1 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．Oprah Winfrey. | B．Stephen King. | C．James Dyson. | D．Jim Carrey. |
2 . Claude Monet, a French painter who was the leader and advocate of the Impressionist style. When Claude, the eldest son of a grocer, was five years old, the family moved to the Normandy coast, where his father took over the management of his family’s grocery business. This event has more than biographical significance. It was Monet’s childhood, spent along the beaches and the knowledge he gained of the sea and the rapidly shifting Norman weather that would one day give rise to his fresh vision of nature. In these early years he also finished pencil sketches of sailing ships, which were almost technical in their clear descriptiveness. His aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre, was an amateur painter, and, perhaps at her suggestion, Claude went to study drawing with a local artist. But his life as a painter did not begin until he was befriended by Eugène Boudin, who introduced Monet to the practice of painting in the open air. The experience set the direction for Monet, who for more than 60 years would concentrate on visible phenomena.
As the 1870s began, Monet continued his pursuit of natural phenomena. In order to avoid the Franco-German War, he left his family and traveled to London. There, he was introduced to Paul Durand-Ruel, who was to become his dealer. The years he lived there marked the height of the Impressionist movement. He helped organize an independent exhibition of the Impressionists ‘work in 1874.lmpression: Sunrise (1872), one of Monet’s works at the exhibition, inspired the journalist Louis Leroy to give the group their name.
Monet attracted the dedicated support of collectors throughout his career, most notably from Americans. His influence on other artists was wide-ranging. During the years 1886 to 1914, a colony(群体) of mainly American artists gathered around him and regarded him as the best example of modern French painting. They adopted his fresh palette(调色板), subject matter, and natural style and eventually introduced these elements to American art.
1. Which influenced Monet’s new vision of nature?| A．His love for the sea and beaches. |
| B．His childhood experiences in Norman. |
| C．His early life spent with Eugene Boudin. |
| D．His early years of pencil sketches practice. |
| A．In a formal artistic school. | B．From his aunt. |
| C．At home by self-teaching. | D．From other artists. |
| A．To meet his dealer. |
| B．To paint more in the open air. |
| C．To keep away from the war. |
| D．To launch the art movement. |
| A．The criticism to Monet. |
| B．Monet’s influence on other artists. |
| C．The popularity of Monet in America. |
| D．Monet’s art achievements. |
