A. During this time, he made paintings of circus people and clowns which were a bit happier. Later, Picasso moved to Paris, where lots of new art was being created. He, along with an artist friend Georges Braque, came up with a unique abstract form of art--Cubism.
B. Picasso kept changing his art style and tried lots of different things, like making sculptures and pottery. He left behind a lot of art that still makes people think and feel different things. His work changed the way we understand and make art today.
C. Pablo Picasso was a famous artist born in Spain in 1881. He was very good at drawing from a young age and became one of the most important artists in the 1900s.
D. According to Picasso it was drawing objects as he thought them, not saw them, since in Cubism, artists show all parts of a scene at once, using simple shapes and putting them together in unusual ways, like a puzzle.
E. Early in his life, Picasso’s paintings were mostly in shades of blue and showed sad scenes, which is why that time is called his Blue Period. Later, he started using lighter colors like pinks and reds, which is known as his Rose Period.
Amy, a famous piano player has shown her musical
3 . Born in Anhui Province, Tao Xingzhi (October18, 1891-July 25, 1946) was one of the greatest educationalists, social activists and patriots in modern China. When he was young, Tao lived in a poverty-stricken area and had witnessed miserable life of Chinese people, especially that of the peasants who accounted for 80% of the nation’s population, under the suppression of foreign invaders (外国侵略者的压迫) at that time.
After graduating from Nanjing University as the top student with the highest scores in all courses, Tao set out for the US to further his education. At first, he studied politics in University of Illinois but soon he found that politics offered no help for saving the country, and then he changed his major into education.
Six-year experience abroad let Tao Xingzhi come to realize the sharp contrast between China and developed countries, and drove him to make up his mind to change the situation in China. Tao declined a number of invitations from many famous universities and gave up high salaries as a college professor. Instead, he set up Xiaozhuang Normal School in the countryside of Nanjing to develop educational cause in rural areas. When he returned to China from Japan in 1939, Tao set up Yu Cai School in Sichuan Province for the kids who lost their family in Anti-Japanese War (抗日战争). He picked out those with special talents and trained them to be useful men for the nation. Zhou Enlai, former Chinese premier, once paid a visit to this school and gave a high praise.
As an educationalist, Tao devoted his entire life to the educational-cause for Chinese. Quite different from other major educationalists at that time, Tao carried out life education and said that “life education means an education of life, by life and for life”. Because of overtoil (积劳成疾), he died on July 25, 1946 in Shanghai. Chairman Mao praised him as “a great educationalist for the people”. In memory of this great man, Tao Xingzhi Museum was built in Shanghai in 1986.
1. The underlined phrase “accounted for” in the first paragraph has the same meaning of the phrase “______”.| A．depended on | B．took up | C．carried out | D．put off |
| A．Mr Tao returned from Japan to China |
| B．Mr Tao set up Yu Cai School in Sichuan Province |
| C．Mr Tao picked out some with special talents and trained them |
| D．Mr Tao established Xiaozhuang Normal School in Nanjing |
| A．Tao Xingzhi’s great contribution | B．Tao Xingzhi’s diseases |
| C．Tao Xingzhi’s daily life | D．Tao Xingzhi’s educational theories |
| A．a tourist website | B．an entertainment website |
| C．an educational website· | D．a scientific research website |
4 . The New Year Honors list was published at the end of December 2023, rewarding more than 1,200 people for their outstanding achievements and helping others. Prime Minister Sunak said those honored are “an inspiration to us all”.
The list included well-known figures and ordinary people who have help cd their communities. Everyone is awarded one of a number of honors depending on what they have done, from a Knighthood or a Damehood to a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). These awards are given twice a year by the King.
Tony Hudgell, aged nine, became the youngest person to be awarded a New Year Honor. He was given a British Empire Medal(BEM) for his charity work to protect vulnerable (易受伤害的) children. Tony has raised £1.8 million for charity and successfully campaigned to update laws protecting children.
A transport worker called Rizwan Javed, who works at Ealing Broadway station in London,was awarded an MBE for helping people who are in difficult situations. Following special training with the Samaritans charity, Javed lea med to spot people who are struggling with mental health problems and have conversations with them to help them feel better. After learning of his award. Javed said, “I feel like this MBE award has given me the confidence to take it a step further to help people talk about mental health.”
Space scientist Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who is also the head of the University of Leicester, received a Damehood for services to science education and diversity. Goalkeeper Mary Earps was honored with an MBE and is one of three of the England women’s national football team to be recognized for their services to football. James Martin, an actor from Nor them Ireland, was awarded an M BE for his services to drama. When he found out about the honor. Martin said. “I couldn’t believe it — I was really happy.”
