【推荐1】You've been painting for a few years, and maybe you have even sold a painting or two. Are you ready to ______ the title of an amateur artist?

Distinguishing green hand from professional artists is ______ task. It is not just a matter of your ability to create nice paintings. It's not only about painting techniques. And for most cases, it doesn't happen ______. Very few artists become overnight success without years of struggle and suffering.

To turn professional, people find it critical to develop a personal style. What makes your paintings _______ among other paintings out there? Are your paintings standing out unmistakably directed to you as the creator? A personal style comes along with technique, painting medium, and subject and it tends to develop gradually over time. You _______ it through unconscious and constant exploring and self-shaping. Style does not mean that you are painting the same subject or using the same painting medium. Salvador Dali used to use many artistic media, but they all have a _______ Dali style. Style refers to the emotions and thoughts delivered by your paintings, which people can identify with. (认同/产生共鸣) Their _______ of the painter is then a sure thing.

Artists talk about their _______ all of the time. What gets you out of bed every morning to paint? How do you find the energy to have all your time devoted to painting?   ______, we all love to do what we do and we get a satisfaction out of creating. For the professional artist, it goes beyond that. Some artists wish to convey a deep message concerning life, society or even politics. Others simply seek   _______ returns to cover kids' tuition fees or pay family bills. Yet, all professional artists know that they have to keep working to achieve the goals.

Many amateur artists passively wait for   _______ to come. If they are not in the mood, they do not bother wasting the time. They sometimes allow themselves to be occupied by events like parties. Professionals are never easily _______ or torn away from their art work in progress. Focused on their work so much, some even regard spending time outside their _______ as crime. _______ is their secret to high productivity.

Besides, professional artists are constantly prepared to grab new ideas for the next painting, which they believe is sure to be better than the previous one. The belief that there is always room for _______ keeps driving them forward in the art world where many masters have come along.

【推荐2】The art world in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is very active. But talented local artists _______ struggle for international recognition.

One of those artists is 26-year-old Eddy Kamuanga. Kamuanga says Congo’s cultural and mineral (矿物的) wealth has _______ his artistry. He says _______ influence is his country’s painful colonial history. His paintings have been shown in South Africa, Europe and the United States. One of his pieces can sell for _______ $30,000 at an international auction. That makes him one of Congo’s _______ paid artists.

_______ art industry experts say his work only gets _______ prices when compared to artists worldwide. Kamuanga says African artists are _______ differently in the arts world. He adds, “I think it is a _______ for many artists in Africa to get the ________ recognition.”

Another artist, Freddy Tsimba, says one problem is the lack of ________ in DRC. Tsimba creates sculptures. His works are shown internationally, but get little ________ in his home country.

Congolese artist Vitshois Bondo has shown his art work and lived around the world. But he returned home to Congo to work at a recently ________ studio for young Congolese artists. Currently, the studio has two women artists. One of them is Dina Ekanga. She says it is not easy being both a woman and an artist ________ the men push you around from all sides. She ________ that the art scene is rather difficult, ________ in Congo.

Younger artists, ________ painter Romario Lukau, also say they struggle to establish themselves. Lukau is one of four young painters who are trying to find ________ as artists. They sell their paintings for about $1,000 each.

Lukau says his biggest dream is for people to talk about Congolese art the ________ we talk about American, German or Belgian art. He and other Congolese artists say they are ________ that dream will come true one day soon.

【推荐3】Gabi Rizea, a former forest engineer from Craiova, Romania, became a wood carver completely by accident. Three years ago, after _________ himself with a new chainsaw (链锯), he started “playing” with it on the _________ he had in his workshop. He _________ to carve a human face into the wood, and to his surprise, it turned out pretty good. Then he kept improving his skills. Today, he is so good at it that he is _________ to work his magic on the old tree stumps (树桩) in the local parks in his home city.

He sometimes draws the _________ he wants to carve, but in most cases, the wood just doesn't match his _________. He has no choice but to _________ in order to match the material available, which sometimes leads to even more _________ results. Gabi's most popular creation is “Water Pouring from Bucket”, a masterpiece carved from an old ash tree. After he guessed that half the stump was rotten (腐烂的), it ended up becoming the water flowing from a bucket.

Recently, photos of “Water Pouring from Bucket” have grown in popularity online.

