1 . Pablo Picasso was probably the most famous artist and one of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century. This great artist lived more artistic lifetimes than any of his peers. During his 75-year career, he produced thousands of works, not only paintings but also sculptures, prints, and ceramics, using a wide variety of materials. He almost single-handedly created modern art, changing art more profoundly than any other artist of his century.

Born in 1881, in Spain, Picasso was a child with great talents, completing the one-month qualifying examination for the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day at the age of 14. After finishing his studies in Barcelona, the artist continued his training in Madrid but later returned to Barcelona. There began his “blue period”, so named for the dominant blue tones in the artist’s paintings. During this time, he moved frequently between Barcelona and Paris. In Paris, he spent his days studying the masterworks at the Louvre and his nights with other artists at night clubs, during which time he became fascinated with the circus world’s acrobats and wandering performers. This marked a radical change in color and mood for the artist. He began painting in subtle pinks and grays, often highlighted with brighter tones. This was known as his “rose period”.

The peak of Picasso’s creativity is evidenced in his pioneering role in Cubism. In 1907, he painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a Cubist painting which changed 20th century art completely. In it, the artist and viewer look at the subjects from many different angles at the same time. Picasso and French painter Georges Braque were the leading figures of the Cubist movement. For Picasso, the 1920s were years of rich artistic exploration and great productivity. He designed theater sets and painted in Cubist, Classical styles. In the last decades of his life, he still experimented with new methods of printing and painted a series of variations of old master paintings. He died in France in 1973, at the age of 91. His powers of creativity and execution continue to astonish artists all over the world.

1. How are Picasso’s early paintings categorized?

A．According to their subject matter.

B．According to where he lived and worked.

C．According to the colors he used.

D．According to the trainings he got.

2. What does the writer suggest in this passage?

A．Picasso was accomplished in a number of media.

B．Picasso was primarily an accomplished painter and illustrator.

C．Picasso was an artist who was known for a limited number of works.

D．Picasso was an artist who had the longest life span.

3. What can we assume according to the passage?

A．Picasso’s reputation exceeded other artists of the period.

B．Picasso was a solitary genius, unconnected to others of the period.

C．Picasso’s genius failed him in the later years of his life.

D．Picasso’s genius astonished artists all over the world after his death.

4. Why does the author write this passage?

A．To explain the reasons for Picasso’s creativity.

B．To describe the major periods that marked Picasso’s artistry.

C．To compare Picasso with other painters and styles of the period.

D．To stimulate modern artists to learn from Picasso.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.breakdown               B.masterpieces          C.committed                 D. reduced          E.extreme   F.allowances G.memorable       H.security       I.   attribute          J.tribute        K.conducted

The little thief: How Charlie Chaplin survived his hungry childhood

A recently unearthed interview with an old friend recalls how the actor was looked after by a kindly ‘foster mother’ who made sure he did the right thing.

The     1     poverty endured by Charlie Chaplin while growing up in the slums (贫民窟) of Victorian London    2    him to stealing and being scolded by the woman who took care of him, according to an interview with one of his childhood friends that has remained unheard in the British Film Institute for almost 40 years.

Effie Wisdom, whose aunt gave him a home from home when he needed it most, lamented that Chaplin “had a terrible life” as a child, “always hungry”, dressed in “ragged”, filthy clothes - no doubt later inspiring the comic genius who created the Tramp, society’s eternal victim and one of cinema’s most     3     characters.

In 1983, aged 92, Wisdom gave an interview in which she recalled first meeting Chaplin when he was five and she was seven, with her aunt becoming his “foster mother”, as he used to tell her.

She recalled: “My aunt used to feed him because there was no social    4     in those days, no free milk, no children’s     5    , nothing. You never starved and yet you were on the breadline.”

“He used to go up Lambeth Walk and pinch . He’d come home with four eggs one day in his pocket. He came home with a pair of boots one day he’d nicked.”

Her aunt scolded him: “Do you want me to get the police? If you go on doing this, you’ll be locked up. You realize that, don’t you?”

The interview was     6    by Kevin Brownlow, one of Britain’s leading experts in silent films after researching Unknown Chaplin, the acclaimed three-part 1983 documentary series that he made with David Gill. It has been stored in the British Film Institute’s archive (档案) ever since.

Chaplin’s parents were music-hall performers and his mother was abandoned by her husband. His mother was then    7    to an asylum (精神病院).

