1 . Ask an art historian about 15th-century Italian art and they’ll probably bring up Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper or the early career works of Michelangelo. Meanwhile, assessments of the Florentine sculptor Donatello often pale in comparison with praise of his superstar contemporaries. Donatello deserves better, argues an ambitious new exhibition. On view through July 31 at two museums in Florence, Italy, “Donatello: The Renaissance” tries to place the sculptor at the center of the era, writes reporter Elisabetta Povoledo for The NewYork Times.
“This is an extremely unusual exhibit, since Donatello is a father of the Renaissance,” Donatello scholar Francesco Caglioti tells The Times. Arturo Galansino, director of the Palazzo Strozzi, takes the argument one step further, telling The Wall Street Journal’s J. S. Marcus that the exhibition identifies Donatello as “the inventor of the Renaissance.”
Donatello’s masterpieces we repaired with works by Filippo Brunelleschi, Giovanni Bellini, Michelangelo and Raphael to showcase his significant impact on generations of Italian artists. “Some exhibitions are once in a lifetime, but this show is the first time in history,” said Galansino earlier this month.
While some people think of Michelangelo’s marble (大理石) David (1501―1504) as an incomparable work, Donatello actually sculpted one of the statue’s key inspirations: a bronze (青铜) David. Created between 1435 and 1450, likely for the Medici family, the sculpture was conceived (构思) independently of any architectural surroundings. Scholars, therefore, consider Donatello’s David the first of such a style in Renaissance history.
Besides, Donatello’s Madonna influenced similar works by Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Just as Donatello has been relatively overlooked in favor of his contemporaries, Gentileschi and a handful of other Renaissance women artists are just starting to get their due—a trend evidenced by a recent exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
“Donatello: The Renaissanc” follows the artist’s life and work, moving through his early years in his native city and a long-term residency in Padua. By the end of his life, Donatello’s work was primarily financed by the powerful Medici family.
1. What does the new exhibition intend to do?| A．Restress Leonardo da Vinci’s achievements. |
| B．Retell the stories of artists in the Renaissance. |
| C．Rediscover Italian art in the contemporary context. |
| D．Rethink the key role Donatello played in his time. |
| A．It is historically significant. | B．It is more comprehensive than others. |
| C．It has met with lots of criticism. | D．It has presented a completely new art form. |
| A．It disappointed the Medici family. | B．It was a copy of the marble David |
| C．It was created two hundred years ago. | D．It inspired Michelangelo to some extent. |
| A．Fall into disfavor. | B．Receive recognition. |
| C．Reshape their styles. | D．Suffer discrimination. |
2 . This was going to be a year of great jazz centennials (百年纪念) for 1920 marked the birth of several jazz musicians who either changed the course of the music or deeply enriched it. So let’s raise a glass to some of them:
Charlie Parker(August 29, 1920-March 12, 1955)
Of all the jazz languages that coursed through the 20th century, no one did more than Parker, for he developed complex improvisational methods that transformed the way musicians understand harmony and dissonance. The fact that Parker also happened to be a most influential saxophone player broadened the scope of his achievements.
Dave Brubeck (December 6, 1920-December 5, 2012)
Early in his long career, pianist-composer Brubeck was laughed at by some jazz lovers. How could a musician so popular among the masses possibly have anything to offer those who considered themselves “masters”? The joke was on them, of course, as Brubeck’s music was filled with new ideas in rhythm, embracing elements of Western classical music. No one played the piano quite the way Brubeck did.
Clark Terry(December 14, 1920-February 21, 2015)
Some musicians are at least as important for the influence they have on others as for the music they create themselves. Trumpet masters such as Miles Davis have credited Terry for having encouraged them in the earliest days of their careers. Terry’s work on trumpet affected those trumpeters and uncounted others.
Peggy Lee(May 26, 1920-January 21, 2002)
Singer-songwriter Lee proved that a vocalist needn’t shout to be heard around the world. Her soft vocals delighted jazz devotees and brought the music to huge audiences across the decades, thanks to hit recordings such as “Fever” and “Is That All There Is?” There were no vocal skills involved. Instead, Lee taught the jazz world the beauty of saying everything with a few well-chosen notes.
