本文档如对你有帮助，请帮忙下载支持！
2007年英语专业八级真题 答案
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. while listening,
take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but yon will need them to
complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. when the lecture is over, yon will be given two
minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER
SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.
题 1 - 10
[原文]
Good morning, today's lecture, is the very first of a series of lectures on art history, so I'd like to
spend some time discussing with you the following topic: Why do we need to study art history?
And what can we learn from it?
First of all, I'd say, if you study art history, this might be a good way to learn more about a
culture, than it's possible to learn in general history classes. You know, most typical history courses
concentrate on politics, economics and war, but art history focuses on much more than this. Because
art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also their religious beliefs, emotions etc. In
addition, information about the daily activities of our ancestors can be provided by art, like what
people did for a living, what kind of dress they wore, what ceremonies they held etc. In short, art
can express the essential qualities of a time and a place, and the study of it clearly offers us a deeper
understanding than can be found in most history books and enables us to learn more things about
human society and civilization.
The second point I'd like to make is about the type of information. In history books,
information is objective, that is facts about political economic life of a country are given, but
opinions are not expressed. Art, on the other hand, is subjective. It reflects personal emotions and
opinions. For example, Francisco Goya was a great Spanish painter and also perhaps the first truly
political artist. In his famous painting, The Third of May 1808, he showed soldiers shooting a group
of simple people. His description of soldiers and their victims has become a symbol of the
enormous power or the misuse of this power that the government can have over its people. Over
100 years later, on another continent, the powerful paintings of Mexican artists depicted their deep
anger and sadness about social problems. In summary, through art you can find a personal and
emotional view of history.
Thirdly, art can reflect a culture's religious beliefs. For hundreds of years in Europe, religious
art was almost the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religious buildings were filled
with paintings that showed people and stories from the Bible. By contrast, one of the main
characteristics of art in the Middle East was (and still is), its absence of human and animal images.
This reflects the Islamic belief that these images are unholy. Thus, on palaces, mosques and other
buildings, Islamic artists have created unique decoration of great beauty with images of flowers of
geometric forms, for example, circles, squares and triangles. The same is true of other places, like
Africa and Pacific Islands. Art also reflects the religious beliefs of traditional cultures in these
places. As a matter of fact, religion is the purpose for this art and it's, therefore, absolutely essential
to it. Traditional art in Africa and Pacific Islands is different from Christian art. Christian art
influences people's religious feelings towards God. But the goal of traditional art in Africa and
Pacific Islands is the influence of spiritual powers, that is gods to enter people's lives. Each tribe or
village there had special ceremonies with songs and dances to make sure that crops, animals and
people are healthy and increasing in number. The dancers in the ceremonies wear masks, head
dresses and costumes that they believe are necessary to influence gods. SO these masks, head 本文档如对你有帮助，请帮忙下载支持！
dresses themselves, are revelry part of the art.
As we said, art depends on culture, different forms of art result from different cultures.
Similarly, the way that people view art also depends on their cultural background. This is my fourth
point. For most Europeans and Americans, art is mainly for decoration. It is something on a
museum wall or in a glass case. It makes their homes more attractive. People look at it and admire it:
"Oh, what a beautiful painting!" Besides, ideas are expressed in this art. This is a wonderful statue,
and admiring it, 1 might say: "It makes such a strong antiwar statement." But in other places, art is
not considered to be separated from everyday existence. It has a function, it has a practical role to
play in people's lives. A person in a tribal society might look at a mask and say: "Oh, this is a good
mask. It would keep my house safe." In brief, the way in which people enjoy or appreciate art
depends on their culture.
To conclude my lecture, we can say that art is a reflection of various cultures. But at the same
time, we have to remember that art also reflects the changes in society that take place when
different cultures influence one another. As people from tribal societies move to urban areas, their
values and beliefs change accordingly and their traditional art forms begin to lose their function. At
the same time, urban artists begin to learn a lot from traditional art. For example, African masks and
figures had a great influence on Picasso's works. And many American and Canadian artists study
the simplicity of Japanese painting. The result is that as the world gets smaller, the art of each
culture becomes more international.
OK, this brings us to the end of our lecture. I hope that after today's lecture, you'll understand
better the significance of the study of art history. Art enables us to know more about human history,
for example, people's views and opinions about certain historical events, and what's more important,
about different cultures, their religious beliefs, perception of art etc.
What Can We Learn from Art?
Ⅰ.Introduction
A. Differences between general history and art history
--Focus :
--general history: (1)
--art history: political values, emotions, everyday life, etc.
B. Significance of study
More information and better understanding of human society and civilization.
Ⅱ.Types of information
A. Information in hi story book is (2)
--facts, but no opinions
B. Information in art history is subjective
-- (3) and opinions
e.g. --Spanish painters' works: misuse of governmental power
--Mexican artists' works: attitudes towards social problems
Ⅲ.Art as a reflection of religious beliefs
A. Europe: (4) in pictures in churches
B. Middle East: pictures of flowers and patterns in mosques, palaces
Reason: human and (5) are not seen as holy
C. Africa and the Pacific Islands: Masks, headdresses and costumes in special
ceremonies
Purpose: to seek the help of (6) to protect crops, animals and people
Ⅳ. Perceptions of Art
How people see art is related to their cultural background
