1 . Artist Susan Shepherd is best known for her flower paintings, and the large garden that surrounds her house is the source of many of her subjects. It is full of her favourite flowers, most especially vancties of tulips and poppies. Some of the plants are unruly and seed themselves all over the garden. There is a harmony of colour, shape and structure in the two long flower borders that line the paved path which crosses the garden from east to west. Much of this is due to the previous owners who were keen gardeners, and who left plants that appealed to Susan. She also inherited the gardener, Danny. “In fact, it was really his garden,” she says. “We got on very well. At first he would say, “Oh, it’s not worth it” to some of the things I wanted to put in, but when I said I wanted to paint them, he recognized what I had in mind.”

Susan prefers to focus on detailed studies of individual plants rather than on the garden as a whole, though she will occasionally paint a group of plants where they are. More usually, she picks them and then takes them up to her studio. “I don’t set the whole thing up at once,” she says. “I take one flower up at once,” she says. “I take one flower out and paint it, which might take a few days, and then I bring in another one and build up the painting that way. Sometimes it takes a couple of years to finish.”

Her busiest time of year is spring and early summer, when the tulips are out, followed by the poppies. “They all come out together, and you’re so busy,” she says. But the gradual decaying process is also part of the fascination for her. With tulips, for example, “you bring them in and put them in water, then leave them for perhaps a day and they each form themselves into different shapes. They open out and are fantastic. When you first put them in a vase, you think they are boring, but they change all the time with twists and turns.”

1. In the first paragraph, the author describes Susan’s garden as ________.

A．being only partly finished

B．having a path lined with flowers

C．having caused problems for the previous owners

D．needing a lot of work to keep it looking attractive

2. What does Susan say about Danny?

A．He felt she was interfering in his work.

B．He immediately understood her feelings.

C．He was recommended by the previous owners.

D．He was slow to see the point of some of her ideas.

3. What is Susan’s approach to painting?

A．She creates her paintings in several stages.

B．She spends all day painting an individual flower.

C．She likes to do research on a plant before she paints it.

D．She will wait until a flower is ready to be picked before painting it.

4. Susan thinks that tulips ________.

A．look best some time after they have been cut.

B．should be kept in the house for as long as possible.

C．are not easy to paint because they change so quickly.

D．are more colourful and better shaped than other flowers.

2 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Why was Stan Laurel chosen to act together with Oliver Hardy?

A．He had a funny look.

B．He was thinner than Hardy.

C．He was a very famous writer.

2. When did Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy gain the Academy Award?

A．In 1920.

B．In 1926.

C．In 1932.

3. What did Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel have in common?

A．They were Americans.

B．They worked at the Hal Roach studios.

C．They once worked with Charlie Chaplin.

3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Which date was Van Gogh born on?

A．March 30.

B．March 20.

C．March 13.

2. What did Van Gogh do when he was 15?

A．He began to learn French.

B．He decided to be an artist.

C．He started to work.

3. Which country did Van Gogh move to in 1886?

A．France.

B．Germany.

C．Britain.

4. How did Theo support Van Gogh according to the talk?

A．He made paintings for Van Gogh.

B．He sold Van Gogh’s paintings to others.

C．He bought Van Gogh’s works from others.

4 .