1. What do we know about the New Year Honors list according to the text?| A．It was released on December 12. | B．It rewards people who inspire us. |
| C．The awards are given by PM Sunak. | D．Children have no right to be honored. |
| A．He got some laws renewed. | B．He set up his own charity. |
| C．He had a big New Year celebration. | D．He wrote lots of laws about children. |
| A．Rizwan Javed. | B．Maggie Aderin-Pocock. |
| C．Mary Earps. | D．James Martin. |
| A．High-achieving people. | B．Ordinary people’s lives. |
| C．Community-focused charities. | D．Well-known campaigns in England. |
5 . Dorothea Dix was born in 1802 in Massachusetts. When she was 12 years old, she left her unhappy home to live with her grandmother in Boston. There Dorothea went to school and was so quick at her lessons that two years later she went back to Worcester, Massachusetts and taught in a school for little children. She was only fourteen and rather small for her age. Anyway, she proved herself a good teacher, and the children loved her and respected her. In 1821, she opened a school for girls in Boston.
Gradually, her health broke down, and she began to think that she could never work any more, but after a long rest in England, she came back to America and did something far greater than teaching. She went through the whole country where she first observed the inhumane treatment of the mentally ill. During Dorothea’s traveling for nearly two years throughout the state, and meeting similar conditions, she always spoke kindly to the ill-treated, but she spoke wrathfully to the men who ill-treated them. In January 1843, she submitted to the Massachusetts legislature (立法机关) a detailed report of her fully documented findings.
In the next 40 years Dorothea inspired legislators in 15 US states and in Canada to establish state hospitals for the mentally ill. Her continuous efforts directly affected the building of 32 institutions in the United States. When the Civil War broke out, she went straight to Washington and offered to nurse the soldiers without pay. She hired houses to keep supplies in and bought an ambulance. She gave her time, strength and money to her country.
Dorothea Dix has been called the most useful woman of America. She is an, American educator, social reformer and humanitarian whose devotion to the welfare of the mentally ill led to widespread reforms in the United States and abroad.
1. What do we know about Dorothea Dix when she was 19?| A．She set up a school. | B．She lived with her parents. |
| C．She went to school in Massachusetts. | D．She failed to become a good teacher. |
| A．Patiently. | B．Fluently. | C．Angrily. | D．Quickly. |
| A．The awards Dorothea Dix received in her life. |
| B．The contributions Dorothea Dix made to her country. |
| C．The support Dorothea Dix got from her family. |
| D．The difficulties Dorothea Dix met during the Civil War. |
| A．Humorous and well-educated. | B．Generous and warm-hearted. |
| C．Proud and hard-working. | D．Romantic and open-minded. |
6 . Fu Lei’s Family Letters is a book of letters written by Chinese translator and writer Fu Lei to his elder son Fu Cong, who is a famous pianist. Between 1954 and 1966, Fu Cong spent a lot of time away from home training as a piano player. As a result, writing letters became Fu Lei’s usual way of communicating with his elder son. Fu Min, Fu Lei’s younger son edited the letters and the book came out in 1981.
The book shows Fu Lei’s family tradition and value. To Fu Lei, the purpose of education of a person, is to make that person useful to the society. Fu Lei praised his son Fu Cong after winning a piano competition. Fu Lei wrote, “We are happy because you make your country proud. I am so excited when I think about your future. You will make great progress and serve more people, encourage them and heal them.”
In the family letters, Fu Cong was also advised to read famous Chinese texts. When reading these books, Fu Cong was told to connect ideas and feelings together, for that would help him become a better person. To Fu Lei, learning to be a good person comes before any academic training.
Fu Lei’s Family Letters has a great impact on people in China because it helps many young students understand how they should live their lives.
1. Who edited Fu Lei’s family letters?| A．Fu Lei. | B．Fu Cong. | C．Fu Min. | D．A translator. |
| A．Fu Lei’s family tradition and value are shown in the book. |
| B．People in the 1950s communicated with each other by books. |
| C．It’s difficult for parents to make their children well educated. |
| D．Praising children after taking part in a competition is important. |
| A．It would be uncertain. |
| B．It would be hopeful. |
| C．It would be difficult. |
| D．It would be interesting. |
| A．To be a richer man. |
| B．To do more academic training. |
| C．To help more people. |
| D．To become a better person. |
7 . During the 19th and 20th centuries, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) was one of the best-known Chinese artists. He grew up in a poor peasant family, but this did not prevent him from pursuing his interest in painting.
