1 . Cubism of Pablo Picasso

Picasso and Braque worked together closely during the next few years(1909-1912)—the only time Picasso ever worked with another painter in this way—and they developed what came to be known as Analytical Cubism. Early Cubist paintings were often misunderstood by critics and viewers because they were thought to be merely geometric art. Yet the painters themselves believed they were presenting a new kind of reality that broke away from Renaissance tradition, especially from the use of perspective and illusion. For example, they showed multiple views of an object on the same canvas to convey more information than could be contained in a single limited illusionistic view.

As Kahnweiler saw it, Cubism signified the opening up of closed form by the “re-presentation” of the form of objects and their position in space instead of their imitation through illusionistic means; and the analytic process of fracturing objects and space, light and shadow, and even colour was likened by Apollinaire to the way in which the surgeon dissects a cadaver. That type of analysis is characteristic of Picasso’s work beginning in 1909, especially in the landscapes he made on a trip to Spain that summer (Factory at Horta de Ebro). Those were followed in 1910 with a series of hermetic portraits (Ambroise Vollard; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler); and in his 1911-1912 paintings of seated figures, often playing musical instruments (The Accordionist, 1911), Picasso merged figures, objects, and space on a kind of grid. The palette was once again limited to monochromatic ochres, browns, and grays.

Neither Braque nor Picasso desired to move into the realm of total abstraction in their Cubist works, although they implicitly accepted inconsistencies such as different points of view, different axes, and different light sources in the same picture. Furthermore, the inclusion of abstract and representational elements on the same picture plane led both artists to reexamine what two-dimensional elements, such as newspaper lettering, signified. The inclusion of lettering also produced the powerful suggestion that Cubist pictures could be read coming forward from the picture plane rather than receding (in traditional perspective) into it. And the Cubists’ manipulation of the picture shape— their use of the oval, for example— redefined the edge of the work in a way that underlined the fact that in a Cubist picture the canvas provides the real space.

1. Why was Analytical Cubism regarded as a normal geometric art at first?

A．Because critics and viewers were not qualified.

B．Because Analytical Cubism artists themselves thought their arts were geometric art.

C．Because Analytical Cubism was just a new form breaking away from Renaissance tradition.

D．Because they both have some similarities on showing their art involved.

2. What was Picasso’s first painting especially characterized by Analytical Cubism?

A．Factory at Horta de Ebro.	B．Ambroise Vollard.
C．The Accordionist.	D．The Dream.

3. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．Braque and Picasso were willing to move into the realm of total abstraction.

B．Braque and Picasso used to frankly hold inconsistent opinions in the same picture.

C．Two-dimensional elements can create a more powerful implication when the pictures are read.

D．The use of the picture shape underlined the fact that in a Cubist picture the canvas provides the real space.

2 . Pablo Ruiz Picasso’s family moved to Barcelona in the autumn of 1895, and Pablo entered the local art academy, where his father had assumed his last post as professor of drawing. The family hoped that their son would achieve success as an academic _____ , and in 1897 his eventual _____ in Spain seemed assured; in that year his painting Science and Charity, for which his father modelled for the doctor, was _____ an honourable mention in Madrid at the Fine Arts Exhibition.

The Spanish capital was the _____ next stop for the young artist intent on gaining recognition and _____ family expectations. Pablo duly set off for Madrid in the autumn of 1897 and entered the Royal Academy of San Fernando. But finding the teaching there _____ , he increasingly spent his time recording life around him, in the cafes, on the streets, and in the Prado, where he discovered Spanish painting. Works by those and other _____ would capture Picasso’s imagination at different times during his long career.

Picasso fell _____ in the spring of 1898 and spent most of the _____ year convalescing(逐步康复) in the Catalan village of Horta de Ebro in the company of his Barcelona friend Manuel Pallares. When Picasso ______ Barcelona in early 1899, he was a changed man: he had put on weight; he had learned to live on his own in the open countryside; he spoke ______ ; and, most importantly, he had made the decision to break with his art-school training and to reject his family’s plans for his future. He even began to show a ______ preference for his mother’s surname, and more often than not he signed his works P. R. Picasso; by late 1901 he had dropped the Ruiz altogether.

In Barcelona Picasso moved among a circle of Catalan artists and writers whose eyes were turned ______ Paris. Those were his friends at the café Els Quatre Gats (“The Four Cats”, styled after the Chat Noir (“Black Cat”) in Paris), where Picasso had his first Barcelona exhibition in February 1900, and they were the ______ of more than 50 portraits in the show. In addition, there was a dark, moody “modernista” painting, Last Moments (later painted over), showing the visit of a ______ to the bedside of a dying woman, a work that was accepted for the Spanish section of the Exposition Universelle in Paris in that year. Eager to see his own work in place and to experience Paris firsthand, Picasso set off in the company of his studio mate Carles Casagemas (Portrait of Carles Casagemas, 1899) to conquer, if not Paris, at least a corner of Montmartre.

1.

A．painter

B．writer

C．professor

D．critic

2.

A．works

B．success

C．power

D．fame

3.

A．offered

B．sold

C．awarded

D．presented

4.

