全国公共英语四级考试阅读理解精彩解析

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全国公共英语四级考试阅读理解精彩解析

　　在学习和工作的日常里，我们经常接触到阅读答案，阅读答案可以有效帮助我们巩固所学知识。大家知道什么样的阅读答案才是规范的吗？下面是小编为大家收集的全国公共英语四级考试阅读理解精彩解析，希望能够帮助到大家。

全国公共英语四级考试阅读理解精彩解析

　　(Photography and Art)

　　The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photograph’s fidelity to appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be a fine art as distinct from merely a practical art. Throughout the nineteenth century, the defence of photography was identical with the struggle to establish it as a fine art. Against the charge that photography was a soulless, mechanical copying of reality, photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.

　　Ironically, now that photography is securely established as a fine art, many photographers find it pretentious or irrelevant to label it as such. Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves-anything but making works of art. They are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art. It shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.

　　Photographers’ disclaimers of any interest in making art tell us more about the harried status of the contemporary notion of art than about whether photography is or is not art. For example, those photographers who suppose that, by taking pictures, they are getting away from the pretensions of art as exemplified by painting remind us of those Abstract Expressionist painters who imagined they were getting away from the intellectual austerity of classical Modernist painting by concentrating on the physical act of painting. Much of photography’s prestige today derives from the convergence of its aims with those of recent art, particularly with the dismissal of abstract art implicit in the phenomenon of Pop painting during the 1960’s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist painting-that is, abstract art as developed in different ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse-presupposes highly developed skills of looking and a familiarity with other paintings and the history of art. Photography, like Pop painting, reassures viewers that art is not hard; photography seems to be more about its subjects than about art.

　　Photography, however, has developed all the anxieties and self-consciousness of a classic Modernist art. Many professionals privately have begun to worry that the promotion of photography as an activity subversive of the traditional pretensions of art has gone so far that the public will forget that photography is a distinctive and exalted activity-in short, an art.

　　1. What is the author mainly concerned with? The author is concerned with　[A]. defining the Modernist attitude toward art.

　　[B]. explaining how photography emerged as a fine art.

　　[C]. explaining the attitude of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context.

　　[D]. defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward their art and assessing the value of each of those approaches.

　　2. Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in lines 12-13?

　　[A]. Objective [B]. Mechanical. [C]. Superficial. [D]. Paradoxical.

　　3. Why does the author introduce Abstract Expressionist painter?

　　[A]. He wants to provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art.

　　[B]. He wants to set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters.

　　[C]. He wants to provide a contrast to Pop artist and others.

　　[D]. He wants to provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, is not and should not pretend to be an art.

　　4. How did the nineteenth-century defenders of photography stress the photography?

　　[A]. They stressed photography was a means of making people happy.

　　[B]. It was art for recording the world.

　　[C]. It was a device for observing the world impartially.

　　[D]. It was an art comparable to painting.

　　Vocabulary

　　1. fine arts 美术(指绘画，雕刻，建筑，诗歌，音乐等)

　　2. assert 主张，声明，维护(权利)

　　3. privileged 特殊的，享受特权的，特许的

　　4. pretentious 狂妄的，做作的

　　5. irrelevant 不相干的，无关的

　　6. subversive 破坏性的，颠覆性的

　　英语四级考试阅读理解

　　Not surprising in these hard times, the student’s major objective “is to be financially well off. Less important than ever is developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” It follows then that today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting.

　　Interest in teaching, social service and the“altruistic”fields is at a low. On the other hand, enrollment in business programs, engineering and computer science is way up.

　　That’s no surprise either. A friend of mine (a sales representative for a chemical company) was making twice the salary of her college instructors her first year on the job-even before she completed her two-yearassociate degree.

　　While it’s true that we all need a career, it is equally true that our civilization has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own and that we are better for our understanding of these other contributions m be they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying thediverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More important, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs.

