题型：阅读表达 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
北京市丰台区2019-2020学年高一下学期英语期末质量检测试卷
Masterpieces
The Starry Night was painted in June 1889 when Vincent van Gogh was staying at a home for the mentally ill. Van Gogh painted what he saw from his window—the night sky with clouds, stars and a moon. However, he didn't just paint the clouds. He also painted the massive circles of white and yellow racing across the sky. The stars and the moon hang bright in the night sky. Beneath this amazing sky, we see a sleeping village and a dark, lonely tree.
His unusual use of colour has led experts to think that Van Gogh's mental illness may have affected his sense of sight. He also took a drug that can make people see yellow spots, just like the stars in The Starry Night.
Unfortunately, Van Gogh's unique paintings weren't very popular and he only sold one painting in his lifetime. He also thought The Starry Night was a failure. However, the fact remains that The Starry Night is now one of the world's most famous paintings.
The Scream was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. What makes it striking is that it shows a thin figure with an expression of fear—the figure's mouth is wide open and letting out a powerful scream. The figure covers his or her ears and looks directly at the viewer. This figure is set on a bridge above a dark, stormy sea, and against a burning orange-red sky.
In his diary, Munch talked about what inspired him. "I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly the sky turned as red as blood ... I stood there shaking. Then I heard the scream of nature."
Many experts say that The Scream is connected to Munch's mental health problems, which caused him a lot of pain.
The Empire of Light is a series of paintings by Belgian artist René Magritte. Between 1953 and 1954, he painted the same scene 27 times. It shows a beautiful house lit by lights from inside, surrounded by the darkness of night. What is strange is that above the house and the tree, we see a daytime sky full of brightness and soft white clouds. It seems like quite a mysterious scene.
Magritte was a painter inspired by his thoughts and ideas. His paintings were visual experiments as he tried to play with reality. His view was that art should shock the viewers and challenge their sense of reality.
The Empire of Light has produced different reactions in viewers. Some feel that the paintings look dark and troubling. Others, however, find them calming. As for Magritte himself, he thought that the change between day and night in the paintings was surprising. “I call this power poetry,” he said.
①The Scream Picture
②The Starry Night Picture
③The Empire of Light Picture
Which of the three paintings do you like best? Why? (List at least one reason.)
How to Be Confident
We are all human and have weaknesses. Even if your physical appearance or social skills aren't what you wish they were, that doesn't have to stop you from being confident. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}
*Make a list of special talents you have, or things you do that are good—morally（道德上） or otherwise. It doesn't have to be a specific skill；it can be an approach or an attitude that you hold through life. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Are you very patient with people? Do you always see the humorous side of things? Are you always there for your friends?
{#blank#}3{#/blank#} When you feel strongly about something, speak loudly and clearly and make eye contact with people. People will judge you all the time, and usually they'll misjudge you anyway, so why bother trying to live up to their opinions at all?
*Take care of yourself. Eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise. Don't abuse your body, don't overload it, and don't deny it any of the things it needs. At the same time, don't obsess(沉迷). {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Those things are only band-aids(权宜之计） and make-up. Confidence comes from within. In order to be confident, you must value yourself and understand that your well-being is important.
*Improve your posture. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Don't drop your shoulders. Make sure that your back is straight, your shoulders are square, and your chest sticks out slightly (but stay loose, otherwise you'll appear stubborn （固执的）and nervous). Good posture also helps with deep breathing, which helps with feeling calm and relaxed.
A. Here's how to believe in yourself. B. But smiling at yourself in the mirror helps you to love yourself, thus making you a bit more confident. C. Buying all the moisturizers (润肤霜) and creams will not bring you closer to who you want to be. D. It is surprising how powerful the simple step of taking action can be. E. Do you always stay calm, cool and collected, even in hurried situations? F. Having good posture can actually make you feel more confident. G. Know that you have important things to say and do. |
Reading the world in 195 books
In 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country of all 195 UN-recognized states in a year. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.
The response was amazing. Before I knew it, people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books. Others did hours of research on my behalf. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Even with such an extraordinary team behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task.
But the effort was worth it. As I made my way through the planet's literary landscapes, extraordinary things started to happen. Far from simply armchair travelling, I found I was inhabiting the mental space of the storytellers. I discovered, bookpacking offered something that a physical traveller could hope to experience only rarely: it took me inside the thoughts of individuals living far away and showed me the world through their eyes. More powerful than a thousand news reports, these stories not only opened my mind to basic information of life in other places, but opened my heart to the way people there might feel. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe, I realized I was not an isolated person, but part of a network that stretched all over the planet.
One by one, the country names on the list that had begun as an intellectual exercise transformed into places filled with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. At its best, I learned, fiction makes the world real.
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A. Lands that had once seemed foreign and remote became close and familiar to me. B. And that in turn changed my thinking. C. With no idea how to find publications, I decided to ask the planet's readers for help. D. No matter how long your life is, you will be able to read only a few of all the books that have been written. E. You'll find yourself enlightened by the thoughts and observations of the most gifted writers in history. F. In addition, several writers, like Turkmenistan's Ak Welsapar, sent me unpublished translations of their novels. |
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