After Chaplin’s death in 1977, Wisdom had written to his widow (遗孀), with memories of his mother’s desperate concern for her sons, Charlie and Sydney “I told Lady Chaplin I knew Charlie when he was a little boy. I used to play with him out in the street. When his mother had a nervous    8    , she said to my aunt, ‘If I had to go away, you wouldn’t let my lovely sons go into an orphanage?’ My aunt said, ‘No, I’ll look after them, don’t you worry’. My aunt looked after them, fed them and clothed them.”

Chaplin never forgot that. Wisdom paid     9    to his generosity towards her after finding success in America: “He used to send my aunt so much money because she used to look after him.”He also wrote to her.

Chaplin, with his derby hat (圆顶窄边礼帽)，toothbrush moustache and impossibly large boots, was the protagonist in such    10    as City Lights, The Great Dictator and Limelight.

Wisdom, who left school at 13 and worked in a London pub into her 80s, recalled his natural comedic talent, “He was always falling about being funny. He’d get an old table out in the yard, and he’d get all the kids in there, and get up there, put an old pair of trousers on, an old coat and a stick when he was 12. The kids loved that, he used to fall off the table, then he’d get up.” But she joked: “I never thought he’d get to where he got.”

She remembered him writing to her aunt from America, telling her that he would visit on his return to England: “He said, I’m not like when I left England with nothing. I’m going on to be a rich man.”

She added that Chaplin stayed at the Ritz (一家豪华酒店) and turned up at his aunt’s home in-a chauffeur (私人司机)-driven Rolls-Royce: “He invited my aunt and my uncle and me to the Ritz. My aunt says to me, ‘Of course I’d never been in a place like that’.”

From the Gardian

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Bob Dylan wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature

US music legend Bob Dylan won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, the first songwriter to win the prestigious award in a decision     1     surprised prize watchers.

The 75-year-old Dylan —best known for tunes like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone”     2     (honor) “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”, the Swedish Academy said.

The choice was met by gasps and a long round of applause from reporters     3     (attend) the prize announcement. The folk singer has been mentioned in Nobel speculation in the past few years,     4     he was never seen as a serious competitor.

“Dylan has the status of     5     important symbol. His influence on contemporary music is profound,” the academy wrote in biographical notes about the famously private singer.

The Nobel is the latest award for the singer, who has come a long way from his humble beginnings as Robert Allen Zimmerman, born in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and who taught     6     to play the harmonica, guitar and piano.

Initially     7     (encourage) by the music of folk singer Woody Guthrie, Robert Allen changed his name to Bob Dylan and began performing in local nightclubs.

    8     dropping out of college, he moved to New York in 1960. His     9     (early) album contained only two original songs, but the 1963 breakthrough The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan featured a number of his own songs,     10     (include) the classic Blowin’ in the Wind.

4 . To the music of Verdi’s Ave Maria, Bulgarian-born soprano Raina Kabaivanska opened the funeral service for her longtime friend and colleague Luciano Pavarotti in the cathedral of Modena. Archbishop Benito Cocchi read a message of condolence from Pope Benedict. In it, the pope said Pavarotti had “honored the divine gift of music through his extraordinary interpretative talent.”

Pavarotti’s white maple casket was covered in sunflowers-his favorite-and laid before the altar. Since his death on Thursday, some 100,000 people of all ages have filed past his coffin in the cathedral, paying last respects to the maestro. Music resounded throughout the service. Tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus.” Family members, close friends as well as dignitaries and celebrities attended the invitation-only service. Among those attending were Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, U2 lead singer Bono, and film director Franco Zeffirelli.

Across Italy, admirers watched the service live on television, and thousands of ordinary citizens gathered in the square outside the cathedral and followed the service on a giant screen. One admirer outside the church said Pavarotti would never die. He’s said he is convinced that Pavarotti is not dead because he will continue to live with his voice, with his songs, and he will always remain in our hearts.

Applause broke out as the casket was carried outside the church as loudspeakers amplified a recording of Pavarotti singing arias by Verdi.

As a special honor for a man of humble origins who became Italy’s greatest cultural ambassador, an air force team flew over the cathedral, streaking the sky in the white, red and green colors of the Italian flag.

1. The music played throughout the service was sung by         .

A．Raina Kabaivanska	B．Tenor Andrea Bocelli
C．Bono	D．Verdi

2. All attended Pavarotti’s funeral service except         .

A．People of all ages filing past his coffin in the cathedral.

B．family members and close friends of Pavarotti.

C．Italian Prime Minister and former U.N Secretary General.

D．dignitaries and celebrities invited.

3. Which of the following sentences is Not True?

A．Pavarotti is Italy’s greatest cultural ambassador with extraordinary talent.

B．Pavarotti will always remain in the heart of his admirers across the country.

C．Tenor Andrea Bocelli attended Pavarotti’s funeral solemnly and respectfully.

