In a working site near Paris, several people are busy cleaning a canvas (画布), trying to correct the pains of time: The repairing of 22 paintings of Notre-Dame (巴黎圣母院), which were damaged by a fire in April 2019, is “a race against time”.
The project of repairing these works, which must be returned to the building for its reopening in 2024, is a unique one compared to others.
“Two years may seem like a long time? but that’s the time it takes to do the job of simply one canvas like The Triumph of Job, which is behind us,” one expert Laurence said, pointing out the huge work several meters high by the Italian artist Guido Reni, which was hung behind her back.
“You do not touch a canvas without knowing its medical history”, underlines Lavit, heritage curator (馆长) at the Center of research and repair of the Museums of France.
Once this history is known, the paintings move on to cleaning. The protector-repairer Pasquali stresses that it is a team effort.
Opposite her is Hulot, an expert in repair. One object of his attention is The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew by French artist Lubin Baugin. His job is to make sure that the canvases do not break.
Meanwhile, another team takes care of the frames (边框). “The heat of the fire dried and weakened the wood,” comments Galopin.
Once all these steps have been completed, the paintings are stored in a special room. It takes between 8 and 10 people to move them safely. They will remain there until the reopening of the church.
1. What do we know about the repair work?| A．Its focus is on cleaning a canvas. |
| B．It is considered as the pains of time. |
| C．It is different from all other projects. |
| D．Its working site is in the city of Paris. |
| A．The paintings were badly damaged in the 2019 fire. |
| B．Workers need to spend two years studying one canvas. |
| C．The huge work of an Italian artist should be returned soon. |
| D．The project is to be completed by the reopening of the church. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Travel and Experience. | B．Art and Culture. |
| C．Science and Technology. | D．History and Legend. |
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【推荐1】Pioneering research from the University of Portsmouth that aims to find a solution to the global plastic pollution crisis is to share in £15. 9 million of investment from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The Solent LEP will use the Government's“Getting Building Fund" allocation to finance the expansion of the University's Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI),which takes enzymes(酶） from the natural environment and adapts them in the laboratory to recycle and reuse some of our most polluting plastics. The CEI will receive £1 millon investment from the Solent LEP.
The CEI is one of several projects that have been funded by the Solent LEP,which plays a leading role in determining economic priorities in the region. The projects will benefit the region's economic recovery in the present environment.
The CEI Expansion-Industrial Engagement Hub project will almost double the current size of the CEI and create three new specialist laboratories, to bridge the gap between the current research capabilities and what this technology needs to develop into in order to be adopted by industry.
In addition, the Industrial Engagement Hub will be a space for interaction between researchers and industry collaborators and become a testbed for growing local and national partnerships.
Professor Graham Galbraith,Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, said:“The CEI is a unique environment for industry and academia to work together to shape, refine,develop and test the new technologies emerging from this ground-breaking research.”
“The funding from the Solent LEP to support the development of the CEI will deliver significant economic and societal benefits and clearly delivers our ambitions for research with impact and sustainability(持续性） as set out in our vision for 2030.”
1. What's CEI' s experiment?| A．Collecting enzymes. | B．Making building material. |
| C．Removing waste land. | D．Recycling materials. |
| A．To get investment for the national program. |
| B．To help the Solent LEP manage its production. |
| C．To determine economic priorities in the region. |
| D．To get a chemical for the reduction of plastic pollution. |
| A．It is hard to reduce polluting plastics. |
| B．The LEP funding has short-term benefits. |
| C．The CEI has connected research and industry. |
| D．Scientific research must need industries' support. |
| A．University Receives Funding for Plastics Recycling |
| B．What's the Best Way to Get Rid of Polluting Plastics |
| C．Local and National Partnerships Strengthen the Research |
| D．Industries' Support is the Key to Reducing Polluting Plastics |
【推荐2】“What kind of rubbish are you?” This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has brought about complaints(抱怨) over the past month. On July 1st, 2019, the city introduced strict trash-sorting rules that are expected to be used as a model for the country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate groups and throw it into specific public bins.
Shanghai is faced with an obvious environmental problem. It produces 9 million tons of rubbish a year, and the number is rising quickly. Like other cities in China, it is in short of a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to pick out whatever can be reused. This has limitations. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.
Many people appear to be bothered by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or hazardous(有害的), the differences among which can be complex and confusing. Some have complained that they must put food waste straight in the required public bin, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and throw it by hand. Most annoying are the short scheduled time for throwing trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. This means that people go at around the same time and anyone can keep an eye on what is being thrown out; no one wants to look bad.
