I live in Mentone, a quiet, simple, peaceful place, where the rich never come. I met Theophile Magnan, a retired, rich, old man from Lyons yesterday, in the Hotel des Anglais. Theophile looked sad and dreamy, and didn’t talk with anybody else, which brought me back to the past.

A long time ago, Francois Millet, Claude, Carl and I were young artists—very young artists—in fact.

Yes, Francois Millet, the great French artist, was my friend.

Millet wasn’t any greater than we were at that time. He wasn’t known, even in his own village.

We were all poor though we had stocks(存货) and stocks of as good pictures as anybody in Europe painted. Once a person ever offered four francs (法郎) for Millet’s “Angelus”, which he meant to sell for eight.

It was a fact in human history that a great artist would never be accepted until after he was starved and dead. His pictures climbed to high prices after his death.

Then we made a decision that one of us must die, to save the others and himself.

Millet was chosen, chosen to die.

During the next three months Millet painted with all his power, enlarged his stock all he could, not pictures, no! sketches, studies, parts of studies, fragments of studies, of course, with his cipher(暗号) on them.

They were the things to be sold.

Carl went to Paris to start the work of building up Millet’s name. Claude and I went to sell Millet’s small pictures and to build up his name as well.

We made Millet a master. I always said to my customer, “I am a fool to sell a picture of Francois Millet’s at all, for he is not going to live three months, and when he dies, his pictures can’t be had for love or money.”

Claude and I took care to spread that little fact as far as we could.

Carl made friends with the reporters, and got Millet’s condition reported to England and all over the Europe, and America, and everywhere.

The sad end came at last, Millet died, not really. He became Theophile Magnan.

The pictures went up. There’s a man in Paris today who owns seventy Millet pictures. He paid us two million francs for them. Do you still remember the “Angelus”? Carl sold it for twenty-two hundred francs.

We are no longer artists and Millet dead.

1.Why did the four friends decide to choose one of them to die?

A.They wanted to be rich. B.They wanted to be famous.

C.They wanted to save money. D.They wanted to be respected.

2.Which of these is a fact based on the passage?

A.The story was written in memory of Millet.

B.Millet was still alive but had a new name.

C.Millet lived a wealthy life at first.

D.Millet failed to make a famous artist.

3.What made the four friends’ plan succeed?

A.That they didn’t want to be artists any longer.

B.That Millet’s pictures were sold at very high prices.

C.That people had pity on these poor artists.

D.People’s wish to own valuable art works at low prices.

Speaking exams can be stressful! What if you don’t understand the examiner(考官)? Remember that everyone gets nervous in exams. And our tips will help you feel more confident in a speaking exam.

★Listening to as much English as possible will help improve your speaking. Listening to songs, and watching films will help you feel more confident about speaking.

★Speak as much English in class as possible. If you always speak English in class, you will find it easier to speak in an exam.

★Slow down! Before you speak, think carefully about what to say and speak a little slower than normal.

★Use the correct language that you know. Use words and expressions you have used before. If you don’t know a word, think of another way to say it.

★Listen to yourself when you speak and if you hear a mistake, correct it.

★Look at the examiner’s face and eyes when you speak, Does he understand you? If not, say it again with different words.

★Speak clearly so that the examiner can hear you. If you find this difficult, practice with a friend at home. Speak to each other in English on your computers.

★Remember that everyone feels nervous in exams. So take some deep breaths before the exam and try to relax.

1.How many tips are mentioned in this passage?

A.Three. B.Five. C.Eight. D.Nine

2.The underlined word “this” refers to ______.

A.talking with your friends in English

B.talking with friends on computers ball

C.looking at the examiner’s eyes

D.speaking clearly in front of the examiner

3.Which is NOT the advice from the writer?

A.Speak English as much as possible with parents.

B.Slow down your speaking speed.

C.Correct the mistakes when you find them.

D.Breathe deeply before you start.

4.The main idea of this passage is about ________.

A.how to slow down your speaking speed

B.how to choose the right listening materials

C.how to deal with speaking exams

D.how to correct the mistakes while speaking

Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The program works because everyone’s eyes are different. So in the future you won’t have to remember a number when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You’ll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.

The eye-recognition (眼睛识别) program has already been tested in shops and banks in the USA. Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon this technology will take the place of all other ways of finding out who people are.

