It is difficult to fathom (彻底了解) the importance of the arts when there are many more    1    (press) and immediate concerns to face. But at the same time, should we only concern    2    with survival and attending to our basic needs, then we are no better off than the poorest of poor countries    3    our economic achievements today.

Life    4    (mean) to be lived after all, not just survived. Whether in music or literature, painting or architecture, art is    5    gives soul to our otherwise routine existence. In fact, art should be around us, not in museums. It should be reflected in our landscape and our buildings.

It is far more important for us to let our kids, our future,    6    (know) that art is neither frivolous nor superfluous. We need to show them    7    art is more than pleasant pictures or soothing music.

Art is innovation at its most basic level. Art is conception and inspiration. Most importantly, art is about discovery, not mistakes. In a world where we concentrate on what is right and wrong, what is correct and incorrect, the world of art is a place where judgment is suspended and great discoveries are made    8    it.

Art makes it possible to grasp    9    impossible, for lack of language, lack of knowledge or lack of technology. Consider further that art connects us to one another    10    language and law are unable to do so.

Zhang Daqian was one of     1     most famous Chinese artists of the 1900s. He was born on 10 May 1899 in Neijiang, Sichuan Province, China. When he was young, his family encouraged him     2     (paint).

In 1919 Zhang went to Shanghai,     3     he learned about traditional Chinese painting. His teachers were two       4     (real) famous calligraphers (书法家) and painters, Zeng Xi and Li Ruiqing, and he soon was able to paint in the styles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In 1941 Zhang went to see the     5     (wonder) caves of Dunhuang, in northwestern China. The caves     6     (know) for their ancient Buddhist wall paintings. He created many paintings based     7     the cave art. Zhang went on to study ancient paintings from the Tang and Song Dynasties, which inspired his own paintings of lotuses (莲花).

Zhang     8     (leave) China in the early 1950s and lived in many places around the world,     9     (include) Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. During that time, he created works in his “splashed-color” style, which looked     10     (modern) than his traditional-style paintings.

In 1978 Zhang settled in Taipei, and he died there on 2 April 1983.

Looking at the development of Western painting over the centuries     1    (be) perhaps the best way to understand Western art.

The Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century)

During the Middle Ages, the purpose of Western art was to teach people about Christianity. Paintings had religious     2    (theme). This began to change in the 13th century,     3     paintings showed real people in a real environment.

The Renaissance (from the 14th to the 17th century)

During this period, painters began to adopt a more humanistic attitude to life.     4     important breakthrough was the use of perspective by Masaccio. Some     5    (influence) painters built on Giotto and Masaccio’s innovations to produce some of the greatest art that Europe had ever seen. Another innovation was the use of oil paints. This technique reached     6    (it) height with Rembrandt, who gained a reputation as a master of shadow and light. In subject matter, the emphasis     7    (increasing) shifted to people and the world around us.

Impressionism (late 19th to early 20th century)

After photography     8    (invent) in the mid- 19 century, Impressionism emerged in France. The name of this new movement came from the painting by Claude Monet. While many Impressionists painted scenes of nature or daily life, others focused     9     people.

Modern Art (from the 20th century to today)

Some painters tried     10    (analyse) the shapes which existed in the natural world with Cubism. Others gave their paintings a realistic but dream-like quality. Still others turned to abstract art.