A study of art history might be a good way to learn more about a culture than is possible to learn in general history classes. Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics and war. But art history focuses on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also religious beliefs, emotions and psychology. In addition, information about the daily activities of our ancestors can be provided by art. In short, art expresses the essential qualities of a time and a place, and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding than can be found in most history books.
In history books, objective (客观的) information about the political life of a country is presented; that is, facts about politics are given, but opinions are not expressed. Art, on the other hand, is subjective: it reflects emotions and opinions. The great Spanish painter Francisco Goya was perhaps the first truly “political” artist. In his well-known painting The Third of May, 1808, he criticized the Spanish government for its abuse of power over people.
In the same way, art can reflect a culture’s religious beliefs. For hundreds of years in Europe, religious art had been almost the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religious buildings were filled with paintings that described people and stories from the Bible. Although most people couldn’t read, they could still understand the Bible stories in the pictures on church walls. By contrast (对比), one of the main characteristics of art in the Middle East was (and still is) its absence of human and animal images. This reflects the Islamic belief that statues are not holy.
63. Which of the following statements has the closest meaning to the underlined sentence?
A. General history only focuses on politics.
B. Art history shows us nothing but the political values.
C. General history concerns only religious beliefs, emotions and psychology.
D. Art history gives us an insight (洞察力) into the essential qualities of a time and a place.
64. Art is subjective in that __________. 
A. it can easily arouse people’s anger about their government
B. it only reflects people’s anger or sadness about social problems.
C. a personal and emotional view of history is presented through it.
D. artists were or are religious, who reflect only the religious aspect of the society.
65. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage? 
A. Francisco Goya expressed his religious belief in his painting.
B. In history books political views of people are entirely presented.
C. For centuries in Europe, painters had only painted on walls of churches.
D. In the Middle East, you can hardly find animal or human figures on church walls.
66. What’s the main topic of the passage?   
A. The development of art history.   
B. What we can learn from art.
C. The influence of artists on art history.
D. The difference between general history and art history.

Abby, Steven, Jonathan, 和 Tina都想去电影院看电影。阅读下面的电影介绍(A、B、C和D),选出最适合他们的电影。
【小题1】Abbyis 8 years old and shows great interest in cartoon films.
【小题2】Steven is going through a difficult time in his life and needs a film to inspire him.
【小题3】Jonathan is a college graduate and prefers science-fiction(科幻)films.
【小题4】Tina hopes to enjoy an adventurous and thrilling film this weekend.


Charlotte’s Web
A live-action/ computer-animated(电脑动画)feature film, based on the popular book with the same name by E.B. White. Fern is one of the only two living beings who sees that Wilbur is a special animal as she raises him into a terrific and bright pig. As Wilbur moves into a new barn (畜棚), he begins a second deep friendship with a spider named Charlotte and their bond inspires the animals around them to come together as a family.
B
Babel
Richard and Susan are a couple from California who are vacationing in Morocco while their two children are at home with their Mexican housekeeper, Amelia. Meanwhile, a local young man, shot at a tour bus and hit Susan in the shoulder, causing her severe injury.  Richard calls home to tell Amelia of the situation, who shortly leaves for Mexico to attend her son’s wedding along with their children. Disaster thus multiplies (增加), with the situation in Morocco owing to terrorists in the media, Amelia meets with trouble at the Mexican border when she returns.
C
Children of Men
Set in 2027, when no child has been born for 18 years and science is at loss to explain the reason, African and East European societies break down and their decreasing populations migrate to England and other wealthy nations. In a climate of violence, a London peace activist joins forces with his revolutionary ex-wife Julian in order to save mankind by protecting a woman who has mysteriously became pregnant(怀孕).
D
The Pursuit of Happiness
Chris Gardner is a bright and talented, but marginally (在边缘)employed salesman. Struggling to make ends meet, Gardner finds himself and his five-year-old son evicted(逐出)their San Francisco apartment with nowhere to go. He and his son endure many hardships, including living in shelters, dreaming of a better life for the two of them. Gardner finally becomes successful.

