Painting
The art of creating pictures using colors, shapes and lines is called painting. Museums and galleries show the paintings of professional (专业的) artists. But painting is also a popular form of entertainment and creative expression.
1.. Experienced painters usually use a brush to apply oil paints to a canvas cloth surface. Young painters usually use watercolors on pieces of paper. Very young children may use finger paints to create paintings.
Painters can use their art to express devotion to a religion, to tell a story, to express feelings and ideas, or simply to present a pleasing picture. Religious paintings often show a god or a scene from a sacred text (圣典). Other common subjects have been famous legends and events in history, as well as scenes from daily life. Artists also paint portraits (画像), or pictures of people.2.. All of these types of paintings show the human figure in some way.
Some kinds of paintings do not focus on people. In landscape (风景) painting the focus is on scenes from nature. Artists also paint still objects such as fruits and vegetables.3.. Some artists communicate their ideas through pictures that do not represent any object.
4.. Paintings dating back 15,000 years have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain.5. Samples of painted pottery (陶器) from at least 5,000 years ago have been found in China and Iran. The ancient Egyptians decorated their temples with beautiful paintings. People in ancient Greece painted decorative objects such as vases in addition to the walls of temples.
A. These works are called still-life paintings.
B. These works can communicate a special feeling.
C. Humans have been making paintings for thousands of years.
D. People of all ages create pictures using a variety of materials.
E. Cave paintings generally show animals that early humans hunted.
F. The design of a painting is the plan of its lines, shapes and colors.
G. Sometimes artists make portraits of themselves, which are called self-portraits.
Are you carrying too much on your back at school? You’re not alone. Back experts (专家) in the USA are worried about that young students are having back and neck problems because they are carrying too much in their backpacks .
“It hurts my back when I run,” said Ebelin Reyes, a student in Virginia. “It’s hard to get up the stairs with my backpack because it’s too heavy.” Students have to carry heavy backpacks on their backs for a whole week’s study. Ebelin is one of them. They have regular (固定的) backpacks with two straps (带子) to carry them, but a number of students with heavy loads (负担) have switched to rolling backpacks. The backpacks have wheels and can roll on the ground. Shirley Park’s backpack weighs 10 kilos, and she said, “I’ll change to a rolling backpack because I am starting to have back pain.”
How much is too much? Experts say that students should carry no more than 10% to 15% of their own body weight. A few students have had a good idea to lighten (减轻) the load: less homework.
Doctor’s suggestions:
(1) Lighten the load. Take home only the books the students need that day.
(2) Wide straps are better. They can send out weight over your shoulders (肩) and be sure to wear backpacks with two straps.
(3) The heaviest things should be packed closest to the back.
(4) Bend (弯曲) both knees when you pick up the pack, don’t just bend over the waist (腰).
1.The main idea of the passage is about .
A. the problems made by rolling backpacks
B. the advantage of backpacks
C. the best backpacks for students
D. how to lighten students’ backpacks
2.From what Ebelin Reyes and Shirley Park said, we know .
A. students like to carry heavy backpacks
B. students have to do a lot of homework
C. backpacks with wheels are bad for students
D. students have no time to play because of heavy backpacks
3.The underlined word “switch to” means .
A. use for B. turn over
C. catch up D. begin to use
Stress is a word we hear a lot these days. People have stressful jobs; they feel stressed while studying for exams; even family life can be stressful. Stress can cause headaches and lack of sleep arid research has shown that it is one of the main causes of heart disease. None of us can completely avoid stress. Everyone experiences it.
In ancient times, stress served a different purpose. It kept us alive. When a caveman was walking along and was suddenly faced with a lion, the stress he experienced would make him run away faster than he could usually run. Stress is the state our bodies experience when we need to react to difficult or dangerous situations. While stress saved us back then, and it is still very helpful in difficult situations, we need a break from stress every now and again.
Luckily, there are ways to relax and deal with stress and it seems that music might be our number one cure. A recent worldwide study showed that listening to music is what most people do to relax and reduce stress. The study was based on interviews with 1,000 people in 30 countries and 56% said that listening to music was the best way to relax. Watching TV, at 53%, was the next most popular way of reducing stress followed by taking a shower or bath at 49%. It is not really surprising that listening to music is such a popular way of relaxing. It is cheap and widely available on radio, TV and the Internet.
Of course, musical tastes differ from person to person. Sam might love listening to loud heavy metal music to relax after a hard day’s work, but his neighbour - a fan of Mozart - might find hearing his music extremely stressful. “Sam needs an iPod”, you- might be thinking and you are probably right. Mobile music players can provide music privately whenever and wherever it is needed; We could even call them the stress fighters of the 21 st century. So the next time you fed stressed, take a deep breath, put on your earphones and ... relax..
