The National Gallery
Description:
The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar Square in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance
Layout:
The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th- to 15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.
The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronese.
The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.
The East Wing houses 18th- to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.
Opening Hours:
The Gallery is open every day from 10am to 6pm (Fridays 10am to 9pm) and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.
Getting There:
Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk), Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).In which century’s collection can you see religious paintings?
| A．The 13th. | B．The 17th. |
| C．The 18th. | D．The 20th. |
Where are Leonardo da Vinci’s works shown?
| A．In the East Wing. | B．In the main West Wing. |
| C．In the Sainsbury Wing. | D．In the North Wing. |
Which underground station is closest to the National Gallery?
| A．Embankment. | B．Leicester Square. |
| C．Piccadilly Circus. | D．Charing Cross. |
It was a cold winter. The day my husband fell to his death, it started to snow, just like any November day. His body, when I found it, was lightly covered with snow. It snowed almost every day for the next four months, while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up. One morning, I shuffled downstairs and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling(铲) my walk. I dropped to my knees, crawled through the living room. And back up stairs so those good people would not see me. I was embarrassed. My first thought was, how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair let alone shovel someone’s walk.
Before John’s death, I felt proud that I rarely asked for favors. I identified myself by my competence and independence. So who was I if I was no longer capable and busy? How could I respect myself if I just sat on the couch every day and watched the snow fall?
Learning to receive the love and support from others wasn’t easy. Friends cooked for me and I cried because I couldn’t even help them set the table. Finally, my friend Kathy said, “Mary, cooking for you isn’t a burden for me; it makes me feel good to be able to do something for you.”
Over and over, I heard similar words from the people who supported me during those dark days. One wise man told me, “You aren’t doing nothing because being fully open to your sorrow may be the hardest work you will ever do.”
I am not the person I once was, but in many ways I have changed for the better. I’ve been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom coming form facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole. I believe there is strength, for sure, in accepting a dark period of our life.
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．The writer’s friend was unwilling to cook for her. |
| B．The writer had been busy with her life before |
| C．The writer recovered from her sorrow quickly with his friend’s help. |
| D．The day her husband died, it was snowing heavily. |
We can describe the writer before her husband died as the following EXCEPT __
| A．hard-working | B．independent |
| C．smart | D．capable |
We can infer from the passage that ____________.
| A．the writer found her husband immediately he fell off the roof |
| B．the writer became strong-willed immediately after John's death |
| C．the people around the writer were friendly and supported her |
| D．before John’s death, the writer never asked others for help |
The Truth Can Set You Free
I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn’t been paying attention, and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit.
“Can I see your license and registration?” the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him, and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver’s license.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Are you with the army?”
“No, I’m not.” I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn’t had time to re-register yet.
“So what brings you here?”
He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. “Well, officer,” I said, “since you’ve asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We’ve moved down here to be close to my wife’s family.”
“So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. “You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good.”
He was obviously thinking: “Either this guy is pulling one big fat line on me, or he’s telling the truth.” He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest.
“Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors（肿瘤）are on the inside.” And then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars.
He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn’t taking this any further. He handed me back my license. “Do me a favor.” he said, “Slow down from now on.”
The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes (金发美女) who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen.The author was stopped by the police officer because ______.
| A．he didn’t have a license |
| B．he forgot to re-register |
| C．he was seriously ill |
| D．he drove too fast |
The author moved to Virginia probably because ______.
| A．he was homesick |
| B．he served in the army there |
| C．Virginia had better hospitals |
| D．his family could be better cared for |
On hearing about the author’s cancer, the police officer ______.
| A．said it was an excuse |
| B．doubted his honesty |
| C．showed sympathy for him |
| D．asked him to show his scars |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author was ______.
| A．optimistic | B．adventurous |
| C．dishonest | D．romantic |
Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April 22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to thin
k of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My life and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buyin
g we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going Green. | B．Protecting the Planet. |
| C．Keeping Open-Minded | D．Celebrating Our Green Year. |
It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.
| A．they were expected to follow the green fad |
| B．they didn’t know how to educate other people |
| C．they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
| D．they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
| A．They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
| B．They ignore others ungreen behavior. |
| C．They chose better chemical cleaners. |
| D．They sold their home-made food. |
What can we infer form the last paragraph?
| A．The government will give support to the green people. |
| B．The couple may continue their project in the future. |
| C．Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
| D．Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |
For good health, be sure to eat fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and lie as seldom as possible. A researcher is hoping this advice will someday take hold, based on results of a "science of honesty" study she completed.
Half of 110 participants were told to stop telling major or minor ("white") lies for 10 weeks, while the other half (the control group) was given no special instructions about lying.
The 110 people ranged from ages 18 to 71 and came from both sexes and all income levels. All came to a laboratory each week to complete health and relationship questionnaires and to take a test showing the number of major and minor lies they had told that week.
When those in the no-lie group told three fewer white lies than in other weeks, they complained less of headaches, tenseness, anxiety and other problems than those in the control group. In addition, they reported that their close personal relationships had improved and their social interactions(交往) had gone more smoothly.