1. Who changed the way musicians understand harmony and dissonance?| A．Charlie Parker. | B．Dave Brubeck. | C．Clark Terry. | D．Peggy Lee. |
| A．He played music for a longer time. | B．They didn’t recognize his excellence. |
| C．He played the piano in a traditional way. | D．They had nothing to learn from him. |
| A．Her unique piano playing. | B．Her great influence on others. |
| C．Her beautiful singing voice. | D．Her mixture of western music. |
3 . When storm clouds gather, and the wind howls in anger, the natural reaction for most people is to seek shelter. But some run toward the danger. Photographer Liu Yijing is one of that rare type as he captures nature’s violence.
For the past year, Liu, 21, has traveled about 24,000 kilometers across 11 provinces chasing and recording thunderstorms. From the first signs — a stronger breeze developing into a turbulent (汹涌的) sky and birds fleeing — he prepares for what appears to be a frightening task. In 2021, he took more than 48,000 photos, showing the most violence of Mother Nature.
Liu has received a great deal of recognition for his work. His photos captured a complete supercell (雷暴) structure that occurred in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Aug 22. This image has been picked as the cover photo for the Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, a key publication in its field.
“It is a typical supercell and I still have a vivid memory about how thrilled I felt the moment it formed. While recording, I couldn’t control myself and kept screaming,” he says, adding that the picture and video have spread rapidly on the Internet. The term supercell is even used by meteorologists (气象学家) to describe a type of a lasting thunderstorm that rotates and is usually accompanied by dangerous weather conditions including damaging winds and sometimes tornadoes.
Many social media users nicknamed him “storm chaser”. A Sina Weibo user named Guanwaidelin comments that Liu’s photos and videos show how amazing and powerful nature is and how insignificant humans are. Another called Lucia Wei says that before Liu, storm-chasing photographers were rarely heard of in China and that it is a career for those who are not only brave but also armed with sufficient meteorological knowledge.
1. How does Liu Yijing respond to the approaching storm?| A．He expresses anger. | B．He looks for shelter. |
| C．He takes photos of it. | D．He runs away from it. |
| A．He traveled across the world to record tornadoes. |
| B．He was acknowledged for an image of a supercell. |
| C．He felt thrilled when his works became a hit. |
| D．He described the supercell as a great discovery. |
| A．Boring. | B．Well-paid. | C．Adventurous. | D．Discouraging. |
| A．A supercell going around. | B．A storm showing power. |
| C．A career exploring space. | D．A cameraman chasing storm. |
4 . What would you do if you spilled your coffee on your desk? Many of us would probably immediately begin cleaning up the desk. But some people are so talented that they can be artistically inspired by the most unexpected of things, such as spilled drinks. Case in point — Italian artist Giulia Bernardelli, whose amazing coffee art began as an accident.
Born in 1987 in the city of Mantua, Giulia Bernardelli graduated at the Accademia of Fine Arts of Bologna with a bachelor’s degree in educational studies, but it was a coffee accident that shaped her artistic career.
One day, Giulia was drawing and having her coffee at the same time. At one point, she moved her hand too quickly and spilled her coffee all over the canvas, but the way the spilled coffee spread inspired her to pick up the spoon and use it as a brush to guide the brown liquid. And that’s how her journey into coffee art began. She got better and better at it, and today Giulia is regarded as one of the world’s best coffee artists.
As for the things Giulia draws with coffee, she takes inspiration from a variety of things, such as famous artworks, architecture, or the human body. So the next time you spill your coffee or something else, don’t immediately clean it up. It’s your chance to be an artist too!
1. What can be learned about Giulia Bernardelli?| A．She hates cleaning. | B．She is a fan of coffee. |
| C．She is an Italian artist. | D．She wants to be a teacher. |
| A．What tools Giulia needed for painting. | B．Why Giulia was the best coffee artist. |
| C．When Giulia became world- known. | D．How Giulia started coffee art. |
| A．Gifted. | B．Productive. | C．Helpful. | D．Brave. |
5 . Art lovers around the world are remembering Leonardo da Vinci who died in France 500 years ago, on May 2, 1519.
