1 . Don’t ever tell Angela Alvarez it’s too late for dreams to come true. The old woman just brought home a Latin Grammy for best new artist, becoming the musical award show’s eldest winner ever.
The Cuban American musician’s crowning moment came after decades of writing songs but performing them only for friends and family. Until she was 90 years old, she went to the Avalon and gave her first concert.
“I loved music very much,” Alvarez says. “When I was a child, I had two aunts that played the piano and taught me how to sing. Whenever there was a family gathering, I was the artist; they made dresses for me and I always liked to perform.” Music was always there for her, as it helped her cope with the ups and downs of life: from love and motherhood, to her relentless efforts to reunite her family and the eventual loss of her beloved husband and, years later, of her only daughter, both to cancer.
Listening to many of these songs while growing up was especially influential on her grandson Carlos José Alvarez, a professional composer and producer based in Los Angeles who owes his love of music largely to his Nana, as her grandchildren called her. As Angela was getting on in years without ever recording any of her work, he had an inspiration that made him fly quickly to Louisiana to document each and every one of her songs, for “the legacy of our family”.
“I hope this entire project inspires young people to sit down and talk to their elders. Ask them questions. Ask them about the dreams they had once upon a time. They will be surprised at what they will find,” Carlos concludes. “If we don’t ask them, they won’t tell us, and their wisdom and dreams will leave with them.”
“There are people who give up, but I did not give up, and I always fought,” Angela said during her wining speech. “I promise you that it’s never too late.”
1. What can we learn about Angela’s experiences?| A．Angela’s songs are all about family love. |
| B．Music provides strong support for her life. |
| C．Angela becomes the most successful musician. |
| D．Angela is always dreaming of giving a concert. |
| A．She taught Carlos how to compose music. |
| B．She helped Carlos record the songs in studio. |
| C．Her songs fueled Carlos’ passion for music. |
| D．Her success inspired Carlos to help the elders. |
| A．Inspiring and determined. | B．Generous and adorable. |
| C．Efficient and ambitious. | D．Adventurous and creative. |
| A．To show the ups and downs of Angel’s life. |
| B．To encourage the elder to pursue their dreams. |
| C．To provide a history of the Latin Grammy Awards. |
| D．To highlight Angela’s achievements as an elder musician. |
2 . Vincent Willem van Gogh is a great Dutch painter. In 2017 one of his paintings was sold for $81 million. 2021 seemed to be Vincent Willem van Gogh’s year. There were at least five different exhibits in nearly 40 U.S. cities regarding his works. It’s astonishing to know he sold only a few paintings in his lifetime, for only small sums of money. How did this now-famous painter fail to escape mainstream attention after his death? It was probably thanks to a woman.
Six months after Van Gogh died, his beloved brother Theo passed away. This was extra tragic because Theo had expected to raise the profile of his brother’s works. Fortunately, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger married Theo shortly before his death. Born in 1862, Johanna worked as an English teacher at two different girls’ schools before her marriage. When Theo died, she was left with their son and a sizable art collection. That’s when she decided to pursue Theo’s wishes. “Johanna assumed responsibility for Van Gogh’s artistic legacy, During her lifetime, she devoted herself to raising awareness of Vincent’s art and letters,” says Luijten, the author of a biography of Johanna.
Johanna broke her neck to improve Van Gogh’s name. To do this, she selectively sold his works and inspired writers and art critics to write about his paintings though she was refused many times. Johanna didn’t lose heart. She lent some pieces to well-known museums and organized countless exhibitions and sales. “One of Johanna’s major achievements was the organization of an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1905, where she united no less than 484 of Van Gogh’s works. “A Van Gogh exhibition of this scale would never again be matched,” Luijten explains. Another strategic move occurred in 1914 when Johanna published Van Gogh’s letters. Theo had kept hundreds of letters. “This was of vital importance, as following the publication of the letters, the appreciation of Van Gogh as an artist increased further,” says Luijten.
“Despite Van Gogh’s brilliance, he wouldn’t be remembered to the level seen today without the influence of Johanna. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger is perhaps not a household name, but she is a force that shouldn’t be underestimated in making Van Gogh well-known,” said Luijten.
1. Which can best describe Johanna from the text?| A．Creative and determined. | B．Ambitious and aggressive. |
| C．Insightful and stubborn. | D．Positive and accessible. |
| A．Set out. | B．Tried her best. | C．Couldn’t wait. | D．Was willing. |
| A．The life story of Van Gogh. | B．The great contribution of Van Gogh’s brother. |
| C．The popularity of Van Gogh’s paintings. | D．The woman making Van Gogh known. |
3 . Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque painter from the “Golden Age of Dutch Painting”. He was obscure during his lifetime; but in the nineteenth century, his work was brought to light, and he is now regarded as one of the greatest figures of Baroque painting-with his focus on simple portraits and household scenes. He is admired for the ability to present everyday objects with great dignity（庄重）and light.
