Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colours found in the earth with water.
Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolour. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster (灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolour painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolour was used mainly for doing sketches (草图) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolour continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolour, producing such well-known watercolour artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.
小题1: The purpose of the passage is to introduce _____. | A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting | | B．oils’ power or influence over watercolour | | C．the discovery of watercolour in England | | D．the start and development of watercolour |
小题2: In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought _____. | A．watercolour was softer, and thus better | | B．oil painting lasted longer, and was better | | C．watercolour wasn’t fit for finished works | | D．watercolour was too hard to use in any works |
小题3:According to the passage, watercolour painting was put back in England because ____| A．it was easy to use outdoors | B．it was a strong medium | | C．it was extremely bright in colour | D．it was suited to popular tastes |
小题4:What would the next paragraph most probably deal with? | A．The works of famous US watercolour artists | B．Modern American oil painters | | C．The weakness of oils as popular paints | D．Techniques of producing watercolour |
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小题1:D
小题1:C
小题1:D
小题1:A |
小题1:通过阅读短文，可知本文主要是介绍的水彩画的产生与发展历史，故选D。
小题1:根据第三段It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. 及上下文描述可知选C。
小题1:根据第三段The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them. 描述，可知选D。
小题1:本文最后一段介绍了两名美国著名的油画家，故下文可能要介绍他们的作品，故选A，美国著名油画家的作品。 |
核心考点
试题【Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who 】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1—15各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The subject of what separates art and design has been debated for a long time. Artists and designers both create visual works using a/an 1 knowledge background, but their reasons for doing so are 2 different. Some designers consider themselves artists, but few artists consider themselves 3 .
So what exactly is the difference between art and design? Perhaps the most fundamental difference that we can all agree on is their 4 . Typically, the process of creating a work of art starts with nothing, a blank sheet of paper. A 5 of art is born from a view or value that the artist holds within himself or herself. They create the art to share that feeling with others, to 6
the viewers to relate to it, learn from it or be 7 by it. The most renowned and successful art today is something that establishes the strongest 8 connection between the artist and their
9 .
By contrast, when a designer sets out to 10 a new piece, they almost always have a
11 starting point, whether a message, an image, an idea or an action. The designer’s job isn’t to invent something 12 , but to communicate something that already exists, for a purpose. That purpose is almost always to motivate the audience to do something: buy a product, use a
13 , visit a location, or learn certain information. The most 14 designs are those that most effectively 15 their message and motivate their consumers to carry out a task.
| 小题1: | | A．unique | B．separate | C．shared | D．accepted |
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| 小题2: | | A．entirely | B．occasionally | C．hardly | D．unnecessarily |
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| 小题3: | | A．inventors | B．designers | C．writers | D．viewers |
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| 小题4: | | A．purpose | B．product | C．interest | D．cost |
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| 小题6: | | A．stop | B．allow | C．require | D．move |
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| 小题7: | | A．understood | B．fooled | C．inspired | D．discouraged |
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| 小题8: | | A．political | B．social | C．physical | D．emotional |
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| 小题9: | | A．supporters | B．audiences | C．buyers | D．enemies |
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| 小题10: | | A．sell | B．imagine | C．create | D．draw |
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| 小题11: | | A．fixed | B．good | C．strange | D．positive |
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| 小题12: | | A．surprising | B．special | C．creative | D．new |
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| 小题13: | | A．phone | B．service | C．language | D．name |
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| 小题14: | | A．important | B．creative | C．successful | D．unusual |
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| 小题15: | | A．learn | B．receive | C．confuse | D．communicate |
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Visitors to Britain may find the best place to sample local culture is in a traditional pub．But these friendly pubs can be dangerous places of potential gaffes（失礼）for the newcomers．
A team of researchers have discovered some of the unknown customs of British pubs - starting with the difficulty of getting a drink．Most pubs have no waiters - you have to go to the bar to buy drinks．A group of Italian youths waiting 45 minutes before they realized they would have to fetch their own．This may sound inconvenient, but there is a hidden purpose．
Pub culture is designed to promote sociability（社交）in a society known for its reserve．Standing at the bar for service allows you to chat with others waiting to be served．The bar counter is possibly the only site in the British Isles in which friendly conversation with strangers is considered entirely suitable and really quite normal behavior．“If you haven’t been to a pub, you haven’t been to Britain．” This tip can be found in a booklet, Passport to the Pub: The Tourists’ Guide to Pub Etiquette, a customers’ rule of conduct for those wanting to sample “a central part of British life and culture”．
The trouble is that if you do not follow the local rules, the experience may fall flat．For example, if you are in a big group, it is best if only one or two people go to buy the drinks．Nothing annoys the regular customers and bar staff more than a group of strangers blocking all access to the bar while they chat and hesitate about what to order．
小题1:The underlined word “sample” in the first paragraph probably means “________”．| A．taste | B．experience | | C．test | D．record |
小题2:The culture of pub in Britain is so developed to ________．| A．encourage people to communicate with each other | | B．encourage more people to consume drinks | | C．attract more tourists to the pubs | | D．form its own character of culture |
小题3:If you don’t follow the local rules in a pub, ________．| A．you won’t buy good local drinks | | B．you may annoy the regular customers and bar staff | | C．you may fail to feel the local culture | | D．you might get into a dangerous place |
