Classical music deals with adult emotions and ideas.______, you can still love aspects of it as a kid. If you continue to be attracted to what you have heard, your understanding will only________ as the years pass by. You don’t need to be ________ trained, or incredibly smart, to “get it.”
As a boy growing up in New York City in the 1950s, I first heard the overture(序曲) to Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman as the ________ music for a science-fiction television show called Captain Video. It was absolutely exciting. When I first ____the opera many years later, that childhood memory of the music was still somewhere in the ________ reaches of my mind. Music can be written to bring a(n) ________ sound, mood or scene into mind, yet can be heard differently in different contexts. Wagner’s overture gets our attention with a heroic-sounding ________ from the horns and then a description of a stormy sea. As a kid, I ________ knew the hero was Captain Video. When I grew up, I came to understand that the very first notes were ________ to represent the scream of a ghost seeking redemption(救赎). The notes were the same, but I certainly was not, and yet there was ________ in revisiting something from my childhood with the _______ of an adult’s knowledge.
But does it still happen today? That question was ________ last summer when my two great nephews, ten-year-old twins, finished playing with Legos. One of them ________singing the Magic Flute from Mozart. The other joined in, singing in innocent ________ They kept going, but the words were_______ “What’s that?” I asked. The answer was about a famous cartoon: “Captain Underpants(内裤超人)!”
A time will come when they hear a performance of the Magic Flute and the weak memories of their youth will still be ________ to the classical music they heard from the cartoon, even though the original ________ of the music had nothing to do with it. Still, two boys born in 2010 ________ knew that a composition from Mozart was and ________ to be classical. No one is teaching them “how to love classical music.”
1.A.Besides B.However C.Instead D.Therefore
2.A.increase B.recover C.struggle D.fade
3.A.gradually B.firmly C.originally D.classically
4.A.theme B.rock C.festival D.folk
5.A.ruined B.conducted C.balanced D.opened
6.A.closest B.farthest C.highest D.lowest
7.A.specific B.disgusting C.accurate D.romantic
8.A.word B.figure C.voice D.melody
9.A.hardly B.mostly C.only D.even
10.A.said B.due C.advised D.meant
11.A.loss B.evidence C.comfort D.strength
12.A.example B.benefit C.need D.burden
13.A.raised B.answered C.heard D.predicted
14.A.imagined B.avoided C.began D.admitted
15.A.fun B.sorrow C.anger D.regret
16.A.gone B.long C.different D.similar
17.A.used B.committed C.connected D.contrary
18.A.version B.writer C.impression D.intention
19.A.possibly B.certainly C.particularly D.formally
20.A.continues B.tends C.occurs D.prefers
Starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick, Mr. Right tells the story of a young woman named Martha (Kendrick) who’ having, as her friend puts it, a very early mid-life crisis. After being cheated on by her boyfriend, she falls into a low mood that only stops when she meets the equally bizarre and charming “Mr. Right” (Rockwell). The two hit it off so quickly that they're already head-over-heels for one another when a tricky obstacle(障碍) comes to the surface: Mr. Right is a hitman (职业杀手) who’s on the run from the same people who hire him to do jobs.
So does it work? I anticipated that a movie like this would leave me with a definitive answer to that question. It seemed certain to either succeed or fail. But as it turns out, there’s both good and bad in Mr. Right.
The bad really comes down to pacing and exposition. Simply put, the whole thing feels abrupt(突兀的). We're used to our rom-com(爱情喜剧) characters falling for one another in a matter of days, because there’ only so much time in a movie. But in this case, the relationship still felt sudden in a way you couldn't quite buy.
________ , the crime side of the story - the shady figures hunting down Mr. Right - is done in a surprisingly confusing fashion. Basically, there’ a network of villains(恶棍) doing evil things, and you know they're all after Mr. Right. However, their chain of command and respective motives all get a little disorderly along the way.
The good, as it had to be, is entirely in the performance of Rockwell and Kendrick. The former is weird but attractive, presenting a character deeper than he would have been in most any other hands. Kendrick, meanwhile, is wonderfully unusual in her own special way. She actually makes you believe there’s a girl out there whose reaction to her boyfriend killing a rival killer would be “Ah, screw it, let’s get margaritas(玛格丽特酒).”
