PAINTERS OF A VIRGIN LAND

The 19th century was the golden age of landscape painting in America. In the mid-1800s a whole new generation of artists emerged and captured the public's imagination with reverent portrayals of the American landscape. The group came to be known as the Hudson River school, although its members ranged far beyond New York State's Hudson Valley in their search for subject matter. Their romantic renderings of the American scene are honored now as the first wholly indigenous movement in the history of American art.

The landscape tradition continued to the end of the century. George Inness, on the other hand, transmuted the Hudson River tradition into a highly individual style, imbuing intimate pastoral scenes with the lyrical beauty of his personal response.

He was a poetic interpreter of nature's changing moods and found his inspiration in the fields and meadows near his homes in New Jersey and Massachusetts. His paintings reveal his preoccupation with atmospheric effects. In all his works he sought to achieve the objective of arousing in the viewer emotions similar to those he himself felt while contemplating the scene.

The results of his sensitive work include some of the finest landscapes ever painted by an American.

In the closing decades of the 19th century America produced several artists who snared the greatest prize of all — immortality. One of them, Winslow Homer, is impossible to pigeonhole. He painted genre scenes of rural and resort life. He portrayed hunters and fishermen; he dashed off sparkling water colours. In his later years he turned to the Maine coast, creating potent images of the sea. But whatever his subject, he executed his powerful compositions with absolute fidelity to the facts.

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II Grammar

1. I always feel positive ..... the start of the week.

in

at

on

2. Hundreds of people ..... by the new factory this year.

are employed

were employed

have been employed

3. Many accidents ..... by dangerous driving.

caused

are caused

have been caused

4. Great Britain consists of ..... parts.

three

a three

the three

5 Do you want ... with you or do you want to go alone?

me coming

me to come

that I come

that I will come

6. Jeremy ..... basketball this season; he wants to concentrate on his studies.

doesn’t play

hasn’t been playing

isn’t playing

hasn’t played

7. - Do you remember me? - Of course, I do. We ..... several times before.

have met

meet

met

have been meeting

8. Pushkin, the great Russian poet, was born in ......

a 1799

the 1799

9. I ….. leave the party early last night. I wasn’t very well.

have to

was to

had to

must

10 ‘Where ...?’ ‘In London’.

were you born

are you born

have you been born

did you born

III Essay Writing

Will modern technology such as the internet ever replace the book or the written word as the main source of information?

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EXAM CARD XII

AMERICAN GENIUS

Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was easily the foremost American scientist of his day, and his ingenuity was immensely wide ranging. He was a printer, publisher, writer, statesman, and scientist. He was also a gifted inventor. Here are some of his inventions.

Having established by observation and logic, and then by a practical kite test, that lightning is atmospheric electricity, he went on to invent the lightning rod, to this day a building's best protection against thunderbolts.

Franklin also originated much of the vocabulary of electricity, including such terms as "battery", "condenser", "charge", "discharge", "positive", "negative".

Americans had previously relied on the open fireplace, which sent most of the heat up the chimney, or the German stove, which made breathing uncomfortable by constantly reheating the air. Franklin pulled the stove away from the wall to increase its heating efficiency and gave it a flue that lost less heat and also served as a simple radiator.

His restless mind fixed on problems large and small. It is to Franklin that we are indebted for the grocer's claw, the mechanical hand attached to a pole used for reaching items stored on high shelves.

At the age of 83, under the spur of his own nearsightedness, Franklin invented the bifocal. The top half of each lens was for distance viewing, the bottom half for reading.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1217