Question

Some people make art with paint, and others use pencil or clay. But Italian artist Maurizio Savini prefers to use bright pink gum—after it has been chewed.

Savini makes huge sculptures of bears and even people out of used chewing gum. Each sculpture requires thousands of pieces of gum.

“I like to use chewing gum because it seemed to me a material that can be used in many ways compared with those used by the conventional arts such as painting,” Savini says.

How does he do it? The process is a lot like working with clay. “I work the chewing gum when it is warm and shape it with a knife,” says Savini. Then, he puts a chemical onto each gum sculpture to make the gum stay in place.

Savini’s sticky art has been shown in cities like London, Paris, and Rome, where he lives today.

Savini isn’t the only artist to work with gum. His pink sculptures have inspired artists all over the world to get creative with the sticky matter.

London artist Ben Wilson paints small paintings onto flat pieces of chewed gum he finds stuck to streets and sidewalks. In Canada, Jason Kronenwald uses different colored gum to make portraits of famous people.

Kronenwald seldom chews gum himself. Instead, his friends help chew gum for him while he’s working. “At times it can make me disgusted, but I just pay attention to the colors I need and get the sculpture going,” he says.

In America, Jamie Marraccini’s art depends on color, so he tests different kinds of gum before using them. To find out what color the chewed gum will become once hardened, he lets it age for up to six months.

“I’ve created 30 works totaling more than 35,000 pieces of gum,” says Marraccini. That’s a lot of gum!

So think twice the next time you throw away a wad of gum. Maybe what seems like trash could actually be the beginning of a great piece of art.

1.The underlined word “disgusted” in the eighth paragraph probably means ________.

A. excited  B. feel tired and sick

C. unhappy  D. energetic

2.Marraccini stores the gum for six months in order to ______.

A. judge how hard it will be

B. know whether it is still sweet

C. examine what chemicals it contains

D. see what color it will become

3. The best title for the passage is ________.

A. Sticky sculptures     B. Creative artists

C. A new form of art     D. Chewing gum

4.Savini’s works of art can be seen in all the cities EXCEPT _______.

A. London  B. Rome     C. New York  D. Paris

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

试题分析: 这是一篇说明文，主要讲的是一些艺术家们用像口香糖一样的粘性物品来做雕塑，还受到了很大的欢迎，由此作者产生了一些不起眼的小东西如果稍加留意，就可能会创造一件艺术品的启示。

1.B词义猜测题。根据第八段第一句话“Kronenwald seldom chews gum himself. Instead, his friends help chew gum for him while he’s working.”可以知道Kronenwald很少自己嚼口香糖，相反的是，当他在工作的时候他的朋友帮他嚼口香糖，所以每当这个时候，我就会感到很恶心，B选项符合题意。故选B。

2.D细节理解题。根据第九段第二句话“To find out what color the chewed gum will become once hardened, he lets it age for up to six months.”可以知道他把口香糖存了六个月是为了发现它的颜色会不会变深。故选D。

3.A推理判断题。这篇文章主要讲的是一些艺术家用像口香糖之类的粘性物品来做雕像，而且受到了很大的欢迎，所以文章题目可以是A选项Sticky sculptures。故选A。

4.Savini’s sticky art has been shown in cities like London, Paris, and Rome, where he lives today.”可以知道Savini的艺术品在伦敦，巴黎还有罗马展出过，C选项New York不包含其中，故选C。

考点：考察说明类文章的阅读。