1 . Famous American performer Chita Rivera died on January 30 in New York. She was 91 years old. The famed dancer, singer and actor won many awards and honors in her long career on Broadway and beyond.

Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of the musical play West Side Story. She was still dancing on New York’s Broadway stages a half century later in 2015’s The Visit.

“I wouldn’t know what to do if I wasn’t moving or telling a story to you or singing a song,” she said at the time. “That’s the spirit of my life, and I’m really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life.”

Rivera was born on January 23, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her father was a musician. He died when Rivera was seven. Her mother was of Scottish and Italian ancestry(血统).

Rivera studied dance as a young girl and was accepted into a highly respected school for ballet. She was 17 when she won her first part in a musical.

She won two Tonys, the highest award for live theater in the United States. Her first came in1984 with the production of The Rink. She won again in 1993 for the play Kiss of the Spider Woman.

The second Tony was an especially sweet victory for the star. Just five years earlier, Rivera had been in a serious car accident that broke her right leg. It could have ended her career. After months of physical treatment to regain her dancing skills, she returned to the stage singing and dancing as energetically as ever. She said, “It never entered my mind that I wouldn’t dance again.”

When accepting a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, Rivera said, “I wouldn’t trade my life in the theater for anything, because theater is life.”

1. Why does the author mention the two plays West Side Story and The Visit?

A．To show respect for late Rivera.	B．To stress Rivera’s long art career.
C．To indicate why Rivera won honors.	D．To introduce the plays Rivera performed.

2. What can we learn from Rivera’s words in paragraph 3?

A．Art is everything to her.	B．She was sorry for her old age.
C．Art lifts her spirits when she’s in trouble.	D．She received good training in art.

3. What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 7 refer to?

A．Her leg.

B．The musical.

C．The accident.

D．Her award.

4. Which words can best describe Rivera?

A．Independent and thoughtful.	B．Caring and curious.
C．Determined and talented.	D．Proud and confident.

2 . A recent study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society suggests that Leonardo da Vinci was more experimental with his well-known “Mona Lisa” than previously thought and was likely the creator of a technique seen in works used a century later.

A team of scientists in France and Britain has detected a rare mineral compound (矿物化合物), plumbonacrite, within the piece. Plumbonacrite forms when lead oxides (铅氧化物) combine with oil. Mixing these two substances is the technique that later artists like Rembrandt used to help the paint dry, according to the study.

Detecting the rare compound in the “Mona Lisa” suggested that Leonardo could have been the original user of this approach, said Gilles Wallez, an author of the study. “Everything that comes from Leonardo is very interesting, because he had lots of ideas, and he was an experimenter, attempting to improve the knowledge of his time,” Wallez said, “Each time you discovered something in his processes, you discovered that he was clearly ahead of his time.”

The “Mona Lisa”, like many other paintings from the 16th century, was created on a piece of wood that required a thick base layer. The researchers believed that Leonardo had made his mixture of lead oxide powder with linseed oil to produce the thick coat of paint needed for the first layer, while unknowingly creating the rare compound.

Nowadays, researchers aren’t allowed to take samples from the masterpiece, which resides at the Louvre in Paris and is protected behind glass. Using a microsample that had been taken from an area of the artwork just behind the frame, however, scientists were able to analyze the paint by using a high-tech machine. “These samples have a very high cultural value,” Wallez said. “You can’t afford to take big samples on a painting.”

1. Why is Rembrandt mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To demonstrate his unique talent for painting.

B．To explain how he used the technique correctly.

C．To stress what made him different from other painters.

D．To show the technique was useful for drying the paint.

2. What did Wallez think of Leonardo da Vinci?

A．Independent.

B．Strict.

C．Pioneering.

D．Friendly.

3. How did researchers think Leonardo da Vinci created the rare compound?

A．By accident.	B．With other painters’ help.
C．By reading many books.	D．Through various attempts.

4. What can be learned about the “Mona Lisa” from the last paragraph?

A．It didn’t contain plumbonacrite.	B．Analyzing its paint is invaluable but costly.
C．It was created in the 17th century.	D．Taking its samples is an easy task now.

