In 1890, Schjerfbeck settled in Finland. Teaching exhausted her, she did not like the work of other local painters, and she was further isolated when she took on the care of her mother (who lived until 1923). “If I allow myself the freedom to live a secluded life,” she wrote, “then it is because it has to be that way.” In 1902, Schjerfbeck and her mother settled in the small, industrial town of Hyvinkaa, 50 kilometres north of Helsinki. Isolation had one desired effect for it was there that Schjerfbeck became a modern painter. She produced still lives and landscapes but above all moody yet incisive portraits of her mother, local school girls, women workers in town (profiles of a pensive, aristocratic-looking seamstress dressed in black stand-out). And of course she painted herself. Comparisons have been made with James McNeill Whistler and Edvard Munch. But from 1905, her pictures became pure Schjerfbeck.

“I have always searched for the dense depths of the soul, that have not yet discovered themselves,” she wrote, “where everything is still unconscious—there one can make the greatest discoveries.” She experimented with different kinds of underpainting, scraped and rubbed, made bright rosy red spots; doing whatever had to be done to capture the subconscious—her own and that of her models. In 1913, Schjerfbeck was rediscovered by an art dealer and journalist, Gosta Stenman. Once again she was a success. Retrospectives, touring exhibitions and a biography followed, yet Schjerfbeck remained little known outside Scandinavia. That may have had something to do with her indifference to her renown. “I am nothing, absolutely nothing,” she wrote. “All I want to do is paint.” Schjerfbeck was possessed of a unique vision, and it is time the world recognised that.

1. Schjerfbeck's paintings may come as a surprise to many because _____.

[A] her paintings are rarely known outside the Nordic world

[B] her paintings have never been on show out of the Nordic world

[C] her paintings have the power to haunt people whoever have seen them

[D] her paintings focus on supernatural elements such as ghosts

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[A] The Convalescent is in fact a portrait of Schjerfbeck in her childhood.

[B] The Convalescent is a reflection of Schjerfbeck's sentimental childhood.

[C] The Convalescent is made as a result of an accident in Schejerfbeck's childhood.

[D] The Convalescent is featured by the child's stunned, melancholy expression.

3. Schjerfbeck chose to live a secluded life mainly because _____.

[A] she was exhausted by her teaching job

[B] her personality prefers this kind of style

[C] she could not appreciate the work of the other local painters

[D] her mother's bad health condition required her to adopt such a life style

4. Schjerfbeck remained little known outside the Nordic world probably because _____.

[A] she did not make efforts to publicize her works

[B] she knew that her works would gain worldwide recognition one day

[C] she only cared about her painting instead of personal fame

[D] the last thing she was interested in was to have people disturb her

5. We can infer from the passage that the most outstanding characteristics of Schjerfbeck's paintings is _____.

[A] her vivid characterization of common people

[B] her capture of the characters' soul

[C] the melancholy expression of the characters

[D] her unconscious sense of some mysterious elements





文章剖析


这篇文章介绍了画家Schjerfbeck的创作经历。第一段先由画展引出本文的主人公Schjerfbeck；第二段讲述Schjerfbeck早期的创作经历和成绩；第三段讲述Schjerfbeck的创作是如何走向成熟的；第四段讲述Schjerfbeck的创作体会和特点。





词汇注释


haunting adj.不易忘怀的，萦绕心头的

leg n. 最后一程

precociously adv. 过早地

convalescent n. 恢复期的病人

sprig n. 植物的小枝

redeem vt. 弥补，补救

moody adj. 喜怒无常的，忧郁的

incisive adj. 尖刻的

pensive adj. 沉思的

seamstress n. 女裁缝





难句突破


① The haunting paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck, on show in the final leg of a travelling tour that has already attracted thousands of visitors in Hamburg and The Hague, may come as a surprise to many.

主体句式：The haunting paintings... may come as a surprise to many.

结构分析：这是一个简单句，主语中有一个比较复杂的介词短语on show...作定语，在这个介词短语中，充当状语的介词的宾语a travelling tour带有that引导的定语从句。

句子译文：Helene Schjerfbeck那些让人萦绕心头的画作在这次巡展最后阶段的展出将会给许多人带来惊喜，而其实这次巡展已经吸引了成千上万来自汉堡和海牙的游客。

② To a modern eye it seems almost sentimental and is redeemed only by the somewhat stunned, melancholy expression on the child's face, which may have been inspired by Schjerfbeck's early experiences.

主体句式：It seems almost sentimental and is redeemed only by...

