文学艺术类 知识点题库

    In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist, so he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo,

    That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype.

    Travellers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world. People took pictures of famous buildings, cities and mountains.

    In about 1840, photography developed. That was not simple. The photographer had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them. Some in the United States worked so hard. Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were lifelike (栩栩如生的).

    Photography also became a kind of art by the end of the 19th century. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake, ” famous German philosopher(哲学家) Friedrich Nietzsche said over a century ago. Music is a big part of our daily lives. But in recent years, some US schools have cut Music classes to control budgets(预算).

    For example, Chicago public schools hurt arts education when it fired over 1, 000 teachers. Among them, 10 per cent of the teachers taught Art or Music, according to The Washington Times. In fact, this is not just a problem in the US. In other countries, such as China and the UK, Music classes are not thought to be as important as ones like Science, Maths and History. That's partly because music is not seen as a very important life skill, and it isn't tested. Many students are busy with schoolwork, so parents and students choose to focus on(关注) subjects that are tested more often.

    However, learning music is beneficial(有益的) in many ways.

    When playing music, you need different abilities to work together. It is not as simple as it looks, according to Kenneth Guilmartin of Music Together, an early childhood music development programme. For example, when playing the piano, people see music notes and decode(解码) them in their brains. They also use their fingers to make sounds. You need to deal with all these things at the same time.

    Music has a special connection with science as well. You can see that many scientists are good at playing music: Einstein played the violin, and German physicist Max Planck was talented in playing the piano.

    There are plenty of classics, but many kids find reading a boring and hard task. Yes, classic books do look frightening, but there's a lot of fun under the covers. Here are three interesting classic books for teens to enjoy.

    The news for Antonio was not good. The ship that sank in the sea between England and France was his. Its valuable cargo lay at the bottom of the sea, and Antonio had lost his money. His friends hoped that there would be no more bad news for him.

    Shylock was still angry about his daughter, Jessica, and the news for him was not good either. He paid people to look for her, but they could not find her. They came back with news about money she had spent and the jewels she had sold. All this made Shylock angrier and angrier.

    However, when he heard that Antonio had lost a ship and all its valuable cargo, he was pleased. He decided that if Antonio could not pay back his debt when it was due, he would make him pay the penalty. He would take one pound of his flesh. He would choose the heart. Then Antonio would not be able to take business away from him any longer because he would be dead.

    The news got worse for Antonio. He lost another ship in a storm near Tripoli. It was a very large ship and its cargo was very valuable. The ship and its cargo sat at the bottom of the sea. The news soon came to Venice and Shylock was happier than ever. Now he would have revenge on his old enemy. He looked forward to taking one pound of Antonio's flesh.

    "You will not take a pound of his flesh, will you?" Antonio's friends asked Shylock. "What use is that? What can you do with it?"

    "I can use it to go fishing," he replied, "I can't eat it, but it will make me feel good. He has often laughed at me when I lose money. He even laughs at me when I don't lose money. He lends money to people for no interest, and so he takes away my friends and my business. Why does he do this? It is only because I am a Jew. But a Jew is just another person. Don't I have eyes and hands like he does? Don't I have feelings and passions like he does? Don't I eat the same food? Don't the same weapons hurt me as hurt him? Don't 1 get sick with the same illnesses as he does? Am I not cured in the same way? Don't I get hot in the summer and cold in the winter as he does? If you cut me, won't I bleed? If you tickle me, won't I laugh? If you poison me, won't I die? If you do me wrong, won't I take revenge? "

Music is good for us. According to the new study from the World Health Organization (WHO), music can 1 us happy and healthy. For example, when I feel 2 listening to some classical music helps me relax. When I'm down, I like pop music full of hope and love. It is easy for 3to fall asleep with light music. Some doctors 4 that people who love music may have a long life.

Near my house, a man and his wife have a small music house with mood music(情调音乐). People like to spend time here when 5are plying different kinds of music. Sometimes, we are lucky to hear some famous singers sing songs written by themselves. The songs are 6beautiful that we sing along with them. We communicate(交流)with one another 7 his special language. The most moving music is Chinese folk music(乡村音乐). It 8_us the sweet days in the past.

Everyone of us, rich or 9, young or old, may have his favorite song. 10 will be together with us as long as we live.

    In traditional Chinese culture, winter is a period of time to " hide " and to prepare for the new development in the coming spring. At the same time. it is a good time to study and to get more knowledge and skills to use in the New Year.

    Here are three new books to enjoy and you can learn something useful at the same time. I am sure they can warm your winter.

The Monkey King is the main character from the famous Chinese story Journey to the West. Most pupils in England heard this story for  first time in November 1979. However,this story is not new to Chinese children.

The Monkey King has a magic stick .He can sometimes make the stick so small he can put it in his ear. At other times , he is able to make it big and long. He uses it to fight bad people. If he (see) bad people, he will think of ways to fight them. In fact, he sometimes does not even look like a monkey .This is because he can turn himself different animals and objects. He can turn himself into a bee a fly. But unless he can hide his tail, he cannot turn(he) into a human.

