會考英語

[題組:第22到24題]
Here’s The Piano Lesson, one of Henri Matisse’s most famous paintings. The boy in the picture is the painter’s son, Pierre. In the picture, Pierre looks quite serious. Why? Well, look at the yellow candle on the red piano. It’s almost burned down. So maybe Pierre has already practiced for hours. And Matisse uses a lot of gray, not a very fun color, right? It shows how the poor kid feels, don’t you think?
On the top right corner, you can see a woman sitting straight on a seat. Is she Pierre’s piano teacher? Or his mother? Well, if you’re a Matisse fan, you’ll know this is in fact another painting by him, Woman on a High Stool. Interesting, right? Matisse likes to do that a lot. In fact, there’s another work by Matisse in the picture. Did you find it? Right! The sculpture on the bottom left corner!
Matisse painted this picture in 1916. Pierre was already sixteen, but the artist painted his son much younger than he really was. Pierre had gone away to be a soldier, and Matisse didn’t know whether he would come back. Maybe this is a worried father’s way to remember the good old days.

What can we learn about The Piano Lesson from the reading?
(A) Matisse painted it when his son was away from home.
(B) The woman who sits on a seat behind the boy is his mother.
(C) Matisse uses yellow and red to show that his son was happy.
(D) The candle on the piano shows that the piano lesson has just begun.

[題組:第25到28題]
On Teachers’ Day, we thank our teachers for their hard work. We also celebrate this day to remember Confucius, the great Chinese teacher from 2,500 years ago. Well, that’s everything we’re taught about Teachers’ Day. But, the first Teachers’ Day was not on Confucius’s birthday, and it was not about thanking our teachers.

In 1930, Mr. Tai Shuang-qiu and other teachers celebrated the first Teachers’ Day in Nanjing. But there was nothing to celebrate. Teachers were paid very little and not respected. These teachers took this chance to shout out their problems. They had Teachers’ Day on June 6 because the date was easy to remember and near the end of the school year. This action by Mr. Tai and the other teachers was welcomed and followed by teachers from other cities. In 1939, the government made Teachers’ Day a national holiday. However, it was on August 27, the day when Confucius’s birthday was celebrated. Not everyone hailed this decision. Teachers’ Day was never about Confucius, and Confucius couldn’t speak for all teachers.

One funny thing was that the government was wrong about the date of Confucius’s birthday. In 1952, people found out he was in fact born on September 28. That was when we started to celebrate Teachers’ Day on Confucius’s real birthday.

What idea is talked about in the reading?
(A) How Teachers’ Day is celebrated now.
(B) Why Teachers’ Day was celebrated at first.
(C) Why Confucius was seen as a great teacher.
(D) How teachers today feel about Teachers’ Day.

[題組:第29到31題]

Why does National Formosa Railway write this letter?
(A) There is a train ticket sale.
(B) A train line will be closed in July.
(C) It will open a new train line in August.
(D) Some of its trains will run on different lines.”