To attach importance to music.

7 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1 个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Hu Ge has been playing roles that fit his age. At 23, he was adventurous and       1     (courage) Li Xiaoyao in Chinese Paladin, truly     2     (define) the appearance of “China’s best actor of period drama”. At 33, he was the       3     (hide) and disguised playboy Ming Ting in The Disguiser. In 2016, after he won the Magnolia Award     4     Nirvan in Fire, fame and fortune came to him again, and he could be seen slowing down visibly.

However, fame and fortune are not the     5       (meaning) of Hu Ge’s survival after the car accident. He has not taken further advantage of his top popularity, nor has he been forced by    6     rules of the showbiz. He is never afraid of     7       (forget). Every time he appears in public, he comes with his work and then     8     (appear) with it, remaining out of the public attention for several months. Hu Ge is no longer what he was years ago. He     9     (experience) joy and sorrow, life and death. He looks at life more lightly and is more low-key. “What has not defeated me will eventually bring me achievements.”

This is     10       few people dislike Hu Ge.

8 . Will Smith jumped into a live volcano and kayaked (划皮艇) down an Icelandic whitewater river for his latest project. But he wasn’t making an action movie. It was personal.

Smith, a Hollywood leading man who admits that he’s far from enjoying outdoor activities, has put himself in danger while filming Welcome to Earth, a Disney original series from National Geographic. He was afraid at that time, but he says “It’s really difficult to enjoy things if you’re scared. I think the ability to see how beautiful things are is directly connected to your openness to them and fear closes you down.”

Smith says he was once scared of everything and hated water, but he learns to read the rapids (急流) while whitewater kayaking, rescues turtles near the Great Barrier Reef and goes 3,000 feet below the sea in a deep-water submarine.

Dr. Albert Lin, an engineer and explorer who has uncovered lost cities previously for National Geographic, was astonished to find that Smith was able to control his fears even in the face of real danger. While diving in the underground lake in Namibia, Smith got into trouble and Lin watched him “dropping at a rate that felt like maybe we wouldn’t see him again.” But Smith was able to control his mind and deal with the situation. “I respected Will Smith, the actor, before, but now I definitely have grown to truly respect Will Smith, the human being,” says Lin.

Produced by famous filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, the series carries on the tradition of National Geographic pushing the exploring envelope (极限) and employing the latest technology to help us understand our world. “I hope this can help people out there get a sense of how absolutely incredible our planet is,” says Lin.

The experts Smith has paired with teach him about speed, smell and sound and the colors out there he might miss. “You can’t really want to protect something that you don’t understand. And you can’t want to protect something that you can’t recognize as beautiful,” Smith says.

1. What enables you to enjoy beautiful things according to Smith?

A．Spirit of adventure.	B．Ability to find beauty.
C．Respect for nature.	D．Openness to change.

2. What happened to Smith in Namibia?

A．He found a lost city.	B．He nearly lost his life in a lake.
C．He entered a diving competition.	D．He went deep under the sea in a submarine.

3. What can be learned about “Welcome to Earth” from paragraph 5?

A．It explains the origin of our planet.	B．It targets potential explorers.
C．It won important film awards.	D．It applied advanced technology.

4. Where is the text probably from?

A．A guidebook.

B．A book review.

C．A magazine.

D．A diary.

9 . In 2021, Zhang Guimei, a high school teacher, was honored as one of the “People Who Moved China”.

Twenty years ago, Zhang ________ a teenage girl sitting at a loss on the side of a road in Huaping county, Yunnan Province. The girl told Zhang that she desired to go to school, but her family couldn’t ________ it. Zhang went to the 14-year-old girl’s home ________ persuade her parents to allow their daughter to continue schooling.       ________, they refused her. After that, Zhang saw many local girls ________ out of schools due to poverty. Zhang was trying to ________ how to help them.

She came up with the idea of building a girls-only high school ________ students wouldn’t have to pay anything. Zhang tried various ways to raise the ________ but failed. Later, she spoke through mass media to the public about her long-cherished dream. With the ________ support from the local government and ________ people, Huaping Girls’ High School was founded in 2008. On the first day of the new school year, 100 students enrolled in the school. Most of the girls were from the ________ areas. Several had physical disabilities or were orphans (孤儿) or children of single parents.

Since Zhang Guimei started the school 10 years ago, she ________ more than 1,600 households, traveled more than 110,000 kilometers, and walked to many places to encourage parents to send their daughters to school. Zhang’s continuous ________ light up the dreams in kids and change their ________. So far, more than 2000 girls in the remote areas have been helped, many of whom have been admitted to universities.

Just as her saying goes, “the value of life lies in struggle, progress and dedication.” Zhang ________ herself to improving girls’ education.

1.

A．hit

B．encountered

C．happened

D．occurred

2.

A．spend

B．pay

C．take

D．afford

3.

A．in aid to

B．in addition to

C．in an attempt to

D．in response to

4.

A．But

B．However

C．While

D．Therefore

5.

A．quitting

B．leaving

C．dropping

D．stopping

6.

A．figure out

B．bring about

C．draw out

D．give out

7.

A．that

B．where

C．which

D．when

8.

A．funds

B．bills

C．bonus

D．prize

9.

A．emotional

B．physical

C．mental

D．financial

10.

A．warm-hearted

B．bad-tempered

C．cold-blooded

D．absent-minded

11.

A．urban

B．industrial

C．mountainous

D．advanced

12.

A．visited

B．had visited

C．would visit

D．has visited

13.

A．work

B．efforts

C．jobs

D．labour

14.

A．substance

B．clothing

C．fate

D．character

15.

A．manages

B．fails

C．continues

D．commits

10 . The Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience of crossing continents and cultures plays a vital role in his novels about the impact of migration(移居)on individuals and societies, won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Born in 1948 on the island of Zanzibar, Abdulrazak Gurnah never considered the possibility that he might one day be a writer. ”It never occurred to me,“ he said in an interview. ”It wasn’t something you could say as you were growing up.” He assumed he would become “someone like an engineer.” In 1964, a violent uprising(暴动)forced Gurnah to flee to England. Unhappy, poor and homesick, he began to write down thoughts in his diary and then stories about other people. Those writings as well as the habit of writing gave rise to his first novel, then nine more.

In almost all of his works, Gurah has tried to uncover the way in which colonialism(殖民政策)has changed everything in the world, and people who are living through it are still processing that experience and some of its wounds. “The thing that motivated the whole experience of writing for me was this idea of losing my place in the world,” he said.

Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature, called him one of the world’s most extraordinary post-colonial writers. He said it was crucial that Gurnah’s roots are in Zanzibar, a place that had people from different countries, and was influenced by their cultures long before globalization.

It is of great significance for Africa-born Gurnah to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, which has been occupied by European and North American writers since it was founded in 1901.

1. What is the reason for Gurnah’s winning the Nobel Prize?

A．He is a Tanzanian writer.

B．He suffers too much all his life.

C．His rich experience and cultural background count.

D．His novels involve colonialism and poor life of people.

2. What do we learn about Abdulrazak Gurnah from paragraph 2?

A．He aimed to be a writer while young.

B．His habit of writing contributed to his career.

C．He fled away to England for his political reasons.

D．His earlier stories were mainly about homesickness.

3. What does the underlined word ”motivated“ mean in paragraph 3?

A．Inspire.	B．Persuade.
C．Combine.	D．Forecast.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A Worldwide Novelist Rooted In Tanzanian.

B．The Dream Of Becoming A Post-colonial Writer.

C．Abdulrazak Gurnah Awarded Nobel Prize For Literature.

D．The Influence Of Migration On Individuals And Societies.