3 . For the creatively minded, snow represents a large blank canvas (空白画布) for art. But often, it’s limited to snowmen or other snow statues. Simon Beck had a different idea, and over the course of a decade he has carved a path for himself in the snow art world. He creates large land art by walking across soccer-field-sized areas covered in untouched snow. Combined with light and shadow (影子) , his artistic designs can only be fully appreciated when viewed from above.

Beck, 59, a former map maker turned into a snow artist, thanks to his decision late in life to pursue his hobby.

            “It started just as a joke one day really,” Beck explained. “After skiing one day, I decided to make a drawing on snow to seek pleasure...”

“I really had no idea how good it would look when I made that first drawing, but it really went beyond my expectation,” he said of his first ever creation that he looked down on from a ski lift.

To create this work, Beck stepped his way through the snow using only snowshoes and a ski pole for measurement with nothing else but the image of a design idea in his head. It was not challenging at all due to his previous work experience. But as his designs developed and became more complex(复杂的), Beck said he began to start drawing them on paper first.   

Beck’s paintings have become a huge hit since his work was first shared.

“Most of the time I had been doing failed careers, and people around me are asking what's the quickest way of getting rid of (摆脱) this person,” Beck said. “And for the first time, I felt people actually wanted me. I felt like a more valued member of society.”

1. Where does Simon Beck create art?

A．On maps.

B．On canvas.

C．On soccer fields.

D．On snowfields.

2. Why did Beck create his first drawing?

A．To have fun.	B．To prove his talent.
C．To entertain the skiers.	D．To develop a new hobby.

3. How did Beck feel about his first artwork?

A．Surprised.

B．Unsatisfied.

C．Annoyed.

D．Indifferent.

4. What contributed to Beck’s art creation?

A．His passion for skiing.	B．His competitive nature.
C．His dream to be an artist.	D．His experience of making maps.

4 . Four Self-Portraits (自画像) by Famous Artists

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)—“Self-Portrait”, 1506

One of the beautiful self-portraits by famous artist Raphael was drawn at the age of 23. It measures around 45cm×33cm and is located at the world-famous Uffizi Gallery. The Italian painter used oil on board to draw his self-portrait, which was the clearest and the most recognizable self-portraits of Raphael himself.

Leonardo da Vinci—“Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk”, 1512

“Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk”is a self-portrait of da Vinci at the age of 60 and measures around 33.3cm×21.6cm, which is on display in Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy. It is drawn with red chalk on paper and represents the head of an elderly man in a three-quarter view. In the portrait, the length of the hair is uncommon in Renaissance (文艺复兴) portraits.

Rembrandt van Rijn—“Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-up Collar”, 1659

Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn painted his self-portrait in 1659 when he was 53 years old. It shows his worried expression that clearly portrays the troubled condition of his mind at that point of his life since the year 1659 was a year of anxiety for him. This self-portrait found its place among the Benjamin Altman Collection, which has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1913.

Edgar Degas—“Degas Au Porte-Fusain’”, l855

Edgar Degas made this self-portrait only when he was twenty-one years old. It was one of the most remarkable of his fifteen self-portraits. Degas was seated as seemingly without fear and anxiety. The pose in the painting was formal and academic. The painting is located in the musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

1. Where should visitors go if they want to admire Raphael’s self-portrait in 1506?

A．Uffizi Gallery.	B．Biblioteca Reale.
C．The musée d’Orsay.	D．The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2. Which aspect of Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk was special during the Renaissance?

A．The red clothing.	B．The formal pose.
C．The long hair.	D．The worried expression.

3. Which painter was the youngest when painting the above-mentioned self-portraits?

A．Raphael.	B．Edgar Degas.
C．Leonardo da Vinci.	D．Rembrandt van Rijn.

5 . A year after Walt Disney made history with the release of Snow While and the Seven Dwarfs, his artists were struggling to find the right design for the woodland backgrounds of Bambi, the coming-of-age tale of a young deer. The film’s production team realized they needed an alternative to the style in their first feature length animated film. Soon they got their inspiration from Tyrus Wong, whose work was on display at New York City’s Museum of Chinese in American Wong, an immigrant (移民) from Taishan, China, arrived in California at 9 with his father in 1919. Wong eventually settled near Los Angeles, where he developed his passions for art and drawing and got trained at the Otis Art Institute.

