Page 48 - index

2018 ‫מועד קיץ‬ - 47 - ‫ פרק שנ י‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

Reading Comprehension

This part consists of two passages, each followed by several related questions. For each
question, choose the most appropriate answer based on the text.

Text I (Questions 13-17)

(1) Emily Carr (1871-1945), one of Canada's most prominent artists, grew up in
Victoria, British Columbia, on the country's west coast. At the time, painting was
considered a pleasant pastime for young women but not an appropriate profession for
them. However, Carr was a determined individual – "contrary from the start", as she

(5) herself states in her autobiography. Her independent spirit helped her overcome the
many obstacles she faced on her way to becoming a celebrated artist.

After her parents died in 1890, Carr persuaded her legal guardians to allow her to
study art at the California School of Design. In 1893 she returned to Victoria, where
she painted and taught children's art classes for a few years. She then spent several

(10) years studying art in England and France, where her personal style began to take form.
Back in Canada, she explored British Columbia's forests and coastal villages and was
enchanted by the landscapes and by the culture of the native peoples she encountered.
These were to become the main themes of her art. Yet she remained unrecognized for
many years. She found no buyers for her paintings and no pupils to teach. To earn a

(15) living, she raised dogs, grew fruit, and rented out rooms in her house. She began to turn
her creative talents to writing and came close to giving up painting altogether.

The turning point in Carr's career came in 1927, when she was invited to exhibit her
work at a show in Ottawa devoted to west coast native culture. There she met members
of the Group of Seven, highly respected landscape artists. "Their works call to my very

(20) soul," she wrote. Deeply moved by their scenes of forests, rivers, and lakes, she became
determined to capture the essence of her beloved western Canada. From then on, she
enjoyed the support of the Group of Seven, who referred to her as the "Mother of
Modern Art".

Within a decade, Carr had earned widespread acclaim on both sides of the country,
(25) and major exhibitions of her work were held at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the

Vancouver Art Gallery. In 1941, she won the Governor General's Award for her first
book, Klee Wyck, which describes her experiences among the native peoples of British
Columbia. When she died in 1945, she was buried in Victoria, where the inscription on
her gravestone reads, "Emily Carr / Artist and Author / Lover of Nature".

Questions

13. A good title for this text would be -

(1) Emily Carr's Landscape Art
(2) Emily Carr and the Group of Seven
(3) Emily Carr's Long Road to Artistic Acclaim
(4) Emily Carr: Canada's Most Successful Painter

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬

.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