When it comes to the most famous 20th century...

When it comes to the most famous 20th century painters of the United States, Grandma Moses should be mentioned, although she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said to herself , “I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me”. No one could have had a more active old age．

She was born on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At 12 she left home and was in domestic service until at 27 she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927．

Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery (刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands became too stiff (僵硬的) to sew and she still wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought all that she painted. Three of the pictures were exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930’s and her death, she produced some 2,000 pictures: careful and lively portrayals of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of color and form. “I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it” she said．

1.What can we learn about Moses?

A.She stopped painting in her late seventies.

B.She still led an active life when she was old.

C.Her marriage life was not happy.

D.She painted oils as a child.

2.What did Grandma Moses spend most of her life doing?

A.Embroidering. B.Farming.

C.Nursing. D.Painting.

3.What does the underlined word “portrayals ” in the last paragraph mean?

A.Directions. B.Stages.

C.Surveys. D.Descriptions.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage？

A.Grandma Moses: the Best Woman Painter

B.Grandma Moses and Her Farm Life

C.Grandma Moses and Her Exhibition

D.Grandma Moses : A Famous Woman Painter of 20th Century

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Grandma Moses is among the most famous twentieth-century painters of the United States, yet she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said to herself: " I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me." No one could have had a more productive old age.

She was born Anna Mary Robertson on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At twelve she left home and was in domestic service until, at twenty--seven, she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927.

Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery (刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands had become too stiff to sew and she wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought everything she painted. Three of the pictures exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930's and her death, she produced some 2,000 pictures: detailed and lively portrayals of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of color and form. "I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it" she said.

1.According to the passage, Grandma Moses began to paint because she wanted to_______.

2.Grandma Moses spent most of her life ________.

3.The underlined word “portrayals ” means ________.

A. expressions       B explanations     C. descriptions  .  D. impressions

4.From Grandma Moses' description of herself in the first paragraph, it can be inferred that she was ________.

5.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

In today's Ireland, it seems hard to imagine the grim(令人沮丧的) days of the 19th century when so many of the population starved, or that, in those days, many poor people had no clue how to prepare any food other than boil a potato. 1.

Tourism has made a vast difference to the standards of cooking in Ireland. Until recently there was hardly any tradition of eating out in many districts, except perhaps on very few occasions at a local hotel. Patterns of diet were old-styled, based firmly on 'meat and two vegetables' (somewhat overcooked), potatoes (of course) and large quantities of dairy produce. 2. Tourist demands for predictable, inexpensive fast-food are met, as everywhere, with hamburgers and pizzas - a better bet being fish and chips. But more sophisticated tastes have introduced whole foods and vegetarian restaurants (almost unheard of before), and a vast number of new restaurants, often French in style, have opened in the main tourist centres. Food 'events' such as Kinsale's Gourmet festival or Galway's Oyster Festival attract large numbers of visitors and reflect the new interest in food.

Whatever Irish cooking lacks in finesse（精细）, it nearly always makes up for in plenty, and ingredients(成分) are of a high quality. 3.. One of its great specialities is soda bread. It is made with buttermilk and is served fresh and warm with every meal. Recently there has been a return to simple Irish foods such as stews（炖菜）and potato dishes.

4.A 'traditional Irish breakfast' is a plateful of bacon and eggs with soda and potato breads. Accommodation rates are nearly always quoted(报价) with a full breakfast included. 5.

A. So you might as well eat enough to keep you going all day and get your money's worth!

B. Home-grown produce includes rich dairy foods, beef, lamb and pork, and a great variety of seafood.

C. Eating out at weekends is traditional in most parts of Ireland.

D. Now things are very different.

E. Food produce is fresher.

F. One of the best-value meals in Ireland is breakfast.

G. Nowadays, it is quite possible to eat both well and heartily all over the island.

高二英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

I’ve never been the kind of person to say, “it’s the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.

For years now, I’ve been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a building. In the front room, there’s a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, marking the progress of my children’s growth. Every growth stage is marked in grey, with each child’s name and the date they were measured. Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.

Of all the objects and all the memories, it’s this one thing in a home that’s the hardest to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to discover their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. A new paint job wouldn’t normally be greeted by tears, but erasing that evidence of motherhood hurts more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to see.

Over the years, I’ve talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something about it.

They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer whose work is about capturing (捕捉) the beautiful things in life, from clear lakes and skies to diamonds and ballgowns. She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints (手印), and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those years of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, transforming them into a beautiful history of my family.

Three weeks later, my children’s wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.

1.The author used her friends’ example in Paragraph 3 to ________.

A. persuade her family to leave the wall as it was

B. stress the meaning of keeping good memories

C. explain why her house badly needed a new paint job

D. share her memory of motherhood with readers

2.According to the article, it was Jacquie Manning who ________.

A. helped the author paint her new house

B. came up with the idea of the photo gift

C. shot pictures to record the author’s growth stage

D. made a copy of the growth marks on the wall

3.We can infer from the article that the author ________.

A. was strongly against selling their home

B. was not happy with the gift from her family

C. kept marks for family members every year

D. put great love and care in raising her children

4.What is the best title for the text?

