1 . Cayce Zavaglia is an artist with a unique transformation to her work.
Cayce starts with the hair and forehead, then moves on to the shoulders and clothing, and finally the face. The human face is what she most enjoys creating in her art.
Cayce believes her success depends on three things: her choice of colors, the length and direction of the stitches, and her ability to make the portrait look true. She loves the surprise when people view her art. From a distance, people believe the portraits are painted.
| A．She makes sure the person looks straight into her. |
| B．The biggest challenge is making the skin look real. |
| C．Instead of painting with a brush,she sews with a needle. |
| D．Cayce's first step is deciding who will be in the portrait. |
| E．She loves creating portraits of her family and close friends. |
| F．It requires a lot of patience, for you often have to rethread your needle. |
| G．But when they take a closer look, they see the portrait has been embroidered. |
2 . Pablo Picasso was born on October 25 in Malaga. Spain in 1881. Taking after his father, Picasso shared a passion （热爱）for painting and art. Even though he wasn't the best student in school, Picasso excelled at drawing. Noticing his amazing talent, Picasso's father, an artist, taught him everything he knew. Before long, Picasso could paint and draw much better than his father. With this rich talent, Picasso paid less and less attention to his schoolwork and spent the majority of his day sketching and drawing in notepads and sketchbooks.
When he was a little bit older, Picasso moved twice and was accepted into two fine art programs. However, he didn't care very much for the special techniques they taught and often wandered the streets by himself drawing the scenes around him. After moving to these two places, Picasso moved back home to Barcelona and decided that he would develop new techniques of art and painting based on what he saw.
Later, Picasso decided to move to Paris, France, where he began perfecting his own techniques of painting, drawing and other forms of art. His drawings. paintings, and an included pieces about sadness, poverty, classics and self-portraits. One of his major types of work is called cubism （立体 派），which includes art with all sizes of geometric shapes together on the piece of an. This type of art is very important because no other artists had come up with the idea before. Picasso decided to try something new, and as a result, cubism is widely accepted today as a classic style of art.
Picasso inspires us to always be thinking. He tells us to think outside the box and come up with fresh new ideas that can change the world. He surely plays a significant role in the art field.
1. What do we know about Picasso as a student at school?| A．He hated doing his homework. |
| B．He was very proud of his talent. |
| C．He showed great talent for drawing. |
| D．He was often praised by his teacher. |
| A．He tried his best to help Picasso. |
| B．He blamed Picasso for his laziness. |
| C．He asked Picasso to finish his work on time. |
| D．He encouraged Picasso to do better at school. |
| A．He thought highly of them. |
| B．He took no interest in them. |
| C．He was confused about them. |
| D．He was concerned about them. |
| A．Picasso has great faith in art. |
| B．Picasso has changed the world a lot. |
| C．Picasso can do anything he wants to. |
| D．Picasso is a highly creative artist. |
3 . Szilajka Erzsebet is a Hungarian artist who turns ordinary pebbles into amazing works of art. The artist says she’s inspired by the pebbles’ shape, the richness of their patterns, and the beauty of nature. “I use all the pebbles in their original form shaped only by nature itself.” says Szilajka.
When Szilajka is creating her art, she lets her feelings shape the details. “This way the completed picture becomes dynamic in spite of the fact that the pebbles themselves play a static role in the work of art,” explains the artist. “It’s like a photo taken in the perfect time. It includes the movement, the feeling, the story which can be continued. This way there are not only pebbles in the pictures but invisible fingerprints and ‘soul-prints’ as well.”
When creating her art, Szilajka often relies on her customers’ ideas but uses her artistic freedom as well. “If I only listen to myself, I do think that the most essential elements in life stand on the simplest things,” says the artist. “For me, art is adding that little something extra to simple subject matters.”