结构分析：这是一个并列句，第二个分句的状语比较复杂，介词短语的宾语expression带有一个由which引导的非限定性定语从句。

句子译文：在现代人看来，这幅画的风格似乎是感伤的，只有孩子有点儿发呆、忧郁的表情算是一点儿缓解。这可能是Schjerfbeck由自己小时候的经历获得灵感而创作的。





题目分析


1. Schjerfbeck's paintings may come as a surprise to many because _____.

[A] her paintings are rarely known outside the Nordic world

[B] her paintings have never been on show out of the Nordic world

[C] her paintings have the power to haunt people whoever have seen them

[D] her paintings focus on supernatural elements such as ghosts

1. 许多人看到 Schjerfbeck的作品都会大吃一惊，因为 _____。

[A] 日耳曼世界之外很少有人知道她的作品

[B] 她的作品从没在日耳曼世界之外的地方展览过

[C] 她的作品给人来带挥之不去的印象

[D] 她的作品注重表现一些超自然的元素，诸如鬼神等

答案：A　难度系数：☆☆

分析：推理题。文章第一段提到，Schjerfbeck的作品巡回展在德国和海牙吸引了很多人，大部分人看到她的作品时都会感到吃惊，紧接着就说日耳曼世界之外很少有人见过她的作品，但是她的作品理应受到更多人的欣赏。由此可以推测，她的作品是比较优秀的，但因为大多数人从没见过，所以第一次看到时会感觉震惊。因此，主要原因是日耳曼世界之外很少有人知道她的作品。选项B显然与原文不符，因为她的作品在日耳曼世界之外的地区也展示过。选项C和D只是片面地概括了她作品的一些特点，并不符合题意。

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[A] The Convalescent is in fact a portrait of Schjerfbeck in her childhood.

[B] The Convalescent is a reflection of Schjerfbeck's sentimental childhood.

[C] The Convalescent is made as a result of an accident in Schejerfbeck's childhood.

[D] The Convalescent is featured by the child's stunned, melancholy expression.

2. 根据文章，下列哪一个表述是正确的？

[A] 《正在康复的人》实际上是Schjerfbeck描绘自己儿童时期的一幅自画像。

[B] 《正在康复的人》反映了Schjerfbeck感伤的儿童时代。

[C] 《正在康复的人》是因Schjerfbeck儿童时期发生的一起意外创作的。

[D] 《正在康复的人》主要突出描绘了儿童发呆、忧郁的表情。

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：细节题。题目有关Schjerfbeck早期的作品《正在康复的人》，文中提到，从现代人的角度看，这幅作品的风格比较感伤，只是孩子有点儿发呆、忧郁的表情稍微缓解了这种情绪。这幅作品可能是作者受其儿童时期经历的影响才创作的，因为她小时候从楼梯上摔下来过。因此，四个选项中，A，并不是她的自画像；B，这幅画并不是要表现她感伤的儿童时代，只是她儿童时期经历过的一次意外摔伤是创作的这幅画的诱因而已；C说明了创作的诱因，是正确的；D与文章内容不符。

3. Schjerfbeck chose to live a secluded life mainly because _____.

[A] she was exhausted by her teaching job

[B] her personality prefers this kind of style

[C] she could not appreciate the work of the other local painters

[D] her mother's bad health condition required her to adopt such a life style

3. Schjerfbeck选择了一种隐居的生活，主要因为 _____。

[A] 她厌倦了教书

[B] 她的个性使得她选择了这样一种生活方式

[C] 她不喜欢当地其他画家的作品

[D] 她母亲身体不好，因此她必须以这种方式生活

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：细节题。Schjerfbeck选择了过隐居生活，这在文章第二段中有具体的描述。首先，她厌倦了教授绘画的工作，也不喜欢当地其他画家的作品，再加上她要负担起照顾母亲的责任，于是最终选择了隐居。她自己提到这个时说：“如果我允许自己选择一种隐居的生活，那是因为事情只能这样。”分析她隐居的原因，最主要的还是前两个，一个是厌倦了教授绘画的工作，一个是她不喜欢当地其他画家的作品，这都与她的个性有关。因此，追根究底，其原因在于她本身的性格。

