托福閱讀真題Official 44 Passage 2（四）

托福閱讀真題Official 44 Passage 2（四）

The Use of the Camera Obscura

The precursor of the modern camera,the camera obscura is a darkened enclosure into which light is admitted through a lens in a small hole.The image of the illuminated area outside the enclosure is thrown upside down as if by magic onto a surface in the darkened enclosure.This technique was known as long ago as the fifth century B.C.in China.Aristotle also experimented with it in the fourth century B.C.,and Leonardo da Vinci described it in his notebooks in 1490.In 1558 Giovanni Battista Della Porta wrote in his twenty-volume work Magia naturalis(meaning“natural magic”)instructions for adding a convex lens to improve the quality of the image thrown against a canvas or panel in the darkened area where its outlines could be traced.Later,portable camera obscuras were developed,with interior mirrors and drawing tables on which the artist could trace the image.For the artist,this technique allows forms and linear perspective to be drawn precisely as they would be seen from a single viewpoint.Mirrors were also used to reverse the projected images to their original positions.

Did some of the great masters of painting,then,trace their images using a camera obscura.Some art historians are now looking for clues of artists’use of such devices.One of the artists whose paintings are being analyzed from this point of view is the great Dutch master,Jan Vermeer,who lived from 1632 to 1675 during the flowering of art and science in the Netherlands,including the science of optics.Vermeer produced only about 30 known paintings,including his famous The Art of Painting.The room shown in it closely resembles the room in other Vermeer paintings,with lighting coming from a window on the left,the same roof beams,and similar floor tiles,suggesting that the room was fitted with a camera obscura on the side in the foreground.The map hung on the opposite wall was a real map in Vermeer’s possession,reproduced in such faithful detail that some kind of tracery is suspected.When one of Vermeer’s paintings was X-rayed,it did not have any preliminary sketches on the canvas beneath the paint,but rather the complete image drawn in black and white without any trial sketches.Vermeer did not have any students,did not keep any records,and did not encourage anyone to visit his studio,facts that can be interpreted as protecting his secret use of a camera obscura.

In recent times the British artist David Hockney has published his investigations into the secret use of the camera obscura,claiming that for up to 400 years,many of Western art’s great masters probably used the device to produce almost photographically realistic details in their paintings.He includes in this group Caravaggio,Hans Holbein,Leonardo da Vinci,Diego Velázquez,Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,Agnolo Bronzino,and Jan van Eyck.From an artist’s point of view,Hockney observed that a camera obscura compresses the complicated forms of a three-dimensional scene into two-dimensional shapes that can easily be traced and also increases the contrast between light and dark,leading to the chiaroscuroartistic term for a contrast between light and dark effect seen in many of these paintings.In Jan van Eyck’s The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami,the complicated foreshortening(a technique for representing an image in art that makes it appear to recede in space)in the chandelier and the intricate detail in the bride’s garments are among the clues that Hockney thinks point to the use of the camera obscura.

So what are we to conclude.If these artists did use a camera obscura,does that diminish their stature.Hockney argues that the camera obscura does not replace artistic skill in drawing and painting.In experimenting with it,he found that it is actually quite difficult to use for drawing,and he speculates that the artists probably combined their observations from life with tracing of shapes.

Question 7 of 14

The word“faithful”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.unusual

B.extensive

C.exact

D.historical

正確答案：C

題目詳解

題型分類：詞匯題

題干分析：詞匯所在句子The map hung on the opposite wall was a real map in Vermeer’s possession,reproduced in such faithful detail that some kind of tracery is suspected譯為“掛在對面墻上的地圖是Vermeer現(xiàn)實中擁有的物品，地圖的細節(jié)還原得如此真實，不得不讓人質(zhì)疑是否出于描摹”，faithful忠實的。根據(jù)文章語境此處可理解為“忠于原稿，完全按照原來的作品精確繪制的意思”。

選項分析：

C選項exact精確的，精準的。

A選項unusual不尋常的。

B選項extensive廣泛的。

D選項historical歷史的。

Question 8 of 14

Why does the author provide the information that“When one of Vermeer’s paintings was X-rayed,it did not have any preliminary sketches on the canvas beneath the paint,but rather the complete image drawn in black and white without any trial sketches.”?

A.To provide an example of a way to learn about the practices of artists who did not keep good records

B.To emphasize Vermeer’s confidence and skill as an artist

C.To provide evidence that Vermeer may have traced the image using a camera obscura

D.To argue that Vermeer did his preliminary sketching on paper,rather than on canvas

正確答案：C

題目詳解

題型分類：修辭目的題

題干分析：該句子位于本段的倒數(shù)第二句。表達的內(nèi)容是對Vermeer的一幅畫作進行X-rayed之后，發(fā)現(xiàn)顏料下的帆布上并沒有任何草圖的痕跡，有的只是一副干凈完整的黑白畫。根據(jù)本段第二句和第三句的信息Some art historians are now looking for clues of artists’use of such devices.One of the artists whose paintings are being analyzed from this point of view is the great Dutch master,Jan Vermeer以及最后一句中...facts that can be interpreted as protecting his secret use of a camera obscura可以得出本段主旨就是說Vermeer很可能在創(chuàng)作中使用了暗箱，那么段中的信息都是為了該主旨而服務的。本題為段落主旨的修辭目的題。

選項分析：

C選項說...Vermeer may have traced the image using a camera obscura符合本段主旨。

A選項說the practices of artists who did not keep good records，藝術(shù)家沒有做好記錄的行為并非本段主旨。

B選項說強調(diào)Vermeer作為一名藝術(shù)家的自信和技能，與本段主旨無關(guān)。

D選項說Vermeer在紙上而不是帆布上畫初稿，這也不是本段主旨。

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