From birth to death, the word kick has been given an important part in expressing human experience. The proud and happy mother feels the first signs of life kicking inside her body. And that same life------many years later------ comes to its end in a widely-used expression, to kick the bucket( 吊桶) .  The expression to kick the bucket is almost 200 years old.  One belief is that it started when an English stableman(马夫) killed himself by hanging  while standing on a bucket. He put a rope around his neck and tied it to a beam(梁柱) in the ceiling, and then kicked the bucket away from under him.
Another old expression that comes from England is to kick over the traces. Traces were the chains(链子) that held at horse or mule to a wagon(货运马车)or plow. Sometimes, an animal refused to obey and kicked over the traces.
Kick around is an expression that is heard often in American English. A person who is kicked around is someone who is treated badly. Usually he is not really being kicked by somebody's foot. He is just not being treated with the respect that all of us want. A person who has kicked around for most of his life is someone who has spent his life moving from place to place. In this case, kicking around means moving often from one place to another. Kick around has another meaning when you use it with the word idea. When you kick around an idea, you are giving that idea some thought.
There is no physical action when you kick a person upstairs, although the pain can be as strong .You kick a person upstairs by removing him from an important job and giving him a job that sounds more important, but really is not.
Still another meaning of the word kick is to free oneself of a bad habit, such as smoking cigarettes. Health campaigns urge smokers to kick the habit.
【小题1】It is clear that the author wants to help readers _____________.

A.know English has a long history
B.understand the development of English
C.enjoy the interest of English idioms(习语)
D.learn English expressions with Kick
【小题2】What does the idiom "kick over the traces" in "All kids seem to want to kick over the traces and do what they like to" means ____________.     
A.disobey the commandsB.obey the traditions
C. ride a horse or muleD.punish animals strictly
【小题3】Mr. Smith always kicked his sons around with no excuse, in other words, his sons___________
A.expressed their ideas freelyB.were looked after well
C.moved their family oftenD.were treated badly
【小题4】How many different kinds of meanings are talked about on;'kick around' in the text?
A.One.B.Two.C.Three.D.Four.
【小题5】Though Tom got raised to a better position by his boss, he had no power, we can say __________
A.the boss kicked Tom upstairsB.Tom kicked the bucket
C.Tom kicked the bad habitD.Tom kicked around an idea

Have you heard of the story of the four-minute miles? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proves it wrong in 1954.
What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when people, who do not know how to swim, fall in deep waters? They drown. If an animal who has not learned swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal does not.
Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts would jam (堵塞) if the operator typed too fast.
These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful directing force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers command to your nervous system.
I used a snake in my workshops of children to learn how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India, said snakes were slippery, slimy(黏糊糊的)  and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they handled my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.
Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change.
【小题1】From the first paragraph, we know that _________.

A.several people have run a mile in four minutes.
B.Roger Banister set a record
C.nobody has run a mile in three minutes.
D.Roger Banister tied a world record
【小题2】 By comparing a drowning animal and a person, the writer tried to show _________.
A.the power of confidence
B.the responses of humans and animals to dangers
C.the difference between humans and animals
D.the power of belief
【小题3】Which of the following statements would the writer agree with?
A.Our beliefs are impossible to change
B.How we act mainly depends on our beliefs.
C.Our beliefs create or destroy our nervous system
D.Our beliefs always go against the truth
【小题4】The children visiting the writer’s workshops might_________.
A.learn how to keep off snakes
B.become brave and realistic
C.become clever and strong
D.learn to review their beliefs

In my opinion, there is only one legitimate (合法的) handgun sport and that is aim practice. It is practiced at objects which are properly monitored and usually quite safe. Only certain handguns are true “sporting weapons”, seen as such by the sport’s lovers.
On the other hand, shooting at tin cans and other small objects in one’s backyard is not and should not be considered a serious sport. When uncontrolled, it can be a very dangerous practice.
Some opponents (反对者) of handgun control have stated that we are out to stop all hunting and that controlling the handgun would severely affect hunting. That is simply untrue. Handgun control would in no way limit the freedom of the true hunter. Few if any hunters consider the handgun an effective hunting weapon.
There are a few hunters who do hunt with handguns, but most states place restrictions (限制) on the type of guns that can be used in hunting, the reason is that killing of game should be done in as humane (人道的) a way as possible. Some small handguns are more likely to wound the animal rather than kill it at once. Only long guns, rifles and shotguns are effective arms of hunting.
People must understand that handguns and hunters are separate matters. Because most of the hunters use a rifle or shotgun, there is no reason why their search for game and sport should be affected by handgun control. Mixing the anti-hunting matter with the handgun matter confuses the killing of animals with killing of people.
【小题1】In the writer’s opinion, people should use handguns only when           .

A.hunters shoot at animals
B.they aim at a criminal
C.objects are under control
D.objects are only small tin cans in the backyard
【小题2】According to the writer, hunting is not affected by handgun control because         .
A.hunters can use knives rather than guns to hunt animals
B.state government encourages hunters to use other guns
C.nobody cares what weapons are used to kill animals
D.most hunters use rifles rather than handguns
【小题3】This passage mainly talks about           .
A.the relation between hunting and handgun control
B.the importance of aim practice
C.how handgun control affects hunting
D.different types of guns used in hunting

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