　　Weekly we read of unions who went on strike for higher wages, only to drive their employer out of business.No company; no job. How shortsighted in the long run!

　　But the most important argument for a broad education is that in studying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, we improve our moral sense. I saw a cartoon recently which shows a group of businessmen looking puzzled as they sit around a conference table; one of them is talking on the intercom (对讲机): “Miss Baxter,”he says, “could you please send in someone who can distinguish right from wrong?”

　　From the long-term point of view, that’s what education really ought to be about.

　　练习题：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. According to the author’s observation, college students _______.

　　A. have never been so materialistic as today

　　B. have never been so interested in the arts

　　C. have never been so financially well off as today

　　D. have never attached so much importance to moral sense

　　2. The students’ criteria for selecting majors today have much to do with _______.

　　A. the influences of their instructors

　　B. the financial goals they seek in life

　　C. their own interpretations of the courses

　　D. their understanding of the contributions of others

　　3. By saying “While it’s true that ... be they scientific or artistic” (Lines 1-3, Para. 5), the author means that _______.

　　A. business management should be included in educational programs

　　B. human wisdom has accumulated at an extraordinarily high speed

　　C. human intellectual development has reached new heights

　　D. the importance of a broad education should not be overlooked

　　4. Studying the diverse wisdom of others can ________.

　　A. create varying artistic interests

　　B. help people see things in their right perspective

　　C. help improve connections among people

　　D. regulate the behavior of modern people

　　5. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

　　A. Businessmen absorbed in their career are narrow-minded.

　　B. Managers often find it hard to tell right from wrong.

　　C. People engaged in technical jobs lead a more rewarding life.

　　D. Career seekers should not focus on immediate interests only.

　　1.[A]事实细节题。根据第1段可知，根据调査，当今处于传统年龄的大学一年级的学生在17年来的民意测验中是“最追求物质享受、最自私的”，这与A所述相一致。

　　2.[B]事实细节题。根据第2段第1句指出现在大学生选择专业的目的是为了经济上的富裕，B中的financial goals对应文中的financial well off，故正确。

　　3.[D]句意理解题。本句首选强调Career职业的重要性，之后强啁我们也必须理解其他领域的知识，所以这句目的是强调全面教育的重要性，故D正确。

　　4.[B]事实细节题。根据第5段第2句：同样毋庸置疑的还有，学习他人的各种智慧时，我们也学会怎样去思考。句中how to think与B中的see things in…right perspective意思最为相反，故B正确。

　　5.[D]事实细节题。根据文章的第5至6段可知，作者认为罢工要求加薪等一些追求眼前利益的行为是目光短浅的，故D正确。

　　四级考试阅读理解

　　Most episodes of absent-mindedness forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered aroom-are caused by a simple lack of attention,says Schacter. “You’re supposed to remember something, butyou haven’t encoded it deeply.”

　　Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If you put your mobile phonein a pocket, for example, and don’t pay attention to what you did because you’re involved in a conversation, you’ll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in you wardrobe (衣柜). “Your memory itself isn’t failing you,” says Schacter. “Rather, you didn’t give your memory system the information it needed.”

　　Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness. “A man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago,” says Zelinski, “may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox.” Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory relies on justthat.

　　Visual cues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. “But be sure the cue is clear and available,” he cautions. If you want to remember to take a medication (药物) with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table—don’t leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket.

　　Another common episode of absent-mindedness: walking into a room and wondering why you’re there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else. “Everyone does this from time to time,” says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room, and you’ll likely remember.

　　练习题：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. Why does the author think that encoding properly is very important?

　　A. It helps us understand our memory system better.

　　B. It enables us to recall something form our memory.

　　C. It expands our memory capacity considerably.

　　D. It slows down the process of losing our memory.

　　2. One possible reason why women have better memories than men is that ________.

　　A. they have a wider range of interests

　　B. they are more reliant on the environment

　　C. they have an unusual power of focusing their attention

　　D. they are more interested in what’s happening around them