1.We can conclude from the passage that everyone can meet .
A. happiness B. neighbors
C. stress D. diseases
2.Everyone experiences stress because .
A. the world has always been a stressful place
B. stress is our natural state
C. stress can cause headaches
D. people enjoy it
3.According to the information in the article, which of the following statements is true?
A. More people bath than shower.
B. More people listen to music to relax than take a bath.
C. Less people run to relax than take a bath.
D. Showering is a more popular way of relaxing than watching TV.
4. of people don’t think that listening to music is the best way to relax.
A. 44% B. 49%
C. 51% D. 56%
I suddenly heard an elephant crying as though frightened. Looking down, I immediately recognized that something was wrong, and ran down to the edge of the near bank. There I saw Ma Shwe with her three-month-old calf struggling in the fast-rising water, and it was a life-and-death struggle. Her calf was floating and screaming with fear. Ma Shwe was as near to the far bank as she could get, holding her whole body against the rushing water, and keeping the calf pressed against her huge body. Every now and then the rushing water would sweep the calf away.
There was a sudden rise in the water and the calf was washed clean over the mother’s body and was gone. Ma Shwe turned quickly to reach it and pressed the calf with her head and trunk against the rocky bank. Then with a huge effort, she picked it up in her trunk and tried until she was able to place it on a narrow shelf of rock.
Just at this moment, she fell back into the river. If she were carried down, it would be certain death. I knew, as well as she did, that there was one spot where she could get up the bank, but it was on the other side from where she had put her calf.
While I was wondering what I could do next, I heard the sound of a mother’s love. Ma Shwe had crossed the river and got up the bank and was making her way back as she could, roaring (吼叫) all the time, but to her calf it was music.
1.The moment the author got down to the river bank he saw
A. the calf was about to fall int0 the river
B. Ma Shwe was placing the calf on the rock
C. the calf was washed away by the rising water
D. Ma Shwe was holding the calf against the rushing water
2.How did Ma Shwe manage to save her calf from the fast-flowing water?
A. By putting it on a safe spot. B. By pressing it against her body.
C. By taking it away with her. D. By carrying it on her back.
3.How did the calf feel about the mother elephant’s roaring?
A. It was a great comfort. B. It was a sign of danger.
C. It was a call for help. D. It was a musical note.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. A Mother’s Love B. A Brave Act
C. A Deadly River D. A Matter of Life and Death
A year ago, Marian Wilson was just-a university student looking for a quiet and peaceful place to study, but it seems she wasn’t the only one. Her once quiet study room became a busy eating and meeting place. Now she has turned it into a book cafe. Helen Sheldon talked to Marian just before the opening of the cafe. Her study room has been one of the most popular meeting places for university students. It all started a year ago when she was preparing for graduation, she was looking for a place to study and write her final project. She couldn’t stand the dark unfriendly feeling of the library. She preferred a comfortable, sunny study room so she rented the top floor of an old house near the university and spent her afternoons reading books and working on her project. Then word spread and her friends started turning up. It was a great place to relax, talk and compare ideas. They even started leaving their books behind and leaving some money for the things they used, like coffee and pens etc. She also doesn’t want a stressful nine-to-five job. She’s trying to find a lifestyle that suits her.
She knows she’ll enjoy it. It’s going to be a challenge but, hopefully, she’ll also have time to write. Actually, She wants to be a writer but she knows it’s difficult to make a living doing that. There’s a need for relaxing places like this for people - especially students - to eat, talk and have fun without spending too much money. If the feeling of the place is right, people are going to come to the cafe. Anyway, it’s more than just a business decision. It’s also a decision about the lifestyle she wants to have and about trying to create something new and different. It opens tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. so she can come by for something to eat, drink or just to have a chat.
1.What’s the title of the passage?
A. From Schoolgirl to Businesswoman B. Open a Cafe to drink
C. Find a Place to Rest D. Build a Room to Read
2.Her study room was built
A. just before she graduated from university
B. just after she graduated from university
C. a year before she left university
D. as soon as she entered the university
3.Marian’s friends started to come to her study room because .
A. it was a nice place to study B. the library was too dark
C. they liked to eat there D. it was the quiet to drink coffee
4.Marian really wants to be .
A. a business owner B. a writer
C. a university student D. a university teacher
假设你是李华，暑假期间准备去北京旅游。请你根据下面的提示，用英语给你的网友李红写一封邮件。主要内容如下：
1. 你以前从未去过北京，请他当向导，带你参观长城，颐和园和其它名胜；
2. 想住在他家里，以便聊聊彼此的生活和学习；
3. 问候他的父母。
注意：1. 词数120左右
2. 颐和园 the Summer Palace
Dear Li Hong,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