4. Schjerfbeck remained little known outside the Nordic world probably because _____.

[A] she did not make efforts to publicize her works

[B] she knew that her works would gain worldwide recog-nition one day

[C] she only cared about her painting instead of personal fame

[D] the last thing she was interested in was to have people disturb her

4. Schjerfbeck在日耳曼世界之外的地方几乎不为人所知是因为 _____。

[A] 她没有努力去宣传自己的作品

[B] 她知道自己的作品总有一天会得到世界的认可

[C] 她只关心她的绘画，对名利并不感兴趣

[D] 她最讨厌的事情就是别人打扰她

答案：C　难度系数：☆☆☆☆

分析：细节题。文章最后一段提到，虽然有作品回顾展、巡回展出和传记，但是在斯堪的纳维亚半岛之外很少有人知道她，这也许和她对声望不予理会有关。“我不是什么名人，绝对不是，”她这样写道，“我需要的只是绘画。”文章强调她只关心绘画，不关心自己的名望，这是她不是很出名的主要原因。因此，C为正确答案。A和D都是她的一些行为，这些行为的原因归根结底还是在于选项C提及的内容。而选项B显得过分自信，显然不符合她低调的行事风格。

5. We can infer from the passage that the most outstanding characteristics of Schjerfbeck's paintings is _____.

[A] her vivid characterization of common people

[B] her capture of the characters' soul

[C] the melancholy expression of the characters

[D] her unconscious sense of some mysterious elements

5. 从文章可以推断出，Schjerfbeck的作品最显著的特点是 _____。

[A] 她对于普通人的生动刻画

[B] 她抓住了人物的灵魂

[C] 人物忧郁的表情

[D] 她有意识地添加了一些神秘因素

答案：B　难度系数：☆☆☆

分析：推理题。关于Schjerfbeck作品的特点，文章并没有直接提及，但是可以从字里行间判断出来。Schjerfbeck作品的主要题材是人物，在最后一段中提到，她为了把握人物的灵魂，运用了各种手段，可见，她作品的主要特点在于她对人物灵魂的把握，因此答案B正确。A和C都是她画作的一些表面特点，而其最根本的特点还是在于抓住了人物的灵魂。选项D的表述虽然也是特点之一，但也还是为选项B服务的。





参考译文


Helene Schjerfbeck那些让人萦绕心头的画作在这次巡展最后阶段的展出将会给许多人带来惊喜，而其实这次巡展已经吸引了成千上万来自汉堡和海牙的参观者。日耳曼世界之外很少有人了解这位于1946年去世的芬兰艺术家的作品，但应该有更多的人熟悉她的作品。在这120幅作品中，有20幅是她的自画像，这是她创作的自画像总数的一半。第一副创作于1880年，是一个渴望了解一切的大眼睛少女，而最后一幅是艺术家即将成为鬼魂的样子，而她正是在这幅作品创作完毕后的那年去世的。这个系列是最生动、最完美的自画像之一。

Schjerfbeck很早就表现出了天赋，11岁就进入了芬兰艺术协会的绘画学校。《雪中的伤兵》是一幅表现历史的画作，由一位私人收藏家买走，这使得她在17岁就赢得了可以环游整个国家的资金。她在巴黎学习，后来又到不列塔尼的Pont-Aven，在那里她画了一年，随后又去了托斯卡纳区、康沃尔和圣彼得堡。1887年，在访问康沃尔的圣艾夫斯期间，她创作了《正在康复的病人》——一个裹着毯子的小孩靠着一把大柳条椅坐着，手里玩着一根小树枝。这幅作品在1889年巴黎世界展览上获得了铜奖，并被芬兰艺术协会买走。在现代人看来，这幅画的风格似乎是是感伤的，只有孩子有点儿发呆、忧郁的表情算是一点儿缓解。这可能是Schjerfbeck由自己小时候的经历获得灵感而创作的。她4岁时从楼梯上摔了下来，再没有痊愈过。

1890年，Schjerfbeck在芬兰定居。她厌烦了教学，她不喜欢其他当地画家的作品，而后来当她开始照顾她母亲（1923年去世）时，就变得更不合群了。“如果我允许自己选择一种隐居的生活，”她写道，“那是因为事情只能这样。”1902年，Schjerfbeck和她母亲定居在工业小镇Hyvinkaa，在赫尔辛基北面50公里的地方。不过与世隔绝倒是有一种理想的效果，因为就是在那里Schjerfbeck转变为一名现代画家。她画了许多静止的生命和景物，但最重要的是画了她那忧悒、尖刻的母亲，还有当地的女学生、小镇上的女工（其中一位沉思的、具有贵族气质的黑衣女裁缝的侧面像最为突出）。当然她还画了自己。人们将她的画与James McNeill Whistler和Edward Munch的进行对比，但从1905年开始，她的作品变成了纯粹的Schjerfbeck风格。