D．To show people’s respect, the funeral was completed with an air force gun salute.

5 . He may not have a Ninja Turtle named after him, but Tiziano Vecellio of Venice—Titian(提香，意大利画家), to English speakers—is regarded as the most enduringly influential painter of the Renaissance(文艺复兴), even more than Michelangelo and Raphael. Something about him fascinates his fans. Peter Paul Rubens painted nearly two-dozen copies of Titian’s work; Anthony van Dyck bought 19 Titians for his own collection. Velazquez and Rembrandt worshipped him. Oscar Wilde called Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin “certainly the best picture in Italy”.

Titian’s paintings have been the subject of countless exhibitions and art historical studies, but Sheila Hale’s new biography(传记) is the first full-length life of the Venetian master since 1877. And it doesn’t take long to see why. Although he lived an uncommonly long life, into his mid-80s, it wasn’t a very exciting one. He almost never left Venice, where he had no real competitors in art. His working practice remains unclear, since, as Hale writes, “16th-century writers on art thought it inappropriate to describe the physical act of painting.” He was faithful to his first wife, and although he remarried after her death, we don’t even know the name of his second wife. His letters deal with mostly boring matters of accounting—“I do not see how I can hope ever to obtain the money kindly assigned to me,” that sort of thing—and many of those were actually written by secretaries.

Even specialists may not really care just how much Titian received for this or that portrait, or how he got his cousin a job at court.

Venice in the 16th century was a boomtown. Intellectually and religiously progressive, it served as a mixing point for immigrants from east and west and was the capital of an expanding empire. A few decades later, Venice’s glory days were gone. Hale does an admirable job recapturing the sights and smells of the Republic, its traders and patricians(贵族), and of showing how the city nurtured one of the greatest painters of Western art history. But the subject of her biography remains beyond her grasp. As she would surely acknowledge, the brilliance of Titian rests not on his letters or bank ledgers(账本) but on his paintings.

1. The underlined word “worshipped” probably means_________.

A．admired

B．envied

C．hated

D．criticized

2. What can be inferred from the third paragraph?

A．Shelia Hale paid unnecessary attention to insignificant details.

B．Shelia Hale’s study is of great economic value.

C．Shelia Hale’s study is comprehensive.

D．Specialists don’t appreciate Shelia Hale’s efforts.

3. Which of the statement is NOT TRUE?

A．Titian enjoyed longevity, which was not common at his time.

B．A great number of studies have been made on Titian’s paintings.

C．Shelia Hale succeeded in describing the historical context of Titian’s life.

D．Titian had to compete with other painters to earn a living.

4. What is this article?

A．A news report.	B．A book review.
C．A travel advertisement.	D．An excerpt from a novel.

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Do note that there is one word more than you need.

A. untraditional        B. referred          C. awards        D. framed       AB. critic     AC. covers AD. gesture        BC. count        BD. tending        CD. genius       ABC. recognizing

Each year, the bright light of the Nobel Prize in literature falls across our cultural canvas and illuminates the work of a major writer.

While     1     of previous years have gone to writers of prose, poetry and drama, the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, announced on Oct 13 that American singer Bob Dylan, 75, was this year’s winner. However, the prize wasn’t given for his 2004 self-penned autobiography, but “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

It is certainly a(n)     2     choice. According to Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, arts awards have almost always exclusively had an inherent bias toward so-called “high culture”, a category     3     not to include people who got their start singing in coffeehouses.

With that said, the Swedish Academy’s selection can be seen as symbolic in its implication. By picking Dylan, the Academy has made a bold     4     to expand the definition of “literature”. It has, in effect, opened the doors to popular culture, often     5     to as “low culture”.

We live in a world where people who read comic books, watch television shows, listen to podcasts and pop music, are often also those who enjoy poetry and opera. And the Nobel, in     6     Dylan’s work as literature, acknowledges that artists create works of popular culture with just as much care, control, courage and     7     as Ernest Hemingway did sitting down at his typewriter.

Dylan experts can battle over whether or not the singer indeed writes poetry–he was given the prize for his lyrics and music.

If music and lyrics count as literature, as plays have done, could not other forms? Could we, someday, see a Nobel in literature go to US TV producer David Simon, Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, or even US singer Beyonce?

As Los Angeles Times pop music     8     Robert Hilburn said about Dylan’s work: “He’s a great cultural figure because of his words and his ideas.”

And for all the flash and bang of any performed art or filmed project, it’s the words that     9    , wrote Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times.

American TV series Breaking Bad (2008-2013) didn’t exist without US actor Bryan Cranston’s brilliant performance–but he couldn’t have gotten there without the words on the page.

