When Millet was a boy he worked on his needy father's farm. At the rest hour in the fields the other workers would all take naps, but young Millet would spend time drawing. Finally, the village where he lived gave him a little money to Paris to study art.
When Millet reached Paris, he had a tough time. Fortunately, when he was almost starving, someone bought one of his peasant paintings, which enabled his family to leave for Barbizon.
Millet's pictures of peasants at work were painted in a unique way. The painter would go out on the farms and watch them carefully—digging, hoeing, spreading manure, sawing wood, or sowing grain. Then he would come home and paint what he had seen. So astonishingly accurate was his memory that he could paint at home without models and get all the movements of his figures right. When he did need a figure to go by, he would ask his wife to pose for him.
One of his noted artworks is called “The Sower”, which shows a man seeding. He reaches into his bag for seed and then swings backward to scatter the seed, and with each swing of his hand the sower strides forward. In Millet's picture the sower has been working hard, but his swinging step and arm still move smoothly, like a machine. Only the man's head reveals his great tiredness.
Another masterpiece is called “The Gleaners”. A gleaner is someone picking up the leftover in the field after the wheat harvest. When farmers near Barbizon are extremely badly-off, even the little the gleaners can find is a help. You can see from Millet's picture what back-breaking work gleaning must be.
1.What do we know about Millet?
A.His wife supported him to be a painter. B.He was keen on painting as a kid.
C.He spent his whole life in Barbizon. D.He was brought up in Paris.
2.How did he paint the laboring farmers?
A.Asking models for help. B.Imagining figures in the field.
C.Remembering what he had observed. D.Recalling the days on his father's farm.
3.What do Millet's works convey?
A.The farmers' hardships. B.The scene of farming.
C.His love for the village. D.His anxiety about the farmers.
4.What painting style of Millet can be inferred from the text?
A.Impressionistic. B.Abstract.
C.Romantic. D.Realistic.
Want to be more successful? If so, then you need to read a few self-help books. Here are four popular ones to get you going.
59 Seconds ( 2009) by Richard Wiseman
This is a self-help book with a difference. Wiseman, a scientist, uses science to prove many self-help myths(神话) are false. For example, self-help books say that if you want to achieve a goal, you should visualize it. But Wiseman says that's the worst thing to do. Studies show that you need to visualize the steps required to achieve the goal.
How to Win Friends& Influence People ( 1936) —by Dale Carnegie
This is the book that launched the self-help type. Carnegie says financial success is 15% professional knowledge and 85% the ability to express ideas, assume leadership, and motivate people. The book is full of practical advice on how to influence people by making them like you.
The Millionaire Next Door (1996) by Thomas Stanley & Wlliam Danko
The authors of this book spent years interviewing American millionaires to figure out the secrets of their success. And they discovered that a majority of millionaires don't live luxury lifestyles. They're rich because they live below their means and reinvest what they earn.
Who Moved My Cheese? (1998)-by Spencer Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published on September 8, 1998, is a motivational business fable. The text describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two “little people”，during their hunt for cheese.
1.What is the key to achieving success in 59 Seconds?
A.To employ science. B.To follow examples.
C.To picture procedures. D.To visualize the goal.
2.What is Dale Carnegie's book mainly about?
A.How to master occupational knowledge. B.How to apply practical techniques.
C.How to gain strong management. D.How to become popular persons.
3.Which book can help you adapt to change in your life?
A.59 Seconds B.Who Moved My Cheese?
C.The Millionaire Next Door D.How to Win Friends& Influence People
假如你是某中学的学生李华，请你给校委员会写一封信，就开办艺术画廊给出自己的建议及理由，内容包括：
1．建议开办一个校园艺术画廊，展示在校学生自己的作品；
2．画廊可以给学生提供一个展示自我的平台，开阔学生的视野、传播校园文化。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
平台：platform
Dear Committee members，
I wish to make a suggestion that we should start a school art gallery,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours faithfully,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下短文。短文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧), 并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改： 在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1、每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2、只允许修改10处, 多者(从第11处起) 不计分。
As is known to all , China is the home to tea, from that tea has been spread all over the world . With a history of four or five thousand year, tea culture has been a important part of Chinese culture . Whenever guests visit , it is a custom to make and serve tea with them.
Drinking tea had a lot of advantages , one of that helps refresh yourself and improve your thinking ability . Besides , drinking tea every day is said to help you keep health and live longer .What’s more , some kinds of tea can even help people lose weight and became more beautiful , appeals to a lot of ladies.
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。
Mr. Brown was tired of living in the big city 1. he worked. He wanted to move to the country and live in a house from which he could get to his office in the city early every day. He2.(look) for a house when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper one day. The advertisement said that a suitable house in a quiet area was up for sale 3. a reasonable price, and the house was within a stone’s throw of a railway station from which there were frequent 4. (train)to the big city.
“That’s exactly5. I need,” Mr. Brown said to 6. (him). So he called the housing agency and arranged to go by train the next day 7.(have) a look at the house.
The housing agent met him at the station and they started walking. It took them at least 15 minutes to get to the house. When they finally arrived, Mr. Brown said 8. (angry), “ I should be very 9.(interest) to meet the man who threw the stone you mentioned in10. newspaper.”
Few Americans stay in one place for a lifetime. We ______ from the city to the suburbs，from high school to college in a different state, from a job in one region to a better job ______, from the home where we ______ our children to the home where we plan to live in ______. With each move we are ______ making new friends, who become part of our new life.
For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new ______. Today, millions of Americans go on vocation ______, and they go not only to see new sights but also — in those places where they do not feel too ______ — with the hope of meeting new people. No one really ______ a vacation trip to produce a close friend, but the beginning of a friendship is possible. Surely in every country people ______ friendship？
The word “friend” to American people can be ______ to a wide range of relationships — to someone one has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a close business companion, to a childhood playmate, to a man or woman, to a ______ colleague. There are real ______ among these relations for Americans — a friendship may be ______, casual, situational or deep and lasting. But to a European, who sees only our surface behavior, the differences are not clear.
As Europeans see it, all kinds of “friends” flow ______ of Americans' homes with little ceremony. They may be parents of the children's friends, house guests of neighbors, members of a committee, business associates from another town or even another country. ______ as a guest into an American home, the European visitor finds no ______ differences. The atmosphere is ______. Most people, old and young, are called ______ first names. Americans’ characteristic openness to different styles of relationship makes it possible for us to find new friends abroad with whom we feel ______.
1.A. drive B. commute C. move D. settle
2.A. abroad B. elsewhere C. somewhere D. nowhere
3.A. deliver B. protect C. educate D. raise
4.A. retirement B. death C. illness D. sadness
5.A. mostly B. mainly C. rarely D. forever
6.A. championships B. friendships C. hardships D. leaderships
7.A. along B. freely C. together D. abroad
8.A. alone B. strange C. scared D. remote
9.A. allows B. desires C. expects D. imagines
10.A. form B. develop C. ignore D. value
11.A. used B. applied C. stuck D. dedicated
12.A. kind B. generous C. trusted D. helpful
13.A. differences B. varieties C. distinctions D. diversities
14.A. informal B. reliable C. shallow D. fragile
15.A. in and out B. on and on C. by and by D. up and down
16.A. Moving B. Flowing C. Going D. Coming
17.A. obvious B. heavy C. apparent D. strong
18.A. weird B. stressed C. relaxed D. strange
19.A. with B. on C. for D. by
20.A. at best B. at home C. at heart D. at hand
