【2017年整理】专八阅读预测.doc

专八阅读预测 TEXT A Until recently, the Louvre, Frances iconic museum wouldnt have dreamed of rolling out the red carpet for international party goers, however rich, allowing food and drink to be served in a gallery. Fund raisers may be standard practice at American museums, but then no American museum is like the Louvre which has served as the state-funded bastion of high culture in France for much of its 800-year history. A succession of French Kings built their art collections there,and in 1793 ,shortly after the French Revolution,it was turned into a museum that is now easily the most popular in the world. Last year it drew 8. 3 miilion visitors — more than a million of them American. But times are changing, state funds are tight, and the Louvre has an ambitious director named Henri Loyrette, who is seeking to pull the venerable institution into a new era. Tapping rich people around the globe for funding is just one of the changes hes brought about since becoming director in 2001. Armed with a vision of the Louvre as a beacon of culture that is both accessible and global,he has set in motion a dramatic opening to the outside world. So far, that includes signing a deal to create a Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi — a franchising concept pioneered by the Guggenheim — and staging exhibitions of the museums treasures in such places as Kobe, Japan, and Macau. U. S. museums are particularly benefiting, and not just the usual Louvre partners like New York Citys Metropolitan Museum of Art. Loyrette set up an unprecedented three-year partnership with the High Museum in Atlanta and has sent exhibitions to cities like Seattle and Oklahoma City. Most controversially, he has invited contemporary artists to exhibit at the Louvre and even decorated it — provoking howls of protests from French detractors. Loyrette ,56 , says his goal is not to be controversial just for the sake of it. But he insists, In a house like this , you need to open the windows. We hadnt aired for a long time. Some