The Monkey King (excite) the children of China for many years. And as soon as the TV program came out more than 30 years ago,Western children became (interest)in reading this story.The reason is that the clever Monkey King keeps (fight) to help the weak and never gives up. He (love) by children all over the world.

When Xiang Xiuping was a little girl, she lived beside a road that local Miao ethnic people traveled on (go) to the market, and noticed how beautiful and delicate their traditional clothes were. From then on, she became interested in Miao embroidery(刺绣)， she belongs to the Tujia ethnic group. She began collecting Miao embroidery (piece) in 1990. After she was laid off from a tobacco factory in 2000，she opened embroidery workshop that employed workers who also lost their jobs. Since then, all her earnings (use) to buy embroidery for her collection. "The works are not only art, but also a silent language that (tell) the history of a civilization, "she said. The star piece in the shop is a 148-meter-longembroidery (finish) in March 2013. It was designed by Xiang and took 48 women, including Xiang, 26 months to complete. The work shows an old man in a Miao village telling stories of the ethnic group's history the prehistoric age until today. Xiang spent about 10ycars (gather) the stories.

Imagine this. There's an apple and a piece of cake on a table. Which one would you like? The delicious cake or the healthy apple? A bestseller, Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength, suggests that willpower(意志力)is the ability to make decisions that are better for us in the long term, rather than in the short term.

Here is a famous experiment in the book: The Marshmallow Test. In 1972, Professor Walter Mischel tested the willpower of 600 four-year-olds to six-year-olds. In the experiment, each child was left alone in a room for fifteen minutes with a marshmallow(棉花软糖）on a table in front of them. They were given two choices: they could either eat it or, if they waited fifteen minutes, they'd be given a second one(and then they could eat both).

So, what did the kids do? Well, as you can imagine, 70% ate the first marshmallow within the fifteen minutes. But the other 30% showed willpower—they controlled themselves and waited for the second marshmallow. But then Mischel discovered something really interesting. Twenty years later, he got in touch with the children, who, by then, were in their early twenties. And he found that those who'd shown strong willpower were getting better marks at university and were more popular.

Willpower is like a muscle（肌肉), and the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

So, if you do daily "self-control exercises", such as making your bed or brushing your teeth, you'll improve your overall willpower. And daily willpower exercises will help you with those bigger goals, such as studying for an exam or training for a marathon.

Be careful though. Just like any muscle, your "willpower muscle" can get tired. If you've had to do lots of things that require willpower, take a break or give yourself a treat.

That way, you'll build up your willpower again.

And one last thing, the writer mentions people who learn foreign languages usually have a lot of willpower. So, congratulations!

Hope is the light we follow out of darkness. It helps us get through difficult times in our lives. In her book Read This Story All the Way Through, US writer Anna Georgoulas tells a story about hope.

The past few years have been difficult for 17-year-old Max. His 3-year-old sister has died and his mother is sad. He loses his job as well. He feels like life is meaningless and he wants to kill himself.

The date is set - the night before New Year - but as Max's countdown(倒计时) begins, he meets beautiful Jane. Jane has no family. Max decides to become her friend and take care of her.

The two go on a trip to New York City. Along the way, they meet different people - a father trying to get home, a runaway teenager, and a psychic(有特异功能的人) - each with their own stories and advice to share. Little by little, Max finds reasons to keep living during the trip.

Georgoulas said she wrote the book for" anyone looking for reasons to go on - because everyone deserves(值得) to have a few. "

What makes a good reader? You can find the answer in Readers Club. Today, we have some books for you. Come and join the fun!

Club members will get a discount(折扣) of 10% for hardback books and 20% for paperback books.

If you buy any of the two hardback books, e-books will be free for you.

    To become a better reader, we could learn to improve our reading comprehension(理解) skills like learning new vocabulary from the context, finding out the main idea and making inferences(推测).

    What is context?

    Context means all the words in a sentence or all the sentences in a paragraph. If you find a word you do not know, look at the words around it. These other words can help you understand what the words mean.

    What is a main idea?

    The main idea of a story tells what it is about. The other sentences add details to the main idea.

    Often the main idea is started in the first or last sentence of the paragraph. Sometimes you may find the main idea in the middle of the paragraph.

    What is an inference?

    An inference is a guess you make after thinking about what you already know. For example, a friend invites you to a party. From what you know about parties, you might infer that there will be games, gifts, food and drinks.

    The story of Journey to the West has been popular for many years in China. People of different ages like it very much. The Monkey King is the （主人公）of this story. He （领导）a group of monkeys （反对）the Emperor of Heaven and his men. One of the most excellent parts is when Monkey King made a terrible （团糟）in heaven. The writer, Wu Cheng'en, （创造）Tang Sanzang as Monkey King's master. There are also other characters such as Sha Wujing and Pig. Pig is （丑陋的）and he always makes trouble on the way. He always （期盼）to keep some private money and go back to live in Gao Family Village. But he's really lovely and all the characters （赢得）the hearts of the people. Chinese people like watching cartoons of Journey to the West as well as reading （份）of the story. The directors have made new cartoons to （满足）its fans.

