Fading beauty

     She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last for ever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.

     The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre Museum(盧浮宮博物館) where it is housed.

     “The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state(化學(xué)狀態(tài)).

     Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision (視覺) is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”

     However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.

     In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat. He said he panned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later.

     During World War II, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.

     Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.

70. What does the writer mean by “time is catching up with the Mona Lisa”?

   A. The painting woman is not so beautiful any more.

   B. Ageing is something that affects us all.

   C. The painting needs repairing.

   D. At such an old age, she is no longer popular.

71. What makes the repair work difficult?

   A. The wooden panel is thin and old.

   B. No one knows exactly what materials were used to create the painting and how it might respond to treatment.

   C. The health of the painting is suffering.

   D. Experts can’t agree on how to carry out repairs.

72. What makes her so mysterious according to Professor Livingston?

   A. The materials the Italian artist used.    B. The way she smiles.

   C. The way Da Vinci painted the smile.   D. It plays a trick upon the human eyes

Confucius was born five hundred and fifty years before Christ. Unlike Jesus Christ, he did not bring words of God to the people. He was a clever teacher and a philosopher, looking for truth and wisdom. Most of his teaching was about life in this world.

     Confucius was very keen to give people good rulers. Someone asked him, “What does a country need?” Confucius answered, “Enough food, a good army, and a good leader.” The people then asked, “Which one is the most important?” Confucius answered, “An army is not very important. All men must die, so food is not the most important. But if the leader of the country is not good, then everything will be bad,”

61. A philosopher is a person who ___.

   A. does not like Jesus Christ          B. teaches people something about God

   C. Seeks after truth and wisdom   D. is more clever than most of other people

62. Jesus Christ ____.

   A. was born more than half a century earlier than Confucius

   B. taught people anything about God

   C. did not tell people anything about God

   D. was a philosopher sent by God

63. Confucius taught people all these things except ____.

   A. how to live in the world  

   B. the importance of the leader of the country

   C. any ideas about God      

D. how to make good judgements

64. For Confucius a man____.

   A. could not escape death 

   B. would die if he didn’t have a good ruler

   C. was not important compared with food

   D. ought to die if he considered food to be the most important for him

Although I had left school against the advice of my teachers, I had, without telling anyone, tried to  41  my studies in literature at evening classes. It was a tiresome  42  from one end of the city to another and to  43  among adults was uninteresting. I was the youngest in the  44 , so the friendship I knew at school was  45 . I put up with it for a short period. It was  46  long a walk on cold winter’s nights and it was hard to put my  47  into Shakespeare with wet shoes and trousers. So I continued writing poetry at home.

By chance, I  48  some prizes and awards for literature. A young woman from a  49  company came to the college one day. She told me that I won a national poetry award. I  50  at her in astonishment(吃驚) and disbelief. She wanted to make a short  51  about me, to which I said, “ No, I couldn’t do that.” Not that I had any real  52 . I was just frightened. In the end she  53  me that I should do it the following day.

So I did. They made a short film of me reading one of my  54  and I became  55  interested in literature than ever. I  56  what I should do after this, and decided some weeks later that I could not  57  myself spending the rest of my days dealing with machines. So one evening, I hesitatingly (猶豫地) told my parents that I wanted to _58  to school. They were greatly surprised and a little afraid, but they did not try to persuade me not to. They wanted to know if I was  59 , and if I knew what it meant and  60  I realized that if I gave up my job training, it would be very difficult to get a good job. But nothing could stop me, and they asked about the matter no further.

--In fact, I’m not used ___ to like that.

-- Neither am I.

   A. to being spoken  B. to be spoken   C. being spoken   D. to speaking

I order not to be disturbed, I spent three hours ___ in my study.

  A. locking          B. locked         C. to lock        D. being locked

He used to be a popular singer, but drug ____ his ruin.

   A. resulted from     B. contributed to   C. attended to      D. devoted to

He tried to go away without being noticed by his employer but luck ___ him.

   A. went with     B. went against   C. went over      D. went along

The teacher couldn’t make himself ___ attention to because the students were so noisy.

   A. to pay        B. to be paid     C. paid          D. pay

It was raining heavily. Little Mary felt cold, so stood ___ to her mother.

   A. close        B. closely       C. closed        D. closing

The food was so ___ that the child couldn’t help tasting it.

   A. smelly       B. invited       C. interesting    D. inviting