As the search began for this year’s winners of the Huamao Aesthetic Education Prize, high achievers in aesthetic(美学的) education become nervous. The prize is for people who help aesthetic education develop.

Last year, the M Prize was founded by the Ningbo Huamao Education Foundation. Chinese oil painter Quan Shanshi and Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza were last year’s winners.  

Long Yongtu is the chairman of the assessment committee(评审委员会主席) for the M Prize. In his opinion, those who give a lot of their time to aesthetic education are not often recognized(认可) as much as those in subject education. He thinks these people deserve prizes. Long also tells us how important aesthetic education is to China’s modernization(现代化) and the power of role models is to education.

Art educator Xu Jiang agreed with that. He said he once didn’t know the difference between hard and soft pencils. At that time, he truly understood how important aesthetic education is.

China has a long history of fostering aesthetic education, like poetic and music education from Confucius. Western educators also thought the subject was important. So both people from China and other countries can get the prize. This year, each of the two winners will get a gold medal and 1 million yuan.

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1.When did the M Prize start?

A In 2022.

B In 2021.

C In 2020.

D In 2019.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据第二段的“Last year, the M Prize was founded by the Ningbo Huamao Education Foundation.”可知，“华茂美堉奖”于去年(2021年)设立。故选B。

2.What does Long Yongtu tell us? ①Aesthetic education helps a lot in China’s development. ②Subject educators show us the power of role models. ③In education, role models play an important part. ④People in subject education are often ignored.

A ①④.

B ①③.

C ②③.

D ②④.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据第三段的“Long also tells us how important aesthetic education is to China’s modernization and the power of role models is to education.”可知，“华茂美堉奖”评审委员会主席龙永图向我们强调了美育在中国现代化进程(即中国的发展)中的重要性以及教育中榜样的力量。故选B。

3.What does Xu Jiang think of aesthetic education?

A Relaxing.

B Expensive.

C Valuable.

D Painful.

解析：选C。C推理判断题。根据第四段的“At that time, he truly understood how important aesthetic education is.”可知，许江认为美育是重要的。故选C。

4.Which is the closest in meaning to the underlined word in Paragraph 5?

A Translating.

B Regretting.

C Developing.

D Stopping.

解析：选C。C词义猜测题。根据第五段划线句子后面的“like poetic and music education from Confucius”可知中国古代的孔子重视诗教和乐教，而这正是中国发展美育的体现，因此该句子意思是中国有着悠久的美育“发展”历史。故选C。

5.What is the passage mainly about?

A How to develop aesthetic education.

B The importance of education.

C A famous oil painter in China.

D A prize in aesthetic education.

解析：选D。D主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文向我们介绍了“华茂美堉奖”这一奖项。故选D。