Mona Lisa, also called Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, Italian La Gioconda, or French La Joconde, oil painting on a wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, is probably the world’s most famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, when Leonardo was living in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre Museum, Paris, attracting people throughout the world to see it in the 21st century. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination.
But at least a dozen excellent copies of the Mona Lisa exist, many of them by Leonardo’s students. One such copy at the Prado Museum in Madrid was thought to have been painted years after the original. However, during the restoration of the painting in the early 2010s, which included using advanced reflexology to examine the work beneath the surface, conservators discovered that the painting had changes that mirrored those of the original. The findings suggested that the artist—likely one of the master’s assistants—painted the copy as Leonardo worked on the Mona Lisa in his studio. Thus, “the Prado version” became the only known copy completed during Leonardo’s lifetime. Conservators cleaned the entire painting and removed its black background, revealing a detailed landscape resembling Leonardo’s version and vibrant colors, possibly arousing those of the original before the paint applied by early restorers darkened over time.
Other copies of the Mona Lisa include so-called Isleworth Mona Lisa, which some critics claim is da Vinci’s first edition. The claim was a controversial one, with several leading Leonardo scholars flatly denying it. Numerous interpretations, often referred to as Monna Vanna, also exist and were likely completed by Leonardo’s students with occasional input from their master.
In June, a copy of the Mona Lisa is said to have been sold for a record 2.9 million euros (22 million yuan) at Christie’s in Paris. The copy is believed to have been made by a follower of Leonardo da Vinci in the early 17th century and later was purchased by Harkin in 1953 from an art dealer in Nice, France, hence it got the name Heggin’s Mona Lisa. High imitation is also worth money! As the art investment market heats up. various art reproductions continue to emerge. Collectors have not shut out these fine copies, some of which have not only made it into the house, but also sold for high prices. Is it really worth it to pay a high price for an art reproduction? This issue is getting more and more attention from collectors.
1. What can we learn about Mona Lisa in Para. 1?| A．This painting has been sold out. |
| B．Her smile and identity arouse people’s curiosity. |
| C．The painting is said to be hanging in Florence now. |
| D．The painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci in France. |
| A．All the restored copies. | B．The works of early restorers. |
| C．A copy from the Prado Museum. | D．An excellent copy of da Vinci. |
| A．Because of the entertainment. | B．Because of the love for painters. |
| C．Because of the short supply. | D．Because of the high returns. |
| A．Mona Lisa | B．Other Mona Lisas |
| C．Mona Lisa’s Smile | D．Mona Lisa’s Value |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】FAMOUS CHINESE PAINTINGS, ARTISTIC TREASURES
With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the most culturally unique nations. Over many centuries, Chinese artists have created paintings that are now in the hearts of more than a billion people.
Nymph of the Luo River—Gu Kaizhi
The legend has it that Cao Zhi, a prince of the state of Cao Wei, fell in love with the governor’s daughter. However, she married his brother, Cao Pi, and the prince became upset. Later, he composed an emotional poem about the love between the goddess and common people. In the 4th century, Gu Kaizhi, a Chinese artist, was moved by the story and illustrated the poem.
Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers—Zhou Fang
During the Tang Dynasty, China had a prosperous economy and flourishing culture. In this period, the genre of “beautiful women painting” enjoyed popularity. Coming from a noble background, Zhou Fang, a Chinese artist, created artworks in this genre. In his painting, the ladies stand as though they are fashion models, but one of them is entertaining herself by teasing a cute dog.
Along the River During the Qingming Festival—Zhang Zeduan
Zhang Zeduan depicted the landscape in his work Along the River During the Qingming Festival. However, instead of concentrating on the vastness of nature, he captured the daily life of the people of Bianjing, present-day Kaifeng. His work shows much about life in the Northern Song Dynasty.
A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains—Wang Ximeng
Not only did officials and scholars enjoy listening to music, but they also found pleasure in depicting nature. One such painter was Wang Ximeng. He was a prodigy. Wang Ximeng painted A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains when he was only seventeen years old. He died several years later, but he left one of the largest and most beautiful paintings in Chinese history.
