1 . Workers at the National Galleries of Scotland recently experienced quite a surprise after they X-rayed a painting by Vincent van Gogh. Hidden on the back of the painting Head of a Peasant Woman, which Van Gogh completed in 1885, was a self-portrait (自画像) of the Dutch painter. No one had ever found it.
The hidden self-portrait had been covered by glue and cardboard that had been attached to the back of the painting. “It was absolutely exciting,” Lesley Stevenson, the museum’s worker, said about the discovery. “We weren’t expecting much of the little painting when we performed the scans,” she said. But museum experts quickly changed their expectations when they looked at the X-rays. “We didn’t see much of the peasant woman, but we saw the lead white that Van Gogh used for his face showing up after the X-ray went through the cardboard,” she added.
Van Gogh painted Head of a Peasant Woman as part of a series of works focused on the working-class residents of Nuenen, a small farming community in the southern part of the Netherlands where he lived briefly in the 1880s. The woman in the painting is Gordina de Groot, a farm worker. She wears a white headpiece. In a letter that Van Gogh penned about the series in 1885 to Anton Kerssemakers, a friend, he described his excitement at his working-class subjects. “I’m working with great pleasure these days, for I would rather paint people than paint anything else,” he wrote.
Van Gogh also loved creating self-portraits, producing about 20 paintings of himself by the end of his life while he was living in Paris. Recreating his own image was a cheap way for him to practice portraiture as he didn’t have to spend money hiring models, according to a report.
Art historians at the National Galleries hope that the hidden self-portrait may help us understand the life of the artist. The museum is currently considering how to best remove the unwanted protective materials without harming the painting.
1. What can be learned about the self-portrait on the back of the painting?| A．It isn’t in very good condition. | B．It describes a well-known woman. |
| C．It wasn’t known to exist for a long time. | D．It was sold to another artist by Van Gogh. |
| A．It was a wonderful surprise. | B．It failed to meet her expectations. |
| C．It was the result of her great efforts. | D．It deepened her understanding of Van Gogh’s life. |
| A．He was encouraged to try different subjects. |
| B．He was glad to find his love for figure paintings. |
| C．He was attracted by the lifestyle of people in Nuenen. |
| D．He wanted to improve the living conditions of the farmers. |
| A．X-rays can do harm to artworks |
| B．Van Gogh sent a secret message to his friend |
| C．Modern technology has a great influence on art |
| D．Van Gogh’s hidden self-portrait draws public attention |
2 . When my father and I traveled to Paris, Notre Dame was our first stop. But when we arrived at Notre Dame, we saw a long line outside it. Even so, we didn’t want to
Immersed in the beautiful natural scenery, we wanted to take some
Trying to get the perfect shot, he kept changing the
At that point, I was so angry that I
Later, my father
| A．set out | B．miss out | C．put aside | D．come about |
| A．memorable | B．adorable | C．available | D．remarkable |
| A．marched | B．headed | C．crashed | D．wandered |
| A．angel | B．eagle | C．angle | D．edge |
| A．signposts | B．laps | C．shots | D．films |
| A．shallow | B．visible | C．ridiculous | D．clear |
| A．attempted | B．planned | C．expected | D．hesitated |
| A．awkward | B．satisfied | C．indifferent | D．disgusting |
| A．purpose | B．target | C．agent | D．clerk |
| A．complained | B．claimed | C．explained | D．argued |
| A．forgivable | B．necessary | C．unusual | D．convenient |
| A．ignore | B．judge | C．pause | D．reject |
| A．negative | B．harmless | C．critical | D．genuine |
| A．Apparently | B．Luckily | C．Gradually | D．Eventually |
| A．banana | B．object | C．item | D．apple |
3 . When you are asked to draw a picture, in spite of your best effort, you can’t make it look like the model shown. Then you may have thought, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
According to some scientists, who for the past 20 years have studied the complex subject of creativity through a series of research strictly, you are underrating yourself. Da Vinci you may never be, but when it comes to creativity, we are all somewhat blessed. It’s learning to develop this unique tool of extraordinary productivity, and then applying it in everything you do, that counts to tell you from figures like Da Vinci.
“Even if we don’t have the good fortune to discover a new chemical element or write a great story, the love of the creative process for its own sake is available to all,” says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Creativity: Flow and Psychology of Discovery and Invention.
