1 . London-based artist Sarah Ezekiel has won international recognition for her vivid, life-filling images. But her work is more remarkable for the fact that she has a medical condition that has left her unable to move her arms.
Ezekiel’s pictures are painstakingly produced, using the movement of her eyes and specialized technology that relays those movements to a computer. The eye-tracking technology gives Ezekiel a platform for artistic expression, otherwise denied by her disease—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS).
Ezekiel showed no signs of the condition until 2000, when she was aged 34. Pregnant with her second child, she noticed some weakness in her left arm and that she was unable to produce each word clearly. Within months, she was diagnosed with incurable ALS.
Ezekiel describes her first five years living with ALS as “very lonely”. Today, she can neither speak nor move but says “technology has made my life worth living”. She uses a system made by Tobii Dynavox, a company specializing in “Eye Gaze” devices that help people with medical conditions communicate. Its technology adopts projectors, cameras and algorithms to track the tiny movements of the user’s pupils and control a cursor on a screen.
To interview Ezekiel, CNN sent her questions and she prepared her answers letter by letter, using predictive text. The technology also lets her surf the net, shop online and use social media.
Ezekiel, who studied art when she was younger, began painting using the Eye Gaze device in 2012. Her first artwork. Peaceful Warrior, took its title from a book by Dan Millman. “It was originally supposed to illustrate despair, but the finished result had a totally different feel,” she recalls.
“Being an artist because of technology has totally improved my general attitude towards life and opened up many other possibilities for me,” says Ezekiel. I couldn’t create pictures for years and it’s fantastic that technology has made it possible again.
1. What can we know about Ezekiel’s disease?| A．It inspired her to be a devoted artist. | B．It was totally cured when she was 46. |
| C．It draws more attention to her works. | D．It stops her from thinking independently. |
| A．Enjoy her basic online life. | B．Move her body at her own will. |
| C．Suffer less pain from her disease. | D．Write letters to her baby by hand. |
| A．Drawing pictures. | B．Staying positive. |
| C．Using technology. | D．Being a special artist. |
| A．A Platform Brings Fame | B．An Artist Paints With Eyes |
| C．Art Makes Life Meaningful | D．A System Wins Much Favor |
2 . The British Museum's rich collection of ancient Chinese paintings has attracted many visitors. At the heart of this preservation and revival of Chinese art history is senior conservator (文物修复员) Qiu Jinxian.
Joanna Kosek, head of Pictorial Art Conservation at the British Museum, told the Times Publications that Qiu is considered one of the museum's most priceless treasures. "We let the treasure treat the treasure," Kosek said.
In 1987, Qiu was introduced to Mrs. Jessica Rawson, director of the British Museum. At the time there were no conservators specializing in ancient Chinese art at the British Museum. The large collection of Chinese ancient paintings and cultural relics in the museum was mainly repaired by Japanese and British methods and materials. As these methods were not suitable for Chinese paintings, the art collection was kept in storage for a long time instead of on pubic display.
Just before Christmas in 1987, Qiu Jinxian had her first appointment at the British Museum. She was asked to repair an ancient scroll (卷轴) by Fu Baoshi, which had been badly damaged by fire. Qiu's methods, which included washing with warm water to separate the glue in order to repair the paper, stunned people on the spot. Some of them even got out the camera to record her methods as they'd never seen this way of restoring ancient art. Mrs. Rawson was completely amazed by Qiu Jinxian's incredible skills. She immediately invited Qiu to join the British Museum.
Chinese ancient paintings are notoriously difficult to repair because of their large size, complex materials, diverse colors, and rich composition. The most important thing is to understand the long history, meaning and culture behind the painting. Repair is an extremely time-and-energy intensive process.Each painting normally takes several months from cleaning to restoration and drying. Since 1987, Qiu has repaired more than 400 artworks.
Oiu told the media that she is very proud of her work. She wants more people to understand and appreciate Chinese history and culture through art. Although the artworks originated from China, they now belong to the people of the world.
1. Why is Qiu considered a treasure at the British Museum?| A．She understands Chinese history well. |
| B．She is the only Chinese conservator there. |
| C．She repaired the Chinese scroll successfully. |
| D．She has special skills to repair the treasures. |
| A．Panicked. | B．Inspired. | C．Shocked. | D．Influenced. |
| A．A deep understanding of the objects. | B．Incredible painting skills. |
| C．Strong determination. | D．A sound knowledge of Chinese history. |
| A．The Well-known Chinese Conservator |
| B．The Protector of Chinese Treasures at the British Museum |
| C．The Chinese Treasures Repaired at the British Museum |
| D．The Ancient Chinese Artworks Exhibited at the British Museum |
3 . After written art had to fight a tough battle for attraction during the first decade of social media, owing to a certain group of writers, it is now on a significant rise. How Instagram and Twitter have offered jumpstarts to careers of authors like Dean Cocozza sets a blueprint for thousands of ambitious writers.
Cocozza started writing lyrics for his music as a teenager. He immediately had to experience that translating art to social media is not as simple as posting whatever his pen put down.