In 1938, The Walt Disney Studio hired him to draw the frames between the main drawings of the animators. Wong soon learned that the studio was trying to turn Felix Salten’s novel Bambi into an animated film. After reading the story, he saw an opportunity to break out of his boring job.

Inspired by Chinese landscape paintings, he used watercolor and crayons that created the forest scenes with simple strokes (笔画) of color and special attention 10 light and shadow. Wong’s skills caught Disney’s eye and became the guide for Bambi s background artists, who were later trained to mimic (效仿) his style.

By the time Bambi hit theaters in 1942, a strike at The Walt Disney Studio had left Wong jobless after three years of working on the project. He later became an illustrator for Warner Bros, where he worked for more than two decades.

“People admire his work because of Bambi, but Bambi was just a rally small part of his art life,” said Wong’s youngest daughter. “He considers himself not a great artist but a lucky artist, who was at the right place at the right time.”

1. Why did Tyrus Wong catch the attention of The Walt Disney Studio?

A．His painting style fitted Bambi.	B．He impressed the studio with honors.
C．He was fond of taking photos.	D．His work won popularity with students.

2. How did Tyrus Wong probably feel about filming Bambi?

A．Annoyed.

B．Fearful.

C．Excited.

D．Regretful.

3. What can we infer about Tyrus Wong from the text?

A．He is generous.

B．He is demanding.

C．He is humorous.

D．He is productive.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Business.

B．Science.

C．Culture.

D．Health.

6 . Famous People Who Begin With Difficulties

Oprah Winfrey

Probably having one of the most famous success stories, Oprah was born into a poor family in Mississippi, raised by a single mother living on welfare. She was physically, and mentally abused during her childhood. Despite her initial struggles as a young girl, she turned herself into one of the most successful talk show hosts of our time.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey has been the star of some of the most successful movies of all time. But Carrey grew up extremely poor in Canada. When he was a teenager, his family took security jobs in a factory to help pay the bills. And during his first stand-up comedy performance, he was booed off （喝倒彩） the stage. Not shortly after, he made it big on In Living Color and then went on to star in Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura in the same year!

James Dyson

If you thought Thomas Edison’s failures were bad, let me introduce you to James Dyson, the famous inventor of the Dyson vacuums （真空吸尘器） you see all over the television. Dyson developed over 5,000 failed prototypes （原型） before finding the bagless vacuum brand. Not only that, he put his entire savings account into his prototypes over fifteen years! Luckily, the bagless vacuum worked.

Stephen King

Before Stephen King became known as a great living writer—having written over 60 novels, many of which have been adapted for film and television—King was rejected over and over again. In his memoir, On Writing, King describes how he used to post his rejection letters on the wall for inspiration. His first novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times.

1. What do Oprah and Jim have in common?

A．They were abused by parents.	B．They grew up in poor families.
C．They were hired as comedians.	D．They found jobs in a factory.

2. What did James Dyson do?

A．He repaired the failed prototypes.	B．He developed over 5,000 brands.
C．He put all efforts into marketing.	D．He invented the bagless vacuum.

3. Who is a novelist?

A．Oprah Winfrey.

B．Stephen King.

C．James Dyson.

D．Jim Carrey.

7 . Born in 1975 in a poor neighbourhood in Sao Paulo, Eduardo Kobra began his career at 12 years old and, since then, has become one of the most recognized street artists in the world.

With more than 5,000 murals(壁画) over five continents, he currently holds the record for the largest mural in the world, first for creating his famous mural Las Etnias (The Ethnicities) for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Then a year later he beat his previous record with his monumental work at Cacau Show Headquarters, a masterpiece that took 700 hours to complete and more than doubled his 2016 record. Influenced by the pop-art movement and modern artists, the realism in his designs makes his flat-surfaced extremely colourful wall paintings appear 3-D and alive with life.

