Thomas Eakins, a painter, photographer,     1     (sculpt) and fine arts educator, received little     2     (recognize) during his lifetime but he is now widely considered as one of the most     3     (influence) figures in American art history. Eakins was interested in bringing     4     the individuality of his models and created     5     are now regarded as masterpieces in portraiture (肖像画法). His most famous work, The Gross Clinic, is “celebrated as a great 19th-century medical history painting,     6     (feature) one of the greatest portraits in American art.”

Apart from his art, Eakins     7     (credit) for introducing “the camera to the American art studio”     8     for being a famous art teacher. As an early pioneer of photography, he used the medium extensively throughout his career as both a way of documenting his own work and as a tool for     9     (explore) new visual ideas. He is recognized as the most important     10     (real) in American art in the 19th and early 20th century.

Xu Xiake was born in 1587.     1     (he) parents were rich landowners. Yet he gave up a     2     (comfort) life, and decided to explore the mountains and rivers on foot.

China has more famous explorers. There was: Zhang Qian, who traveled into Central Asia during the second century BC, opening a trade road that became     3     is known as the Silk Road. Or Zheng He, the sailor who in the 15th century sailed as far away as Africa. Yet these explorations     4     (support) by governments. Xu was totally different.

“On the surface, Xu’s travels can neither be classified as great affairs of state     5     great adventures that changed the course of history,” writes cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai. “Xu travelled to satisfy his own     6     (curious).”

Scholar Julian Ward agrees, describing the lonely Chinese wanderer like the Middle Kingdom’s version of John Muir: “Deep in love with nature and eager to find freedom     7     worldly concerns, Xu was a man addicted to     8     (see) and describing the landscape.”

“The few coins     9     (slip) from a hole in my pocket while I was climbing a mountain in Yunnan. When I finally managed to the town, I sold all my clothes, bought myself a bottle of wine and a good dinner     10     (celebrate) my survival,” the dreamy explorer wrote in his diaries, which mix details of geology, geography and botany with such personal travel experiences.

Many people must have read The Art Of War but how many have     1     (true) understood it? What does it have to teach us? This is too big     2     question to explore.

    3     (appreciate) The Art Of War fully, we must first understand who Sun Tzu was. The thing about Sun Tzu is that his whole existence remains     4     (hide) in mystery. Where did he live? Where was he born? How did he become so successful? How did he die? No one knows the exact answers     5     these questions.

Some people actually believe Sun Tzu did not live and that he     6     (be) just a myth, to begin with. This claim is strongly supported by many people     7     Sun Tzu does not appear in many important historical records, but then again, there could be an error.

But it could be possible that Sun Tzu was born under the name of Sun Wu around 544 BCE. Sun Tzu made the major     8     (appear) of his life as a military strategist for King Ho-Lu, in the state of Wu, also known for     9     (win) many great battles in history. According to researchers, he supposedly wrote the texts during the Warring States period. This was the time     10     China was divided into seven states that waged war against each other for supremacy (霸权).

4 . Direction：After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word. Fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

ZHONG SHANSHAN was largely unknown in business circles outside China until a few years ago. But the low-key entrepreneur     1     (hold) onto his crown as China’s richest person for three years in a row. Zhong has also emerged as one of the very few who did not make their fortune in the tech industry. His signature company, Nongfu Spring, is an old-school enterprise     2    makes one of the plainest products in history ---bottled water.

Zhong’s inspirational journey to becoming a self-made (白手起家的) billionaire started with decades of perseverance (毅力) and hard work.     3     (get) to his current position, Zhong learned the hard way, gaining experience in media, sales and even farming.

At a young age, Zhong was forced to drop out of school. He struggled to help support his family,     4     (work) as a construction worker for 10 years.

After the gaokao was reinstated (恢复) in 1977, Zhong took the college entrance examination twice,     5     both times he failed to get admitted to a university. At the suggestion of his parents, Zhong gave up on another run and enrolled himself in a less-than-ideal college.