1. Where do you think this passage is taken from?| A．A novel. | B．A travel journal. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A book review. |
| A．Wang Ximeng created his masterpiece in his teens. |
| B．Nymph of the Luo River is a poem written by Cao Zhi. |
| C．Zhou Fang painted fashion models in his painting. |
| D．Zhang Zeduan’s painting describes daily life of officials. |
| A．Nymph of the Luo River—Gu Kaizhi. |
| B．A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains—Wang Ximeng. |
| C．Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers—Zhou Fang. |
| D．Along the River During the Qingming Festival—Zhang Zeduan. |
【推荐2】Remember that fantastic picture you drew when you were little? You were so proud of it. You just couldn’t wait to show it to your parents.
Don’t worry, though. Many great artists are misunderstood. And, believe us, when your parents heard your explanation about your picture, that picture likely became priceless. But what does it mean to be priceless? Priceless means that an item is invaluable. Because of its rarity or quality, its value is so great that it can’t be calculated in terms of mere money.
Many objects have value based upon what someone is willing to pay for them. Priceless items are priceless precisely because their owners are unwilling to part with them－for any amount of money.
Many of the most priceless paintings housed in museums around the world were created by the “old masters”.
| A．Unfortunately, they misinterpreted your work. |
| B．A real van Gogh is always worth more than a copy. |
| C．That’ s why the works of art you create are priceless. |
| D．Historical significance adds more zeros to the price of an artwork. |
| E．For example, many of the greatest works of art are considered priceless. |
| F．The point is the things you create are incredibly valuable to those who love you. |
| G．They were European painters of incredible skill who created their works before. |
【推荐3】One day a very skilled artist met a beautiful woman who immediately became the object of his affections. As he observed her and spoke with her, he admired her more and more. He showered her with kindness and words of praise until she consented to be his wife.
Not long after they were married, however, the beautiful woman found out that she was more the object of his artistic interest than of his affections. When he admired her classic beauty, it was as though he were standing in front of a work of art rather than in front of a human being to whom he had pledged his love and promised his life. And soon he expressed his great desire to put her rare beauty on canvas.
“ Please sit for me in the workroom,” he pleaded, “ and I will make your beauty permanent. The work will be my masterpiece!”
She was humble and patient as well as flattered by his words, so she said, “Yes, my love. I will be happy to sit for you.” So the beautiful, young wife of the artist sat meekly for hours in his studio, not complaining. Day after day she sat patiently, smiling as she posed, because she loved him and because she hoped that he would see her love in her smile and obedience. She sometimes wanted to call out to him, “ Please love me and want me as a person rather than as an object !” But instead, she spoke nothing but words which pleased him.
At length, as the labor drew to close, the painter became wilder in his passion for his work. He only rarely turned his eyes from the canvas to look at his wife. As he stood there gazing at his beautiful work of art, he cried with a loud voice, “This is indeed life itself!” Then he turned to his beloved and saw that she was dead!
1. In what way did the artist express his appreciation of his wife’s rare beauty?| A．He put her classic beauty on canvas. |
| B．He promised to marry her. |
| C．He centered his deep affection on her. |
| D．He pledged his love and promised his life to her. |
| A．The artist loved his work more than his wife. |
| B．The artist didn’t really understand what is beauty. |
| C．The wife was fooled to sacrifice for his art creation. |
| D．The wife loved his painting more than herself. |
| A．He appreciated his life of painting. | B．He was grateful to his wife. |
| C．His work was more true to life than life itself. | D．His effort was really worth it. |
| A．A Well-matched Couple | B．A Devoted Artist |
| C．A Rare Masterpiece | D．A Stupid Wife |
【推荐1】Do you sometimes pay no attention to your mom while chatting with friends? If you’re a teen, that’s fairly common. And new research may explain why so many adolescents (少年) stop listening to their moms’voices.
The researchers studied the brains of 7- to 16-year-old kids as they listened to things said by their mothers or by unfamiliar women. As the kids listened, certain parts of their brains became active. This was especially true in brain regions that help us to pay attention.
Daniel Abrams, a scientist, and his co-workers already knew that younger kids’ brains respond (反应) more strongly to their moms’ voices than to strangers’. “In adolescence, we show the exact opposite of that,” Abrams says. For teens, these brain regions respond more to unfamiliar voices than to their moms’. “As a teen, you don’t know you’re doing this. You’re just being you: You’ve got your new friends and you want to spend time with them. You take more notice of these unfamiliar voices,” Abrams adds.
These areas in the adolescent brain don’t stop responding to Mom. It’s just that unfamiliar voices become more attractive and then are worthy of attention. As kids grow up, they expand ( 扩 ⼤大 ) their social connections way beyond their family. So their brains need to begin paying more attention to that wider world. “That’s exactly what it should be like,” Abrams says.
