Watercolor（水彩画） is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men. They discovered that they could mix the natural colors found in the earth with water. In this way they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the wall of caves.
Fresco（壁画）, one of the greatest art forms, is done with watercolor, it is created by mixing paints
and water and applying these to wet plaster（灰泥）. Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelos’ works in the Sistine Chapel, very few know they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Glemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go downhill, and for the next several centuries watercolor was used mainly for doing sketches（素描） or as tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolor as a serious art form. The English have widely-known love for the outdoors and also for small, private pictures. The softness o
f watercolor had a strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolor continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States took the place of England and became the cen
ter of watercolor. It produced such well-known watercolor artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.
小题1: The first watercolor users were___________
A．the early cave men
B．Italian fresco artists
C．Flemish masters
D．the English artists in the 18th century小题2: In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought__________.
A．watercolor was more costly, but better
B．oil painting lasted less long, but clearer and brighter
C．watercolor was not suitable for serious works
D．oil painting
was difficult to use小题3: According to the passage, watercolor painting was put back in England because ______
A．it was easy to use outdoors
B．it was a strong tool
C．it was extremely bright in color
D．it was well suited to popular tastes小题4: What is the passage mainly about?________
A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting.
B．Oils having more power of influence over watercolor.
C．The rediscovery of watercolor in England.
D．The start and development of watercolor.