A British art expert announced on Thursday that Britain’s royal family has a portrait (肖像) of the famous artist, often known simply as Leonardo. Martin Clayton, a royal art adviser, said the portrait’s owner is Queen Elizabeth II. He added that the image was made by one of Leonardo’s assistants shortly before his death. Clayton said the “straight nose” and other details look very much like the only other known portrait of Leonardo done in his lifetime. That picture was the work of Italian painter Francesco Melzi. It will be on display at the Queen’s Gallery with about 200 drawings from her collection of Leonardo’s works.
On Thursday, the presidents of Italy and France gathered in the French town of Amboise to mark the anniversary of the artist’s death. He spent the final years of his life in the town. Today art lovers around the world are celebrating Leonardo’s work. He is considered a true Renaissance man, working not only as an artist, but as a scientist and inventor. “There really hasn’t been anybody then or since who has combined this extraordinary genius for these totally different areas,” said Gregory Rubinstein. He is the worldwide head of Old Master drawings at Sotheby’s auction house. “I think that’s what’s at the heart of our fascination.”
Sotheby’s announced Thursday that an important Leonardo drawing is going on display in its New York offices next month. The drawing, called “Leda and the Swan”, was painted in 1506. It is based on a story from Greek mythology (神话). It has not been shown in public since 2003. Leonardo appears to have made the painting while he was also working on “Mona Lisa”, his most well-known painting. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Rubenstein said the “very complete and very beautiful” drawing appears to have been preparatory work for a painting that was never made or was lost. “It’s a very mysterious one because there is no surviving record. and no painting survives,” he said.
1. How will the British remember Leonardo this year?| A．By exhibiting a portrait of Leonardo. | B．By holding a party at the royal family. |
| C．By showing Melzi’s work of Leonardo. | D．By displaying Queen’s collection of works. |
| A．To visit the Queen’s Gallery. | B．To remember Leonardo da Vinci. |
| C．To attend the funeral of Leonardo. | D．To celebrate the anniversary of the Renaissance. |
| A．He is a true lover of art. | B．He is a genius in everything. |
| C．He is a person with many gifts. | D．He is a man living in the Renaissance. |
| A．It is about a mysterious Italian story. | B．It is a rarely seen Leonardo drawing. |
| C．It was painted by Leonardo’s assistant. | D．It is a preparatory work for “Mona Lisa”. |
6 . Classical musician Titcomb feels strongly about Symphony No. 2 and its composer, Mahler. “Mahler is just... It’s so remindful. It’s so emotional and maybe it is a cheap thrill, but to me it is a deep emotional work.”
Titcomb played the trombone (长号) professionally for more than thirty years. He says it was a difficult decision to stop playing and to do something else. “When I had to decide to stop my career as a player and move on to just the organizing of an orchestra, it was my heart and soul to play in orchestras and after a 30-year career I think I have done my part and wanted to move aside. Now I’m semi-retired. I only play the trombone in my wife’s rock and roll band, but for 30 years I was a member of the New York City Opera Orchestra and I also played very often with the Metropolitan Opera and various other organizations and the New York City Ballet as well.”
Now Titcomb is the Managing Director for PONY, which hopes to bring new audiences to classical music and aims to make performances higher-tech and more affordable. PONY is composed of many New York’s finest musicians and many of them continue to work in the major companies at Lincoln Center including Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic. And musicians come together shortly after some big events, such as natural disasters.
Mahler Symphony No. 2 music is reflective of a project dear to Titcomb’s heart. Titcomb has worked effortlessly on bringing the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York, which aims to use performances to support disaster relief, and to give people in disaster some inspiration to continue to deal with their troubles. Seeing an orchestra of 90 players on the stage and making music together with a chorus of 200 made him smile.
Titcomb’s devotion to music is wonderfully inspiring. He built a hugely successful career with little more than plain hard work and determination.