A. A Gift Made with Love　　 B. Advice on Picking up Gifts for Parents

C. Paintings Count　　 D. Effective Ways to Communicate with Children

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

By the mid-1920s, Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. had been one of the most celebrated men .In 1957, when Pablo Picasso was in his seventh decade, he joked that x-ray technology might one day reveal a lost work underneath one of his early paintings. Today, that prediction became reality although the technology involved goes far beyond x-rays.

Using hyper-modern tools to peer into one of his Blue Period paintings, researchers have not only shown a hidden piece of art history in astonishing new detail, they have revealed a striking amount of insight into Picasso's creative process and style.

The investigation focused on"La Miséreuse accroupie, "or" Crouching Woman, "painted in 1902 and currently owned by the Art Gallery. The painting, an oil on canvas (画布) piece drawing a crouching (蜷坐的) woman who wears a long coat, shows Picasso’s typical Blue Period colors: grey, green, blue and white. It shows that the innovative modernist was inspired by the lines of an underlying landscape painted by an unknown artist.

The analysis also exposes several changes to the woman described in the painting,many of which Picasso ultimately abandoned. Researchers released their findings on Saturday’s press conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas. “We think now it's a landscape painted by someone enrolled at the fine arts academy in Barcelona, someone in Picasso’s orbit but not in his close circle, ”says Kenneth Brummel, assistant curator of modern art for the Art Gallery of Ontario.

As to why Picasso would have “recycled” another artist’s canvas(油画布), reasons could range from economic necessity, as a young artist still establishing himself, to deep inspiration driven by the lines of the image already laid down there. Picasso often re-used canvases for this reason."

“He didn't shave off the canvas or put a preparatory layer over it,” Brummel says.“ Picasso saw this landscape, found inspiration, and decided he was going to paint it immediately."

1.According to the text ,the most likely process of Picasso's painting?

①Picasso reused another artist's canvas.

②Inspired by a landscape painting, Picasso decided to paint one too.

③Picasso painted a woman on the landscape painting.

④Not happy with the landscape, Picasso covered it totally.

⑤Picasso made changes to the woman

A.②③④ B.④②③

C.①③⑤ D.②①④

2.How did Picasso deal with the landscape painting?

A.He reused it because he hated wasting anything.

B.He hid his own paintings beneath the landscape.

C.He took the advantage of it and created a new one.

D.He kept it to himself with the permission of its owner.

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A.People often celebrated Picasso’s success.

B.Picasso was not well-off when he started his career.

C.Picasso became successful overnight.

D.Picasso was good at imitating other artists’ works.

4.Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A.Picasso's predication turned out to be joke.

B.High technology uncovered art mysteries.

C.Seeing is not always believing.

D.Lost Artwork Found Under Famous Picasso Painting.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

If Frida Kahlo（1907-1954） is today one of the best-known and most popular figures of 20th-century, Mexican art, it is undoubtedly because of her personality and the originality（独创性）of a body of works. Her work is, above all, the expression of a real life－a tragic and stormy life, one that challenged all conventions. The mere mention of her name excites enthusiasm and admiration, but her work is rarely exhibited, and has not been shown in France for fifteen years. The selection to go on show at the Musee de L’Orangerie includes major works by the artist, with masterpieces from the Museo Dolores Olmedo.

The life and work of Frida Kahlo cannot be separated from those of her companion Diego Rivera（1886-1957）. Together they became figures of legend, and both have a place in the pantheon of 20th-century Mexican artists. Famous for his large wall paintings, Rivera’s easel paintings, drawings and prints, which form a large part of his artistic production, are less well-known to the public in Europe. The exhibition aims to trace his artistic career from the early Cubist images, revealing his links with the Paris artists whose works are a key element in the Orangerie collections, to the paintings that established him as the founder of the 20th-century school of Mexican art. His travels throughout Europe influenced his vision and his skills without ever distancing him from his roots, thus confirming his place in history as the founder of the nationalist school.

The exhibition devoted to the legendary couple Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo presents their works together, as if to confirm the impossibility of their divorce that was in fact finalized（定下来）but reconsidered after just one year apart. It also gives us a better view of their respective artistic worlds, so different and yet so complementary（互补的）, through the deep-rooted attachment they shared to their country.

1.Which of the following best describes Frida Kahlo’s work?

A. Authentic but ordinary.　　 B. Fashionable but unusual.

C. Practical and popular.　　 D. Creative and realistic.

2.What does the underlined word “pantheon” in the second paragraph refer to?

A. Character.　　 B. Community.

C. School.　　 D. Society.

3.What can we infer about Rivera from the passage?

A. Rivera’s marriage to Kahlo was totally ended.

B. Rivera’s works arc hugely popular in Europe.

C. Rivera’s works are the focus of the exhibition.

D. Rivera’s works arc rooted in his motherland.

4.What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To present the attraction of art.

B. To introduce two famous artists.

C. To persuade people to learn art.

D. To analyze the styles of artists.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Until late in the 20th century, most Americans spent time with people of generations. Now mid-aged Americans may not keep in touch with old people until they are old themselves. That’s because we group people by age. We put our three-year-olds together in day-care center, our 13-year-olds in school and sports activities, and our 80-year-olds in senior-citizen homes. Why?

