【推荐1】Dr. Josefina has recently published a book, Vibrant at Any Age, based on her lifelong journey of self-improvement. Josefina, 71, is glad she didn't think about her age when she took up bodybuilding at age 59.

“I reinvent myself every ten years, and so I started my 60s as a bodybuilder and now I begin my 70s as a writer,” she said, “People limit themselves by age, which is very frustrating (沮丧). Age is a mindset.”

Dr. Josefina started bodybuilding at an age when most are considering retirement, though she was an athlete from an early age. As a child in Venezuela she took to gymnastics and later graduated with a physical education degree. She taught at Latin High School in Cambridge, for 16 years, while raising two daughters.

“I started bodybuilding when I met Steve Pfiester, a gym guy who knew I ran and practiced yoga. He invited me to his gym and offered to train me”, she said.

Dr. Josefina's photos are proof that she spends long hours taking care of her body. But she also develops her mind and spirit. On any given day, she gets up at 3:00 am to read books. At 4:30 am she's out of the door to walk three miles and run another three. This is followed by yoga and a swim at the beach while the sun rises. After writing in her journal and working on her book between 8 and 10 am, Dr. Josefina hits the gym for at least two hours.

Dr. Josefina's war on ageism has rubbed off on her two daughters, both in their early thirties. “They both take care of their bodies and minds. They're very proud of me. If you give them a good foundation as a parent, you know that they will always come back to their roots. I tried to remind myself of that during their difficult teen years.”

1. What's Dr. Josefina's opinion on age?

A．Age is a state of mind.	B．Age can't be hidden.
C．Every age has its pains and sorrows.	D．Age decides your career.

2. What made Dr. Josefina start bodybuilding?

A．The need of her job.	B．Her early dream.
C．The desire to be a writer.	D．Steve Pfiester's influence.

3. Which of the following can best describe Dr. Josefina's morning schedule?

A．Busy.	B．Dull.
C．Flexible.	D．Controversial.

4. What can be inferred about Dr. Josefina from the last paragraph?

A．She will return to the retirement.

B．She will set up a fitness foundation.

C．She often thinks of her teenage years.

D．She sets up an example to her daughters.

【推荐2】When it comes to the most famous 20th century painters of the United States, Grandma Moses should be mentioned, although she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said to herself, “I would never sit back in rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me.” No one could have had a more active old age.

She was born on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At 12, she left home and was in domestic service until at 27 she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927.

Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery（刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands became too stiff(僵硬的) to sew and she still wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought all that she painted. Three of the pictures were exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930’s and her death, she produced some 2,000 pictures: careful and lively portrayals of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of color and form. “I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it,” she said.

1. What can we learn about Grandma Moses?

A．She painted oils as a child.

B．Her marriage life was not happy.

C．She still led an active life when she was old.

D．She stopped painting in her late seventies.

2. Which of the following words can best describe her life?

A．Easy-going& active.	B．Hardworking& creative
C．Outgoing& confident.	D．Reserved& independent

3. What does the underlined word “portrayals” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Descriptions.

B．Stages.

C．Surveys.

D．Directions.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．How she loves art since she was a little girl.

B．Why she began her career as a painter.

C．How she became a successful painter.

D．Why she was the most famous painter in the United States.

【推荐1】Itzhak Perlman was born in Tel Aviv, in what was then Palestine, in 1945. Today he lives in New York City. But his music has made him a citizen of the world. He has played in almost every major city. He has won many Grammy awards for his recordings. He has also won Emmy Awards for his work on television.

Itzhak Perlman suffered from polio (小儿麻痹症) at the age of four. The disease damaged his legs. He uses a wheelchair or walks with the aid of crutches (拐杖) on his arms. But none of this stopped him from playing the violin. He began as a young child. He took his first lessons at the Music Academy of Tel Aviv. Very quickly, his teachers recognized that he had a special gift.

At thirteen he went to the United Sates to appear on television. His playing earned him the financial aid to attend the Juilliard School in New York. In 1964 Itzhak Perlman won the Leventritt Competition in that city. His international fame had begun.

