Charles Blackman: Alice in Wonderland

An Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria （NGV）, Australia

10 June—12 August 2009

Venue（地点）   The Ian Potter Centre

Admission     Free entry

Charles Blackman is famous for his beautiful painting of dreams. In 1956, he heard for the first time Lewis Carroll’s extraordinary tale of Alice in Wonderland — the story of a Victorian girl who falls down a rabbit hole, meets a lot of funny characters and experience all kinds of things .At that time, Blackman’s wife was suffering form progressive blindness. The story of Alice moving through the strange situations, often disheartened by various events, was similar to his wife’s experiences. It also reflected so much of his own life. All this contributed to the completion of the Alice in Wonderland paintings.

Illustrator Workshop

Go straight to the experts for an introductory course in book illustration. The course includes an introduction to the process of illustration and its techniques, workshop exercise and group projects.

Dates Sunday 17 June &Sunday 5Aug.10am—1pm

Venue Gas Works Arts Park

Wonderful World

Celebrate the exhibition and Children’s Book Week with special activities just for the day, including a special visit from Alice and the White Rabbit.

Date  Sunday 24 June, 11am—4pm

Venue Exhibition Space, Level 3

Topsy- Turvy

Visit the exhibition or discover wonderful curiosities in artworks in the NGV Collection and make a magic world in a box. Alice and the White Rabbit will be with you. Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland will be screened.

Dates　Sunday 8,15,22,29 July ,and Tuesday 24—Friday 27 July ,12noon—3pm

Venue Theatre, NGV Australia

Drawing Workshop

Distortions of scale (比例失真) can make artworks strange but interesting.Find out how Charles Blackman distorted scale in his paintings to create a curious world, then experiment with scale in your own drawings. More information upon booking.

Date Friday 27 July, 10:30am—3pm

Venue　Foyer, Level 3

1.Charles Blackman’s paintings come from _______.

2.Which two activities can you participate in on the same day?

3.To understand the Alice in Wonderland paintings, you should go to _______.

4.Activities concerning children’s books are to be held _______.

_____ of the world’s books and newspapers are written in English.

  　A. Three quarter             B. Three of quarters  

   C. Third fourths              D. Three fourths

Erik Weihenmayer was born with an eye disorder. As a child his eyesight became worse and then, at the age of 13, he lost his sight completely. However, he did not lose his determination to lead a full and active life.

       Erik became an adventurer. He took up parachuting, wrestling and scuba diving. He competed in long-distance biking, marathons and skiing. His favorite sport, thought, is mountaineering.

       As a young man, Erik started to climb mountains. He reached the summit of Mount McKinley in 1995 and then climbed the dangerous 1000-metre rock wall of EI Capitan. Two years later, while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya with his girlfriend, they stopped for a time at 13,000 feet above sea level－in order to get married. In 1999, he climbed Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America. And then , on May 25, 2001, at the age of 33, Erik successfully completed the greatest mountaineering challenge of all. He climbed Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

       Erik invented his own method for climbing mountains. He carries two long poles: one to lean on and the other to test the way ahead of him. The climber in front of him wears a bell to guide him. Erik is a good team member. He does his share of the job, such as setting up tents and building snow walls.

       Although he could not enjoy the view, Erik felt the excitement of being on the summit of Everest. He hopes that his success will change how people think about the blind. “When people think about a blind person or blindness, now they will think about a person standing on top of the world.”　

When was Erik born?

       A. In 1968.                   B. In 1995.                   C. In 1967.                   D. In 1969.

What was unusual about his wedding?

       A. He got married on the summit of Mount McKinley.

B. He got married when climbing Mount Everest.

       C. .His wedding was held after he prepared a lot.

D. His wedding was held at 13,000 feet above sea level.

What is Erik’s special method for climbing a mountain?

A. He takes his girlfriend with him.　　　　　　　B. He does his share of the jobs.

C. He uses two long poles to help himself.　　　  D. He keeps a good team around him.

Which of the following shows the right order of what happened?

a. He topped Mount McKinley.

b. He became blind.

c. He challenged Mount Everest.

d. He reached the peak of Kilimanjaro.

e. He climbed the rock wall of EI Capitan.

A. b, e, d, c, a 　 　B. b, a, e, d, c      　　 　C. a, b, e, d, c   　 　　D. b, d, a, c, d

第二部分 阅读（共两节，满分80分）

第一节：阅读理解（共35小题；每小题2分，满分70分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21~55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

　　August has always been difficult for me. It is the time when I realize that the books my English teacher assigned to me are not going to read themselves and that I have a difficult month in front of me.

　　You might think that I don’t want to spend my summer reading, but that’s not the problem: I love reading. On the first day of my summer holidays this year, I went to the library and got “A Gathering of Old Men” by African-American writer Ernest Gaines. I enjoyed it very much. I read all the magazines that my parents subscribe to and spend about 30 minutes every day with the morning paper. So why do I hate summer reading for school? Because the books on summer reading lists are often slow-going and just uninviting. Teachers and librarians don’t understand that summer reading can be entertaining as well as educational. They choose books that a friend of my mother’s calls “spinach books”: good for you, but not much fun to take in. Every summer, I read them, hate them and get bitter about the experience.

　　This bitterness started three years ago when I was about to begin high school. As preparation, my English teacher told me to read “The Age of Innocence” by American author Edith Wharton. I’m sure there are many people who enjoyed “The Age of Innocence” — some might even say it’s their favorite book.

　　But I don’t think any of these people read it as a 14-year-old boy on his summer vacation.

　　“The Age of Innocence” is the story of a forbidden romance in New York 100 years ago. At 14, my only experience with romance was my love for baseball. I couldn’t imagine being in love, much less being in love in 1900. “The Age of Innocence” was totally different to my life.

　　Most of my required summer reading has been like that — books written in a style that plays up the adjectives and plays down the verbs. I guess teachers don’t think exciting plots make for “good literature”. To me, though, a good writer describes events and characters in a way that makes the reader want to know what happens next.

　　If I were making up a summer reading list, it would include “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” by George V. Higgins, “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe, and “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. These are all books that have literary value but, just as important, can also entertain kids on vacation. If the teachers could stand a little fun in the books they assign, my Augusts would be a lot more enjoyable.

1. The author thinks he will have a difficult August because ____________.

A. he doesn’t like reading in summer vacation

B. he is to read the books boring and not right for kids

C. he hates the English teacher assigning homework

D. he hates August

2. What can make students interested in August reading ought to be ___________.

A. romantic                                                      B. out of date

C. entertaining and educational                            D. pure

3. The author listed such books as “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” because he thinks __________.

A. they can change his opinion                            B. he can learn a lot more from them

C. they are of literary value, and enjoyable    D. he has to do as teachers tell him to

4. In the opinion of the author of this passage, a good writer should be ___________.

A. one who describes events and characters in different ways

B. one who is full of imagination         

C. one who is learned

D. one who uses a way of describing that makes the reader wish to know what to happen next

5. Which of the following could be the best title of this passage?

A. Why Can’t Teachers Set Us Fun Books?

B. I Don’t Like Reading on the Vacation

C. Teachers, Don’t Set Us Any Reading Assignments

D. Teachers, Set Us Free