In the end, the movie’s best scene defines it. Rockwell is good at making an energy flow of sorts that he’s able to tap into. He classifies all “things” as islands, and talks about learning to feel the water in between them to get a sense of where they are and how they're moving. It’s a poetic moment in the movie, and it's actually not a bad way to approach the experience.
1.This article is a________ of a film.
2.The first paragraph mainly talks about the ________ of the film.
3.Write a linking word for blank ________ to show the logic relationship of Para 3 and 4.
4.What or who does the underlined phrase “the former” in Para 5 refer to?
5.Which sentence in the article best presents the author’s comment on the film?
Good books can be defined by the standard - classic, popular, encouraging, instructing, etc. Many categories can be classified for the good books.
1., for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity(密切关系) to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third.2.But there is more wisdom in this. “Love me, love my bock.”
A good book is often the finest urn(宝器) of a life containing the best that life could think out;3.Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality.4.Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effects of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
Books invite us into the best society;5.We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
Books are what we always need to read or listen to. A good book is especially an intellect to which one never stops listening.
A.There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.”
B.Temples and statues decay(腐烂),but books survive.
C.We can tell what one is by the books he reads and the company he keeps.
D.the world of a man’ life is, for the most part, the world of his thoughts.
E.They are by far the most lasting products of human effort.
F.they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived.
G.They do not turn their back upon us in times of poverty or trouble.
Victor Hugo, 1802 -1885, was a celebrated French literary giant. After the British and French invaders(入侵者) bad burnt the Winter Palace(圆明园) in October, 1860, he wrote a reply to an officer named Bartlette one year later.
Sir, you ask me what I think of the expedition(远征) to China. You must feel that it was laudable. In your opinion, the expedition, performed under the joint banner(联合旗帜) of Queen Victoria and Emperor Napoleon, was nothing short of a British-French glory. Therefore, you would like to know to what extent I appreciate this glory. Since you ask, I will answer as follows:
In a corner of the world there existed a man-made miracle - the Winter Palace. Art has two sources: one, an ideal, from which has come European art; two, fancy, from which has come Easter art. The Winter Palace belongs in the art of fancy. The Winter Palace, indeed, was the fruit of all of the art that an almost superman race could have fancied.
For whom was the Winter Palace built, after all? Eventually, for the people. Because as time passes by, all that the people has made remains in the possession of mankind. Great artists, poets, philosophers - they all knew about the Winter Palace. Voltaire once talked about it. Many people at different times compared the Winter Palace to the Parthenon, the Pyramids, the Arena, the Notre Dame. If they could not see the Winter Palace with their own eyes, they could dream about it- as if in the distance they saw a breath-taking masterpiece of art as they had never known before – as if there above the horizon of European civilization was towering the outline of Asian civilization.
Now, the miracle is no more! One day, two pirates broke into it One of them robbed; the other set every building and everything in it on fire! Judging by what they did, we know that the victors could degenerate into robbers. The two of them fell to dividing between themselves the treasure. What great victories they had won! What a heaven-sent fortune! One stuffed his pockets full to overflowing; the other filled in his bags with treasure. Then, hand in hand they made of, laughing happily.
Incidentally, I must thank you for giving me the opportunity to accuse. The rulers commit crimes but the ruled do not. The government becomes a robber, but the people will never.
France has gained a large portion of the treasure. Now, she thinks herself the rightful owner of the property财物), and she is displaying the riches of the Winter Palace! I can only hope that there will come one day when France will disburden herself of the heavy load on her conscience and clean herself off the crime by returning to China all the treasure taken from the Winter Palace.
Sit, such is my praise of the expedition to China.
1.Mr. Hugo wrote this letter mainly to_________.
A.show his praise of the expedition to China in reply to Bartlette’s request
B.persuade French officers to return the treasure taken from the Winter Palace
C.prove people hold different attitudes towards the burning of the Winter Palace
D.express his anger and condemnation over the burning of the Summar Palace
2.What does the underlined word “laudable” most probably mean?
A.praiseworthy B.violent C.unreasonable D.abundant
3.In the 4th paragraph Victor Hugo mentioned the Parthenon, the Pyramids, the Arena and the Notre Dame in order to_________,
A.compare different architectural styles
B.praise European and African civilization
C.introduce some more famous buildings to Bartlette
D.emphasize the civilizational value of the Winter Palace
4.“Two pirates” in Paragraph 5 refers to__________.