Dylan’s Nobel says that words don’t have to be bound within     10     to be literature. It’s possible the Swedish Academy will back off its radical choice. But for now, literature is all around us. Read it, listen to it or watch it.

7 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. healing       B. prioritize       C. assigned       D. symbolizing E. secondary       F. peculiar G. featuring       H. engaged       I. patterned       J. followed K. embracing

The Healing Power of Art

Dreams have no age limit. A 79 year old lady who restarts her life by painting proves that it is never too late to     1     oneself.

Meeting the 77-year-old Li Yufeng at her workshop in the Lingang Special Area, I am soon infected by her energy and passion.     2     pumpkins, Hami melons, pebbles and playing cards, a number of her paintings hang on the walls. All her works are inspired by the everyday things in her life. As the Mid-Autumn Festival has just passed when we meet, Li's latest works portrays a moon-cake     3     with a dragon and phoenix.

Natural and peaceful, her paintings have     4     power.   They   enable   viewers to   feel the   beauty of small things, which we easily ignore in our daily lives. Last year, she was invited to hold a painting exhibition at the Xuhui Art Museum. To many people's surprise, Li     5     with art just three years ago.

Li spent her childhood in   the   confusion   of   civil   war.   Her father was     6     to Xinjiang   Uygur Autonomous Region as a teacher in a middle school, and Li and her mother     7     him to   the land of rugged mountains and vast desert basins.

"The green lawn and the camphor tree in front of our house in Human have always been impressed in my childhood memories," said Yin.

    8     prosperity and freshness, green is Li's favorite color, which she frequently uses in her paintings. She recalls that she wore a green tweed coat on her wedding day in 1963.

Li used to work as an electric welde（r   电焊工）. Lacking proper eye protection, the flash from the   welding equipment   eventually   damaged   her vision. However,   that   hasn't   stopped   her from     9     colors.

Li became fully engaged in painting after her husband's passing away in 2017. Painting brought her into the present moment and let her forget the pain of losing her husband and her diseases. In the flow of painting, it is hard to dwell on so many troubles. For Li, her improved painting skills are     10     to the joy that art brings her.

8 . Even as a child, the best-known North American woman painter, Frida Kahlo exhibited an independent, rebellious spirit and lack of restraint that often got her into trouble.

At the age of six, however, Frida's life changed dramatically. She got polio and confined to her bed for nine months. The disease left Frida's right leg shorter and thinner than her left, and when she had recovered enough to return to school, she walked with a limp. She was often teased by her playmates, and although that was emotionally painful for her, she compensated by being outgoing and gained a reputation as a "character".

A turning point occurred in Frida's life in September, when she was involved in a near-fatal accident. The bus in which she was riding home after school crashed into a trolley car. The impact caused a metal rail to break loose, piercing Frida's entire body with the steel rod. The red Cross doctors who arrived and examined the victims separated the injured from the dying, giving the injured first priority. They took one look at Frida and put her with the hopeless cases.

The doctor eventually treated Frida, and miraculously she survived. She suffered a broken spine and two broken ribs. Her right leg was broken in 11 places, and her right foot was smashed. Her left shoulder was dislocated. From that point on, Frida Kahlo would never live a day without pain.

Although Frida recovered enough to lead a fairly normal life, the accident had severe psychological and physical consequences. she had to abandon her plan to become a doctor. Her slowly healing body kept her in bed for months, and it was during this time that Frida began to paint. Some artists look to nature or society for their inspiration, but Frida Kahlo looked inward. After her accident, Frida described her pain in haunting, dreamlike self-portraits. Most of her 200 paintings explore her vision of herself. The Broken Column（1944）, a small deer with Frida's head and a body pierced with arrows runs through the woods.

When she was in her forties, her health seriously declined, but Frida always kept her lively spirit. By then she was internationally known. When a Mexican gallery wanted to have a major exhibition of her work, she arranged to have her elaborately decorated, four-poster bed carried into the gallery so that she could receive people.

1. Polio left Kahlo with a limp, and as a result she became________.

A．shy and withdrawn	B．polite and graceful
C．friendly and unconventional	D．weak and silent

2. Kahlo began to paint________.

A．when she was still a child

B．after she suffered from polio

C．after a serious traffic accident happened

D．while she was already in her forties.

3. Which of the following doesn't describe Kahlo's artwork?

A．She painted many beautiful landscapes.

B．She painted pictures showing pain and suffering

C．She often used herself as a subject for her work

D．Her painting only reflected her inner world.

4. At the time of her death, Kahlo was________.

A．still an unknown artist	B．sorry she had taken up art
C．not accepted as an accomplished artist	D．a famous North American woman artist