15 TH OCT 2023 CULTURE Gazelle Twin, a composer, producer, and musician, opens up about being a conceptual artist and establishing a unique identity ahead of the release of her new album (专辑), Black Dog. Q: Would you describe your music as conceptual? A: Conceptual is a good term. I don’t make music just for the sake of making music. My records are inspired by themes. I spend a considerable amount of time before writing the music, learning about subjects related to the theme. Then I work on the structure of the album. Ideas can change. For example, Black Dog was originally about ghosts (幽灵), but I ended up with an album about my childhood experiences, through to adulthood and parenthood, and the anxiety and fear that has been with me during that time. Q: Throughout the album, there is a sense of an observer. Is that person yourself, or another presence? A: Both. There is the voice of depression and anxiety, and also this other person you know is always there. I thought of having this ominous presence (不祥之兆) around you. There is also that sense of being out in the world, as a woman, aware of my vulnerability (脆弱). For example, just going for a walk is never simple. We have to build protective instincts around ourselves. Q: When you started out, did you have any idea of the kind of artist you wanted to be? A: I knew I didn’t want to fit a fixed style or be restricted by being female. I wanted to be flexible. I like to think in scale and of more than I can achieve as one person. I like artists with unique identities. Q: What would be your advice to anyone with ambitions to become a musician? A: Follow your instincts. Put yourself out there without pressure to be “finished”. Absorb things, experiment, and allow yourself to follow a journey where you don’t know where you will end up. Being successful commercially takes a team and time. You have to love it and be in it for the long journey. Q: Fast forward ten years, where do you want to be? A: I would love to carry on following my instincts and making albums. I would like more of a collection of TV and film scores because I enjoy writing scores and cooperative work.

1. Why is Gazelle Twin’s music conceptual?

A．Her records are usually about ghosts.	B．The album’s structure is a top priority.
C．The word “conceptual” itself is attractive.	D．Her music is highly motivated by themes.

2. In the second part of the interview, “this other person” most likely represents __________.

A．spiritual growth	B．vivid imagination
C．inner self-awareness	D．external intervention

3. Which of the following can be inferred from Gazelle Twin’s response in the interview?

A．She tends to take the bigger picture into account.

B．Her future planning is profit-driven to some extent.

C．Black Dog has already become a hit album worldwide.

D．She expresses willingness to help the potential musicians.

5 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. inspired            B. detail          C. art          D. marker          E. sculptor        F. stared G. considerably     H. approach       I. worthy     J. gradually       K. widened

Tom Friedman

Those who believe that art is simply handicraft taken to the extreme might find confirmation upon a first glance at     1     and installation artist Tom Friedman’s work. He creates sculptures and drawings with obsessive attention to     2     and handiwork, and then combines them to make installations. His materials can be picked up at any supermarket: paper, wire, cardboard, foam, foil and     3     pens. Friedman is influenced by 1960s conceptual art and minimalism. The Fluxus movement is     4     of special mention here, as its humorous, art-conscious work    5     him for pieces such as 1000 Hours of Staring (1992-1997). an empty sheet of paper that — as the title suggests — the artist     6     at for 1000 hours. In his new collages and sculptures (see his 2008 Monsters and Stuff exhibition), Friedman has stayed true to his choice of materials and painstakingly elaborate production process, but the gulf between the banality of the material and the spectacular forms that emerge from it has    7     , for example in the sculpture Green Demon (2008). The field of reference is also     8     broader here, with Frankenstein and voodoo associations slotting in easily next to African sculpture, Miro and Picasso. However, the question remains as to whether the harmless material removes the horror aspect or whether the artist has drawn hidden horror out of the material. And thus the question of art as handicraft comes full circle. As soon as handicraft is supported by a conceptual    9     and — in the true spirit of the surrealist idea of the miraculous-mundane everyday material is transformed to something astounding, then you have     10     .

6 . How Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die?

On November 20th, 1791, Mozart suddenly came down with fever and was wracked with pain. His arms and legs were severely swollen. In the following days his health significantly deteriorated. He died on December 5 after lapsing into a coma. The death certificate states he died of “severe miliary fever”. Exactly which disease led to Mozart’s death has been a mystery for the last 200 years.

Speculations

Many myths —some more plausible than others — entwine (缠绕) Mozart’s early demise. One of the most popular myths — that Mozart was poisoned by his rival Antonio Salieri — rose to prominence due to the popularity of the film Amadeus. This theory is supported by the fact that Mozart had been living through a phase of depression before his death, suffering from paranoia and existential fear. Mozart himself suspected that the cause of his deteriorating health was being poisoned over a long time. However, it is highly likely that this was just his subjective view of reality.