Qi was schooled for less than a year due to illness, and he dropped out of school. However, he was too weak to do much of the work and this was why he became a carpenter. As a carpenter, he showed his creativity. He could carve figures of animals, woodblock prints, and sniff-boxes. At the age of 20, he taught himself to paint with Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. He met many mentors who greatly influenced his painting skills through his painting journey, among whom are the renowned artists Zhu Da and Xu Wei. When he was 28, he became a student of the famous artist Hu Qinyuan, and he began to study Chinese painting.
Qi arrived in Beijing in 1917. While he was in Beijing, he stayed devoted to painting. Most of his paintings represented Chinese tradition. Qi’s works are now found in several famous museums, including National Gallery Prague and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. His works now are the most expensive ever sold at auctions.
Qi got noticed by many institutions, one of which is the Ministry of Culture. In 1954 he was selected as the representative of the Chinese people. Also, in 1956, he was awarded the World Peace Prize by World Peace Council. A college was also named after him, the Baishi School of Art in Hunan University of Science Technology.
1. Why did Qi Baishi drop out of school?| A．He suffered from illness and was too weak. |
| B．He wanted to devote himself to painting. |
| C．He wasn’t interested in what he learned at school. |
| D．His family was too poor to afford his schooling fees. |
| A．He learned Chinese painting on his own. |
| B．He showed great creativity of art since childhood. |
| C．His works are one of the costliest ever sold at auctions. |
| D．At first he learned to paint from some renowned artists. |
| A．His painting style. | B．His painting works. |
| C．His achievements. | D．His contributions to his hometown. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By using data. |
| C．By raising questions. | D．By following the order of time. |
1. How many books did Eric Carle create for children?
| A．Less than 55. | B．Over 70. | C．Almost 90. |
| A．The Grouchy Ladybug. | B．The Mixed-Up Chameleon. | C．The Very Hungry Caterpillar. |
| A．To make school more attractive. |
| B．To help children get inspiration. |
| C．To offer materials to teachers. |
9 . One of the most famous literary challenges in history was when Dr. Seuss received a challenge from his publisher that he could only use 50 words to write an entire book. That’s all well and good, but it’s a tough challenge, to be sure. However, Ernest Vincent Wright would no doubt turn up his nose, as he challenged himself to pen an entire 50,000-word novel without once using the letter “e”.
Wright managed to pull it off. The final product was Gadsby, which is about a man named, well, Gadsby, who tries to save his city with the help of a youth group. It took Wright nearly six months to complete the work, and in his introduction pages he mentioned the challenges along the way.
One of the biggest challenges was replacing pronouns, since it’s tough to write a sentence, let alone a novel, without words like “he” or “she” or “her” and so forth. Additionally, he was forced to find ways to work around using past tense words that typically end in “-ed”, which, as you might imagine, is more than a little tricky.
Still, Wright did manage to come up with 50,110 words and a full story without any cheats, making it one of the most successful lipograms (避讳某字之文) in the history of writing. Wright self-published the book in 1939 and it was read primarily by people who tried to find any cheats, so convinced were they that Wright simply must have used the letter.
The entire novel is available online to read for free, as it entered the public domain in 1968. It’s a good thing, too, as the storehouse that contained the majority of the copies burned down, destroying enough of the books that it has since become a rare book collector’s prize, with copies being valued at thousands of dollars.
At the end of the day, of course, it remains a truly great achievement. After all, “e” is the most commonly used letter in English, with more than 11 percent of all words in the Oxford dictionary containing at least one “e”.
1. What did Wright challenge himself to write?| A．An entire book with 50 words. |
| B．A 50,000-word book in six months. |
| C．A 50,000-word book without the letter “e”. |
| D．An entire book including “e” 50,000 times. |
| A．The difficulties Wright faced. |
| B．The plot of Wright’s final product. |
| C．The popularity of Wright’s final product. |
| D．The smart ways Wright used to replace pronouns. |
| A．They considered the book a great success. |
| B．They expected the book to be available online. |
| C．They wondered what lipograms mean. |
| D．They doubted if Wright really made it. |
| A．Due to their rarity. |
| B．Because Wright won a big prize. |
| C．Because they had a really long history. |
| D．Due to book collectors’ recommendation. |
1. In your opinion, is Yang Liwei a hero? Why, or why not?
2. What do you think a true hero should be like?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