A.Bartlette and his fellow B.Bartlette and Great Britain
C.France and Great Britain D.the rulers and the ruled
5.We can infer that when Batlette got the letter from Victor Hugo, he might have felt _________.
A.satisfied B.proud C.disappointed D.frightened
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) is one of the most popular of the Post-Impressionist painters. He is famed for the great vitality of his works which are characterized by expressive and emotive use of brilliant color and energetic application of impastoed (厚原料的) paint.
Below are some famous pictures painted by Vincent and the poetic lyrics(歌词) to Don McLean’s hit song Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) in the famous cartoon film 《Loving Vincent》 .
Vincent Starry, starry night, Paint your palette(画板) blue and grey, Look out on a summer’s day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chill, In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand What you tried to say to me How you suffered for your sanity(精神正常) How you tied to set them free. They would not listen They did not know how Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze(阴霾,疑惑), Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue. Colors changing hue, morning. field of amber(黄色的) grain, Weathered faces lined in pain, Are soothed(抚慰) beneath the artist’s loving hand.
For they could not love you, But still your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night, You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you.
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, They're not listening sill Perhaps they never will… |
the sunflowers |
Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear | |
the Yellow House | |
Starry Night | |
Head of a Peasant Woman | |
The Potato Eaters |
1.What attitude does the writer of the song have towards Van Gogh?
A.Prejudiced and changeable. B.Admiring and understanding.
C.Doubtful but respectful. D.Positive but contradictory.
2.According to the song, Van Gogh was__________.
A.good at drawing on starry nights B.murdered by one of his lovers
C.a person full of love and beauty D.popular with people when be was alive
3.Which of the following belong to the four famous pictures of Van Gogh’s mentioned in the underlined parts in 4th paragraph?
A.The sunflowers, the Potato Eaters
B.Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Head of a Peasant Woman
C.the Potato Eaters, the Yellow House
D.Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, Wheat Field with Crows
After winning five Grammy trophies(格莱美奖) at this year’ awards ceremony, Finneas O'Connell became a name at the tip of everybody’s tongue - mostly in relation to his younger sister, pop superstar Billie Eilish, but increasingly in his own right too.
The 22-year-old Los Angeles native is most famously known to have produced and co-written his sister Eilish’s album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.
Along the way, O'Connell has marched to his own beat and presented a sound that is unlike anything else that can be found currently on official music charts or on the airwaves. Weird-pop, Gothic-pop, Avant-pop(先锋派流行音乐), Art-pop. Even by using these definitive terms(称号), critics still can't pin down(解释清楚) O'Connell. And even if they try, be simply rejects the terms.
O'Connell and Eilish were home -schooled by their actor- musician parents. O'Connell entered show business as a child actor. From Bad Teacher and his mother’s Life Inside Out to comedy favorite Modern Family and musical TV series Glee, he knew not to let his personality get in the way of his acting roles.
Talent definitely runs in the family. O'Connell’s fondness for music was instilled(逐渐灌输) in him from a young age. “We have never stressed getting a job and making a living,” his father said, “If we modeled anything, it was being broke and artsy(附庸风雅的).”
Not forgetting his acting roots, O'Connell uses film as a metaphor(隐喻) to describe the current climate of music and has expressed this with singles-only releases. “Music singles are like [blockbuster] movies made by film studios to carry the independent films. There’s Avengers music. Even though I think Avengers is great, my favorite movie is The Social Network, I’d rather make music that feels kind of like that.”
O’Connell is working in music full-time now, preparing Eilish s next album and his own full-length album while experimenting and learning more production ideas and sounds. But Finneas the actor will not turn down acting gigs(临时工作) if an ideal role is offered.
1.What can we say about Finneas O'Connell?
A.He has his own musical style. B.He prefers acting to writing music.
C.He is a hardworking and considerate man. D.He will only focus on music in the future.
2.Which of the following is right?
A.Billie Eilish’s father loves her more.
B.Billie Bilish is an actor and singer now.
C.Finncas O'connell’s parents educated him at home.
D.Finneas O'connell’s mother wanted him to live on music.
3.What can we infer from the article?
A.A good medicine tastes bitter. B.The role of gene is powerful.
C.Music is the mother of all arts. D.School education often ruins a talent.
4.The author writes this article to__________.
A.express his admiration for a famous star B.report entertaining information to readers
C.emphasize the importance of family love D.discuss the secret to success with readers
