Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853．
The son of a pastor(牧师), brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence． Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness（过分热心的）．
He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty． The works of his early Dutch period are somber-toned, sharply lit, genre paintings of which the most famous is "The Potato Eaters" (1885)． In that year van Gogh went to Antwerp where he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints．
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery． In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists． His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health． He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art． Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results． Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles． Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off． Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment．
“It is never too late and you are never too old to start something new！” says Englishtown1Ellen Rema.Ellen began to learn English at the age of 50，and in just a few years，she has made2progress!
Ellen chose to study at Englishtown because no evening classes were3in the German countryside where she lives.At Englishtown，she joins4classes online and speaks with live native Englishspeaking teachers.
“Englishtown is a wonderful place to5.” she says.“My son always says，mom，you are a bit6.He cannot understand why I spend so many hours studying，7love it.I do it for myself.”
In 2001，Ellen began with the first level of Englishtown and quickly8.“I spent hours and hours studying，”she said.“Maybe I wanted too much in a short time.I finished all my9after 2 years，but noticed I still had10difficulties.”
Instead of11 ， she chose to press on.After four years at Englishtown，she's still studying in the online classroom，but now to perfect her already12English，she has set new13for herself and14understanding grammar points.
“Studying online is never15 ， but you need selfdiscipline，selfmotivation and staying power，”she says.“If you really want to learn，never quit even when you notice difficulties or when you think there is no16.Practice，practice，practice！”
Ellen says studying English isn’t all about hard work.It should also be17！ “I really like the online conversation classrooms，”she says.“I have learned so much about other cultures and traditions.I’m open for all 18.”
Ellen has been able to 19her English to use by visiting England five times! “I’m very thankful to Englishtown because most of the English I know now was learned here，” Ellen says.“My life has 20with Englishtown.”
—Yes.They are accustomed ________ very late.
—________.You're here now.Come in and sit down.（ ）
Close your eyes for a minute and imagine what life would be like if you had a hundred dollars less.Also imagine what it would be like spending the rest of your life with your eyes closed.Imagine having to read this page,not with your eyes but with your fingertips.
With existing medical knowledge and skills，twothirds of the world's 42 million blind should not have to suffer.Unfortunately，rich countries possess most of this knowledge,while developing countries do not.
ORBIS is an international nonprofit organization which operates the world's only flying teaching eye hospital.ORBIS intends to help fight blindness worldwide.Inside a DC8 aircraft，there is a fullyequipped teaching hospital with television studio and classroom.Doctors are taught the latest techniques of bringing sight back to people here.Project ORBIS also aims at promoting peaceful cooperation(合作) among countries.
ORBIS tries to help developing countries by providing training during threeweek medical programs.ORBIS has taught sightsaving techniques to over 35,000 doctors and nurses，who continue to cure tens of thousands of blind people every year.ORBIS has conducted 17 plane programs in China so far.For the seven to ten million blind in China，ORBIS is planning to do more for them.At the moment an ORBIS team is working on a longterm plan to develop a training center and to provide eye care services to Shanxi Province.ORBIS needs your help to continue their work and free people from blindness.
For just US $38,you can help one person see;for $380 you can bring sight to 10 people;$1,300 helps teach a doctor new skills; and for $13,000 you can provide a training program for a group of doctors who can make thousands of blind people see again.Your money can open their eyes to the world.Please help ORBIS improve the quality of life for so many people less fortunate than ourselves.
Throughout the history of the arts, the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change—to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
Landscape is another unchanging element (元素) of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17thcentury Dutch painters to the 19thcentury romanticists (浪漫主义艺术家 ) and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie, one of the new American realists, continued this practice. Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees. In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotions and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography to help both the eyes and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.
Besides, all art begs the ageold question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the CroMagnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is a necessary struggle for artists of all periods.
Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present, Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.
结合语境，根据首字母或汉语提示用单词的适当形式填空。
假如你叫李华，是一名高中生。你和外国笔友Lucy都是文学爱好者，尤其喜欢英语诗歌。最近，Lucy发来电子邮件，询问你最喜欢哪一首英语诗歌、作者是谁、你为什么喜欢它。
1）请根据自己的亲身体会，给Lucy写一封电子邮件。
2）词数100左右。开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Lucy,
I am glad to tell you about my favorite poem. ……
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours,
Li Hua
→We won't be able to tell what functions the robot has until we it.
→The prisoner was after three years in prison.
→The little girl in red likes fruit and bananas .
→ when you are standing on the stage.
→By the end of last month he had all his savings.
→Our class twenty boys and thirty girls.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（﹨）划掉。
删除：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1）每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2）只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I got up early this morning, so I went to school without breakfast. I walked in so a hurry that I stepped on a banana peel dropped by an old man walk in front of me. As the result, I fell in my back. I am so angry that I wanted to blame the old man, so I controlled myself at last. I picked the banana peel, putting it into the dustbin and ran to school. The class had begun, but I was very happy because I did that what I should do to protect our environment.
要点提示：1）节约水电等；
2）主动向周围人宣传节约能源的思想。
注意：1）词数100左右。开头已为你写好，不计入词数；
2）内容可适当发挥，注意行文连贯。
These days wasting things has become a common phenomenon around us. ……
A big storm took us by surprise. We didn't 1 to be hit hard so we didn't leave our home. When we realized our yard was 2and more water was coming, it was too late to move.
We had to climb on3of the roof (屋顶) to get away from the water after it started entering the house. The 4 went off, it was extremely dark and we were 5 We had to tie ourselves to each other, because the 6 was very strong. I had my laptop with me and kept posting cries for7 We stayed on the roof for eight hours 8 we were rescued.
It was a 9 night. Some people lost their lives. Many houses were completely 10 Our neighbor's roof was blown away.11 although our house was also hit, it remained intact (完整的).
At present, we keep going back, taking many photos—an requirement 12 the insurance company. We expect them to make an assessment of the damage, and then hopefully,13 our losses. And I'm particularly 14 that my university projects were lost. That means more work for me and I am due to graduate in December.
We are now 15 at a friend's house in Brooklyn. We won't be able to return to our house in months. There's no information about the support for the 16 of this storm. All we hear is to go to the shelter.
But now I'm 17 because my family and I are alive. And it's important to18 that there are still people 19 food, shelter, or gas in the cold weather. It's a truly terrible time for the city now but I believe everything will 20.
