1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

China’s Explosive Artist

Cai Guoqing’s practice spans from gunpowder drawings to ephemeral sculptures and monumental installations, all of     1     are rich with references to Chinese history, Taoist cosmology and current political events. Cai deals with the latter in a spectacular installation for I Want to Believe, his 2008 retrospective in New York, from the centre of the Guggenheim rotunda the artist —a     2    (train) set designer, by the way —suspended Inopportune: Stage One (2004), consisting of a series of nine cars     3     (hover) in mid air to represent in cinematic progression the effect of a car bomb.

Since the 1980s, Cai has been working on drawings realized by     4     (ignite)explosive powder on large sheets of paper. These works possess an aura     5     evokes both the vivid gestures of abstract expressionism and the quieter surfaces of Chinese traditional painting. Gunpowder is also at the centre of a series of environmental works, begun in 1989,     6     combine the tradition of Land Art with     7     of Chinese fireworks. For his explosion events, Cai stages pyrotechnical choreographies that sketch temporary drawing space.

Cai’s     8    (participate) in many international events, imposes himself as one of the strongest in the sky. These events are also meant to act as social, festive collective experiences that the artist— not without irony— believes could be perceived even from outer artists to emerge from China. At the Venice Biennale 1999 he     9    (award) the Golden Lion for Venice’s Rent Collection Courtyard (1999), a series of unfired clay sculptures    10    (depict)heroes in history. Cai also organized the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

2 . 语法填空

Since the     1    (emerge) of the Italian Renaissance, the history of Western art began a fascinating course through different     2    (style) genres. While 15th-century painting focused on portraying     3     ideal, the subsequent movements explored many other aesthetics and ideas, often in reaction to their historical predecessor. Although there are many remarkable paintings to study from these different art movements, we     4    (narrow) down the expansive list to 30 iconic     5    (work) that span from the end of the 15th century all the way to the first half of the 1900s.

Among this list of masterpieces are some that are so well known that they’ve become a part of popular culture, as well as others that,     6     famous in art circles, may not be as familiar. For instance, René Magritte’s Surrealist painting Treachery of Images, which features a rendering of a brown pipe     7    (accompany) by the recognizable phrase “This is not a pipe,” has been referenced in film as well as video games.     8    (similar), Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa continues to inspire authors and filmmakers from around the world. On the other hand, some paintings that have eluded the same attention     9    (inclusion) Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Impressionist gem, Bal du Moulin de la Galette,     10     Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase.

3 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Qiao Yu is a songwriter who penned timeless classics that     1     (sing) from generation to generation in China for decades. He wrote more than 1,100 lyrics all his life, many of     2     are being remembered even today.

Qiao is said to have started his     3     (enthusiastic) with words from the early age of 4. He could also recite ancient poems from the Tang and Song dynasties. But it wasn’t     4     his late teens that he penned his first own poem.

Qiao rose to fame in 1955 after writing “Let’s Pull on Our Oars (桨)” known to most Chinese children. “Our boat is     5     (gentle) drifting on the lake/ A cool breeze is rustling for our sake/ Our homework has been well done/ Let’s heartily have a lot of fun,” says the song.

But Qiao’s greatest hit came in 1956,     6     “My Motherland” becoming a patriotic tune in the movie Battle on Shangganling Mountain. “A great river     7     (flow), its waves are wide/ Wind blows the scent of flowers to both shores/ My family lives on the shore/ I am used to hearing the punters’(艄公) call/And seeing the white sails on the boats,” says the start of the song.

Genius as these lines now are,     8     movie director at first asked Qiao to clearly spell out the “great river” as the Yangtze itself. “However,” Qiao said, “the ‘great river’     9     (refer) to in the lines is always there in front of your home, and the stories and memories along the river make up     10     it is to make you feel close to your hometown.”

4 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1 个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Toby Mott was just an ordinary person working as an artist. But then, at the age of 36, he had an idea that made him famous. It started when he wanted     1     (earn) some money for the holidays one year. His product was simple­­­ a short message of five words     2     a T­shirt.