We live away from the old for many reasons: young people sometimes avoid the old to get rid of fears for aging and dying. It is much harder to watch someone we love disappear before our eyes. Sometimes it’s so hard that we stay away from the people who need us most.

Fortunately, some of us have found our way to the old. And we have discovered that they often save the young.

A reporter moved her family onto a block filled with old people. At first her children were disappointed. But the reporter baked banana bread for the neighbors and had her children deliver it and visit them. Soon the children had many new friends, with whom they shared food, stories and projects. “My children have never been less lonely,” the reporter said.

The young, in turn, save the old. Once I was in a rest home when a visitor showed up with a baby. She was immediately surrounded. People who hadn’t gotten out of bed in a week suddenly were ringing for a wheelchair. Even those who had seemed asleep wake up to watch the child. Babies have an astonishing power to comfort and cure.

Grandparents are a special case. They give grandchildren a feeling of security and continuity. As my husband put it, “my grandparents gave me a deep sense that things would turn out right in the end.”

Grandchildren speak of attention they don’t get from worried parents. “My parents were always telling me to hurry up, and my grandparents told me to slow down,” one friend said. A teacher told me she can tell which pupils have relationships with grandparents: they are quieter, calmer, more trusting.

1.Now in an American family, people can find that ________.

A. children never live with their parents

B. not all working people live with their parents

C. aged people are supported by their grandchildren

D. grandchildren are supported by their grandparents

2.The reason why old people are left alone may be that ________.

A. the old don’t like to live in a big family

B. the young can’t get enough money to support the old

C. different generations have different lifestyles

D. the old are too weak to live with the young

3.The fact that the reporter told us shows that ________.

A. old people in America lead a hard life

B. old people in America enjoy banana bread

C. she had no time to take care of her children

D. old people are easy to get along with

4.Seeing a baby, the old people get excited because ________.

A. they had never seen a baby before

B. the baby was clever and beautiful

C. the baby brought them the image of life

D. the baby’s mother would take care of them

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying voice across cultures.

Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.

It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite.”Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and white anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”

Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same.” says Moran.

Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party. “just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music.” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization.”

In music, where does the emotion lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight (感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”

1.What is the purpose of UNESCO to set April 30 as International Jazz Day?

A. To emphasize the significance of jazz.

B. To protect musical diversity.

C. To remember the birth of jazz.

D. To encourage people to study music.

2.What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A. The production of jazz growing faster.

B. Jazz losing its appeal for the young.

C. The jazz audience becoming larger.

D. Jazz becoming more accessible.

3.What does Moran’s opinion on jazz imply?

A. It remains black and white.

B. It will disappear gradually.

C. It changes every 50 years.

D. It should keep up with the times.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Helen Thayer，one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century，loves challenges. She says，"I like to see what's on the other side of the hill." She has gone almost everywhere to do that.

In 1988，at the age of 50，she became the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. She pulled her own sled (雪橇) piled with 160 pounds of supplies，and during her trip no one brought her fresh supplies. Accompanied (陪伴) only by her dog Charlie，she survived cold weather and meetings with polar bears. In fact，Charlie saved her life when one of them attacked her. Near the end of her trip，a forceful wind blew away the majority of her supplies. The last week of the trip，she survived on a handful of nuts and a little water each day.

Helen goes to challenging places not only for adventure，but also for education. Before her Arctic journey，she started a website called Adventure Classroom. On the site，she shares her adventures in order to motivate (激发) students. She explains，"Although kids often see the world in a negative way，without hope for their future，we work to inspire them to set goals，plan for success and never give up..."

Helen grew up in New Zealand. Her parents were athletes and mountain climbers. Following her parents' example，she climbed her first mountain at 9. Later，she climbed the highest mountains in North and South America，the former USSR and New Zealand.

In 1996，she took on another challenge--the Sahara Desert. She and her husband，Bill，walked 2,400 miles across it！In 2001，she and Bill traveled on foot from west to east through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. They hope to travel in mainland China into Sichuan and Tibet to study pandas this year.

Helen plans to continue taking trips. She'll use her explorations，writing，photography and environmental work to create programs for her Adventure Classroom website. She wants to inspire her students never to stop facing challenges!

1.We learn from Paragraph 2 that ________.

A. Helen Thayer is the first person to reach the North Pole

B. Helen Thayer ate nothing during the last week of her trip

C. Charlie prevented Helen being attacked by polar bears

D. Helen Thayer traveled to the North Pole together with her husband

2.Why does Helen travel to different places worldwide?

A. For education.　　 B. For fun.

C. For money.　　　　　 D. For fame.

3.Which is the best title for the text?

A. The Woman Who Loves Adventure B. A Famous Woman

C. A Woman Mountain Climber　　　　 D. The Owner of Adventure Classroom

4.Which of the following places has Helen not visited yet?

A. The North Pole　　　　　　 B. The Sahara Desert

C. The Gobi Desert　　　　　　 D. Sichuan and Tibet

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The computer is ________ to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

A. considered　　 B. regarded

C. expected　　 　 D. suggested

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析