1 . Stuck at home? These famous museums offer virtual tours you can take on your sofa. According to Fast Company, Google Arts&Culture teamed up with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to bring you virtual tours and online exhibits.
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Google’s Street View lets visitors tour the Guggenheim’s famous spiral (螺旋式) staircase without ever leaving home. From there, you can discover incredible works of art from the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary times.
Pergamon Museum,Berlin
As one of Germany’s largest museums, Pergamonhas a lot to offer — even if you can’t physically be there. This historical museum is home to plenty of ancient works including the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and, of course,the Pergamon Altar.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Anyone who is a fan of this tragic, gifted painter can see his works up close (or, almost up close) by virtually visiting this museum — the largest collection of artworks by Vincent Van Gogh, including over 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and over 750 personal letters.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
European artworks from as far back as the 8th century can be found in this California art museum. Take a Street View tour to discover a huge collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, and photographs.
To see more of Google Arts&Culture’s collection of museums, visit the collection’s website.
1. Which one will you visit if you like modern art?| A．Pergamon Museum. |
| B．Guggenheim Museum. |
| C．The J. Paul Getty Museum. |
| D．Van Gogh Museum. |
| A．One who is fond of tragic films. |
| B．One who enjoys European artworks. |
| C．One who likes paintings of Van Gogh. |
| D．One who is interested in ancient artworks. |
| A．It is one of the largest museums in the USA. |
| B．It is the only home to artworks in California. |
| C．It includes all forms of artworks in the world. |
| D．It exhibits European artworks from the 8th century. |
2 . There’s no doubt that one of the greatest human achievements is the exploration of the space. Ever since astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be sent into the orbit around the moon in 1961, scientists have been pushing the boundaries further and further. But until now the exploration into the unknown has been dominated (主导) by men.
Of course, in the past, women were also included in the space projects and played an active role on the ground and behind the scenes. For example, they worked as seamstresses (女裁缝师), sewing vital spaceflight components. In fact, many of NASA’s key works would never have been possible without them. Recently Hollywood produced a movie called Hidden Figures to focus on a group of American female mathematicians, especially the black women, who helped NASA send the first American into space. But this was not women’s only contribution. Back in 1963, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be sent into space. However, after that, space flight programs were slow to employ women. In the USA. NASA didn’t accept applications from women to become astronauts until 1978.
But attitudes have changed and leading officials at NASA say that the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman. The space agency aims to have a sex-balanced workforce but can only achieve that if equal numbers of men and women are trained for science and technology jobs. As Allison McIntryre told the BBC, “My director is a woman. We have female astronauts. We haven’t put a woman on the moon yet. And I think that perhaps the first person to step on Mars should be a woman.”
1. What did Yuri Gagarin do in 1961?| A．He landed on the moon in success. |
| B．He discovered many new boundaries. |
| C．He led scientists to explore the moon. |
| D．He made the first journey into the space. |
| A．To show women are the true heroes of NASA’s first launch. |
| B．To stress that black people have won equal rights in NASA. |
| C．To prove women can do as well as men in NASA’ projects. |
| D．To present women’s contributions to NASA’s space programs. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．Will the First Person to Step on Mars Be a Woman? |
| B．Great Achievements Have Been Made in Space Exploration? |
| C．Why Men Played an Important Role in Exploring the Unknown? |
| D．Men and Women Have Made Equal Contributions to NASA’s Projects? |