“The link was that clear," said study author Anita Kelly, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. "Lying less was clearly associated with better health for those people."
Previous research indicates that Americans average 11 lies per week, from the little white lies to save face or falsely praise others to major lies about serious matters. Kelly said her study differs from former studies because it didn't focus on how to detect a liar, but on the potential health consequences of telling lies.
“People might recognize the more harmful effect lying can have on relationships, but probably don't recognize the extent to which it can cause a lot of stress," said Dr. Bryan Bruno at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
At the end of the study, some participants had created smart ways to avoid lying. Kelly noted that some realized they could simply tell the truth about their daily achievements rather than exaggerate(夸张), while others responded to a troubling question with another question to take the person’s attention away. They also stopped making false excuses for running late or failing to finish tasks.
“People usually think white lies are acceptable. In fact, white lies are trouble, not just major lies," Kelly said. "As long as you like, you can find effective ways to avoid lying in many cases. It depends on you.”
“But the goal doesn’t have to be the absolute absence of lies … the goal would be a reduction in lies,” she added.
According to the author, doing the following things is good for health EXCEPT .
| A．eating fruits and vegetables | B．exercising regularly |
| C．lying as seldom as possible | D．watching TV |
The “science of honesty” study by Anita Kelly focused on .
| A．the effect lifestyles have on health. |
| B．the link between lying and health. |
| C．how to improve relationships |
| D．how to discover a liar. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the research?
| A．All the participants were adults. |
| B．The control group was asked to stop lying. |
| C．The participants had ten physical examinations. |
| D．All the participants were of the same income level. |
The finding of the research is that .
| A．white lies help to improve relationships. |
| B．few people realize lying harms their health. |
| C．Americans tell 11 lies per week on average. |
| D．Lying less results in better health mentally and physically. |
Lee Kuan Yew emerged onto the international stage as the founding father of the state of Singapore, then a city of about 1 million. He developed into a world statesman who acted as a kind of conscience to leaders around the globe.
Fate initially seemed not to have provided him with a stage on which to achieve more than modest local success. In the first phase of decolonization, Singapore emerged as a part of Malaya. It was cut loose because of tensions between Singapore’s largely Chinese population and the Malay majority and, above all, to teach the city a lesson of dependency, Malaya undoubtedly expected that reality would cure Singapore of its independent spirit.
But great men become such through visions beyond material calculations. Lee challenged conventional wisdom by opting for statehood. The choice reflected a deep faith in the virtues of his people. He asserted that a city located on a sandbar with no economic resource to draw upon, and whose major industry as a colonial naval base had disappeared, could nevertheless thrive and achieve international reputation by building on its principal asset(财富): the intelligence, industry and dedication of its people.
A great leader takes his or her society from where it is to where it has never been ---- indeed, where it as yet cannot imagine being. By insisting on quality education, by suppressing corruption and by basing governance on merit. Lee and his colleagues raised the annual per capita income of their population from $500 at the time of independence in 1965 to roughly $55,000 today. In a generation, Singapore became an international financial center., the leading intellectual metropolis of Southeast Asia, the location of the region’s major hospitals and a favored site for conferences on international affairs. It did so by adhering to an extraordinary pragmatism: by opening careers to the best talents and encouraging them to adopt the best practices from all over the world..
Superior performance was one component of that achievement. Superior leadership was even more important. As the decades went by, it was moving ---- and inspirational ---- to see Lee., the mayor of a medium-size city, become a mentor of global strategic order.
The great tragedy of Lee’s life was that his beloved wife was felled by a stroke that left her a prisoner in her body, unable to communicate or receive communication. Through all that time, Lee sat by her bedside in the evening reading to her. He had faith that she understood despite the evidence to the contrary.
Perhaps this was Lee Kuan Yew’s role in his era. He had the same hope for our world. He fought for its better instincts even when the evidence was ambiguous. But many of us heard him and will never forget him.Why did Lee Kuan Yew choose to lead Singapore to be independent?
| A．He intended to act as a kind of conscience to leaders around the globe. |
| B．He determined his people shouldn’t be subjected to Malaya anymore. |
| C．He had considerable confidence in the value of the city’s assets. |
| D．He wanted Singapore to be the most powerful country worldwide. |
From the underlined sentence in Paragraph2, we can know that ________.
| A．Malaya expected Singapore to be powerful |
| B．Malaya had a desire to kick off Singapore |
| C．Malaya firmly believed Singapore would give in |
| D．Malaya didn’t think Singapore possessed independent spirit |
The fourth paragraph is organized to ________.
| A．illustrate how advanced Singapore has been today |
| B．demonstrate Lee Kuan Yew attached great importance to the talents |
| C．prove what a crucial decision Lee Kuan Yew once made |
| D．show the tremendous impact Lee Kuan Yew had on Singapore |
Which of the following can best describe Lee Kuan Yew?
| A．Stubborn and arbitrary |
| B．Aggressive and affectionate. |
| C．Demanding and bossy |
| D．Outspoken and humorous. |
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