The brain seems to adapt to new needs that come with adolescence. “As we grow up, our survival depends less and less on our mother’s support,” says Leslie Seltzer, a scientist. “Instead, we depend more and more on our friends and others at the same age as us.” So while both teens and their parents may sometimes feel sad about missed messages, that’s okay. This is how the adolescent brain works, and there’s a good reason for it.
1. What does the research focus on?| A．The adolescents’ brain development. |
| B．The teens’ response to their mothers’ voices. |
| C．The relationship between kids and their mothers. |
| D．The influence of mothers on their kids’ characters. |
| A．Teens’ mind tends to be attracted to unfamiliar voices. |
| B．Teens’ brain activity is closely related to their ages. |
| C．Teens usually have a bad relationship with their parents. |
| D．Teens sometimes have difficulty focusing their attention. |
| A．Teens’ great pressure of study. |
| B．Teens’ wish to live an independent life. |
| C．Teens’ increasing focus on new things. |
| D．Teens’ discomfort of talking with their parents. |
| A．It can increase their brain activity. |
| B．It is confusing. |
| C．It leads to failure in later life. |
| D．It is understandable. |
【推荐2】The standard public health threats are all-too familiar: smoking, high blood pressure, cancer. But a new government advisory made headlines in 2023 by adding an unexpected major to that list. Loneliness, stated the report from Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, is a widely under recognized U.S. health crisis. In recent years, about 50 percent of Americans have experienced loneliness, which results in adverse effects. Lonely people, as Murthy’s report warns, run the same mortality (死亡) risk as people who smoke 15 cigarettes a day.
On its face, Murthy’s warning sounds awfully alarmist. It’s hard to understand how a lack of companionship could be as threatening as an addiction or global pandemic. But humans are so biologically wired to be social that isolation damages our systems. People who lack social support have a 29 percent higher risk of heart disease, a 32 percent higher risk of stroke, and a 26 to 29 percent higher risk of premature death, according to the report. What’s more, such health effects in isolated older adults have led to about $6.7 billion in Medicare spending each year.
Scientists now know that loneliness can cause lots of health problems. That may be because our ancestors thrived (繁荣) in supportive communities. “Our brains function more efficiently when we are with others.” Says Julianne Holt Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University.
Since loneliness can feel so much like personal failure, it’s easy to assume people should just try to handle it on their own. But in reality, many of the factors that promote social isolation are structural ones. “It could be workplace policies that don’t allow flexibility to support personal relationships.” Holt Lunstad says. “It might be busy or unsafe streets that are barriers to getting to know your neighbors.”
1. What does the underlined word “adverse” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Slight. | B．Negative. | C．Indirect. | D．Immediate. |
| A．Loneliness is a great health threat to people. | B．Loneliness does more harm than a pandemic. |
| C．Lonely people run the same risk as the smokers. | D．Loneliness is a well-recognized health problem. |
| A．Social isolation can be solved on one’s own. |
| B．Social anxiety holds back personal interactions. |
| C．The absence of social support worsens loneliness. |
| D．Tight working schedules lead to tense relationships. |
| A．The causes of loneliness. | B．The effects of loneliness. |
| C．The definition of loneliness. | D．The solutions to the loneliness. |
【推荐3】Better known by his stage name KUN, Cai Xukun is a phenomenon, opening up the music industry in China.
Last year, after participating in the reality TV show Idol Producer, receiving the most votes from fans, the singer-songwriter rose to fame overnight. At just 21 years old, Cai has topped Chinese music charts with multiple singles.
On July 26, KUN released his newest single Young. Within just 20 seconds, it reached a million sales.
KUN wrote the song to share his understanding of youth. He mixed R&B and electronic beats (节拍) to make it more cheerful. A reviewer wrote on QQ Music, “When you listen to the song, you just seem to go back to youth again.”
The song was an early birthday present to himself which he celebrated on Aug 2. KUN also hopes that he always has the courage to pursue (追求) his love of music, no matter what people think. “My works are like my children and I have put my best effort into them.” he told the Global Times.
Indeed, KUN has written and produced most of his songs on his own. “I want every piece of my work to have my own spirit in it,” he told music website Soundigest, “I feel more enjoyment when I'm performing my own work.”
