托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐三：艺术（3）

1托福阅读常考话题：艺术练习题

►Paragraph 5: In the 1970s when the study of Australian archaeology was in an exciting phase of development, with the great antiquity of rock art becoming clear. Lesley Maynard, the archaeologist who coined the phrase “Panaramitee style,” suggested that a sequence could be determined for Australian rock art, in which a geometric style gave way to a simple figurative style (outlines of figures and animals), followed by a range of complex figurative styles that, unlike the pan-Australian geometric tradition tended to much greater regional diversity. While accepting that this sequence fits the archaeological profile of those sites, which were occupied continuously over many thousands of years a number of writers have warned that the underlying assumption of such a sequence—a development from the simple and the geometric to the complex and naturalistic—obscures the cultural continuities in Aboriginal Australia, in which geometric symbolism remains fundamentally important. In this context the simplicity of a geometric motif may be more apparent than real. Motifs of seeming simplicity can encode complex meanings in Aboriginal Australia. And has not twentieth-century art shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermine sequence?

10. According to paragraph 5, the complex figurative style differs from the geometric style in that the complex figurative style

A. varies significantly from region to region

B. is more meaningful

C. appears on only a few types of rocks

D. has changed little overtime

11. According to paragraph 5, Lesley Maynard made which of the following suggestions about Australian rock art?

A. There were a pattern of human figures being represented in a more complex style than animal figures.

B. Australian archaeology should concentrate on determining the sequence of styles that led up to the Panaramitee style.

C. The great antiquity of Australian rock art would probably make it impossible to determine the ages of the various styles found in rock art.

D. The geometric style of Australian rock art was replaced by increasingly complex figurative styles.

12. In paragraph 5, the author indicates that twentieth century art has shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermined sequence in order to

A. emphasize that it may not be possible to determine what the figures in ancient rock art represent

B. suggest a reply to those who have questioned Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art

C. provide a counterexample to Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art

D. indicate that twentieth century art is more advanced than ancient rock art

►Paragraph 2: The systematic study of this art is a relatively new discipline in Australia. Over the past four decades new discoveries have steadily added to the body of knowledge. The most significant data have come from a concentration on three major questions. First, what is the age of Australian rock art? Second, what is its stylistic organization and is it possible to discern a sequence or a pattern of development between styles? Third, is it possible to interpret accurately the subject matter of ancient rock art, bring to bear all available archaeological techniques and the knowledge of present-day Aboriginal informants? ■

Paragraph 3: The age of Australia’s rock art is constantly being revised, and earlier datings have been proposed as the result of new discoveries. ■Currently, reliable scientific evidence dates the earliest creation of art on rock surfaces in Australia to somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 years ago. ■This in itself is an almost incomprehensible span of generations, and one that makes Australia’s rock art the oldest continuous art tradition in the world. ■

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage

While a great deal of information exists, the answers to these questions are not yet definitive.

Where would the sentence best fit?

14. Direction: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provides below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Interest in the rock art of the original inhabitants of Australia has grown over the last two centuries.

Answer Choices

A. Late nineteenth century studies of Aboriginal rock art failed to recognize that a variety of styles existed.

B. The extreme age of the earliest Aboriginal rock art has been established but the interpretation of rock art images is still debated.

C. A sequence from geometric to more representative art fits many sites but does not necessarily indicate a progression from simple to complex meaning.

D. In determining the way in which Australian rock art was organized, archaeologists have made little distinction between geometric and figurative elements.

E. Older examples of rock art consist of simple, repeated geometric patterns while later rock art includes figures and animals.

F. Aboriginal informants were able to explain the meanings of ancient rock art symbols.