1. What does the author want to tell us in paragraph 1?| A．Titcomb is very emotional. | B．Mahler is good at cheap thrills. |
| C．A music masterpiece must be strong. | D．Symphony No. 2 impresses Titcomb. |
| A．He was eager to earn money. | B．He avoided taking up challenges. |
| C．He focused on playing the trombone. | D．He organized a high - quality orchestra. |
| A．Boring. | B．Confusing. | C．Demanding. | D．Encouraging. |
| A．Well begun, half done. | B．Devotion requires enthusiasm. |
| C．He who laughs last laughs best. | D．A change of work is as good as a rest. |
7 . Niki de Saint Phalle, one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, was a French-American born in 1930. She was brought up in a very conservative family, and yet she rejected the conservative values of her family to pursue a career in painting. Her rebelliousness created a series of conflicts with her family, which led to a nervous breakdown at age 23.
Fortunately, painting offered her an effective treatment and a way to develop as an artist. Her famous “Nana” series gained universal praise. It is evidence to the glory of women. The series is mostly composed of life-size dolls(娃娃) of women in various roles such as brides and new mothers. Some of these sculptures are very big so that men would look small next to them. She used vivid colors in these works and her female subjects dance cheerfully and merrily. Through these joyful and powerful images of Nana, the artist sends a positive message to all women.
Saint Phalle’s sculptural park, “The Tarot Garden,” inspired by Tarot cards, is situated in the Italian province of Tuscany. Work on the garden began in 1979, and it was officially opened to the public in May, 1998. The park contains sculptures of the symbols found on Tarot cards. The brightly colored combinations of buildings and sculptures reflect the special qualities represented by the 22 main tarot cards. The sculptures, however, have nothing to do with fortune telling. Instead, the works focus on the elements of life experience, personality, and self-knowledge that the cards refer to.
Saint Phalle passed away on May 21, 2002, in San Diego, California, at the age of 71. Her death meant the loss of a woman of diverse creative talents.
1. What does the underlined “rebelliousness” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．An attitude towards life. | B．Determination to succeed. |
| C．Unwillingness to obey rules. | D．A perspective different from others. |
| A．Saint Phalle’s series “Nana”. | B．Saint Phalle’s various roles. |
| C．Skills used in Saint Phalle’s works. | D．The variety of Saint Phalle’s female subjects. |
| A．There are 22 sculptures altogether. |
| B．They are associated with fortune telling. |
| C．They are modeled on the symbols of Tarot cards. |
| D．They display women’s personality and self-knowledge. |
| A．Innovative. | B．Critical. | C．Tolerant. | D．Selfless. |
8 . Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 in Zundert in the south of the Netherlands. He was unlucky to live only for 37 years and to discover his love for art at the age of 27. Therefore, he worked as an artist for only 10 years of his life.
During the Enlightenment Age, emphasis on literature, philosophy, science, fine arts and music became more widespread especially with the growing middle class. This means that Vincent van Gogh had lived in a flourishing artistic movement, which was supposed to help him succeed as an artist and become rich. On the contrary, he did not win fame as an artist. Although Vincent painted 900 paintings and more than 1,100 drawings, his works remained unknown and unsold and his brother Theo supported him financially during his lifetime.
Perhaps one of the reasons for his failure as an artist is his clumsy behavior when he suffered from mental illness. Another reason is his short-tempered nature and rudeness which most of the time brought him bloody fights with his fellow Gauguin that ended up with cutting off Vincent's ears. Moreover, he was always dirty and not well-dressed, which made people avoid dealing with him and buying his artistic works. Furthermore, his poor health gave more blows to his life and caused an early death to such a great artist. But now in our age, his magnificent painting (Portrait of Dr: Gachet) is sold around 150 million dollars at auction.
Vincent van Gogh is just an example of the talented people who failed in their pursuit of glory.