Although KUN loves performing onstage, when the lights go down, he prefers to fall back into his own world and darkness at night. “I always get inspired when it's quiet, late at night”, he told I-D magazine, “It’s a great moment for me to create new things. Sometimes, I can write songs with a melody (旋律) I heard in a dream.”
To develop his introspection (反思) and find new inspiration, KUN attends different kinds of musical performances — from festivals to opera houses. “I just like to do everything, all for my music, all for my art,” he told I-D.
With such talent and dedication to music, it seems that KUN will continue to make his mark in the competitive Chinese music industry.
1. What do we know about KUN’s newest single?| A．It earns him a birthday present. |
| B．It makes people feel happy and energetic. |
| C．It shows how he pursues his dream. |
| D．It combines jazz and electronic music. |
| A．He goes to music shows. |
| B．He talks to famous singers. |
| C．He attends music classes. |
| D．He finds melodies in his dreams. |
| A．Courageous and patient. |
| B．Talented and humorous. |
| C．Hardworking and creative. |
| D．Optimistic and outgoing. |
【推荐1】Even though a lot of art galleries and museums are free in the UK, many people seldom visit them for fear that they won’t understand the art on display. They are afraid that other visitors may be more knowledgeable and that everyone else there understands what the artworks mean. But this simply isn’t true. Everyone is equal in front of an artwork and there are no wrong answers.
Modern art can be particularly difficult to understand and appreciate but enjoying an artwork is a natural gift. Do you like it or not? Do you want to find out more or not? It really is that simple.
A very well-respected art historian, Ernst Gombrich believed that a viewer completed the artwork, and that part of an artwork’s meaning came from the person viewing it. So, you see — even if you don’t have an art history degree, there really are no wrong answers, as the viewer is completing the artwork.
But there are things you can do to understand and appreciate art a little bit more. When I look at an artwork, I undertake a visual analysis. I look at the formal elements—color, texture, size. Imagine we’re viewing a painting. I look at the color; I look at the brush strokes; I look at what is being described. If you’re looking at artworks in a gallery, read the wall text at the side of the artwork. If staff are present, ask questions. Ask your fellow visitors what they think. Asking questions is the key to understanding more. But above all, have confidence in front of an artwork. If you are appreciating an artwork, then you are the intended viewer and what you think matters. You are the only critic that counts.
1. According to the text, why do people seldom visit museums?| A．Many art museums are free in the UK. | B．They are not interested in artworks. |
| C．The artworks there are not completed. | D．They aren’t confident in front of artworks. |
| A．Their meanings vary from person to person. |
| B．Asking questions is the key to understanding them. |
| C．It takes an art history degree to appreciate them. |
| D．They need an analysis of color, texture and size. |
| A．A diary. | B．An art magazine. | C．A novel. | D．A science report. |
| A．How to understand art | B．The power of artworks |
| C．The road to modern art | D．How to open an art gallery |
【推荐2】Street Art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and trash cans. Even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists.
Art experts claim that the movement began in New York in the 1960s.
One well-known New York street artist is Swoon. She cuts out paper images of people and puts them on walls or sets them up on sidewalks.
In today’s world, the Internet has a big influence on street art.
| A．There are various forms of street art. |
| B．Street art has become a global culture. |
| C．Street artists do their work for some reason. |
| D．Swoon didn’t start her career as a street artist. |
| E．It was considered as a very new popular form of culture. |
| F．Artists can show their pictures to people all over the world. |
| G．Young adults sprayed (喷洒) words and other images on walls and trains. |
【推荐3】The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism (相对主义), are simply reflections of local and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.
History has witnessed the endless production of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert hall, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries. Unique works of this kind are different from today’s popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.
In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because “the general principles of tastes are uniform (不变的) in human nature,” the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after 2000 years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.
Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.
1. According to the passage, what do we know about cultural relativism?| A．It introduces different cultural values. |
| B．It relates artistic values to local conditions. |
| C．It explains the history of artistic works in detail. |
| D．It excites the human mind throughout the world. |
| A．the charm of great arts is universal and lasting |
| B．popular arts are hardly different from great arts |
| C．great artists are skilled at combing various cultures |
| D．great arts are works of popular arts in the beginning |
| A．they are results of scientific study |
| B．they establish general principles of art |
| C．they are created by the world’s greatest artists |
| D．they appeal to unchanging features of human nature |
| A．Are Popular Arts Universal? | B．Is Human Nature Uniform? |
| C．Are Great Arts Permanent? | D．Is Cultural Relativism Scientific? |