小题4:What may be the best title for the passage?| A．Self-service Pubs in Britain | | B．British Local Pubs: Special Chat Places | | C．Local Pub Culture in Britain | | D．Manners in British Local Pubs |
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Scientists say they now have proof to support the old-fashioned advice that it’s best to sleep on a problem．They say sleep strengthens the memory and helps the brain organize the masses of information we receive each day．
The lead researcher Bob Stickgold at the Harvard Medical School said, “Sleep helps us draw rules from our experiences．It’s like  knowing the difference between dogs and cats even if it’s hard to explain．”
The US research team studied how w ell students remembered connections between words and symbols, reports New Scientist．They compared how the students performed if they had had a sleep between seeing the words and having the test, and if they had not slept．They found that people were better able to remember lists of related words after a night’s sleep than after the same time spent awake during the day．They also found it easier to remember themes that the words had in common．But they forgot around one in four more themes if they had been awake．
Prof．John Groeger, of Survey University’s Sleep Research Centre, said, “People have been trying for years to find out what the purpose of sleep is, as we know that only certain parts of it have a restorative （促使康复的）value．”
“We form and store huge numbers of experiences in the head every day, and sleep seems to be the way the brain deals with them all．”
小题1:The phrase “to sleep on a problem” in Paragraph 1 most likely means “________”．| A．to pay full attention to a problem | | B．to wait until the next day for a decision | | C．to sleep to forget a problem | | D．to have difficulty in sleeping |
小题2:In the study by the US research team, students were asked to ________．| A．put together words of similar meanings | | B．remember words and their meanings | | C．show their knowledge of words | | D．make up lists of related words |
小题3:Which of the following may be easier to remember?| A．Themes learned right before the test． | | B．Rules from personal experiences． | | C．Words learned before a good sleep． | | D．Ideas stored together in the brain． |
小题4:What may be the importance of the research?| A．It shows that sleep may help us manage information． | | B．It helps find out the common themes of words． | | C．It tells us that more sleep can improve health． | | D．It proves the value of old-fashioned advice． |
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Now sat ellites are helping to forecast（预报）the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere（大气）, because this is where the weather forms（形成）. They send these pictures to the weather stations. So meteorologists（气象学家）can see the weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.
Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteorologists compare（比较）them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.
So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for three or five days. Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead（提前）.
小题1:Satellites travel _____________.| A．in space | B．in the atmosphere | | C．above the ground | D．above space |
小题2: Why do we use the weather satellites to take pictures of the atmosphere? Because __________.| A．the weather satellites can do it easily | | B．clouds form there | | C．the weather forms there | | D．the pictures can forecast the weather |
小题3:Meteorologists forecast the weather __________.| A．when they have received satellite pictures | | B．after they have compared new satellite pictures with earlier ones | | C．before they received satellite pictures | | D．during they study satellite pictures |
小题4:The main（主要的）idea of this passage is that satellites are now used in _________.| A．taking pictures of the atmosphere | | B．receiving pictures of the atmosphere | | C．doing other work in many ways | | D．weather forecasting |
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The US government has started a website, Admongo, to help children think critically about the advertising aimed at them. It claims to provide visitors with an “aducation” through games and other entertainment.
A cartoon man dressed in old time pilot clothing greets visitors to Admongo. "Call me Haiz", he says upon arrival in a rocket ship that opens up with a crazy world inside it. Spacey dance music plays in the background as Haiz tells visitors that they need to learn about advertising.
Its inventors say eight to twelve years old is the age kids develop their critical thinking abilities. Kids that age are also a big market for advertisers.
The idea behind Admongo is to teach children three things: To identify the advertiser. To know what the advertiser is really saying. And to know what the advertisement is trying to get the child to do.
Children learn these things through a video game. They create their own game character. They can choose different skin colors, hair styles, eye and mouth shapes. Then they begin a trip through ad-land, where there are ads on buses and billboards. The players have to find all the marketing in the neighborhood before they can move on to the next level.
The Admongo game takes players inside a home, to the advertising studio and everywhere else ads can be found. It is a complete exploration of the world of marketing.
One such area is food marketing. The Federal Trade Commission(FTC) says it is a big business. The FTC estimates that food, drink and fast-food restaurants spent more than one and a half billion dollars on advertising to young people in 2009.
The FTC says children are important for three reasons. They buy products. They influence parents and caregivers to buy. And they are the future adult buyers of the products.
A recent study says most advertising aimed at children is for foods of the lowest nutritional value. First Lady Michelle Obama has said she would like to see advertisers marketing healthy foods for children.
小题1:What is the best title of the text?| A．The guide of Admongo | | B．An education website for children | | C．A popular online video game | | D．A website aimed at children |
小题2:Why did the government start the website?| A．To attract the biggest market of buyers. | | B．To sell the products of its company. | | C．To help children know about advertising. | | D．To advertise the video game for children. |
小题3:What can players do in the website game?| A．Choose hair styles for their character. | | B．Travel to a supermarket. | | C．Eat in a fast-food restaurant. | | D．Play video games during the trip. |
小题4:Children are important for advertising because they are .| A．important for the society | | B．the most potential buyers | | C．easily influenced by ads | | D．easily affected by poor products |
小题5:According to Michelle Obama, lots of food advertised for children are ________.| A．healthy | B．of high nutrition | | C．yummy | D．of low quality |
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