1. What can we learn about Vincent before he was 27?| A．He showed no love for art. | B．He enjoyed staying alone. |
| C．He had a great interest in art. | D．He spent much time painting. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．He was in a mess. | B．He became angry easily. |
| C．He didn't have fine works | D．He often fought with others. |
| A．Good manners are more important than talents. | B．A seed planted in darkness may bloom later. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. | D．One is never too old to learn. |
9 . The exact location in France where Dutch master Vincent van Gogh painted his last work of art has been discovered.
A Dutch researcher figured out that a scene described in the artist’s last work, Tee Root, was visible on a postcard showing a man standing next to a bicycle on a back street of the village Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh spent the last weeks of his life in the village. Helpfully, the card even included the name of the street.
Researchers were given a unique glimpse (体验) into the famous painter’s final hours. He was at work right up to the end.
Wouter van der Veen, scientific director of the Van Gogh Institute in France, made the discovery. While stuck at home, van de Veen used the extra time to organize the numerous files and documents on van Gogh, including images such as the old postcard from Auvers-sur-Oise. One day in late April, he saw the card on his computer screen and it suddenly struck him that he was looking at the location of Tree Roots. Next to the man and his bicycle, roots and trees are clearly visible. He took a virtual trip down the site using Google’s Street View.
“Villagers know the spot and the main tree root well, even giving it the name ‘the elephant’ because of its shapes,” van der Veen said. “It was really hiding in overt sight.”
The discovery provides tourists with an extra reason to visit Auvers-sur-Oise. “They travel a lot just for one reason — to walk in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh. Now they can stand at the very place where he painted his last painting,” van der Veen said. “And that’s a very moving thing for a lot of people. So I’m very happy to be able to share that with all those who love van Gogh.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．What the postcard revealed. | B．How Tree Roots was discovered. |
| C．Why Auvers-sur-Oise became known. | D．Where van Gogh painted his works. |
| A．He studied a picture of Auvers-sur-Oise. |
| B．He organized his data on van Gogh. |
| C．He traveled to France to see for himself. |
| D．He paid a visit to the spot online. |
| A．Mixed. | B．Obvious. | C．Lovely. | D．Strange. |
| A．They enjoy exploring how to paint. | B．They share their love for van Gogh. |
| C．They admire van Gogh very much. | D．They want to experience the life there. |
10 . To say that Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was a leader in Western art in the 20th century is to repeat an accepted fact, according to Time magazine. “No painter before him had enjoyed such a large following in his own lifetime.”
This year marks the 140th anniversary of Picasso’s birth. Born on Oct. 25, 1881, Picasso had created more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures and other pieces of art by the time he died at 91.
That’s a long time to paint! The result is not only a lot of art, but a lot of different phases in Picasso’s work. On its website, Christie’s auction (拍卖) house lists eight different periods in the course of his painting career.
Over a century ago, the painter once said that, “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” So the eight periods are all very different in their choice of subjects and yet unmistakably drawn by Picasso’s hands. Financial Express called his style unusual.
As his style changed over time, it became more simplistic. A common joke is that Picasso forgot how to paint. After all, he was classically trained at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona.
Now he is best known for leading an artistic movement known as “Cubism (立体派)”. It used geometric shapes to create human and animal figures. With this method, Picasso tried to show his figures from multiple perspectives (视角) in two-dimensional space. For example, a person’s left eye may be shown from straight ahead while his right eye and nose are shown from the side. The result is strange and beautiful, frightening and funny.
Picasso often said that he admired primitive art and drawings made by youngsters. “When I was the age I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them,” he said. Maybe that’s why Picasso is still so popular. We look at his work and think, “Maybe I could do that!”
1. Which of the following best describes Pablo Picasso?| A．Productive. | B．Optimistic. | C．Traditional. | D．Generous. |
| A．His act of creation was destructive. | B．He created a series of simple images. |
| C．His painting style remained unchanged. | D．He drew different subjects in different periods. |
| A．It is rather difficult to understand. | B．It shows figures from various perspectives. |
| C．It covers different subjects at the same time. | D．It reflects the relationship between humans and animals. |
| A．Raphael’s works. | B．Artists. | C．Drawings. | D．Youngsters. |