With his project Greenpincel(2011), Kobra showed his strong will to the environmental cause. Climate change, water pollution, deforestation, predatory(掠夺性的) fishing, and mistreatment of animals became strong themes present in his work .In Stars of Peace, Kobra describes individuals who have given hope to the world through their lives, such as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Malala Yousafzai, and Anne Frank.

Kobra is involved in social causes, such as food collection campaigns and activities aimed at bringing art to poor communities, especially children who have no access to basic facilities.

In 2021, he started the Kobra Institute, which aims to bring art to vulnerable(脆弱的) people in Brazil.During the pandemic(大流行病), he led an activity together with the private sector to raise funds to build oxygen plants for COVID-19 patients.

1. Which of Kobra’s works made him set the second world record?

A．Las Etnias.	B．The Ethnicities.
C．Stars of Peace.	D．A work at Cacau Show Headquarters.

2. What did Kobra concern much about in his project Greenpincel?

A．Social causes.	B．Famous individuals.
C．Painting skills.	D．Environmental protection.

3. What do we know about Eduardo Kobra?

A．He was born into an artistic fanily.

B．He specializes in romantic painting.

C．He devoted himself to helping the poor learn art.

D．He made a great fortune in 2016 Rio Olympics.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Kobra?

A．Sensitive.

B．Admirable.

C．Humorous

D．Adaptable.

8 . There’s a mural(壁画) in Winsted, Connecticut, which is 5 stories tall and 120 feet long. Artist Ellen Griesedieck came up with the idea in 1999. More than 20 years in the making, the massive artwork is now on display.

Griesedieck calls the work the American Mural Project (AMP), That’s also the name of the arts center where it’s displayed. Rather than display the portraits(肖像画) of the famous political figures in American history and the well-known great artists, Griesedieck preferred to meet people from different fields in small towns and cities all over the United States to create the mural. She took photos of them on the job. Then she painted them. There’s Pamela. She’s shown working at a Boeing aircraft factory in Everett, Washington, wiring a plane. There’s Nina, a farmer. And Edwin, a New York City police officer, and so on.

Student participation is a huge part of AMP. So far, it has worked with 15, 000 students, from preschool to high school, in 17 states. In West Virginia, fifth graders from Ceredo Elementary School worked with a glassblower to make a 42-foot picture of water on which a fishing boat is floating. In New Mexico, kids made ceramic tiles(瓷砖). They’re pieced together to form the red-and-white shirt of a mechanic named Stitch. Kathy Reddy teaches art in Fairfield, Connecticut. She and her students have been involved with AMP for more than a decade.

The AMP building is a former factory. Inside, parts are still being added to the mural. Students who go to see the mural can take art classes at AMP, which also leads programs in schools. “We’re really focusing on hands-on, open-ended creativity,” says Michelle Begley, the director of education programs. “Our school visits always get the students’ hands dirty in the excitement of great art-making.”

1. Who are the leading characters of the mural?

A．Famous artists.	B．High school students.
C．Ordinary laborers.	D．Political figures.

2. What can we learn about Ellen Griesedieck’s art project?

A．It is long-term team efforts.	B．It is inspired by the students.
C．It introduces local cultures.	D．It is intended for the young.

3. Which aspect of students should be valued according to Michelle Begley?

A．Their inner desire.	B．Their academic level.
C．Their own talent.	D．Their practical ability.

4. In which column of a newspaper can the text be found?

A．Sports.

B．Travel.

C．Education.

D．Business.

9 . Bessie Mae Kelley was an animation (动画) pioneer, yet much of her story and work was lost to history and left undocumented—until now. The incredible discovery of Kelley’s rich past was made by Mindy Johnson, who spent five years searching for evidence.

According to Mindy Johnson, Kelley was studying art at New York’s Pratt Institute, when, as a part of the first generation of cinema, she fell in love with the medium. Kelley began working in the industry doing menial jobs, but she worked her way up and she was eventually working alongside Max Fleischer, Paul Terry and Walter Lantz, animators who were household names.

Kelley hand-drew cartoons in cooperation with Paul Terry for his famed animated adaptation of Aesop’s Fables, including the mouse couple that came to be known as Milton and Mary. “Even Walt Disney publicly stated that when he began his studio in Kansas City, he wanted to make cartoons as good as Aesop’s Fables,” Johnson said.

