Vincent van Gogh is often remembered as the painter who cut off his ear in a fit of passion. He was a lonely man who often __1__ without food in order to buy paints, a man with few friends and a __2__ temper. Van Gogh's strong emotions not only __3__ his life but his paintings.
Many of van Gogh's paintings were __4__ by warm, yellow sunlight because he loved how it could __5__ the world in different ways. His painting Sunflowers, for example, is __6__ yellows and browns. These colors give the painting a __7__ of warmth. However, the sunflowers are __8__ dead and dying.
The result is a painting that __9__ the warmth of life that van Gogh loved with the feelings of __10__ that were all around him. It is a painting that is warm, beautiful and sad, all at the same time van Gogh's most famous painting, The Starry Night, __11__ this mixture of joy and sadness one step __12__. It is a landscape full of deep __13__ and shadows which showed the sadness van Gogh was feeling as he was painting, __14__ what he was actually seeing.
This is why van Gogh's __15__ in his painting look more imaginative than reality. The stars and moon in The Starry Night are __16__ bright; their light swirling above the darkening hills. A tree that looks like black fire cuts through the __17__ of the night, interrupting its beauty.
Because of his wild emotions, van Gogh was not __18__ during his life. He sold only one painting. However, people today who stand in front of Sunflowers or The Starry Night can __19__ the same joy and sadness van Gogh once did, __20__ he painted those deep blues and sunny yellows.
1．A. went B. came
C. carried D. sent
2．A. gentle B. tender
C. stormy D. short
3．A. developed B. affected
C. improved D. reduced
4．A. inspired B. taught
C. followed D. moved
5．A. show up B. turn up
C. cut up D. light up
6．A. full in B. filled with
C. filled of D. full out
7．A. state B. look
C. feeling D. touch
8．A. actually B. simply
C. entirely D. finally
9．A. compares B. includes
C. communicates D. mixes
10．A. happiness B. excitement
C. sadness D. worry
11．A. takes B. stands
C. raises D. continues
12．A. further B. deeper
C. longer D. closer
13．A. reds B. blacks
C. blues D. greens
14．A. other than B. rather than
C. as well as D. in addition
15．A. voices B. pictures
C. colors D. images
16．A. seldom B. unusually
C. accordingly D. properly
17．A. surroundings B. environment
C. view D. sight
18．A. understood B. noticed
C. rewarded D. trusted
19．A. experience B. recognize
C. accept D. determine
20．A. though B. however
C. if D. as
