Question

For many centuries，countless scholars have asked the question：What is beauty? As designers update the latest fashions and artists create their masterpieces, what is considered beautiful changes at an alarming pace.

Fifty years ago，the full-figured Marilyn Monroe was a symbol of the American aesthetic(美學(xué)的)value；today，many Hollywood actresses different in appearance from Marilyn’s have taken her place. However，aesthetic values not only differ from generation to generation，but do so along cultural lines as well. Often, what is considered disgusting to one civilization is just the aesthetic appeal in another. Thus it is difficult to give an absolute definition(定義)of beauty.

As fundamental(基礎(chǔ)的)physicists，my colleagues and I like to believe that we are involved in a search for a beauty that affects definition. The beauty that we search for is not what is set up through the work of people and subject to the tastes, but rather what has been laid down by nature Physics allows its students to look past outer appearances，into a deeper beauty. As a human being，I am attracted by the visual appeal of a wave crashing on the beach. As a physicist, however I am able to see the deeper beauty of the physical laws that govern such a phenomenon.

In truth，since Albert Einstein put forward the idea that there might be one main physical theory that governs the universe，aesthetics have become a driving force in modern physics. Einstein and other later physicists have discovered that：Nature, as its most fundamental level，is beautifully constructed. The extraordinary simplicity of the laws that govern the universe is really breathtaking . As Einstein said, it would seem more likely that we should find ourselves living in a“chaotic(無(wú)秩序曲)world，in no way graspable through thinking”. Yet we are now closer than ever to a full understanding of the universe’s beautiful clockwork. As new discoveries and technologies allow us to examine the physical world on deeper and deeper levels，we find that the beauty itself becomes much deeper.

1.The reference to“Marilyn Monroe”in Paragraph 2 mainly serves to___________.

A．provide an example of today’s beauty standards

B．show there is no fixed definition of aesthetics

C．compare traditions of the East to the West

D．discuss her abilities as an actress

2.When appreciating a wave crashing on the beach，a physicist sees the beauty of___________.

A．the visual attractionB．the powerful sounds

C．the physical laws behindD．the lovely creatures

3.Why are Albert Einstein’s words mentioned in Paragraph 3?

A．To detail the functions of physical laws.

B．To highlight the range of Einstein’s influence.

C．To show that Einstein doubted the beauty of physics.

D．To stress the very simplicity of the laws of the universe.

4.The passage is mainly to___________.

A．present a special way of seeing beauty

B．emphasize the influence of physics

C．discuss the awareness of cross-culture

D．a(chǎn)rgue the traditional ideas on value

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：主旨大意題。作者在本文中主要討論的是在不同的年代中人們對(duì)于美的定義是有所區(qū)別的，并且在文章最后一段告訴我們一種很特殊的定義美的方法simplicity of the laws of the universe.

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考點(diǎn)：考察議論文