There is not much information about Jan Vermeer’s early life, He didn’t travel much outside Holland, and most of his paintings were bought by a local man. His father was a dealer of paintings and also a local inn owner. When his father died in 1652, Jan took over the business of selling pictures and ownership of a small inn. When his mother died in 1670, he also inherited her local restaurant, and he often worked there at night selling alcohol and dishes to customers.
In 1653, Jan married a young girl named Catherina Bolies. Together they had fourteen children, though four died soon. Jan did a significant portion of his painting within his large house. He liked to paint in his own studio, even though household life may have been noisy with 14 children and his mother-in-law, whom he often argued with.
Jan was a slow worker, producing only three paintings a year. This was partly due to his technique of granular（似颗粒状的）painting. He was careful in capturing the light and colour of his various subjects. Unusually for the time, Jan often focused on simple household scenes such as “The Milkmaid” or the “Music Lesson”.
An important aspect of Vermeer’s paintings were his portraits--often of women. The portraits capture a style of reassuring calm, dignity and contentment with everyday life. To Vermeer, they may have represented an idealized view of life and women, which did not always match reality. “The Girl With A Pearl Earring” is widely considered a Vermeer masterpiece-It is also regarded as one of the greatest portrait pictures ever painted and is sometimes referred to as the “Mona Lisa” of the North.
1. What does the underlined word “obscure” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Not clear. | B．Quite poor. | C．Not well-known. | D．Rather confusing. |
| A．A local inn. | B．A restaurant. | C．Several paintings. | D．A job of selling wines. |
| A．Hills around his town. | B．Children in the school. |
| C．A boat on the foggy sea. | D．A young woman in his house. |
| A．A novel about a painter. | B．A biography of a person. |
| C．An analysis of painting styles. | D．A review of Vermeer’s painting. |
4 . Born on the 25th of February, 1841, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was the son of a painter. Renoir took an interest in painting early in his life; his family moved to Paris in 1844 and encouraged him to frequent the Louvre where he developed an interest in the French Rococo style of François Boucher and the Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix, admiring their loose brushstrokes (笔法) and emphasis on bright colours.
In 1862, Renoir began studying painting under Charles Gleyre, whose other pupils included Claude Monet, Frèdèric Bazille, and Alfred Sisley. These artists would form what would later be termed Impressionism. Although Renoir experienced some success exhibiting in the Salon, for example his 1867 painting, Lise with a Parasol, he frequently struggled to gain acceptance within the strict structure of the Salon. Renoir along with Monet, Sisley, and Pissarro put on the first ‘Impressionist’ exhibition.
The Impressionist painters often describe ordinary subject matter working en plein air (outdoors) to capture a spontaneous (自然的) moment. The style was characterised by broad loose brushstrokes, open composition and an interest in the effect of light. However, by 1878 Renoir had grown disillusioned (理想破灭的) with the Impressionists' emphasis on spontaneity. By the third Impressionist exhibition, his paintings, although still displaying an interest in the effect of light, presented a more carefully composed scene such as Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876.
In the 1880s, Renoir travelled to Italy where he came to admire the structural compositions and underdrawing of the Renaissance artists, in contrast to the en plein air technique favoured by the Impressionists. The trip to Italy had a crucial effect on his artistic style, moving his work towards more classical conceptions of draughtsmanship (绘画才能) and composition, as can be seen in his Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir died on the 3rd of December, 1919. Producing over two hundred works during his lifetime, Renoir greatly influenced later artists, ensuring his legacy (遗产) as one of the most influential artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
1. What stirred up Renoir's interest in the French Rococo style?| A．His father's painting technique. |
| B．His frequent visits to the Louvre. |
| C．His encounter with François Boucher. |
| D．His painting study under Charles Gleyre. |
| A．They met with insufficient recognition. |
| B．They were highly regarded by art experts. |
| C．They presented carefully composed scenes. |
| D．They were heavily influenced by Impressionism. |
| A．Thin brushstrokes. |
| B．Use of underdrawing. |
| C．Structural compositions. |
| D．Stress on the effect of light. |
| A．It made him adopt a classical painting style. |
| B．It brought him considerable fame and wealth. |
| C．It changed his view on life and his attitude to work. |
| D．It improved his relationship with other Impressionists. |