After graduation, Zhong worked as a reporter for the Zhejiang Daily. In 1988, the declaration of the Hainan Special Economic Zone (海南经济特区) inspired him to quit his job and move to the island province. There he established the Pacific Post newspaper and after its failure, a mushroom business.

The climate of Hainan did not favor mushrooms, and soon Zhong had lost all his money. He had more success selling curtains, but then lost all his money when he started a shrimp farming business.

    6     (inspire) by the potential in the health foods market, Zhong established Hainan Yang Sheng Tang in 1993 to launch various supplements (保健品). He had his first taste of success after rolling out a self- designed product. Despite a positive response in the market, intense (激烈的) competition in the industry prompted (促使) Zhong to think about other possible ways to grow. He concluded that     7     happened, people would need to drink water, and in 1996 he started Nongfu Spring.

The company became known for its obsession (执着) with water quality,     8    has been burned deep into the minds of Chinese consumers thanks to its catchy slogan, “Nongfu Spring, kind of sweet.” These simple words reveal a marketing strategy Zhong has mastered all too well, which is demonstrated by the entrepreneur’s famous quip (妙语): “We are not manufacturers of water. We are porters of nature.”

    9     his immense wealth and influence, Zhong has maintained a low public presence. In Chinese media, he is often referred to     10     a “lone wolf”. His reserved nature stands in contrast to the public personas of other famous entrepreneurs. This quality adds an air of mystique (神秘性) to his already fascinating story.

Eileen Gu,     1     18 years old girl, was born and raised in California. She competed for her mother’s native China,     2     she won three gold medals: in half pipe, slope style, and big air.

However,     3     (win) these medals is incredibly tough     4     fear is everywhere. Gu’s relationship to fear was evolving. At first,     5     she recorded in her diary and entries was devoted to the subject of fear in all of its forms.     6     days going by, she     7     (begin) to write down her thoughts on fear — how she viewed it, how she managed it, how she hoped to overcome it. She said, “For the last ten of my 18 years, I’ve pursued a love affair with fear.”

Though it’s easy to label extreme sport athletes as     8     (fear) or unique, she has spent the countless hours practicing them. Instead of ignoring fear, she built unique relationships with it by developing a profound sense of self-awareness and making deliberate risk assessment.

As she entered her early adulthood, she was proud of the work she had done     9     (deal) with pressure. She focused on perspective, gratitude, and on the joy this sport brought her, regardless of     10     she was alone or in front of a worldwide TV audience. Though her views of herself and the world are constantly evolving, one thing is for certain: no matter how much time passes, she’ll always be a hopeless romantic when it comes to fear.

On Sept 18,2020, the world lost one of     1     (great) pioneers of women’s rights in modern history. On that day, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87.   

In 1960, when Ginsburg applied to be a clerk at the Supreme Court,she was turned     2     just because she was a woman. This experience inspired her later efforts     3     (fight) for women’s rights. She helped many women while working as a lawyer,     4     (win) their cases and earning them greater rights

But it was her work in the Supreme Court     5     really allowed Ginsburg to make a difference. In 1996, three years after joining the court, she wrote an opinion that ended a military school’s male-only admissions policy.   

She     6     (write) that any policy that doesn’t give women the equal chance to participate in society — simply     7     they are women — is illegal.   After this case ended, the court stared to pay greater attention to women’s rights in future    8     (decide).   

Ginsburg became a pop culture icon during her time on the court. Her image can still     9     (find) on coffee mugs and T-shirts. Her life is the subject of books, documentaries and even     10     opera. Ginsburg’s fight for equal rights for women was never-ending.   This strong belief injustice for women is one of the things that has made her so well-known and beloved.

One of China’s most popular live-streamers has offered a teary     1     (apologize) after getting into a viral online war of words in which he questioned whether a viewer had been working “hard enough” to make enough money     2     (afford) a product he was selling.

Li Jiaqi,     3     has 76 million followers on Taobao’s live-streaming platform, is one of the country’s biggest Internet celebrities. He once sold 15,000 lipstick in five minutes during a sales competition against Alibaba founder Jack Ma, winning     4     (he) the nickname “China’s lipstick king.”

