Nathan Sawaya's childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and played with plastic toy bricks (积木). His grandparents bought his first set of toy bricks when he was five years old and he's been building with toy bricks ever since. He even took his building bricks to college with him! Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village made of bricks on his desk.
Nathan started as a lawyer but gave up His highly-paid (高薪的) job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty(自由女神像) to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his working room in New York which he uses to make pieces of art. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait (自画像). It took him two days just to build the eyes.
Nathan's work has appeared in museums around the world. Children love his art because it is made out of the same toys that they play with at home and adults love his work because it is fascinating. Since it began in2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular with museum visitors everywhere.
"I'm proud that I took a dream I had as a child, to become an artist, and I have actually made a job out of it," says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is the most important thing."
1.What did Nathan put on his desk at college?
A. The Statue of Liberty. B. Superman.
C. His serf-portrait. D. A Greenwich Village modal.
2.Why did Nathan give up his job as a lawyer?
A. Because he made little money out of a lawyer.
B. Because he wanted to make toys for the children.
C. Because he decided to become an artist of toy bricks.
D. Because he was going to work in the museum instead.
3.What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Nathan's work. B. Nathan's exhibition.
C. Nathan's art. D. Nathan's self-portrait
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. The Brick Artist B. The Brick Exhibition
C. Toy Bricks for Adults D. The Artist's Childhood
As traditional Chinese art, paper cutting has a long history. The first and earliest paper cutting was found in China 1,500 years ago. But this traditional art is at risk of disappearing now. Luckily, Voyo Woo, a Chinese immigrant（移民）in America, is trying to bring this art back to life.
One Saturday in 2014, Ms Woo held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington. She got much fun and peace doing it. She hoped more people would enjoy it.
Ms Woo began to study the art of paper cutting as a 14-year-old girl in her hometown in China. She said all the students at school had to learn paper cutting. But she had a deep love for it. So her teacher spent more time teaching her after class. Later, she won the second prize in a national painting and art competition. Ms Woo went to America after she finished collage in 2008. Soon after that, she took part in an activity to promote（宣传）Chinese paper cutting. And then she was invited to show the art in many important activities.“It is important to promote this art to Americans or anyone who is interested in it.Maybe it will make this art more popular.”Woo said.
From the art of paper cutting, people can know about Chinese cultural values, history and stories of people’s life. Ms Woo uses the art as a tool to show Chinese culture to people who know little about it. Chinese art is not only for Chinese, but also for people all over the world.
1.What did Ms Woo do in 2014?
A. She won the second prize in a national painting and art competition.
B. She was invited to many activities to show paper cutting.
C. She held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington.
D. She took part in an activity to promote Chinese paper cutting.
2.Ms Woo began to study the art of paper cutting .
A. when she was fourteen
B. after she got to America
C. when she was in college
D. after she finished college
3.In the passage, the writer thinks the art of paper cutting is now.
A. very popular in America B. very popular in China
C. for people who know about it D. in danger of disappearing
China is a country with a long history. It has great traditional culture, especially Chinese characters. Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are very interesting. Here are six ones. We use “pinyin” here because “pinyin” is the Chinese spelling way for the characters. For example, “fu” is the “pinyin” for good luck in Chinese. “pinyin” “fu” is only the phonic part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck “fu”, you must read Chinese character 福 because “fu” also represents(代表) other Chinese characters that sound the same.
“fu” means blessing, good fortune, good luck. Chinese_____“fu” is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year. Chinese people often put up “fu” upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment. The upside down “fu” means good luck comes since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for “come”.
“lu” is used to mean official’s a pay in old China. “shou” means long life, age or birthday. “xi” is happiness, The doubled character “xi” means double happiness. It is usually put up everywhere at Chinese weddings. “cai” is weath or money. Chinese often say “ money can make a ghost turn a millstone”. It is to say money really can do a lot of things. But, money can’t buy everything. “he” is an important part of Chinese culture. It means good relations with other people, when you have “he”, things will be a lot easier for you.
The top six lucky Chinese charaters. “fu” “lu” “shou” “xi” “cai” “he”,are particularly loved by Chinese people.
1.We use ______ to show how to read the Chinese characters.
A. “pinyin” B. letters
C. words D. spelling
2.The upside down 福 “fu” means .
A. coming B. good luck comes
C. good fortune D. “fu” is upside down
3.People in China most probably put up the Chinese Characters _______ on the front door at their wedding.
A. upside down “cai” B. upside down “fu”
C. doubled “xi” D. doubled “he”
4.Which of the following in Not true according to the passage?
A. “Cai” is wealth or money
B. “lu” is used to mean offical’s pay in old China
C. “shou” means keeping thin
D. Things will be a lot easier if you have “he”
5.The underlined word“character”means _____ in this passage.
A. 角色 B. 特征 C. 性格 D. 汉字
连词成句。
1.in,what,that,English,is（？）
____________________
2.friend,is,your,boy,a, girl, a, or（?）
____________________
3.hurt,head,my （.）
____________________
4.today,have, five, new, we, students, school, our, in（.）
____________________
5.look,please, at, mouth, my （.）
____________________
句型转换：（每空填一个单词）。
1.Are you Sue Read ? （否定回答）
_____, I’m_____.
2.My hair is black（对划线部分提问）
_____ ______is you hair?
3.I feel happy.（同上）
______ ______you feel ?
4.I cut my finger.（同上）
________the_____?
5.Are you Okey ?（否定回答）
No, I______ a________.
找出每组中不同种类的词。
1.A. happy B. tall C. teacher D. tired
2.A. head B. cold C. leg D. arm
3.A. hurt B. little C. short D. long
4.A. finger B. stomachache C. headache D. have
5.A. matter B. stand C. cut D. feel