“我一直在寻找灵魂的最深处，但是它们还没有找到自己，”她这样写道，“哪里有未知的东西，哪里就有最伟大的发现。”她尝试着使用不同的底色，刮了，擦了，画出了明亮的玫瑰红色的点；她做了一切自己该做的去捕捉潜意识——她自己的，还有她那些模特的。1913年，Schjerfbeck被一位艺术商人兼记者Gosta Stenman重新发现。这一次她又成功了。作品回顾展、巡回展出，接着是一部传记，但是在斯堪的纳维亚半岛之外仍旧很少有人知道她，这也许和她对声望漠不关心有关。“我不是什么名人，绝对不是，”她这样写道，“我需要的只是绘画。” Schjerfbeck有独特的眼光，现在该是全世界认识她的时候了。





TEXT THREE


When Catholic clergy or “pro-life” politicians argue that abortion laws should be tightened, they do so in the belief that this will reduce the number of terminations. Yet the largest global study of abortion ever undertaken casts doubt on that simple proposition. Restricting abortions, the study says, has little effect on the number of pregnancies terminated. Rather, it drives women to seek illegal, often unsafe backstreet abortions leading to an estimated 67,000 deaths a year. A further 5m women require hospital treatment as a result of botched procedures.

In Africa and Asia, where abortion is generally either illegal or restricted, the abortion rate in 2003 (the latest year for which figures are available) was 29 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. This is almost identical to the rate in Europe—28—where legal abortions are widely available. Latin America, which has some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, is the region with the highest abortion rate (31), while western Europe, which has some of the most liberal laws, has the lowest (12).

The study, carried out by the Guttmacher Institute in New York in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and published in a British medical journal, the Lancet, found that most abortions occur in developing countries—35m a year, compared with just 7m in rich countries. But this was largely a reflection of population size. A woman's likelihood of having an abortion is similar whether she lives in a rich country (26 per 1,000) or a poor or middle-income one (29).

Lest it be thought that these sweeping continental numbers hide as much as they reveal, the same point can be made by looking at those countries which have changed their laws. Between 1995 and 2005, 17 nations liberalised abortion legislation, while three tightened restrictions. The number of induced abortions nevertheless declined from nearly 46m in 1995 to 42m in 2003, resulting in a fall in the worldwide abortion rate from 35 to 29. The most dramatic drop—from 90 to 44—was in Eastern Europe, where abortion is generally legal, safe and cheap. This coincided with a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world's highest abortion rate, with more terminations than live births.

The risk of dying in a botched abortion is only part of a broader problem of maternal health in poor countries. Of all the inequalities of development, this is arguably the worst. According to a report published this week by Population Action International, a Washington-based lobby group, women in poor countries are 250 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women in rich ones. Of the 535,000 women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications in 2005, 99% were in developing countries, according to another report by a group of UN agencies, including WHO, also out this week. Africa accounted for more than half such deaths. As the UN report noted, countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality have made the least progress towards reducing it. A woman in Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, compared with one in 3,800 for a woman in the rich world.

1. The word “botched” (Line 5, Paragraph 1) most probably means _____.

[A] awkward

[B] wrong

[C] backward

[D] bungled

2. The fact that the abortion rate in Africa and Asia in 2003 is almost identical to that in Europe implies that _____.

[A] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country's national wealth

[B] the abortion rate has nothing to do with a country's restricting measures on abortion

[C] the abortion rate cannot be lowered through the legal measures

[D] the abortion rate can be controlled by the implement of tightened abortion laws

3. The conclusion of the study can be proved by the following proofs offered in the passage except that _____.

[A] the abortion rate in countries with strict abortion laws is higher than that of the countries with liberal laws

[B] there are much more abortions occuring in developing countries than in developed countries

[C] there was a dramatic drop in Eastern Europe between 1995 and 2005

[D] there was a big increase in contraceptive use in the region which still has the world's highest abortion rate between 1995 and 2005

4. Women in poor countries are much more likely dying in childbirth or pregnancy than women in rich countries because of _____.

[A] botched procedures of abortion in poor countries

[B] inequalities of development between rich and poor countries

[C] ignorance of and little emphasis on the maternal health in poor countries

[D] strict abortion laws in poor countries

5. The passage is mainly about _____.

[A] a study on the abortion rate between developed and developing countries

[B] a study on the abortion laws in different countries

[C] a study on the general maternal health condition in different countries

[D] a study on the influence of the abortion laws on the abortion rate