1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