“Expensive? The price has been the same for so many years. Don’t talk nonsense. It’s difficult for domestic brands to survive,” he said during the session, according to a video clip widely circulated online.

“Sometimes you should look     5     your own reasons, whether your salary has increased after so many years, and whether you have been working hard enough,” he added.

    6     (face) with the flood of criticism, Li apologize several times, saying on Monday morning that he had made some “inappropriate” comments that made everyone     7     (comfortable).

“I know that it’s not easy for everyone to work. What I said did not live up to     8     (netizen) expectations. I am really sorry,” he said.

On Monday night, Li apologized again during a live-stream session. “I should never forget     9     I come from and shouldn’t lose myself,” he said in     10     choked voice, with tears streaming. “I have been doing soul-searching these two days, and I am sorry to let everyone down.”

Rong Hong, also     1     (know) as Yung Wing, was a pioneering figure in China’s modern history. He was born in 1828 in Guangdong Province of China. Rong is best known as the first Chinese person to graduate from     2     American university.

In 1854, Rong graduated from Yale University,     3     (mark) a significant milestone in the history of Chinese overseas education. His time in America     4     (shape) his perspective on education and     5     (modern), leading him to advocate Western-style education in China.

Upon returning to China, Rong worked to bridge the cultural and educational gap between China and the West. His most     6     (exception) achievement was the Chinese Educational Mission, a program     7     sent Chinese students to study in America in the late 19th century.

Rong believed that introducing Western science and technology would help China modernize and strengthen. While his ideas     8     (meet) with resistance in his time, his efforts laid the groundwork     9     future generations of Chinese students studying abroad.

Rong Hong was a pioneer for Chinese education and international exchange. His vision for a modernized China and his efforts     10     (promote) Western education have left a lasting impact on the country’s development.

Walking along the Great Wall is a once-in-a-lifetime dream for many, but Jim Spear has taken it one step     1     (far), spending the last 18 years living in a village beneath the ancient wonder.

    2     68-year-old, a self-taught architect from the US, made the most important decision of his life to move to China in 1986, a year before the Great Wall     3     (list) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, Spear calls Mutianyu village home. In this quiet place,     4     (locate) at the foot of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, he lives with his dog in a home with a courtyard garden he tended     5     (he).

As an architect, not only did Spear renovate (翻新) his own dream house,     6     comes with multiple views of the Great Wall, but he also explored ways to boost the local business and support rural residents. Over the years, the architect     7     (help) renovate around 20 households in Mutianyu, most of which now operate     8     hotels or restaurants, while     9     (do) his best to preserve the original structures as much as possible.

In     10     (recognize) of his contributions, Spear was given the Great Wall Friendship Award in 2014.

For 27 years, Mao Shihua     1     (be) a permanent fixture for the residents of Huangtankou, selling breakfast to schoolchildren from her simple stall (货摊) meters away from a primary school.     2     (fond) nicknamed “Breakfast Nanny”, Mao served food that was both nutritious and cheap. Each item cost just half a yuan,     3     the price was never raised.

Mao’s “day” began at 2 am,     4     she would start preparing the breakfast items. Around 5:30, Mao would ride a tricycle cart to her stall to sell the breakfast, and remained there till 7:30 am.     5     hours of preparing and selling the breakfast, Mao barely made 50 yuan a day. She would often need to dip into her pension (养老金)     6     (cover) costs. Even owners of neighboring stalls would admit that Mao made no money out of her business.

However, Mao didn’t care. The hours she spent serving food to the children living in the mountainous area was the     7     (happy) part of her day.

When 90-year-old Mao died on December 18, 2023, netizens from around the country expressed their     8     (admire) for her and grief over her death, praising her as     9     “ordinary hero”.

In 2019, inspired by Mao, the public service center established the “1-yuan caring breakfast” store. From 7 to 8:30 am every day, the store provides 20 to 30 breakfast sets     10     (price) at 1 yuan for special groups such as sanitation workers and elderly people.