His music is full of power and strength. It can be sad or joyful, loud or soft. But critics (评论家) say it is not the music alone that makes his playing so special. They say he is able to communicate the joy he feels in playing, and the emotions that great music can deliver.

Anyone who has attended a performance by Itzhak Perlman will tell you that it is exciting to watch him play. His face changes as the music from his violin changes. He looks sad when the music seems sad. He smiles and closes his eyes when the music is light and happy. He often looks dark and threatening when the music seems dark and threatening.

1. According to the passage, what do we know about Itzhak Perlman?

A．He is 75 years old today.

B．He was born in New York City.

C．He has some achievements in music.

D．He was a rich citizen of the world.

2. When Itzhak Perlman first learned music, his teachers ________.

A．ignored his talents	B．thought he was fit to learn music
C．had pity on him	D．didn't want to accept him

3. What makes Itzhak Perlman's   playing special according to critics?

A．The emotions he communicates in his playing.

B．The style in which he plays his music.

C．The kind of music he plays.

D．The power and strength in his music.

4. How do people feel when they hear Itzhak Perlman play?

A．Moved.	B．Calm.
C．Funny.	D．Excited.

【推荐1】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.

2. In Paragraph 2, the artists are mentioned to show that __________.

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

3. According to Hume, some works of art can exist for centuries because __________.

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

4. Which of the following serve as the title of the passage?

A．Are Popular Arts Universal?	B．Is Human Nature Uniform?
C．Are Great Arts Permanent?	D．Is Cultural Relativism Scientific?

【推荐2】Definitions of literature have varied over time, in fact, it is a “culturally relative definition”, once in Western Europe, literature indicated all books and writing. During the Romantic period, it began to refer to “imaginative” literature. Nowadays literature is seen as a term used to describe written or spoken material, including all the following.

Poetry uses rhythmic qualities of language to bring out meanings in addition to, or in place of, unimaginative surface meaning. Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its being set inverse (颠倒); prose is cast in sentence, poetry in line.

Novel is typically written in a narrative (叙事) style and presented as a book. Novels tell stories, in which the characters and events are usually imaginary. The novel has been a part of human culture for over a thousand years, although its origins are somewhat debated. Regardless of how it began, the novel has remained one of the most popular and treasured examples of human culture and writing. It remains an essential part of the literary cultures of nearly all societies around the world.

Novella is classified as “Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story”. There is no precise definition in terms of word or page count. Literary prizes and publishing houses often have their own arbitrary limits, which vary according to their particular intentions.

A short story is different from novels or novellas in that the plot is usually tied to one single chain of events. Because the reader must identify with a character quickly to become engaged, the tale is often told from the chief character’s point of view.

A drama refers to a play for the theatre, television or radio. It generally consists of chiefly dialogue between characters. It also uses dance to convey their message. Dramas usually aim at dramatic performance rather than at reading. In theater, a drama is presented by actors to an audience.

Good literary works depend on literary techniques. A literary technique can be used by authors in order to improve the written framework of a piece of literature, and produce specific effects.

Literary techniques include a wide range of approaches to crafting a work. The ability to let readers know what might happen in the future in an indirect way is possible through the technique foreshadowing (伏笔). The practice of representing objects and qualities as human beings in literature is personification (拟人). Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas.

Literature
Definitions of literature	Definitions of literature have kept     1     all the time.
	They are connected with     2    .
	Among them are “books and writing”, “‘imaginative’ literature” and “written or spoken material”.
3     of literature	Poetry, with rhyme, uses unusual word order in lines, which may be a barrier to see what it     4    .
	A novel takes the form of a book, talking about what is     5     up by the writer.
	The novella, as for length, exists     6     the novel and short story.
	A short story tells a comparatively     7     story compared with novels and novellas.
	Dramas are performed rather than read, with the ideas expressed either orally or     8    .
Literary techniques	Give a warning or sign of a     9     event by using the technique called foreshadowing.
	When personification is used, something without     10     is treated as if it were a human being.
	Symbolism is the practice of representing things by means of symbols.