The artist believes that the completed work of art is not only her own but a common creation of the artist and the receiver. “These two things together is pebble art,” explains Szilajka. “It only becomes a real work of art if it really means something to the receivers as they have the opportunity to add their own feelings and thoughts as well. Pebbles have no face, so anyone can enter and play a part in a pebble picture…”
1. What’s the feature of her work according to Szilajka?| A．It’s original and dynamic. | B．It’s creative and picturesque. |
| C．It’s imaginative and static. | D．It’s emotional and inspiring. |
| A．A pebble. | B．A pebble picture. | C．A photo. | D．Nature itself. |
| A．The inspiration of Szilajka’s creation. | B．The concept of Szilajka’s creation. |
| C．The significance of Szilajka’s creation. | D．The rewards of Szilajka’s creation. |
| A．A feature. | B．An argumentative essay. |
| C．A biography. | D．A personage introduction. |
4 . How can having a childlike view of the world help the environment? Danish eco-artist Thomas Dambo combines a talent for recycling with a fairy-tale imagination to bring people worldwide closer to nature.
For the “Guardians of the Seeds” exhibition, Danish eco-artist Thomas Dambo built five trolls from discarded wood materials, which were appointed by Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (CMBG) for its splendid riverside woodland.
The exhibition composed of the five trolls aims to give visitors an emotional connection with nature that will encourage them to become keepers of it. For the exhibition, Thomas came up with a story that a family of trolls hid 10 golden seeds to protect the old forest. Using a map that's provided, visitors follow clues to find where the seeds are hidden.
Besides using carefully selected recycling materials to produce his works, to challenge himself creatively, the artist allowed for a degree of production on-site. He gave a skinny troll named Birk a beard made from the roots of fallen trees. The fur of another troll Roskva is made from bark. Also, Gro, sitting with her eyes closed in a yoga pose, has a tongue made out of a nearby deserted planter.
“Thomas wants people to interact with them,” says Gretchen, president of CMBG. “He wants it to be a journey of discovery where you're walking along and all of a sudden this big magical being appears in front of you. These are friendly, happy trolls. They're not scary, mean trolls.”
Thomas hopes that “Guardians of the Seeds” gives viewers the same joy he gets from an occupation that he compares to a hobby. He says too many people lose their playfulness in their adult life. The key quality of his work is just its playfulness. One of his trolls sits on a real car on a hillside, appearing to cheerfully ride it. He wants to reactivate a childlike imagination in adults so they begin to see trash as objects that can be repurposed in practical and even picturesque ways. And he loves to entertain kids, too.
Nowadays, Mr. Dambo gets a kick out of seeking waste everywhere, hoping to find more stuff he could refashion into something amazing.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Given-out. | B．Thrown-away. | C．High-priced. | D．Randomly-chosen. |
| A．To set off visitors' curiosity. | B．To get back the 10 golden seeds. |
| C．To promote the popularity of CMBG. | D．To boost the bond between visitors and nature. |
| A．His environmental awareness. | B．His creativity and artistic gift. |
| C．His working efficiency and skill. | D．His sense of social responsibility. |
| A．Thomas' Massive Troll Sculptures |
| B．Let Us Turn Trashed Wood into Elegant Art |
| C．Artist Preserves Imagination and Nature with Huge Trolls |
| D．Welcome to the Magic “Guardians of the Seeds” Exhibition |
5 . There have been many great painters in the rich history of Chinese art. Here are four of the greatest painters from China.
Li Cheng (919-967, Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty)
Li Cheng contributed greatly to one of the golden ages of landscape paintings in world history. During his time, he was considered the best landscape painter ever. He is remembered especially for the winter landscapes he created and for simple compositions of tall, old evergreens set against a dry landscape. Several of his paintings are in thin ink which gives them a foggy appearance.
Fan Kuan (990-1020 , Song Dynasty)
Fan Kuan began his career by modeling Li Cheng's work but later created his own style, claiming that the only true teacher was nature. His finest work Travelers among Mountains and Streams is a masterpiece of landscape painting and many future artists turned to it for inspiration.
Qi Baishi (1864-1957)
One of the greatest contemporary Chinese painters, Qi Baishi is known for not being influenced by Western styles like most painters of his time. He can be considered as the last great traditional painter of China. He painted almost everything from insects to landscapes. He is regarded highly in Chinese art for the freshness that he brought to the familiar types of birds and flowers, insects and grass.
Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010)
Widely considered as the founder of modern Chinese painting , Wu Guanzhong has painted various aspects of China, like its architecture, plants, animals, people and landscapes. Wu went on to combine Western and Chinese styles to create a unique form of modern art. In 1992, he became the first living Chinese artist whose work was exhibited at the British Museum.