A．necessary

B．obvious

C．favourite

D．interesting

5.

A．achieving

B．obeying

C．seeking

D．fulfilling

6.

A．academic

B．stupid

C．indifferent

D．satisfying

7.

A．travellers

B．teachers

C．artists

D．archaeologists

8.

A．ill

B．upset

C．down

D．asleep

9.

A．permitting

B．recovering

C．remaining

D．struggling

10.

A．moved to

B．settled in

C．lived in

D．returned to

11.

A．Barcelona

B．Catalan

C．French

D．British

12.

A．welcomed

B．planned

C．decided

D．covered

13.

A．on

B．over

C．up

D．toward

14.

A．subjects

B．characters

C．spectators

D．painting

15.

A．doctor

B．priest

C．policyholder

D．policeman

3 . 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     .

4 . 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.

5 . The expressive quality of both the forms and gestures in the basically monochromatic composition of Guernica found its way into Picasso’s other work, especially in the intensely coloured versions of Weeping Woman (1937) as well as in related prints and drawings, inportraits of Dora Maar and Nusch Eluard (wife of Picasso’s friend, the French poet Paul Eluard), and in still lifes (Still Life with Red Bull’s Head, 1938). Those works led to the claustrophobic interiors and skull-like drawings (sketchbook number 110, 1940) of the war years, which Picasso spent in France with Maar as well as with Jaime Sabartes, a friend of his student days in Barcelona. Thereafter Sabartés shared Picasso’s life as secretary, biographer, and companion and more often than not as the butt of endless jokes (Portrait of Jaime Sabartes, 1939; Retour de Bruxelles, sketchbook number 137, 1956).

After the liberation of Paris, Picasso resumed exhibiting his work, notably at the Salon d’Automne of 1944 (“Salon de la Libération”), where his canvases of the preceding five years were received as a shock. At the same time, Picasso opened up his studio to both newand old writer and artist friends, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Reverdy, Eluard, the photographer Brassai, the English artist Roland Penrose, and the American photographer Lee Miller, as well as many American GIs.

Already in 1943 a young painter, Francoise Gilot, had presented herself at the studio, and within months she became Picasso’s mistress. In 1946 Picasso moved to the Mediterranean with Gilot (with whom he was to have two children, Claude in 1947 and Paloma in 1949). First they stayed near Antibes, where Picasso spent four months painting at the Château Grimaldi (Joie de Vivre, 1946). The paintings of that time and the ceramics he decorated at the studio in nearby Vallauris, beginning in 1947, vividly express Picasso’s sense of identification with the classical tradition and with his Mediterranean origins. They also celebrate his new found happiness with Gilot, who in works of that period was often nymph to Picasso’s fauns and centaurs.

1. What can we learn about Picasso’s works during the World War II?

A．There were intensive colours in the works at that time.

B．Most of the works at that time were portraits.

C．Skull-like paintings were the features of the works at that time.

D．Sabartes contributed to Picasso’s works at that time in terms of inspiration.

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “resume” in Paragraph2?

A．Continue.

B．Abandon.

C．Restate.

D．Reserve.

3. What can be learned about Francoise Gilot?

A．Picasso and Gilot got married in 1946.	B．Gilot was as famous as Picasso at that time.
C．Picasso portrayed Gilot in his paintings.	D．Picasso and Gilot had three children.

6 . Picasso’s reputation as a major 20th-century sculptor came only after his death, because he had kept much of his sculpture in his own collection. Beginning in 1928, Picasso began to work in iron and sheet metal in Julio González’s studio in Paris. Then, in 1930, he acquired the Chateau Boisgeloup (northwest of Paris), where he had room for sculpture studios. There, with his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter as his muse, Picasso began working in 1931 on large-scale plaster heads. In the 1930s he also made constructions incorporating found objects, and until the end of his life Picasso continued working in sculpture in a variety of materials.

Picasso’s ceramics(陶瓷制品) are usually set apart from his main body of work and are treated as less important, because at first glance they seem a somewhat frivolous exercise in the decoration of ordinary objects. Plates, jugs, and vases, made by craftsmen at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris, were in Picasso’s hands reshaped or painted, gouged out, scratched, or marked by fingerprints and, for the most part, were rendered useless. In turning to craft, Picasso worked with a sense of liberation, experimenting with the play between decoration and form (between two and three dimensions) and between personal and universal meaning.

During that period Picasso’s fame increasingly attracted numerous visitors, including artists and writers, some of whom (Hélène Parmelin, Édouard Pignon, Éluard, and especially Louis Aragon) encouraged Picasso’s further political involvement. He contributed designs willingly (his dove was used for the World Peace Congress poster in Wroclaw, Poland, in 1949), which was from a sincere and lifelong sympathy with any group of repressed people. War and Peace, two panels begun in 1952 to adorn the Temple of Peace attached to an old chapel in Vallauris, reflect Picasso’s personal optimism of those years.

1. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．Picasso only became famous after his death.	B．Picasso had a lot of his own collections.
C．In 1930 he began to make incorporating objects.	D．He started working in 1931.

