小说《老人与海》中的大海和鲨鱼象征着____，老人与鲨鱼的搏斗，是一场____的惊心动魄的悲剧。而老人在殊死搏斗中，表现了无与伦比的____，不失人的尊严，虽败犹荣，____并没有被打败， 一个胜利的失败者，一个失败的英雄，一个“____”形象。

①果蝇   ②蝗虫   ③蜜蜂   ④蟋蟀

Is your birthday on June 4th?

____

    Motion pictures are so much a part of our lives that it's hard to imagine a world without them. We enjoy them in theatres, at home, in offices, in cars and buses, and on airplanes.

    ① For about 100 years, people have been trying to understand why this medium has so attracted us. Films communicate information and ideas, and they show us places and ways of life we might not otherwise know. Important as the benefits are, though, something more is at stake. Films offer us ways of seeing and feeling that we find deeply satisfying. They take us through experiences. The experiences are often driven by stories, with characters we come to care about, but a film might also develop an idea or explore visual qualities or sound textures. A film takes us on a journey, offering a patterned experience that engages our minds and emotions.

    ② Films are designed to have effects on viewers. Late in the 19th century, moving pictures emerged as a public amusement. They succeeded because they spoke to the imaginative needs of a broad-based audience. All the traditions that emerged－ telling fictional stories, recording actual events, animating objects or pictures, experimenting with pure form－aimed to give viewers experiences they couldn't get from other media. The men and women who made films discovered that they could control aspects of cinema to give their audience richer, more engaging experiences. Learning from one another, expanding and refining the options available, filmmakers developed skills that became the basis of film as an art form.

    ③ The popular origins of cinema suggest that some common ways of talking won't help us much in understanding film. Take the distinction between art and entertainment. Some people would say that blockbusters(大片) playing at the multiplex are merely “entertainment”, whereas films for a narrower public－perhaps independent films for festival fare, or specialized experimental works－are true art. Usually the art / entertainment split carries a not-so-hidden value judgment: art is high-brow, whereas entertainment is superficial. Yet things aren't that simple. As we just indicated, many of the artistic resources of cinema were discovered by filmmakers working for the general public. During the 1910s and 1920s, for instance, many films that aimed only to be entertaining opened up new possibilities for film editing. As for the matter of value, it's clear that popular traditions can promote art of high quality. Cinema is an art because it offers filmmakers ways to design experiences for viewers, and those experiences can be valuable.

    ④ Sometimes, too, people treat film art as opposed to film as a business. This split is related to the issue of entertainment, since entertainment generally is sold to a mass audience. Again, however, in most modern societies, no art floats free of economic ties. Novels good, bad, or indifferent are published because publishers expect to sell them. Painters hope that collectors and museums will acquire their work. True, some artworks are funded through taxes or private donations, but that process, too, involves the artist in a financial transaction(交易). Films are no different. Others are funded by patronage or public moneys. Even if you decide to make your own digital movie, you face the problem of paying for it－and you may hope to earn a little extra for all your time and effort.

    The crucial point is that considerations of money don't necessarily make the artist any less creative or the project any less worthwhile. Money can corrupt any line of business (consider politics), but it doesn't have to. In Renaissance Italy, painters were commissioned by the Catholic church to illustrate events from the Bible. Michaelangelo and Lenonardo da Vinci worked for hire, but it would be hard to argue that it hurt their artistry.

    Here we won't assume that film art prevents entertainment. We won't take the opposite position either－claiming that only Hollywood mass-market movies are worth attention. Similarly, we don't think that film art rises above commercial demand, but we also won't assume that money rules everything. Any art form offers a vast range of creative possibilities. Our basic assumption is that as an art, film offers experiences that viewers find worthwhile.

阅读下文,完成下题。

孤独的舞者

蒋智润

    ①秋天,草地上一片寂静,萧瑟冷清。大地上积满了落叶,枯败的叶子蜷缩着,如一张张满是皱纹的脸疲倦地向上张望着。阳光下,小草儿如漂洗过的白银一般,浅黄浅黄的,迎着秋风簌簌作响。四下里静悄悄的,一切都显得无精打采的,凛冽干燥的寒风暗示着这个季节并不属于脆弱的生命。

    ②然而,在绝望的阴影里似乎总是潜伏着那么一丝愉悦的惊喜。瞧去!不远处一只小小的蝴蝶,一身洁白,半透明的翅膀正不紧不慢地拍打着,宛若一朵飞舞着的雪花,细小的身子忽上忽下回旋跳跃着。一忽儿,轻轻地落在草叶尖上,吻一吻,旋即又飞走了。我想,它的内心该是被某种热切的渴望敦促着吧,孜孜以求,永不懈怠。

    ③枯黄的草地在我眼里忽然变成一方广阔的舞台,舞台上,这只小小的蝴蝶正孤独地旋着舞演一场独角戏。没有灯光,没有音乐,没有观众,没有掌声,孤独的舞者只是默默地奉献着它最美丽的舞姿,舞姿里有忧伤的美丽,舞姿里有优雅的欢乐。舞啊……舞啊……所有的绝望,所有的欢乐,所有的痛楚都融进这绰约的舞姿里。整个世界停顿下来,默默地注视着,万籁俱寂,周遭的大自然也莞尔笑了。

    ④一只小小的蝴蝶就这样征服了整个世界。夏日里,会有许许多多这样的蝴蝶,小小的,白白的,舞动在世界的各个角落,成群结队地飞过这个季节,不留下一丝痕迹。当花儿慢慢零落,生机勃勃的绿色也渐渐褪去,只留下孤零零的大地,光秃秃地裸露着,生命俱凋亡,仿佛干涸的生命之滩。夏日,兴旺茂盛的夏日,一天天远去了。这时,从某个不为人知的角落里,孤独的舞者悄然而至,开始享受它那姗姗来迟的短暂的生命。尽管,留给这个“不可理喻”的小生命的,并没有多少舒适与安慰,在这静默的季节里,它仍是这广漠舞台上唯一的主角。不知这小东西是否明白“美好东西的获得往往要做出巨大的牺牲”。代价的确是巨大的,秋天来临,日子一天天过去,寒冷一天天加剧,这一天天加剧的寒冷会无情地吞噬蝴蝶的生命。然而,重要的并不是生命的长度,而是其价值。

    ⑤不要怕在人生的舞台上做一个孤独的舞者!有多少人,在各自的生活中始终扮演着平庸卑微的角色,却从来没有拥有过自己的人生舞台?又有多少人,随波逐流,将自己独特的个性淹没在茫茫人海?舞步回旋,陌陌前路,何处蔷薇?而在世间的某个角落,一个含苞欲放的花骨朵儿正默默地等待着属于她的那只蝴蝶。有一天,他们相遇,娇嫩的花骨朵儿便张开她的怀抱热情地迎接那久久等待的客人旋着舞步缓缓而来。

（选自《读者》）