18.As people have accurately observed,smiles are absent from early photographs.In 1852,for instance,a girl sat for her Daguerrotype,her head slightly turned,giving the camera an unsmiling look.She is preserved forever as a very serious girl indeed.Charles Darwin,a loving and playful parent,looks frozen in photographs.Why did our ancestors,from unknown sitters for family portraits(肖像畫) to the great and famous,because so sad in front of the camera?
The severity is everywhere in Victorian photographs.However,you don't have to look very long at these unsmiling old photos to see how incomplete the seemingly obvious answer is-that they are freezing their faces in order to keep still for the long exposure times.In Julia Margaret Cameron's Portrait of Tennyson,the poet dreams,his face a shadowed mask of genius.This is not simply a technique.It's an emotional choice.
People in the past did not go around in a continual state of sorrow.In fact,the Victorians had a sense of humor even about the darkest aspects of their society.Laugher was not just common in the past but accepted by society far more than it is today,from medieval canivals(中世紀狂歡節(jié)) to Georgian print shops,where people gathered to look at the latest funnies.Far from preventing festivals and fun,the Victorians,who invented photography,also created Christmas as a celebration as it is today.So the severity of people in the 19th-century photographs cannot be the evidence of generalized sadness.This was not a society in permanent desperation.Instead,the true answer has to do with attitudes to portraiture itself.
People who sat for early photographs understood it as a significant moment.Sitting for the camera was ceaper,quicker and meant that people who never had a chance to be pained could now be photographed; but people seemed to have taken it seriously in the same way they would be a painted portrait.Like a portrait painting,it was intended as a timeless record of a person.
To me those unsmiling people probably had as much fun as we do,if not more.But they felt no need to prove it with pctures.Instead,when whey sat for a photograph,they thought about time,death and memory.Perhaps we should stop smiling sometimes,too.
67.What do we know about the people in Victorian times?D
A.They laid importance on religious events.
B.They were skillful at portrait painting.
C.They valued their family life.
D.They enjoyed themselves.
68.The author mentions Portrait of Tennyson in Paragraph 2toB.
A.prove a theory B.support his opinion
C.introduce a painting D.describe a technique
69.The author thinks early people look frozen in old photos becuseC.
A.they lived in a traditional society
B.they had to stay still for a long time
C.they regarded photography important
D.they held negative views about painting
70.What is the author's attitude towards people not smiling in old photos?D
A.Skeptical.B.Critical.C.Neutral.D.Positive.
分析 本文屬于說明文閱讀,作者通過這篇文章主要向我們描述了維多利亞照片的發(fā)展史,人們逐漸的接受并習慣了照片.
解答 67.D.細節(jié)理解題.文章主要是在第二段以及第三段中講述了維多利亞時期人們的情況.A.他們很重視宗教活動,但從文章的第三段的內(nèi)容看來,只是提到了他們在過各種的節(jié)日的時候都是自娛自樂,玩得很開心,并沒有強調(diào)宗教的重要性,故不選;B.他們在繪畫肖像的時候很有技巧,文章沒有提到這一點;C.他們很重視家庭生活,文章也沒有提這個觀點;故綜上所述,可知D選項正確.
68.B.細節(jié)理解題.在第二段的首句中,作者就表明了這段的主題.為了證明他的觀點,他就描述了著名的詩人Tennyson的肖像畫中所表露的神情.故選B.
69.C.細節(jié)理解題.從第四段的內(nèi)容才能理解到,當時的人們都認為照相是一件重要的事情"People who sat for early photographs understood it as a significant moment",因此,他們要嚴肅地對待.根據(jù)這個分析,可知選C正確.
90.D.推理判斷題.Skeptical懷疑的;Critical批評的;Neutral中立的;Positive積極地,正面的.由本文最后一段的內(nèi)容理解,尤其是最后一句,看出作者從當時的人的角度去思考和分析為什么他們照相的時候表情僵硬,可知作者對他們當時的處境是理解并且贊同的,故選D.
點評 考察學生的細節(jié)理解和推理判斷能力,做細節(jié)理解題時一定要找到文章中的原句,和題干進行比較,再做出正確的選擇.在做推理判斷題不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實,要根據(jù)文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷.