Passage 1(Art)Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887), a van Gogh self-portrait done in Paris, is one of his most intriguing yet most neglected works. The artist’s gloomy eyes stare out from his face in half-profile, facing to the left, and the world-weary expression initially appears to support the view of critics such as James Risser, who explains van Gogh’s self-portraits as a sustained search for identity.Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887) initially appears to comply with Risser’s evaluation. In this wor k, the painter depicted himself wearing a jumper of intense blue before a background done almost entirely in gray but with noticeable blurs of blue—most notably in the top right corner. Overall the painting appears to be unfinished, a hastily done portrait that the painter abandoned to create more lasting works.In its incomplete state we can precisely read “an unfinished life,” and in the wild strokes of casual blue in the background and splashed across the artist’s garments we are instantly confronted wit h the sense of growing “more and more out of control.”But is this an accurate evaluation? On the one hand, Risser seems to have legitimate cause for envisioning van Gogh’s self-portrait as psychological self-analysis, a painting that “reveals an emotiona l intensity hiding beneath the surface”. But is the chaotic surface effect of the blue in this painting actually a form of self-criticism, the artist’s own intense and emotional despair over his loss of control—or is it representative of an underlying aesthetic whose focus is not the painter himself? An intriguing alternative exists: van Gogh may not have painted the self-portraits as psychoanalytical evaluations of himself, but instead merely as experiments in technique. The artist often stated that he painted himself only because he lacked other models, a view found in the critical work of both Richard Kendall and T.J. Shackelford. Perhaps, then, van Gogh was not trying to learn about himself but about art as a whole while painting these portraits and hence we ought to read the self-portraits as a series of statements about art itself. The key to this analysis may be a careful exploration of the special color symbolism van Gogh attached to the color blue. Unlike our everyday association of blue with melancholy or boredom, the artist imagined blue as a symbol for the infinite or the limitless. Such a view calls into question the idea that self-portraits such as van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887) were a psychological profile of the artist’s melancholy or despair. Instead, when we consider blue’s special symbolic role asthe infinite in van Gogh’s Paris self-portraits, we discover a new narrative describing the painter’s own aesthetic: his insistence that the future of art lay in expressive rather than realistic methods.1. What does James Risser think of van Gogh’s self-portraits?A. Different self-portraits represent van Gogh’s different attitude towards life.B. Many of his self-portraits have been neglected by critics.C. Van Gogh sought for identity through all his self-portraits.D. Van Gogh expressed his weariness of the world in most of his self-portraits.2. Which description is mentioned in the second paragraph about van Gogh’s Self-portrait with a Straw Hat?A. The painting is not well done.B. The painting mainly used gray.C. The painter used blue but erased it later.D. The portrait showed a depressed emotion.3. Who felt that the self-portrait showed “an unfinished life”?A. Van Gogh himself.B. Risser’s opponents.C. The author.D. James Risser.4. According to Richard Kendall and T.J. Shackelford, the Self-portrait with a Straw Hat may not have anything to do with __________.A. van Gogh’s painting techniqueB. the symbolism of colorC. the psychological analysis of the painterD. the painter’s aesthetic5. According to van Gogh himself, his self-portraits were intended to be __________.A. narrativeB. expressiveC. analyticD. artisticPassage 2 (British customs and culture.)Scottish customs and traditions cover a very wide range of topics. Everything from kilts to golf, bagpipes to whisky, Celtic crosses to Protestant missionary work, the "second sight" to Nessie.The history of the bagpipes takes us a long way back from today and far away from Scotland.Ever yone thinks about Scotland when they hear the word “bagpipe”, but this instrument is so old that true age and origin are unknown. In some historical documents it is written that the pipes were first played somewhere around Asia Minor in 1000 BC. Also, it is said, by some, that "Emperor Nero played the "Pipes" not the fiddle, while Rome burned." Some 'form' of bagpipes are used in many European countries but in Scotland they have become an integral part of the country's culture. Scotland is the ancestral home of the "Great Highland Bagpipes" known to all as the "Great Pipes".A Pipe band is one thing that every visitor of Scotland wants to see. These are groups of men (in modern times it can be both men and women); each group has matching skirts, fancy jackets and strange little hats. They march around squeezing the air out of big tartan bags (known as bagpipes) and blowing it in again through a pipe attached to the bag. This results in a racket known as "the skirl o' the pipes" which is almost indistinguishable from the noise made by the haggis during the mating season. These pipe bands often turn out to be Australians, not Scots at all!The tartan kilt has long been the most recognizable cultural tradition of the Highland Scots, but just like the other symbols, kilts have also an unknown origin. One sure fact is that the wearing of the kilt has been developed in the 19th century during the reign of Queen Victoria. It had been created for some rational reasons: men who wore it could make very quick moves, wade through rivers and shelter in huts, woods and rocks, etc.There is a question which will always linger next to the word ‘kilt’ and that is: Do people who wear kilts have underwear or not? Even though there are lots of people who consider this immoral, the tradition says that underwear should not be present if one is dressed in a kilt, the only exception being the participation to some sportive games and the presence of women. In the 50’s, soldiers were verified if they wore underwear by their sergeants who used a long stick that had in the top a mirror.Other two reasons for which Scotland is famous are its traditional food and of course, whisky. No one could argue that traditional Scottish cooking has produced one of the great cuisines of the world. The quality of the ingredients has always been excellent: the world's finest seafood including shellfish, lobster and crabs, and varieties of fish too numerous to mention; succulent lamb and beef; soft fruit including raspberries, strawberries and blackberries and a host of locally produced types of cheese, including cheddar from Ayrshire and Galloway. The national dish is the haggis, a type of food that combines mutton with other ingredients and which is served with turnip and potatoes.Whisky has been produced in Scotland for hundreds of years. It is well known that the Irish created this alcoholic drink, but the Scots were the ones who brought it to the form that we drink today. Whisky refers to a broad category of alcoholic beverages that are distilled from grains and aged in oak casks. The name means water of life.1. Emperor Nero was mentioned to illustrate __________.A. the legendary origin of bagpipesB. the relation between bagpipes and Minor AsiaC. the higher importance of bagpipes over fiddlesD. the cultural significance of bagpipes2. Which of the following descriptions is suitable for the bagpipe performance?A. Bagpipe bands used to consist of male Australians only.B. Bagpipes are played to imitate the noise of mating haggis.C. Bagpipe bands must dress in specific performance costumes.D. Bagpipes are too heavy to carry around during the performance.3. A lot of people consider it “immoral” to __________.A. ask whether people who wear kilts have underwearB. wear a kilt without having underwearC. have underwear when wearing a kiltD. set up such a privacy-violating rule of kilt-wearing4. Ayrshire and Galloway are most probably famous for __________.A. their excellent fruitB. their cheese productionC. the national dish, the haggisD. the traditional Scottish cooking5. The author chose to only introduce bagpipes, kilts, food and whisky because __________.A. the author had greatest delight in themB. the author was best-informed about themC. they are more interesting than other customs and traditionsD. they are more famous than other customs and traditionsPassage 11. [C]【定位】根据题干中的James Risser定位到首段末句。