1 . 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 |
2 . Since 2012, Korean American farmer Kristyn Leach has been growing plants on her own land. Her two-acre farm, called Choi and Daughters, is in Winters, California. Leach’s farm provides vegetables and herbs native to Korea and East Asia.
Leach was born in Daegu, South Korea, and then adopted into a family in New York. As a child, she was drawn toward her grandmother’s big garden. Her interest in farming continued into adulthood. In Bolinas, California, Leach met her mentor (导 师), farmer Dennis Dierks. The two bonded over their admiration for Korean natural farming. Asian American farmers are a key part of the history of farming in America. Leach’s farm is seen as a recent addition to this long history.
Ten years ago, Leach received her first order for perilla, a leafy green herb with a sharp taste which is popular in Southeast Asia. Soon, Leach wanted to try producing her own Korean seed varieties. Leach struck up a partnership with the seed company Kitazawa and produced some Korean chili pepper seeds for them. The seeds were a success. Today, she continues to add new seeds for Kitazawa to sell.
Leach’s perilla experiments introduced new foods to her area. Soon, Asian American restaurants began to partner her farm.She started sharing her vegetables and greens with local kitchens. Despite her successes, Kristyn Leach found 2020 to be a challenge for the farm. News of the disease shook up the produce orders. Many local restaurants she worked with struggled to stay open.
Now, demand was growing for her seeds. Leach discovered that people found in her seeds a way of getting meaning from their food. Home gardening allowed people to work with her seeds on their own time. This made Leach ensure that her work mattered. Leach enjoys growing seeds that connect people with their families and histories. For her, sustainable farming practices and seed preservation are key to her success.
1. What possibly inspired Leach to begin farming?| A．Her interest in Asian farming history. |
| B．Her admiration for natural farming. |
| C．Her life with her grandmother. |
| D．Her meeting with Dennis. |
| A．It made her famous overnight. | B．It covered some pepper seeds. |
| C．It was placed by Kitazawa. | D．It was about an Asian herb |
| A．She received a reduced number of orders. |
| B．She began working with local kitchens. |
| C．She introduced new foods to her area. |
| D．She struggled to keep her farm open. |
| A．Curious. | B．Pleased. | C．Surprised. | D．Indifferent. |
3 . Banksy is a world-famous artist, but no one knows exactly who Banksy is—or even if Banksy is male or female. That’s because Banksy is a “street artist.” Most of the art Banksy creates is painted on the sides of buildings, public walls and other places that are out in the open. And the art is created without anyone seeing them being created. So Banksy has remained anonymous.
Banksy’s art is “political.” That means it’s not just interesting to look at, but it makes a point about something. One of Banksy’s most famous paintings is called Girl with Balloon, which shows a young girl painted in black and white reaching out towards a bright red, heart-shaped balloon dangling from a string. It was painted in 2002 on a wall in the UK. Recently, a framed copy of Girl with Balloon was auctioned off (拍卖) for nearly two million dollars.
The painting was on the wall at the auction house, known as Sotheby’s, and suddenly something very surprising happened. The painting started to drop down in its frame and was shredded (切碎) by some blades hidden in the bottom of the frame. The painting started getting cut into pieces. And what is even more astonishing was that it was Banksy who destroyed the painting.
Shortly after the auction, Banksy posted a video on Instagram showing how the shredder was put into the frame-on purpose- “in case it was ever put up for auction,” according to the video.
No one knows exactly why Banksy did it, but on Instagram Banksy put a quote from another famous painter, Picasso, that said, “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” Some people from Sotheby’s grabbed the painting when they saw what was happening, and stopped the shredding about half-way through.
The new owner of the painting was at first shocked but them realized the painting is now even more interesting. The painting has now been renamed “Love Is in the Bin,” and it may even be more valuable than ever.
1. Which of the following best explains “anonymous” in Paragraph 1?| A．Unknown. | B．Unreliable. |
| C．Unacceptable. | D．Disrespectful. |
| A．It was completely destroyed by Banksy. |
| B．It dropped from the wall and broke into pieces. |
| C．Some people from Sotheby’s put it into a shredder. |
| D．Some blades in the frame was cutting the painting into pieces. |
| A．The painting was repaired and given a new name. |
| B．The painting is worth even more than two million dollars now. |
| C．The new owner of the painting was upset about what happened. |
| D．The new owner of the painting thought what Banksy did was interesting. |
| A．A Mysterious Painter. |
| B．The Urge To Destroy is Also A Creative Urge. |
| C．Girl With Balloon, An Amazing Work of Art. |
| D．Million-Dollar Banksy Painting Shreds Itself. |