Eye-recognition is a course of recognizing iris (虹膜), which includes the following steps. First, a kind of machine needs to collect different examples of one’s iris from his eyes and store them. Second, when this person goes to the bank to take out money, this machine will have iris feature extraction (采集). Then, this machine will compare the examples kept in it with iris feature extraction. Once the examples and the feature extraction are the same, this person will be identified, and he will take out the money from the bank successfully.

However, scientists are also working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We have already had machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger. Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don’t change as you get older, and don’t get dirty like hands or fingers, and even twins have different eyes. So the eye-recognition program can be up to 94% correct, depending on how good the technology is. However, some other programs may only be 51% correct now. In Britain, it was found that 91% of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.

In the future your computer will be looking at you in the eye, So smile!

1.How does the eye-recognition program work?

A.You type in your number. B.You say your name.

C.You look at the machine. D.You show your ID card.

2.Which recognition has been already in use according to the passage?

A.Remembering smells. B.Remembering fingerprints.

C.Remembering the shape of faces. D.Remembering eyes.

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A.The eye-recognition program can be up to 51% correct.

B.In Britain, 91% of people said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.

C.Everyone’s eyes are different, and even twins have different eyes.

D.The eye-recognition program is widely used now.

4.What’s the passage mainly about?

A.You won’t have to remember a number when you take money out of a bank.

B.We have already had machines that can tell who you are from your voice.

C.Tell people how the eye-recognition program works and what advantages it has.

D.The eye-recognition program has already been tested in shops and banks.

5.Of the following things, which one is right according to the passage?

A.You needn’t remember a number when you take money out of a bank.

B.Machines know you from your smell.

C.Computers can tell who you are by looking at your eyes.

D.Machines can tell who you are from your voice.

Painting and writing on walls is nothing new. In prehistoric (史前的) times, people in Africa and Europe painted pictures of animals and people in caves. Graffiti has been found at ancient sites in Greece, Italy, Syria and Iraq. In the Roman town of Pompeii in Italy, archaeologists found a lot of graffiti written in Latin, including political and romantic messages, and even some magic spells!

In the 1970s, young people in New York used pens to write their names, or “tags”, on walls around the city. One of the first “taggers” was Demetrius, a teenager from a Greek family. He wrote his tag on walls in his neighbourhood and in subway stations on the way to school. Other teenagers saw Demetrius’s tag and started writing their own tags on walls, buses and subway trains all over New York. Then, some teenagers stopped using pens and started using paints. Their tags were bigger and more colourful and appeared on trains, buses and walls around the world. In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of graffiti artists started to make pictures too.

In many countries, it is a crime to paint on walls and street artists can have problems with the police. In other countries, street art is permitted in certain places. Nowadays, street art is more popular with the public. In some cities, there are street art festivals. In Bristol in the UK, there is a street art festival in August every year. Artists paint all the buildings in a street. Lots of people come to watch the artists and take photos. Street art can be seen in galleries (美术馆) too. There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London and Los Angeles.

Most street artists are young people who paint in their neighbourhood or home city. Many of them use the Internet to communicate and share photos of their pictures with other street artists around the world. Although we don’t know what will happen to street art in the future, we can be sure that it is here to stay!

1.Graffiti in ancient times includes different kinds of themes EXCEPT ________.

A.names and tags B.magic spells

C.animals and people D.romantic messages

2.Which is the correct order according to the passage?

① Demetrius wrote his tags on walls.

② Many graffiti artists made pictures too.

③ Other teenagers wrote their own tags on walls.

④ There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries.

⑤ More colourful tags appeared on trains, buses and walls.

A.①③⑤②④ B.①③⑤④② C.④③①②⑤ D.④①③②⑤

3.What does “permitted” mean in Paragraph 3?

A.protected B.allowed C.punished D.warned

4.According to the passage, we can learn that________.

A.Demetrius was the first graffiti artist B.street art can be only seen in the street

C.street artists begin to share their works online D.Bristol holds a street art festival every September

5.The main purpose of the article is ________.

A.to tell why graffiti and street art will disappear

B.to tell the development of graffiti and street art

C.to tell what will happen to street art in the future

D.to tell the relationship between graffiti and street art

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