And earlier this week, Johnson presented her discoveries at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, where she also premiered (首映) two restored short films hand-drawn and directed by Kelley. The first is a five-minute film entitled Flower Fairies, completed in 1921. The second three-minute film from 1922 is called A Merry Christmas. Previously, historians had considered Tissa David to be the earliest example of a woman who directed her own hand-drawn work Bonjour Paris in 1953. The earliest surviving animated film directed and animated by a woman would be Lotte Reiniger’s The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart from 1919, which is far from the hand-drawn variety.

Johnson, who teaches animation history at California Institute of the Arts and Drexel University, says, “Discovering Kelley’s contribution to animation isn’t just about filling in the gaps of history. It also motivates a new generation of animators. I can see my female students standing a little taller and more confident, about their work when they learn about Kelley.”

1. What does the underlined word “menial” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Unskilled.

B．Demanding.

C．Well-paid.

D．Risk-taking.

2. What does the author want to show by mentioning Kelley’s work on Aesop’s Fables?

A．Her fondness for animals.	B．Her good teamwork spirit.
C．Her early influence in animation.	D．Her close relationship with Walt Disney.

3. Which is the earliest-known animation hand-drawn and directed by a woman?

A．Bonjour Paris.

B．Flower Fairies.

C．A Merry Christmas.

D．The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart.

4. What does Johnson think of the discovery of Kelley’s role in animation?

A．It excites students’interest in history.

B．It is an inspiration to female animators.

C．It helps reexamine women animators’ work.

D．It is a reminder of the value of surviving films.

10 . The 19th century landscape paintings in the museum looked awfully familiar to climate physicist Albright. Artist Turner’s signature way of covering his views in fog and smoke reminded Albright of her own research — tracking air pollution. After all, Turner —a forerunner of the impressionist movement — was painting as Britain’s industrial revolution gathered steam and smoke.

To find out how much realism there is in impressionism, Albright teamed up with Harvard University climatologist Peter Huybers. Their analysis of nearly 130 paintings by Turner, Paris-based impressionist Claude Monet and several others tells a tale of two modernizing cities.

Low contrast and whiter colors are typical of the impressionist style. They are also typical of air pollution. Tiny aerosols (气溶胶) can absorb or distribute light. That makes the bright parts of objects appear less bright while also shifting the entire scene’s color toward white.

Albright and Huybers distinguished art from aerosols by first using a mathematical model to analyze the contrast and color of 60 paintings that Turner made between 1796 and 1850 as well as 38 Monet works from 1864 to 1901. They then compared the findings to sulfur dioxide emissions (二氧化硫排放量) over the century and estimated from the trend in the annual amount of coal sold and burned in London and Paris. When sulfur dioxide reacted with molecules (分子) in the atmosphere, aerosols formed.

As sulfur dioxide emissions increased over time, the amount of contrast in both Turner’s and Monet’s paintings decreased. However, paintings of Paris that Monet made from 1864 to 1872 have much higher contrast than Turner’s last paintings of London made two decades earlier. They owed the difference to the much slower start of the industrial revolution in France. Paris’ air pollution level around 1870 was about what London’s was when Turner started painting in the early 1800s. It confirmed that the similar progress in their painting styles couldn’t be coincidence, but was guided by air pollution, the pair concluded.

1. What is the purpose of Albright and Huyber’s analysis?

A．To distinguish between art and aerosols.

B．To understand different schools of painting better.

C．To figure out the effects of the real life on impressionism.

D．To find the relationship between realists and impressionists.

2. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The comparisons of aerosols and sulfur dioxide.	B．How the researchers carried out their research.
C．The effects of aerosols on the paintings.	D．Why aerosols formed in the atmosphere.

3. What did Albright and Huybers’s research find?

A．The paintings of Turner and Monet were closely linked to air pollution.

B．The industrial revolution in France started more slowly accordingly.

C．There were differences in Turner’s and Monet’s painting styles.

D．Turner’s and Monet’s painting styles were familiar to people.

4. In which section of a newspaper can you most probably find this text?

A．Entertainment.

B．Health.

C．Education.

D．Environment.