Ina northern Italian city, a Polish pianist sits down at an instrument that look-组卷网

阅读理解-阅读单选 0.65 引用1 组卷46

In a northern Italian city, a Polish pianist sits down at an instrument that looks like an old-fashioned piano. As his hands float over the keyboard, the sound reaching his audience is remarkably beautiful, reminding people of a string quartet (弦乐四重奏). The amazing instrument is actually based on the design drafts Leonardo da Vinci made in his notebooks with the dream of reproducing a cooperative musical performance played from a keyboard.

The concert was a reminder that, even in an age of the Know-It-All, the breadth (广度) of Leonardo's interests was extraordinary. It covers not only painting, architecture, mathematics, engineering and numerous branches of science, but music too. “How many specialists would we need today to attempt Leonardo's researches?” asks Martin Kemp, professor of Oxford University. “At least 13. Maybe more.”

Leonardo da Vinci had astonishing powers of observation, and an exceptional talent for making connections between different areas of knowledge. From iconic paintings — “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” — to designs for flying machines, Leonardo combined science and art to create works that have become part of humanity's story. However, the endless list of unpublished studies and unfinished artworks highlighted the fact that, outside the field of painting, his legacy (遗产) — as distinct from his genius — was modest. Because he failed to publish his theories and findings, hundreds of years were to pass before they were discovered by someone else.

Thankfully, with Leonardo's notebooks making their way to the greater public. people come to see his glory and realize how much we still have to learn. In his notebooks, we find such questions as, describe the tongue of the woodpecker. Why do people yawn? Why is the sky blue? He is passionately curious about everyday phenomenon that most of us quit questioning once we get out of our wonder years.

Being curious about everything and curious just for curiosity's sake, not simply because it's useful, is the defining trait (品质) of Leonardo. It's how he pushed himself and taught himself to be a genius. We'll never emulate Einstein's mathematical ability. But we can all try to learn from, and copy, Leonardo's curiosity.

【小题1】What is the function of Paragraph One?

A．To describe how a string quartet works.

B．To introduce a concert performed by a Polish pianist.

C．To show the pianist's talent in designing the instrument.

D．To serve as an example of how diverse Leonardo's interests were.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “modest” imply in Paragraph Three?

A．Leonardo's legacy was limited only to the field of painting.

B．Leonardo's artworks were not as good as those of other geniuses'.

C．Leonardo was humble and didn't want to show off his achievements.

D．People didn't have much knowledge of Leonardo's legacy before his works were discovered.

【小题3】What does the last two paragraphs mainly talk about?

A．Why curiosity makes a difference to us.