He took the T­shirts   to a clothing store and they sold 40 in a week.     3     (immediate), he decided to start     4     (he) own business. The product was good. In the past 12 months, he has sold 60,000 T­shirts worldwide.

The     5     (phrase) for the T­shirts come from things he thinks of during the day and from conversations with friends at dinner. His customers,     6     (include) the rich and the famous, enjoy his imaginative phrases. They include things like I will spend your money, and I do things I shouldn’t.Mott says, “I’m successful,     7     it hasn’t changed my     8     (person) life. I still     work at home on the same small desk. My friends, whom I     9     (know) for more than 20 years, are still my friends. In fact, they’re as     10     (surprise) about my success as I am.”

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature and     1     Oscar for playwriting. Shaw never used his first name “George” personally—he was “Bernard Shaw” throughout his long career. Since his death it     2    （become）a custom to use all three of his names, even in reference works. Shaw is described     3     the most frequently-staged playwright after William Shakespeare.     4     this may be a slight exaggeration（夸张）, Shaw is unquestionably the most important playwright in the English language since the Bard（莎士比亚）. Influenced by Ibsen and other playwrights, Shaw     5    （introduce）a new, realistic style of drama to the English theatre.     6    （like）Ibsen, Chekhov, or even Eugene O'Neill, however, Shaw is unique among modern playwrights because of his sense of humour and     7    （believe）in higher morality. Although his plays, like     8    （that）of his contemporaries, dwell upon shocking and often gloomy subject matter, Shaw is perhaps the only major playwright of his generation     9    （explore）the horrors of the first half of the twentieth century without falling into pessimism and despair. His plays, at times ironic, and at times sincere, are among the most educational,     10    （last）and moving works of high drama ever produced in the English language.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Han Gan, a leading horse painter, was born in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and he     1     (know) for portraying not only the physical likeness of a horse     2     also its spirit. His most famous work is a portrait of night-shining White,   a favorite war horse of the emperor Xuanzong. The imported fiery-tempered horse, with     3     (it) burning eyes and dancing feet, was called “sweat blood horse”.

This sensitive, precise drawing, characterized by delicate ink shading, is     4     example of “baihua” (white painting), as opposed to full color painting. The later term “baimiao” (white drawing) means line drawing without shading, as     5     (see) in the paintings of Li Gonglin in the Northern Song period.

The various seals and inscriptions (题词)added to the     6     (attract) painting and its borders by later owners and experts     7     (be) a distinctive feature of Chinese collecting and appreciation. While     8     (collect) are sometimes over-enthusiastic about showing their appreciation     9     this manner, the addition of seals and comments by later viewers has served    10    (record)a work's transmission and offer vivid evidence of an artwork's endless influence on later generations.

7 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式｡

The Book of Songs, also known as Shi Jing, is the oldest existing     1     (collect) of Chinese poetry. Three years ago, when Chinese musician Fang Jinlong read Shi Jing, he was interested in the stories told through the poems. Because he couldn’t     2     (full) understand the ancient Chinese language     3     (use) in the poems, he turned to experts whose elaboration further attracted him to explore the poems.

Then he decided to portray the poems with musical language by inviting composer Ma Jiuyue     4     (create) an album. Titled Music and the Book of Songs, the album was released on Jan 18,     5     (feature) 10 original songs composed by Ma. They     6     (perform) by Fang and won great popularity.

The 10 songs are based on 10 poems from Shi Jing, including Qiong Yao, which conveys gratitude to people who are eager to help others, Swallows, which     7     (send) farewell messages to friends and Jia Yu, which portrays the scenes of a joyful banquet.

“Young people gave warm feedback about traditional Chinese music     8     they had watched my performance. It inspired me to create more works for them, which helps popularize traditional Chinese music,” says Fang.

“The 10 pieces sound     9     (enjoy) and easy. For the listeners, it’s a fresh way to comprehend poems from Shi Jing,” says Ma. “We spent three years working on     10    project. There are so many meanings in the poems and we want to display them as deep as possible with music,” Ma says, “It’s our mutual goal to have traditional Chinese music reach a wider audience.”