In Tokyo, Japan, there are some "small people". Arrietty, a 10-centimeter-tall little girl, lives with her parents under the floor of a human house. They borrow things like sugar and paper from the humans. But they can't let the humans see them, or they will be in trouble. One day, a human boy finds them...

If you want to know more, go to the cinema to watch the movie The Secret World of Arrietty. It is a cartoon by Japanese manga artist (漫画家) Miyazaki Hayao. The New York Times says Miyazaki is the world's greatest cartoon maker.

Miyazaki was born in 1941 in Japan. He was very interested in manga when he was small and started to draw manga in 1961. He kept drawing and drawing from then on. Nine years ago, Miyazaki's Spirited away won the Academy Award (奥斯卡奖). It made him famous all over the world. In Spirited away, 10-year-old Chihiro Ogino learns to be brave after facing difficulties in a fairyland. Miyazaki wanted to say to children: Don't worry about growing up, and it will be all right in the end.

 Miyazaki's most famous movies are the topics about wars and nature. He also pays attention to the topics of sweet family stories and the relationship between humans and nature. 

Do you like watching TV? What's your favorite TV program? Did you hear of the program called The Reader? This program has been popular since it came out on CCTV-1 on February 18th, 2017. It is produced by Dong Qing.

In this program, you can listen to the sound in your heart. Maybe you can also meet an article which has the same idea as yours. Dong Qing invites many guests to read something that influences them most. In this program, not only famous people but also common people can be the guests. Xu Yuanchong, a 96-year-old translator, shared some of his personal experiences of translating Chinese poems into English and French. His words were simple but moving. He read a poem with tears in his eyes.

This program has turned reading into a new fashion. It shows the beauty of Chinese language and the power of reading. Now Reading Booths(朗读亭) are set up in many cities. Many people wait in long lines to read in the booths. Many schools have all kinds of reading activities, too. Lots of students take an active part in them. Reading can make us wise and happy.Also it can be done anytime and anywhere. Why not start it now? Let's enjoy our reading.

Two little boys

Two little boys had two little toys

Each had a wooden horse.

Joyfully they played each summer's day

Soldiers (士兵) both, of course.

Then Jack broke off his horse's head,

Sad for his toy, then cried with joy

As his young friend joe said:

Did you think I would leave you crying

When there's room on my horse for two?

Climb up here, Jack, and don't be crying

I can go just as fast with two

When we grow up we'll both be soldiers

And our horses will not be toys

And I wonder if we'll remember

When we were two little boys.

Long years past, war came so __________

Bravely they marched away.

Guns roared loud and in the mad crowd

Wounded and dying lie

Up goes a shout, a horse rushes out

Out from the crowd, to where Joe lay

Then came a voice he knew:

Did you think I would leave you dying

When there's room on my horse for two?

Climb up here, Joe, we'll soon be flying

I can go just as fast with two.

Now we are both real soldiers

And our horses are not toys

And I remember

When we were two little boys.

Have you heard of Swan Lake? It is such a famous ballet that it was once made into a drama film by a Russian director. Because of its quiet and smooth music, Swan Lake (consider) to be one of the greatest classical ballets. It was the Russian master of classical music, Tchaikovsky, who created it. He created 11 operas total in his lifetime. In 1871, he wrote a little ballet about swans for his relatives. During the time, Tchaikovsky created Swan Lake. He used some music from it for Swan Lake once in while.

The story of the ballet is based on a German fairy tale which is full of (sad). It's about a prince named Siegfried. He (fall) in love with the swan princess, Odette. However, Odette feels very upset about it, because she is a swan by day but a young woman at night. She is under a magic spell(咒语)that can be only broken by a man who will make a promise to love her forever. (lucky), Siegfried makes the promise. And he also sticks it.

How moving it is! But is a pity that their love story doesn't have a good ending. The (pain) ending of the ballet is the deaths of Siegfried and Odette.

The ballet was first performed on March 4, 1877 in Moscow, Russia. In 1895, some changes were made to the ballet. It was then performed in St. Petersburg, Russia. Most (perform) today are based on the latter version.

Why do people have the great celebration for Beethoven's birthday? This outstanding composer's(作曲家) works continue to catch millions of people's attention even 250 years later. His pieces are played more often than those of any other composer. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (第九交响曲)influenced music listening in the 20th century. The playing time for a CD was set at 74 minutes because it would fit the longest recordings of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This allowed people to enjoy the musical masterpiece on one CD.

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony has become the theme music of environmental activities because the work expresses a love of nature. Last November a concert was held in an elephant park in Thailand, where a pianist played passages from the work. The concert was part of the Beethoven Pastoral Project(贝多芬田园计划). The United Nations and others planned it to help promote (促进)climate protection

Who knows if Beethoven's music will be popular in the next 250 years? There is no doubt it will be enjoyed!