1. What do we know about Li Cheng?| A．He loved landscape paintings. |
| B．He copied many artists' work. |
| C．His work gained worldwide recognition. |
| D．He was considered as Fan Kuan's teacher. |
| A．They have foggy appearances. |
| B．They lack diversity in the theme. |
| C．They come under Western influence. |
| D．They show advanced traditional painting skills. |
| A．They were all modern painters. |
| B．They all created landscape paintings. |
| C．They were all impacted by Western art. |
| D．They were all pioneers in traditional art history. |
6 . Pop stars have traditionally not come from the upper classes of society. Eminem grew up on a trailer (活动住屋) park. 50 Cent is from the dangerous shelters of New York. The Beatles grew up in the poor city of Liverpool.
However, some musicians have come from the army. Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, served with the American Army in Germany while Jimi Hendrix was in the parachute regiment (伞兵团). Following in that tradition comes a British hit, James Blunt. His single, You re Beautiful, was a huge success, and his concerts have sold out all over the country.
James Blunt, born on February 22, 1977, comes from a family with a long tradition of military service. His early life was not filled with music. His army officer father thought all music, even classical, was unnecessary noise. His life seemed certain to follow that of his father's before him—private schools, a good university and a career as an officer in the British Army. The thought of pursuing a career in music had never occurred to him until he witnessed an older boy playing an electric guitar at age 14. When he was sent to Kosovo in 1999, he didn't just take his gun he also took his guitar, attached to the side of his tank. As he drove through villages damaged by the war, he used to sing the John Lennon song Give Peace a Chance. “Well,” he later said, “we were peacekeepers.”
In 2003 he left the army and went to Los Angeles to make a record. In 2004, his first album Back to Bedlam was released, and the singles High, Wise Men and You're Beautiful have been great successes. For the singing soldier, putting down a gun for a guitar has been a good choice.
1. What do Elvis Presley and James Blunt have in common?| A．They were from lower social classes. |
| B．They were kings of Rockand Roll. |
| C．They rose to fame in Britain. |
| D．They used to serve in the army. |
| A．His father's support. |
| B．The Beatles' influence. |
| C．A guitar performance. |
| D．Family tradition of music. |
| A．Blunt's journey to the US. |
| B．Blunt's success as a singer. |
| C．Blunt's devotion to singing. |
| D．Blunt's best-selling records. |
| A．Positive. | B．Critical. |
| C．Grateful. | D．Cautious. |
7 . Xu Beihong was born in 1895 in Yixing, Jiangsu province. When he was only six, he began to learn the Chinese classic works and calligraphy under the direction of his father, who was a local portrait painter. At the age of nine, his father taught him art. His family was poor and at the age of eleven, young Xu had to leave home with his father and sell paintings to make a living. After several years, Xu achieved local success and recognition, but his father developed a serious illness and died shortly afterwards. Xu's early experiences of hardship and loss became the basis of the realism in his artistic creations.
In 1917, he went to Japan and studied art in Tokyo, and later, he was able to spend eight years studying art in Europe. He then returned to China to teach. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xu became president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association.
Xu was primarily known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds. However, his experiences in Europe drove his desire to create a new form of national art that combined the traditional Chinese paintings techniques with Western perspective and methods of composition to reflect a modern China. His talent and hard work led to the development of a new style of Chinese painting and an approach to art that is still taken by art institutions across China.
1. What has shaped Xu Beihong's realistic artistic creations?| A．His overseas study. | B．His talent in art. |
| C．His boyhood experiences. | D．His father's instructions. |
| A．The traditional Chinese style of painting. |
| B．Reflecting Chinese theme in traditonal national style. |
| C．Painting horses in the Western painting techniques. |
| D．Joining Chinese art techniques with Western skills. |
| A．Determined. | B．Creative. |
| C．Old-fashioned. | D．Imaginative. |
| A．A biography. | B．A news report. |
| C．A book review. | D．A short story. |
8 . Hungarian artist Zoltan Viczan has revealed his love and memories of his homeland in a series of new glass artworks at the exhibition, Layers of Hungary, which is taking place at Picnic Gallery in downtown Shanghai from Oct 13 to Nov 15.
Born in Hungary in 1979, Viczan began his studies in glass art at an early age in Budapest.