People who fail to obey the rules will be punished. They could be hit with fines of up to 200 yuan ($29). For repeat violators, the city can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets.
However, others support the idea of recycling in general and say a tough campaign is necessary. “Slowly people will get used to it,” says Li Changjun of Fudan University.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To amuse the readers with a question. |
| B．To present a social problem in Shanghai. |
| C．To offer a way to deal with the complaints. |
| D．To introduce a hot topic about trash dividing. |
| A．benefits | B．strengths |
| C．possibilities | D．weaknesses |
| A．Being forced to keep plastic bags open. |
| B．Being required to tell different kinds of rubbish apart. |
| C．Being asked to throw trash at the short scheduled time. |
| D．Being seriously punished when blamed for improper behavior. |
| A．People will finally reduce the food waste. |
| B．The idea of recycling will be gradually supported in the future. |
| C．It is common to have some difficult problems in our daily life. |
| D．The government will take measures to push people to obey the rules. |
【推荐3】The Dutch inventor Boyan Slat spends a lot of time thinking about the ocean.
After five and a half years of hard work, the 23-year-old Slat will watch from dry land as System 001 — a floating barrier nearly 2, 000ft long — snakes (曲折前行) its way out under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific.
If all goes to plan, Slat says, a group of 60 systems could reduce the amount of plastic there by half by 2025. “I hope that this will be a turning point for the plastic pollution problem,” Slat tells TIME in a phone interview. “For sixty years it has only gotten worse and worse. Now hopefully we’re going to make a difference.”
Saving our oceans has been Slat’s single-minded goal ever since he was 16 years old, when a trip to Greece provided more plastic bag sightings than fish. Coming up with the idea for a floating barrier that could collect plastic using the power of ocean currents (洋流) alone, Slat founded his business, The Ocean Cleanup, aged just 18.
The idea caught people’s imagination around the world. In 2015, an early design of System 001 was featured on TIME’s list of the best inventions of 2015. The project has received millions of dollars of funding thanks to fast-changing public opinion on plastic.
Slat sees his mission as a race against time. Plastic gradually breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics which can finally enter the food chain. “So the sooner we get it out, the better,” Slat says.
A big question that remains is what will happen to the plastic once it is brought back to land from The Ocean Cleanup’s systems. It’s possible that lots of the waste returned to land will be recycled into more single-use plastics that might one day return to the oceans again. “Big problems require big solutions,” he says. “If anyone has any better ideas, we’d love to know.”
1. What can Slat’s invention System 001 be used for?| A．Cleaning up ocean plastic. |
| B．Keeping a beach dry and clean. |
| C．Transporting passengers by sea. |
| D．Protecting living things in the Pacific. |
| A．He has a good head for business. |
| B．He is good at selling his idea to the media. |
| C．He has a deep sense of social responsibility. |
| D．He wants to change public opinion on the ocean. |
| A．It received great technical support worldwide. |
| B．It was unacceptable to fishermen. |
| C．It came into use very soon. |
| D．It was highly rated. |
| A．Making his invention available to the public. |
| B．How to deal with the collected plastic waste. |
| C．Recycling the waste created by his invention. |
| D．How to get more funding from the government. |
【推荐1】It has been 100 years since the first Chinese animated work created. The animators living a century ago probably had never imagined that Chinese animation could advance as rapidly as it is today. Since the industry’s start, China’s traditional culture has provided the nutrition the industry has needed to grow. Looking back over the past 100 years, we can discover many characters who were inspired by China’s rich cultural heritage like the Monkey king and Po the kung fu panda.
Back in 1922, an only one-minute-long animated advertising short for the Shu Zhedong Huawen Daziji made its debut. The work used primitive techniques, but became the forerunner of Chinese animation. Over the following decades, more popular Chinese folk stories were adapted into animated films by Chinese animators.
Chinese Generation Z tend to follow cultural traditions and fall in love with ethnic styles, and many find domestic animated series based on Chinese mythology and folklore more interesting than other genres.
The works of Shanghai Animation Film Studio are some outstanding examples of this. The studio established different styles based on folk stories, including water-and-ink animation, paper-cutting animation and puppetry animation. The classic works the studio produced stunned the world and inspired numerous animators overseas, especially in Japan. Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka once said he tasted a great deal from China’s water-and-ink animation.
More and more Chinese animated works have been entering overseas markets, expanding the influence of Chinese culture. According to related data, the total output value of Chinas animation industry surpassed $29.9 billion in 2020. Additionally, major Chinese streaming platforms aired over 60 animated series during the second half of 2021.