“Anyone who uses the platform with an intent will quickly learn that you only have the glimpse of a moment to catch the viewer’s attention. So the work I shared shifted to be more to the point, often one-liners. Then stuff started to go viral.”
The success and demand for more poems resulted in his first book Zero Dark Thirty, which sold out quickly. Despite the book containing mostly short writings, even said one-liners, Cocozza emphasizes that he doesn’t write for social media. “It was a very personal project resulting from a certain period of time” in his life. There are much bigger things that he works on and plans to get involved in.
Dean Cocozza has brought back emotional depth. In-between monetized (货币化的) content, blatant (明目张胆的) advertising and “perfect lives”, social media holds a spot for a new generation of artists, including literature. Critical thinkers and authentic writers remind the app’s consumers of their emotional human nature. Art galleries and bookstores might have lost a big part of their audience to digital media — but the art itself will always find ways to survive.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Written art. | B．A tough battle. | C．Social media. | D．A group of writers. |
| A．To earn a living. | B．To draw readers’ attention. |
| C．To protect his personal life. | D．To show emotional depth. |
| A．Works with emotional depth are widely accepted on social media. |
| B．People with perfect lives like social media better. |
| C．Art galleries and bookstores will soon disappear. |
| D．Arts of emotion depth still hold value on social media. |
| A．Positive. | B．Carefree. | C．Doubtful. | D．Disapproving. |
4 . If dropping two studio albums within five months in 2020 wasn't enough of a surprise, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is now serving her fans a third one. Fearless (Taylor's Version), released on April 9th, is a remake of her 2008 country album Fearless, which follows in the wake of the singer's contract battle with her former label Big Machines back in 2019. Upon its release, the album sold 205,000 digital copies in China in less than five minutes and instantly topped the charts on Chinese song streaming platforms, including QQ Music and NetEase Music.
The re-recorded Fearless, a composition of 19 tracks from the songwriter's original album and 6 additional “From the Vault" songs, represents a retrieval of her past memories and love stories. The same brisk (轻快的)and bright lyrics and melodies are presented in a mellower (醇 美的)and warmer voice and have received tons of praise and celebration among Chinese Swifties-the nickname for Taylor's fans in the country.
“A break with the past to start all over again-that needs good faith and a strong heart,” read one comment on Tencent's QQ Music. “So dulcet and ear-catching. If you missed the 19-year-old Taylor, the 31-year-old Taylor will guide you to begin again,” a fan declared boisterously in NetEase Music's comments section.
Taylor Swift has now taken the crown as the best-selling artist of all time on major Chinese music streaming platforms, with her studio recordings earning more than a combined 159 million RMB ($24.3 million) as of April 14, outselling many famous Chinese singers including Jay Chou, Lay Zhang, and Li Yuchun.
The American singer's huge success in China is derived from her never — go — out — of — style artistry and inexhaustible creativity, while also being a product of her enormous fan base, which has succeeded with China's booming music industry. Taylor boasts about 10 million followers on China's Weibo, a microblogging platform, and has more than 9.3 million and 4.9 million followers on QQ Music and NetEase Music, respectively. Apart from their frequent trending on social media platforms, her songs have also repeatedly appeared in music competition shows and in the promos （预告片）for popular films, such as Detective Chinatown, a Chinese comedy-mystery series.
1. What can we learn about Fearless released on April 9th?| A．It's a 2008 country album. |
| B．It's labelled Big Machines. |
| C．It's a composition of 19 songs. |
| D．It's an album of 25 songs. |
| A．Fashionable. | B．Productive. |
| C．Creative. | D．Determined. |
| A．They are full of artistry and creativity. |
| B．They are dulcet and ear-catching. |
| C．They have brisk and bright melodies. |
| D．They are popular in Weibo platform. |
| A．Taylor took part in the music competition in China. |
| B．Taylor's fans made China's boom music industry. |
| C．Taylor benefits from China's music industry. |
| D．Taylor starred in Detective Chinatown, |
5 . A 19-year-old independent artist, Omar Banos, is making’ waves as Cuco, a self-produced multi-instrumentalist and singer. Omar Banos’ approach to music is simple. He just wants to make the music he would listen to himself. Most of the time, that idea shows in his fast hip-hop beats and jazzy electric guitar solos.
Banos, who has released two self-produced albums, has been aspiring to music. He always wanted to play the guitar, and picked it up in high school before expanding his talent to the trumpet and French horn. “I’m very committed to my instruments,” Banos said. “If an instrument is right in front of me, and nobody has time to teach me, I just teach myself.” The same is true for his dreamy production. At 16, Banos got his hands in his first music-editing software, and he has developed a range of techniques.
Banos switches between English and Spanish, singing with his pleasant and warm lilt. “When I’m writing, I just put myself in a place, in a certain time period in my life,” he said, “songs just come out very naturally.”
Though Banos’ soft sound might encourage daydreaming, the independent artist is keeping his feet firmly on the ground during his breakthrough. “I feel I’m watching myself take off, but my brain is still on the ground,” he said. “This all happened so quickly. I didn’t even have time to get ready!”
Banos adds that despite his success, he isn’t always recognized as Cuco. “I will wear Vans, and sometimes people will get confused. They will ask whether I’m sure I’m there to perform. I guess I don’t look like an artist,” he said.