Many other speculations circulate. Syphilis and trichinellosis are frequently mentioned. In 1905, a French physician assumed uric acid poisoning due to a never fully healed nephritis. In 1961, lead poisoning was suggested as a possible cause of death.

Scientific attempts to explain Mozart’s death

In 2000, a group of American scientists proposed rheumatic fever caused by a strep infection after conducting meticulous detective work. The symptoms stated in literature and the reports of Mozart’s contemporaries yielded the clues. Without antibiotics, such an infection would inevitably lead to death. Rheumatic fever causes a weakening of the heart, which could explain Mozart’s swollen limbs.

In 2009, the Dutch scientist Richard Zegers extensively studied surviving documents and concluded that Mozart had been suffering from pharyngitis, a throat infection with symptoms including cramps, fever, rashes and a swollen neck. Mozart’s sister-in-law Sophie Haibel had described these symptoms. The death registry of Vienna for winter 1791 lists several deaths caused by this disease.

Whatever the cause of Mozart’s death, it came far too early. Let us thank him for his manic urge to create art and remember him on December 5th!

1. Which of the following is similar in meaning to the underlined word “deteriorate” (Paragraph 1)?

A．To become worse.	B．To change greatly.
C．To recover quickly.	D．To be harmed rapidly.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．It is generally believed that Mozart was poisoned by his friend.

B．Mozart’s depression paranoia and existential fear led to his death.

C．Mozart had been poisoned sustainably for a long time before he died.

D．Mozart once got a nephritis and it was never healed.

3. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Mozart’s disease was recorded in contemporary literature and reports.

B．Antibiotics were not discovered at that time.

C．Rheumatic fever can only be caused by strep infection.

D．Mozart’s illness cannot be cured even today.

4. What is the author’s purpose mentioning Mozart’s sister-in-law’s words?

A．To back up the Dutchman’s study.

B．To prove they were common symptoms causing death in 1791.

C．To prove Mozart did have such symptoms before his death.

D．To emphasize her special identify as a witness to Mozart’s death.

7 . 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.

China’s Explosive Artist

Cai Guoqing’s practice spans from gunpowder drawings to ephemeral sculptures and monumental installations, all of     1     are rich with references to Chinese history, Taoist cosmology and current political events. Cai deals with the latter in a spectacular installation for I Want to Believe, his 2008 retrospective in New York, from the centre of the Guggenheim rotunda the artist —a     2    (train) set designer, by the way —suspended Inopportune: Stage One (2004), consisting of a series of nine cars     3     (hover) in mid air to represent in cinematic progression the effect of a car bomb.

Since the 1980s, Cai has been working on drawings realized by     4     (ignite)explosive powder on large sheets of paper. These works possess an aura     5     evokes both the vivid gestures of abstract expressionism and the quieter surfaces of Chinese traditional painting. Gunpowder is also at the centre of a series of environmental works, begun in 1989,     6     combine the tradition of Land Art with     7     of Chinese fireworks. For his explosion events, Cai stages pyrotechnical choreographies that sketch temporary drawing space.

Cai’s     8    (participate) in many international events, imposes himself as one of the strongest in the sky. These events are also meant to act as social, festive collective experiences that the artist— not without irony— believes could be perceived even from outer artists to emerge from China. At the Venice Biennale 1999 he     9    (award) the Golden Lion for Venice’s Rent Collection Courtyard (1999), a series of unfired clay sculptures    10    (depict)heroes in history. Cai also organized the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

8 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What was Willis Conover?

A．A jazz musician.

B．A radio announcer.

C．A music producer.

2. When was Willis told that he should work in radio?

A．When he acted in a school play.

B．When he attended a jazz concert.

C．When he entered a spelling competition.

3. Which city was the center of a very important jazz movement?

A．Washington D.C.

B．New York City.

C．Buffalo.

