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die from, insist on, find out, draw a conclusion, graduate from, get stuck, lead to |
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881—1973) was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. It was said that everything his brush touched turned to gold. But in truth, his works could be worth more than any precious metal. Picasso created more than 20,000 works in his life, including two of the world's 10 most expensive paintings.
Between 1907 and 1913, Picasso and his colleague Georges Braque started a revolution(革命) in painting. Before that, paintings were like windows—they were painted to look as if they had depth. You could tell which objects were "close" to you and which objects were "far away". But Picasso and Braque didn't want to paint like that any more. To them, a painting wasn't a window to the world; it was marks and lines on a flat surface. Why, they thought, should an object like a guitar be shown only from one angle (角度) ? A guitar can look very different depending on which angle one looks at it from. Their answer was to show all the angles. They broke the guitar up into pieces. Their style of painting is called cubism (立体主义).
But why did they feel such a need to change things? Well, the world around them was changing, too. Science was turning people's ideas upside down. Albert Einstein's theory proved that what we knew about time and space was wrong. The world was becoming different; artists needed to start seeing and painting it differently.
The famous and terrifying painting Guernica
There is one thing that everyone wants more than anything else. They think that when they have enough money to buy such things as houses, farms, and cars, they will have the thing that everyone wants.
Other people believe that if they know enough they will find this thing. Still others think that if they have power, they will find this thing. Some people keep telling themselves: "When I'm a boss, I will no longer have to search for this thing."
What is it that everyone wants more than anything else? What is it that all of us keep working and striving for each day? Happiness is a strange thing. What will make one man happy may not make another man happy. Some men say that happiness comes from helping others; other men say that happiness comes from making life more pleasant for everyone. What do you mean when you say "That makes me happy"？
Perhaps you will learn something that will bring you peace of mind, comfort, money or it may be what you search for—happiness.
A. It is happiness.
B. It does not mean the same to all men.
C. They study all their life in search of it.
D. Happiness means the same to everyone.
E. Some people try to get it by making money.
F. When one man feels happy, another man will feel sad.
G. Read what different people have said about happiness.
Alice always wanted to be a singer. Music was the most(importance) thing in her life but, to tell you the (true), she took lessons for years and practised every day, in spite of all this, her voice didn't improve. Honestly, it didn't get better, it just got (loud).
Her teacher finally (give) up and stopped the lessons, but Alice refused to quit (停止), and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend.
The teacher was very worried about to say after the performance. She knew it be terrible and it was. She didn't want to tell a lie, but she didn't want to hurt Alice's feelings . Finally, she got an idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.
"Well," said Alice, "what did you think of (I) performance？"
"My dear," said the teacher, "you'll be better than you were tonight. "