Chinese studios have also begun tapping into the huge demand for diverse cultural content on international streaming platforms. For example, the international streaming service Netflix bought the overseas broadcasting rights for the Chinese traditional animated series Scissor seven and other Chinese animation works.
1. What can traditional cultures do for animated works?| A．by providing inspirations. | B．by presenting characters. |
| C．by narrating stories. | D．by describing background information. |
| A．the result of making something boring. |
| B．the purpose of adapting something bad. |
| C．the first public appearance. |
| D．the success of creating something unexpected. |
| A．Critical. | B．Objective. | C．Jealous. | D．Approved. |
| A．Chinese animated works are the best way to circulate cultures. |
| B．Chinese animated works industry are on the promising track. |
| C．Chinese people are making more profits from animation-industry. |
| D．International streaming service Netflix is the most influential streaming platforms. |
【推荐2】Many people through history have gone to great lengths to collect art. But what motivates these collectors?
One popular explanation for collecting is that they can have financial gain. Some resell works, earning enormous profit. Some get large tax reductions for donating art to museums. Immorally, some collectors buy art as a form of money laundering (洗钱), since it is far easier to move art than cash between counties without examination.
But most collectors think little of profit. For them, art is important for other reasons. The best way to understand the underlying drive of art collecting is as a means to create and strengthen social bonds, and as a way for collectors to communicate within these new networks.
Collectors are not only interested in creating social links, they are also motivated by the messages they can send once these social networks are created. We all know art is a powerful way for the artist to express thoughts and feelings. It also serves as an effective way to express collectors. Displaying art can send a message about who the collector really is — at least who she sees herself as.
Other art collectors see their collections as having a broader power. Through the collections, collectors convey messages not just about themselves, but about the world as a whole. For example, the kid with the shoe box of bird feathers might show others her collection not just to make friends, but also to convince them about the importance of protecting endangered species.
1. Which factor motivates most collectors to collect art?| A．The huge financial return. | B．The social function of art. |
| C．The importance of art itself. | D．The benefit from tax reduction. |
| A．Art is a powerful social link. |
| B．Art is an effective way to honor artists. |
| C．Art influences collectors’ future careers. |
| D．Art reflects collectors themselves somehow. |
| A．To prove the power of collecting. |
| B．To broaden the ways of collecting. |
| C．To share some messages of collecting. |
| D．To display the prospects of collecting. |
| A．Why Is Collection Popular? | B．Why Do People Collect Art? |
| C．Why Is Collecting Art Necessary? | D．Why Do Artworks Convey feelings? |
【推荐3】What’s On
Master’s teens
Forceful Cuts, now running at the Art Museum of China Profiles, through to Sept 17, shows the late artist Huang Yongyu’s efforts in woodcut art. His woodcuts show a good assessment of human nature, with wisdom and humor. Huang once said he lived every day in the same serious way as he worked on wood, “paying great attention to every cut”.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
66 Shapowei, Daxue Road, Siming district, Xiamen, Fujian province.
Art into soul
Two artists Xu Li and Andrey Kovalchuk are presenting an exhibition at Shanghai’s New Art Museum, through to July 30. Xu is showing dozens of his oil paintings. Kovalchuk, who chairs the Russian artists association, brings 24 sculptures. The show compares the cultural traditions and individual concerns of the two cultures.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
1528 Gumei Road, Shanghai.
Eternal glare
The use of raw lacquer (生漆) to better preserve objects, such as bowls, and meanwhile decorate life can date back to the Neolithic culture in China. Throughout centuries, lacquer art has been viewed as an important part of Hubei’s cultural heritage (遗产). Dozens of fine examples of this art from the collection of the Hubei Museum of Art are now on show at World of Lacquer, an exhibition running through to July 30, at the Anhui Art Museum.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.
1 Chengdu Road, Binhu New District, Hefei, Anhui province.
Academy work
Over 240 paintings, prints, sculptures and seal engravings (篆刻) are on show at the gallery of the China National Academy of Painting until July 8, offering a look of the works of academy artists all over the country. The exhibition shows works done in the traditional style and new explorations.
9 am-4:30 pm, closed on Mondays.
54 Xisanhuan Beilu, Haidian district, Beijing.
1. What can you enjoy at the Art Museum of China Profiles?| A．Lacquer art. | B．Oil paintings. | C．Woodcuts. | D．Seal engravings. |
| A．The Anhui Art Museum. | B．Shanghai’s New Art Museum. |
| C．The Art Museum of China Profiles. | D．The China National Academy of Painting. |
| A．It is not open to the public on Mondays. | B．It compares two different cultural traditions. |
| C．It tells the story of a late artist. | D．It shows works of academy artists across the country. |
