【2012年虹口区二模】
       In the middle of the 1800s, France was considered the most important place in the world for art. One reason for that was the Academy, a government organization with some strict r__1__about art. It decided what could and could not be art. In order to be accepted by the Academy, an artist had to be very talented. Artists also had to paint exactly the way the Academy wanted them to. A brave group of painters challenged these ideas and changed art f__2__.
       Each year, the Academy had an exhibition of the art they had decided was the best. In 1864, a group of artists became a__3__because they didn‟t get into the show. They felt that their paintings were not bad; the paintings were just different. After complaining to the government, these artists were given their own show.
       The Academy thought all art should look realistic. But these artists were more interested in trying to show movement and the bright colors of daylight. In their opinion, it was more real to show these than it was to paint a scene which was as s__4__as a photo. It was also more interesting to show all of the different colors when light hits an object like water.
       By 1874, many different artists were painting in this new style, including Claude Monet. One of his paintings had the title, Impression: sunrise. A critic h__5__these new artists. He used Monet‟s title to make fun of these painters by calling them “Impressionists”, meaning that they didn‟t make real paintings. The critics who liked these artists thought the word was just right. They began to use it happily. They thought it was more important to paint h__6__they saw things instead of just what they saw. Other artists around the world felt that they could have this freedom as well. Because of the impressionists, the art w__7__was never the same.