Most people believe the ability of creativity has been awarded to those considered to have special talent. We look upon these “creative geniuses”, as we often call them, with respect and a bit of envy. Their abilities, most people assume, are due to good genes, or, as if in Greek mythology, from some kind of god’s inspiration.
There is no argument that the world is never short of highly talented and creative people. They are masters of their trades and stand heads-and-shoulders above common people, making new pathways for others to follow, and providing greater context and understanding of our world. It could be said that without creativity humanity would not evolve so rapidly.
But like a publicly recognized creative baseball player who possesses his skill through years of continuous training, foregoing other pursuits for the only passion, people who show the slightest unwillingness for challenging labor are bound to witness their boasted (吹嘘的) ability disappear.
After closely studying 91 creative and influential people, including novelists, playwrights, composers, musicians and scientists, Csikszentmihalyi concludes that no one would ignore the sweat they shed and their almost crazy willingness to follow their creative effort to the very end, wherever that may be. These are the very things we all can master, so long as we’d like to.
1. It’s widely believed that creativity comes from_________.| A．the inborn genes or relevant gifts |
| B．the tool we learn from masters like Da Vinci |
| C．some kind of god from Greek |
| D．good training people receive from artistic classes |
| A．Creativity lies in devotion and effort. |
| B．The field of baseball requires more gifts than hard work. |
| C．People’s admiration of geniuses makes humanity develop quickly. |
| D．People don’t think that the world is never short of highly talented people. |
| A．referring to | B．combining | C．giving up | D．extending |
| A．Ordinary people’s unwillingness to follow the examples of creative ones. |
| B．The reasons for the success of those possessing creativity. |
| C．Creative people view things differently from ordinary people. |
| D．People’s misunderstanding of creativity and its true nature. |
I had just a very wonderful day. Although all my days are always wonderful to me, the day was completely different. There was a bulletin board saying that they would need to find volleyball players for the girls and I was so happy! I have been loving playing volleyball since my mother taught me how to play. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to play! Then I read more what was on that bulletin board, which said that there would be an audition (面试) after three weeks! “Three weeks?” I thought about it. I did know how to play volleyball but I was not much of an expert in doing it but I still wanted to try.
After that I was determined to practice volleyball every day. I practiced hard again and again each day and I never got tired of doing the same practice through all the days, and finally, the day came. I was so prepared for this and hurried to the gym to audition. When I had reached the gym, I was surprised to see that 12 or 14 girls were lining up and I guessed I was the last one to arrive. Then our audition began. Some of the girls failed to pass the audition and some passed.
There was only 1 slot left to complete the 6 girls to join the volleyball team and suddenly I felt nervous because the person in front of me was going to take her serve (发球). Then the girl hit the ball and then… the ball didn’t pass over the net. The girl slapped her forehead and left, leaving me standing in the middle of the court.
Then the coach spoke, “Okay, you, serve! ” She handed me the ball and I caught it with my hands. As the ball was in my hands, my hands were suddenly sweating and so was I!
注意：续写词数应为150左右。I then suddenly became nervous about this. “Maybe I should be back of,” I told myself.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then I began. I came to a pause, taking a deep breath.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . 28-year-old Jermaine Scott set up in business as a barber in Madison. He gradually noted the kids were
He created “Barbershop Books Day” to help not only the kids, but also the parents. Madison has many low-income families and many are focused on just keeping their
Scott began his initiative (倡议) by
| A．adapted | B．reduced | C．limited | D．glued |
| A．safe | B．hard | C．possible | D．pleasant |
| A．advertisement | B．support | C．celebration | D．birth |
| A．satisfying | B．unique | C．free | D．discounted |
| A．introduce | B．publish | C．read | D．choose |
| A．hands | B．hair | C．feet | D．lights |
| A．ignore | B．believe | C．afford | D．refuse |
| A．appear | B．count | C．exist | D．progress |
| A．stealing | B．buying | C．making | D．borrowing |
| A．contents | B．titles | C．orders | D．donations |
| A．reported | B．stopped | C．recorded | D．confirmed |
| A．adding | B．applying | C．comparing | D．expanding |
| A．agrees | B．intends | C．deserves | D．pretends |
| A．intelligent | B．official | C．positive | D．successful |
| A．generally | B．certainly | C．accordingly | D．hopefully |
6 . A few months ago, a friend gifted me a robot sweeper that’s programmed to move around a room and clean as it goes.
