托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐一：艺术（2）

1托福阅读常考话题：艺术练习题

►Paragraph 1: The earliest discovered traces of art are beads and carvings, and then paintings, from sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period. We might expect that early artistic efforts would be crude, but the cave paintings of Spain and southern France show a marked degree of skill. So do the naturalistic paintings on slabs of stone excavated in southern Africa. Some of those slabs appear to have been painted as much as 28,000 years ago, which suggests that painting in Africa is as old as painting in Europe. But painting may be even older than that. The early Australians may have painted on the walls of rock shelters and cliff faces at least 30,000 years ago, and maybe as much as 60,000 years ago.

1.The word “marked” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. considerable

B. surprising

C. limited

D. adequate

2.Paragraph 1 supports which of the following statements about painting in Europe?

A. It is much older than painting in Australia.

B. It is as much as 28,000 years old.

C. It is not as old as painting in southern Africa.

D. It is much more than 30,000 years old.

►Paragraph 2: The researchers Peter Ucko and Andree Rosenfeld identified three principal locations of paintings in the caves of western Europe: (1) in obviously inhabited rock shelters and cave entrances; (2) in galleries immediately off the inhabited areas of caves; and (3) in the inner reaches of caves, whose difficulty of access has been interpreted by some as a sign that magical-religious activities were performed there.

3.The word “principal” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. major

B. likely

C. well protected

D. distinct

4.According to paragraph 2, what makes some researchers think that certain cave paintings were connected with magical-religious activities?

A. The paintings were located where many people could easily see them, allowing groups of people to participate in the magical-religious activities.

B. Upper Paleolithic people shared similar beliefs with contemporary peoples who use paintings of animals in their magical-religious rituals.

C. Evidence of magical-religious activities has been found in galleries immediately off the inhabited areas of caves.

D. The paintings were found in hard-to-reach places away from the inhabited parts of the cave.

►Paragraph 3: The subjects of the paintings are mostly animals. The paintings rest on bare walls, with no backdrops or environmental trappings. Perhaps, like many contemporary peoples, Upper Paleolithic men and women believed that the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury, and if that were indeed their belief, it might explain why human figures are rarely depicted in cave art. Another explanation for the focus on animals might be that these people sought to improve their luck at hunting. This theory is suggested by evidence of chips in the painted figures, perhaps made by spears thrown at the drawings. But if improving their hunting luck was the chief motivation for the paintings, it is difficult to explain why only a few show signs of having been speared. Perhaps the paintings were inspired by the need to increase the supply of animals. Cave art seems to have reached a peak toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period, when the herds of game were decreasing.

5.The word “trappings” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. conditions

B. problems

C. influences

D. decorations

6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. Upper Paleolithic people, like many contemporary peoples, believed that if they drew a human image in their cave art, it would cause death or injury.

B. Many contemporary people believe that the drawing of a human image can cause death or injury, so they, like Upper Paleolithic people, rarely depicted human figures in their cave art.

C. If Upper Paleolithic people, like many contemporary peoples, believed that the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury, this belief might explain why human figures are rarely depicted in cave art.

D. Although many contemporary peoples believe that the drawing of a human image can cause death or injury, researchers cannot explain why Upper Paleolithic people rarely depicted human figures in their cave art.

7.According to paragraph 3, scholars explained chips in the painted figures of animals by proposing that

A. Upper Paleolithic artists used marks to record the animals they had seen

B. the paintings were inspired by the need to increase the supply of animals for hunting

C. the artists had removed rough spots on the cave walls

D. Upper Paleolithic people used the paintings to increase their luck at hunting

8.Why does the author mention that Upper Paleolithic cave art seemed to have “reached a peak toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period, when the herds of game were decreasing”?

A. To argue that Upper Paleolithic art ceased to include animals when herds of game became scarce

B. To provide support for the idea that the aim of the paintings was to increase the supply of animals for hunting

C. To emphasize the continued improvement in the quality of cave art throughout the Upper Paleolithic period

D. To show the direct connection between the decrease in herds of game and the end of the Upper Paleolithic period