Traditional glassmaking in the West originated in Italy, where the royal court forced master crafts people to live on an island and create fine goods, Viczan says.
Viczan came to Asia 10 years ago, spending four years in Japan and two years in Hong Kong before moving to Shanghai in 2016. Generally many expatriates socialized with people from their countries to overcome homesickness.
In the exhibition, visitors will see a map of Hungary sculpted in cast glass and decorated with traditional Hungarian glass patterns, and works describing the city of Budapest and Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe.
| A．He has practiced the art form for nearly 30 years. |
| B．This is the first time he has presented his creations. |
| C．The works on show reflect Viczan’s unique methods. |
| D．Some managed to escape despite of the risks of death. |
| E．Viczan chose to represent memories of his homeland through his art. |
| F．The artist believes this is a good way to show idea about people’s viewpoints of reality. |
| G．It recalled the beauty of the calm, flat water which starts rippling after throwing a pebble in it. |
9 . It's hard to say goodbye to your favorite pair of jeans, even when they're way beyond wearable.
Netherton-born artist Ian Berry has made quite a name for himself after his unique art took the art world by storm. It's hard to believe the idea of using old denim (牛仔布) as medium for his art came after a call from his mother, Christine, asking him to clean out his room. “It was about six or seven years ago, my mum was clearing out my old room and she wanted me to go through my things. I found loads of old jeans and denims and I noticed the different colors and shades. I kept hold of them but it was only about 18 months later that I began to do something with them.”
Ian Berry quit his full-time job in advertising to focus all his attention on art.
Iain Barratt, director of the Catto Gallery, told the Examiner, “what Ian Berry does is extraordinary.
| A．So many people would rather put their jeans away than throw them away. |
| B．He didn't know his experiment would soon make him and his denim art famous all over the world. |
| C．It was a risky move. |
| D．He thought he would earn a lot of money in his new career. |
| E．But English artist Ian Berry has found a way to use denim to create beautiful works of art. |
| F．Denim art is as simple as it is beautiful. |
| G．People can't see how he's created these wonderful scenes until they see it close up and touch it. |
10 . Born in 1921, Paul Smith was diagnosed with a severe disease that affects motor abilities and strength. Since he could not grasp the artist’s tools, his creations turned to the typewriter.
His works include his childhood fascination with trains, spiritual leaders, war scenes and country heroes. It’s not so much the subject that is remarkable about Paul’s work, it’s the painstaking skill of using symbols on a typewriter to form perfect copy of existing work, and creative representations of his surroundings.
Paul’s images employed only a handful of symbol keys - !, @, ≠≠, ％, ∧, (, &, ) — which were accessible along the top row of his typewriter keyboard. Remarkable, when a person considers that hand typewriters required the ribbons to be positioned, the roller to be adjusted, and the paper to be secured. Typewriters, of that time, left no room for error since erasing mistaken keystrokes was not a clean option.
As he typed, he would lock the shift key in a safe position not to type numbers. He used his left hand to steady his right. Different symbols created the look of varied textures (神韵), and depending on the look to achieve, he would adjust the spacing to type the symbols near or far. And, he adjusted the roller to perfect spaces between lines.
Depending on its size and complexity, it could take anywhere from two weeks to three months to complete one piece. He worked, on average, a couple of hours every day on his art. After all of that work, one wouldn’t blame Paul if he sought to sell his work, but by all accounts, he would give away his pieces. As his distinctive art form gained interest from others, the number of orders for his artwork increased.
In 2007 the world lost Paul Smith at the age of 85. For this American, creating art was a leisurely pursuit and a form of expression. To the art world, he set a high bar for typewriter artists that many have tried to match, but few are able to repeat it.
1. What do we know about the tool Paul Smith worked with?| A．It has only symbol keys. | B．It requires ribbons and a roller. |
| C．It is specially made for him. | D．The spacing is not adjustable. |
| A．Lock the shift key. | B．Erase mistakes neatly. |
| C．Steady all the symbols. | D．Adjust the keys precisely. |
| A．Primitive. | B．Sensitive. |
| C．Innovative. | D．Time efficient. |
| A．Art comes from life. | B．Efforts work wonders. |
| C．Patience is a virtue. | D．Technique does count. |