When the box arrived, I was afraid the device would detect me and suck up (汲取) data along with the dog hair and dust. But the instructions were easy, and I finally decided not to care.
I powered up the sweeper, watched it leave its docking station to work, and quickly fell in love with my newly shiny floors. I kept shooting its working videos. “I think you’re giving more attention to it than to us,” joked my son.
One day, I returned home and discovered that our front door had blown open and the robot rolled into the yard, trying to clean the flower beds. Even when its brushes were blocked with leaves, bugs and mud, its little wheels bravely kept turning.
The robot acted properly as it was programmed to clean “dirty” things. In a kitchen, dirt can be garden debris (碎片) such as leaves and mud. In a garden, this kind of dirt does not need to be removed. The context is important. The problem for robots is that reading this context is difficult.
This accident inspired me to think more about AI (artificial intelligence). As far as I am concerned, AI is simply well trained and reproduces what it has learned. And it is undeniable that robots are increasingly being given powerful intelligence. Some experts even predict that we will soon see not only AI-enabled robots designed to solve problems according to their instructions, but also those with the ability to judge how they should respond when they are in a different setting.
Maybe this will happen in the near future.
1. What was the author’s concern about the robot sweeper at first?| A．Its after-sales service. | B．Its working efficiency. |
| C．The privacy of her family. | D．The readability of its instructions. |
| A．Enthusiastic. | B．Regretful. | C．Uncertain. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Its program went wrong. | B．It lacked critical thinking. |
| C．Its wheels were badly designed. | D．It failed to work on rough surfaces. |
| A．The accident. | B．Some experts’ thinking. |
| C．Its appeal to the author. | D．The author’s opinion. |
Teenage life is full of adventures and challenges. Doing voluntary work is popular among some teenagers. And extra-curricular activities
“Do you mind if I join you?” I asked the two women seated at the table. As a new employee, I felt awkward about approaching them, but there were no other seats in the dining hall. Then I introduced myself and sat down. The two women nodded to me and continued chatting.
While eating my lunch, suddenly I was shocked by one of the women’s words. She said, “My family has decided to give up our dog and let her live on her own. She just can’t fit into our family. And no one wants her.”
Coming from a family whose home could be a petting zoo, I was shocked to think that people could be so heartless. Feeling concerned about the dog, I asked my new co-worker a few questions about the dog. She shared that the dog’s name was Lady. She had trained as a guide dog for the blind, but she failed her final test because she wanted too many hugs after completing her tasks.
I asked the woman to give me some time to contact my mom as we would consider adopting her. Since my mom had a kind heart, I knew she would agree and that Lady would have a home with us. After work, I drove to pick up Lady. An old woman greeted me at the door, leading me to the kitchen. There sat this beautiful but very thin dog, lying in the corner and licking (舔) her right paw. “She did that to herself,” the woman said as she pointed to the injured paw. She continued, “That dog is hopeless!” The woman then took a broom and forced Lady to stand with the broom. There were no goodbyes from this family, just a sense of relief because Lady was no longer their problem.
I sat on the sidewalk with her and introduced myself. For me, it was love at first sight. She had a beautiful face, but the saddest eyes. “Lady,” I said. “I’m taking you to your new home. And I promise you that my family will always love you. Please give us a chance.” I helped Lady get into my car, and our new journey began.
Paragraph 1:As I pulled into our driveway, my mom was waiting with open arms and delicious dog treats.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
One day, my mom did something magic which made Lady start to open her heart.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. 选择一部你喜欢的电影；
2. 简单描述电影情节；
3. 你对影片的评价及感悟。
注意：1.词数100词左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
My Favorite Movie
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. What is the man doing?
| A．Attending a lecture. | B．Conducting an interview. | C．Holding a press conference. |
| A．Take photography classes in an art school. |
| B．Work as a photographer in the future. |
| C．Do multiple jobs at the same time. |
| A．Develop photos of different colors and sizes. |
| B．Host photographic exhibitions to make money. |
| C．Present geographic features by photographing in various places. |
| A．To follow some set routines. |
| B．To satisfy the needs of customers. |
| C．To express the voices of some people. |