1. Why did Banos make music in the beginning?| A．To entertain himself. | B．To kill his dull time. |
| C．To make himself well-known. | D．To improve his skill in music. |
| A．Banos’ high school life. | B．Banos’ learning methods. |
| C．Banos’ achievements in music. | D．Banos’ great interest in music. |
| A．Honest and careful. | B．Efficient and faithful. |
| C．Creative and low-key. | D．Devoted and warm-hearted. |
| A．Banos has made himself take off | B．Banos will continue daydreaming |
| C．A genius learned music in high school | D．A famous singer keeps pursuing his dream |
6 . The exact location from where Vincent van Gogh is likely to have painted his final masterpiece, perhaps just hours before his death, has been determined with the help of a postcard.
The scene in Tree Roots, a painting of trunks (树干）and roots growing on a hillside, was first spotted on a card dating from 1900 to 1910 by Van der Veen, the scientific director of the Institute Van Gogh. Following a comparative study of the painting, the postcard and the current condition of the hillside, researchers concluded that it was highly possible that the place where Van Gogh made his final brushstrokes had been unearthed.
The main trunk in the painting has survived the 130 years since the Dutch master’s death. It has long been believed that Van Gogh had been working on Tree Roots shortly before he took his own life with a shot to the chest. Andries Bonger, the brother-in-law of Van Gough's brother Theo, had described in a letter how the “morning before his death” Van Gogh had “painted a forest scene, full of sun and life” Van der Veen said, t4The sunlight painted by Van Gogh suggests that the last brushstrokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon.”
Teio Meedendorp, a senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, said the spot, some 150 meters from the hotel where Van Gogh had stayed the last 70 days of his life, would likely have been passed on a number of occasions by him. “The scene on the postcard shows very clear similarities to the shape of the roots on Van Gogh’s painting,” he said. “He must often have passed by the location when going to the fields behind the castle of Auvers, where he painted several times during the last week of his life and where he would take his own life.”
1. What is Tree Roots?| A．A trunk. |
| B．A hillside. |
| C．A drawing. |
| D．A postcard. |
| A．He had a close relationship with his brother. |
| B．What he drew in his paintings all came from real life. |
| C．He was working on his artwork shortly before killing himself. |
| D．He was so sick in his last days that he spent all the time in a hotel. |
| A．In the fields. | B．In a local hotel. |
| C．In the castle of Auvers. | D．In the scene on the postcard. |
| A．To remember a famous painter. Van Gogh. |
| B．To introduce Van Gogh's life and his works. |
| C．To describe the influence of Van Gogh in art. |
| D．To tell the place in Van Gogh’s last painting. |
7 . If you’re looking for someone to make a realistic, three-dimensional (3D) portrait of your pet cat using felted wool, you’ll have a tough time finding someone better than Wakuneco, a Japanese artist who started creating needle felt art back in 2015. Using different colored wool, this artist creates life-like cat portraits. Just have a look at what she can do with a needle and wool thread.
Looking at some of the cat portraits created by the talented Japanese artist, it’s hard to believe they are made of felted wool and not taxidermy (动物标本剥制术) masterpieces. To achieve this level of realism, which translates as “frame cat”, Wakuneco spends hours on end poking wool with a needle to create solid layers that imitate cat fur, applying realistic glass eyes and finally adding the whiskers. After everything is just as she wants, the 3D portrait is framed and sent to the owner who ordered it.
Losing a beloved pet is never easy, but Wakuneco’s realistic cat portraits — made using photographs of real cats as a reference — help owners deal with their loss. And while not all of her customers are owners looking for something special to remember their pets, many of her portraits are ordered as a means of copying.
Wakuneco currently offers her amazing wool felting skills through Yahoo Auctions, but only to Japanese customers. However, after photos of her amazingly detailed portraits spread quickly online, she did express her intention to start taking international orders in the near future. In the meantime, you can admire her amazing creations on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and watch videos of the creative process on YouTube.
For more amazing felted wool artworks, check out the creations of Gardenia Miru and Terumi Ohta, two other very talented Japanese artists, as well as the felted wool animal portraits of Dani Ives.
1. What does the author mean by saying the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1?| A．No one can do better than Wakuneco. |
| B．Wakuneco is too busy to be visited or invited. |
| C．It’s hard for you to get along well with Wakuneco. |
| D．You’ll find many other skillful persons like Wakuneco. |
| A．They’re widely considered as taxidermy masterpieces. |
| B．Their eyes are made of felted wool in most cases. |
| C．They’re made by modeling the pictures of authentic cats. |
| D．Their fur is taken from animals no longer alive. |
| A．Dani Ives’s wool animal portraits are gaining in popularity. |
| B．Only the Japanese can buy Wakuneco’s artworks for the time being. |
| C．Wakuneco decided to show her creative process on Twitter. |
| D．Wakuneco is unsure about selling her artworks internationally. |
| A．3D Technology Used in Art. |
| B．Four Talented Japanese Artists. |
| C．Needle Felting: An Art in Danger. |
| D．Wakuneco’s Realistic 3D Cat Portraits. |