2. What’s the possible meaning of the underlined word “frivolous”?

A．Not having any serious purpose or value.	B．Able to be used for a practical purpose.
C．Funny and ridiculous.	D．Expensive and elegant.

3. What may be the possible reason for Picasso’s artworks’ success?

A．Because Picasso kept a lot of his artworks after his own death.

B．Because Picasso had the ability to attract many visitors and writers.

C．Because Picasso’s artworks carried his sense of liberation and designed specially.

D．Because Picasso’s artworks are worth a lot of money.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Picasso’s Outstanding Sculpture

B．Why We All Love Picasso’s Art?

C．Picasso’s Works of Sculpture and Ceramics

D．Picasso’s In-depth Influence on Art and Politics

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 . To create “Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape”. Alejandro Duran gathers plastic trash that is washed up on the beaches of Sian Karan, Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve. The site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Yet every day, plastic pollution from around the world is washed up onto its shores. These materials inspired Duran to create a series of environmental art pieces, which he re-cords with photos and videos.

Duran was born in Mexico City and is now based in Brooklyn. He said that he had been collecting materials and creating photographs for the past five years, and the work was ongoing. “The project will tell me when to stop.”

Each piece can convey a vastly different mood, from the calm greens of soda bottles to the playful rainbows of toothbrushes. “I’m making art,” said Duran. “It comes from the context and my moods. You can’t say only something dark.” The work reflects and plays with natural forms, exploring how humans influence the environment. The colorful and playful images can be much attention-grabbing. “Beauty is a hook (钩子) to attract people’s attention,” said Duran.

In addition to promoting awareness of the plastic pollution problem, Duran is also involved in educational programs and helps to organize beach clean-ups. He has also made a study of the types of products that are washed ashore in Sian Ka’an, and has identified objects from 50 different countries. Although there’s no way to know where or how these objects were dropped into the sea, their labels show the global nature of the problem.

1. What does Alejandro Duran do with the trash?

A．He moves it away.	B．He collects and burns it.
C．He turns it into a form of art.	D．He puts it together for people to see.

2. What does Alejandro Duran mean by saying “The project will tell me when to stop.”?

A．He will stop the project soon.	B．It’s hard to carry on the project.
C．He will go on with the project.	D．The project is important to him.

3. Aleandro Duran runs the project mainly to __________.

A．recycle the trash	B．change his career
C．clean up the beach	D．raise public awareness of pollution

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Plastic pollution in the ocean.

B．An artist creating environmental art.

C．The global nature of the pollution problem.

D．Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve.

9 . Carmen Herrera: “Every painting has been a fight between the painting and me. I tend to win. But you know how many paintings I threw in the garbage? I wouldn’t have anything were it not for my husband. He didn’t have a hand in anything? But no, they say that behind every great man there is always a woman. Well, behind a great woman there is always a man. You need it; I was very lucky. You don’t decide to be an artist; art gets inside of you. Before you know you are painting, you are so surprised. It’s like falling in love.”

Born in Cuba in 1915, Carmen Herrera lived in New York and Paris and eventually settled in New York where she lived till now. Through the years, she worked quietly and created a huge quantity of paintings. While living in New York in the 1950s, she made reductive, hard-edged abstractions that predate(早于) the works of artists such as Lygia Clark in Brazil and Ellsworth Kelly in the US. Her works also proved her foresight as Minimalism and Op Art took hold in the 1960s, and with later developments in the works of American painters such as Brice Marden Agnes Martin, both of whom are represented in the collection.

It wasn’t until 2004, at the age of 89, that Carmen Herrera sold her first painting; like many women artists of her generation, her works were overlooked despite her friendships and associations with great male artists like Barnett Newman. Now, however, the artist and her works are now receiving much-deserved attention in and beyond the US. Herrera’s paintings have entered the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Tate Modern; the Walker’s acquisition is special in that.

1. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A．Carmen is addicted to drawing.

B．Carmen’s husband objects to her drawing.

C．It’s easy for Carmen to be famous.

D．Carmen sold her first picture at $1,000.

2. What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 1?

A．Carmen is successful finally.

B．Carmen has sold her first painting.

C．Carmen has a good husband supporting her.

D．Carmen thinks she has a gift for drawing.

3. What is the key to Carmen’s success?

A．Kindness.

B．Love for family.

C．Passion.

D．The museum’s help.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Beethoven is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music. In     1    (he) twenties, he began to lose his hearing, but he continued to write music. Inspired by his     2     (struggle) with deafness, he produced more than 130     3     (amaze) music works, including his Symphony No. 9 D minor.

In February 1824, he added the final notes to the score. The famous     4     (nine) symphony was completed. He signed his name     5     (proud) and imagined how people would respond when they heard it     6     the first time.

Before the performance, the backstage atmosphere at a very famous theatre in Vienne was tense. As he walked out onto the stage, the audience did not hesitate     7     (applaud) loudly. The theatre’s musical director joined him and together the two men took charge of the orchestra.

At last, the audience     8     (shock). It was not until one of the singers turned him to face the audience     9     the great man realised his symphony was     10     success.