He has created many artworks like this so far, and they have made the city nicer and more artistic. Following his recent _________ to fame on the Internet, Gabi has been asked by other Romanian cities to __________ their old tree stumps into artworks. He promised to honor their requests, but out of __________ for his home city, he will never create the artworks __________ to those in his hometown.

Gabi can turn a stump into an artwork in just two days. Though he has a lot of __________, the Romanian artist recently got into an art school in order to fully master wood carving.

He has been __________ for his contribution by the city government. When mentioning the __________ has made, he always says he does the same thing other people can do to make our world more beautiful.

【推荐1】Are you a graduate trying to plan out the best career path for yourself? Here, some tips are given on how to go about it.

A university degree is no _________ of a job, and job hunting in itself requires a whole set of skills. If you find you are not getting past the first interview, ask yourself what is happening. Is it a(n) _________ to communicate or are there some skills you lack? And find out what you need to do to bring yourself up to the level of _________ that would make you more attractive to them.

Do not be too discouraged if you are _________ for a job, but think about the reasons the employers give. Those who made the second interview might have been studying the same subject as you and be of _________ ability level, but they had something which made them a _________ match to the selector’s ideal. That could be experience gained through projects or vacation work, or it might be that they were better at communicating what they could offer. Do not take the comments at _________ value: think back to the interviews that generated them and make a list of where you think the shortfall in your performance lies. With this sort of analytical approach you will eventually get your foot in the door.

Deciding how long you should stay in your first job is a tough call. Stay too long and future employers may question your _________ and ambition. Of course, it depends on where you are aiming. If you are a graduate, spending five or six years in the same job is not too long _________ that you stay ahead of the game. However, do not use this as a(n) __________ for lacking interest or enthusiasm. Graduates sometimes fail to take ownership of their careers and take the initiative. It is up to you to make the most of what’s available within a company, and to monitor your progress in case you need to __________ . This applies particularly if you are still not sure where your career path lies.

It is helpful to think through what kind of experience you need to get your __________ job and it is not a problem to move around to a certain extent. But in the __________ stages of your career you need a definite strategy for reaching your goal, so think about that carefully before deciding to step forward from your first job. You must cultivate __________ to be competent for any role. There is no guarantee that you will get adequate training, and research has shown that if you do not receive proper help in a new role, it can take 18 months to __________ it.

【推荐3】Xing Tonghe(邢同和), who graduated from Architecture department, Tong Ji University of Shanghai in 1962, is now the Director of Xing Tonghe Design Studio and Director of Shanghai World EXPO's.

Xing Tonghe has taken charge of more than 300 projects in the past 50 years. His works have been granted more than 30 _______ as national, ministry or municipal(市级的) outstanding design. In the past years, he has also been in charge of the work of planning and designing Shanghai APEC conference hall, 2010 World EXPO Shanghai planning and so on. Xing Tonghe won the title of Distinguished Middle Age and Young Experts of China in 1988, and Municipal Key Project Contribution competition prize for continuous 3 times. Among his works, ''the Shanghai Museum'' was _______ as the ''World City Distinguished Modern Architecture Design''.

The Shanghai Museum, dating back to 1952, moved to its current location in 1995. The building is by Xing Tonghe of Xiandai Architectural Design Group, which is responsible for a(n) _______ 70% of Shanghai's new developments.

The museum has a(n) _______ of over 120,000 pieces, including bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, furniture, jades, ancient coins, paintings, seals, sculptures, minority art and foreign art. The Shanghai Museum _______ several items of national importance, including one ''transparent'' bronze mirror from the Han Dynasty.

The new building is a modern _________ of the ancient Chinese cosmological(宇宙的) view, from the Han dynasty 2200 years ago or earlier, that Heaven is round and the earth beneath is square. For a fifteenth century display of the same idea see Beijing's Temple of Heaven; for a different contemporary understanding see the Shanghai Grand Theater opposite the museum.

The form is also considered to be _______ to the Chinese ding, a bronze food container, but this is _________ by the architect as the main inspiration.

Within the square base, Xing _______ a new philosophy and argues that the museum represents a ________ on museum design:

''In the past, it was thought that the owner or managers were the __________ of the museum and we are afraid that people might visit the museum and destroy the __________. That's why so many old museums have railings for protection. I made the change. ________ should be the host; cultural relics belong to people, so I trust them. So we light up the halls to ________ the display, instead of lighting the passageways. And we don't ________ people, either. They can choose which part they want to see first. Lots of new museums in China has embraced this idea now. ''