公共英语二级阅读理解训练：Art and Literature

Art and Literature

A

　　本文词数:295

　　Almost every large city has its own museums. The museums often show things from the city’s or the country’s past, including its history, developments and other well-known achievements. That’s why museums are perhaps the best choice for a tourist who wants to learn about the city or the country.

　　The things that are displayed in a museum are usually the best things, just like the Louvre Palace in France which is regarded as one of three great museums in the world. Works of art such as the sculpture1 of VenusdeMiloand the MonaLisapainting are very famous. If I get a chance to visit France one day, the Louvre is of course the first place I will visit. We all want to see those things even if we are not artists.

　　Two other museums are the Metropolian Museum in New York and the British Museum in London. They are not as famous as the Louvre. However, if you are going to visit the U.S. or the U.K., your guide will surely introduce these museums to you. They are both very well-known places. The things on display are not only works of art, but also the country’s pride and joy. It doesn’t matter where they were produced; people just care about where they are displayed.

　　China has its own museums, and their themes can be very different —paintings, historical persons, books and so on. Every day, thousands of visitors go to these museums. Parents take their young children to museums in order to educate them and give them role models. Teachers take stu-dents there to show how great and beautiful China is. Friends meet at museums to do something different instead of simply having dinner together, and artists find their inspiration2 there.

　　Notes:

　　1. sculpture n.雕像

　　2. inspiration n.灵感

　　词数:53 处理时间:1'10''

　　Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

　　A. It is an introduction to four famous museums.

　　B. It describes some museums and their functions.

　　C. It describes the differences between China’s museums and foreign ones.

　　D. It describes the things that should be displayed in museums.

B

　　本文词数:248 参考时间:2'40''

　　Though he has been dead for more than 390 years, William Shakespeare’s books are still selling well. Over a million of his books are sold every year. There have been more than 600 films or televisionadaptations1 from his works. But if he were alive today, what would he probably be like?

　　"If Shakespeare were alive, he might be a businessman," Long-time Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart says. Shakespeare made some money as a writer over the course of his career, but his real wealth seemed to have come from owning shares in the theatres. Patrick also says that Shakespeare would also make a lot of money from writing if he were alive. Today, Shakespeare’s works are very popular with the public, and he would be collecting lots of money in royalties2 from the books and the hundreds of productions of plays in the U.S. alone. One common theatre director, for example, says that his company’s five-week run of one of Shakespeare’s plays earned 470,000 dollars in ticket sales. In other words Shakespeare would have made about 47,000 dollars in royalties from just one play.

　　Shakespeare was a crowd-pleaser and a smart businessman. He might have been another Spielberg, making romantic comedies and historical dramas. However, Michael Kahn, who planned to make a film about Shakespeare, said that he hoped he wouldn’t have to change his scripts in order to have everybody in the film live happily. But Hollywood is pretty forceful when it comes to those happy endings.

　　Notes:

　　1. adaptation n.改编本

　　2. royalty n.版税

　　词数:159 处理时间:3'11''

　　1. What is the main idea of this passage?

　　A. How much Shakespeare would earn today.

　　B. What Shakespeare would probably be like.

　　C. Shakespeare could succeed in Hollywood.

　　D. How Shakespeare made money.

　　2. The second paragraph mainly tells us that ________.

　　A. Patrick thinks Shakespeare’s real wealth came from owning shares in the theatres

　　B. Shakespeare would be collecting thousands of dollars in royalties if he were alive today

　　C. one theatre director said Shakespeare would make about 47,000 dollars in royalties

　　D. Shakespeare might make a living off of theatre and royalties if he were alive today

　　3. The main idea of the third paragraph is that_____________.

　　A. Shakespeare was a crowd-pleaser and a smart businessman

　　B. Hollywood likes plays with happy endings

　　C. Shakespeare wouldn’t change his scripts if he were working in Hollywood

　　D. Hollywood may not want to make movies of Shakespeare’s plays if they have sad endings