4. Who was the heart of jazz according to Willis?

A．Duke Ellington.

B．Count Basie.

C．Louis Armstrong.

9 . The question of whether it is possible to dissociate the artist from their work has been debated for a long time. Even though positive critical reviews about an artist’s behavior can improve their artistic accomplishments, people should treat artists as individuals who have lived apart from their work.

One of the reasons is that even artists have shortcomings. Like any other human being, an artist can err, and we cannot be severely judgmental of every person that falls into error. Cancel culture with endless criticism is concerned more with how we should disregard the artists when they make mistakes than with how their weaknesses can be used by the artists to create art that is unique.

Perhaps Kevin Hart’s words support this thought. He asks, “When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time?” When people start seeing artists as human beings, they’ll see them for who they are and review their behavior not on the basis of their art but on the basis of their humanity.

It should be also noted that there are works of art that are inspired by the artist’s experience. For example, the themes in the Harry Potter books are so connected with J. K. Rowling’s wicked worldview that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the two from each other. Since canceling artists based on their worldview would mean the reception to their art will suffer, artists become tense and unwilling to express themselves, which will kill creativity, eventually leading to the death of art. Comedians, singers or painters who should be integrating contemporary issues with their works become boring, and art stops functioning as the social mirror it ought to be.

An artist who makes mistakes still has art with intrinsic (内在的) value, benefiting entire communities or cultures. For instance, when Kendrick Lamar launched his album and frequently used the F-slur in one of his songs, there was much-heated discussion. He was entirely mistaken in using the F-slur, but as an artist, he still had a wide-reaching impact on society. Similarly, one can respect the late Michael Jackson because of how he impacted pop music and the inclusion of black musicians in mainstream media despite his personal weaknesses, opinions, worldviews and associations.

While these artists may engage in their terrible behavior, the art they produce today may serve as an example for others to produce outstanding work in the future. Some would refer to this process as a cycle. Good art should, therefore, be judged due to its value and not the value of the artist.

1. Which would Kevin Hart probably agree with?

A．People should perform perfectly all the time.

B．Artists’ shortcomings might be their inspiration.

C．If artists have weaknesses, we’d better cancel them.

D．Artists should be evaluated based on their humanity.

2. Why will “cancel culture” lead to the death of art?

A．Artists will be unwilling to create any artwork.

B．Artists will stop concerning with contemporary issues.

C．Artists will lose their desire for expression and creativity.

D．Artworks are unavoidably inspired by artists’ experiences.

3. How can an artist with mistakes benefit others?

A．The artist may make some new words popular.

B．The artist’s opinions may provoke heated discussion.

C．The artist will benefit entire communities or cultures.

D．The artist’s art may give others ideas of artistic creation.

4. Which would be the best title of the passage?

A．Judge Art Due to Its Value

B．Separate the Art From the Artist

C．Regard Artists as Human Beings

D．Stop Criticizing Artists’ Behavior

10 . 语法填空

Since the     1    (emerge) of the Italian Renaissance, the history of Western art began a fascinating course through different     2    (style) genres. While 15th-century painting focused on portraying     3     ideal, the subsequent movements explored many other aesthetics and ideas, often in reaction to their historical predecessor. Although there are many remarkable paintings to study from these different art movements, we     4    (narrow) down the expansive list to 30 iconic     5    (work) that span from the end of the 15th century all the way to the first half of the 1900s.

Among this list of masterpieces are some that are so well known that they’ve become a part of popular culture, as well as others that,     6     famous in art circles, may not be as familiar. For instance, René Magritte’s Surrealist painting Treachery of Images, which features a rendering of a brown pipe     7    (accompany) by the recognizable phrase “This is not a pipe,” has been referenced in film as well as video games.     8    (similar), Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa continues to inspire authors and filmmakers from around the world. On the other hand, some paintings that have eluded the same attention     9    (inclusion) Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Impressionist gem, Bal du Moulin de la Galette,     10     Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase.