托福閱讀真題Official 44 Passage 2（七）

托福閱讀真題Official 44 Passage 2（七）

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 13 of 14

Look at the four squares[■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.All these developments helped artists to create accurate images of objects,people,and scenes.Where would the sentence best fit?Click on a square[■]to add the sentence to the passage.

正確答案：D

題目詳解

題型分類：插入句子題

題干分析：考察句子和句子之間的銜接關(guān)系。插入句中的關(guān)鍵詞All these developments說明該句之前應(yīng)該提及到多種發(fā)展，該插入句是對前面內(nèi)容的總結(jié)概括。

選項分析：

D選項此空的前面分別提到了adding a convex lens to...，portable camera obscuras和mirrors這些發(fā)展。對應(yīng)插入句的All these developments是對前面的內(nèi)容進行了概括總結(jié)，在邏輯和內(nèi)容上構(gòu)成銜接。

A選項此空前面提到暗箱的出現(xiàn)和最初的形式凸透鏡的出現(xiàn)adding a convex lens to...，這只是一個發(fā)展。

B選項此空前面提到暗箱的進一步發(fā)展，出現(xiàn)了可攜帶式，并且內(nèi)置了鏡子和繪圖板...portable camera obscuras were developed,with interior mirrors and drawing tables...。

C選項此空之后又提到了一個發(fā)展——鏡子，Mirrors were also used to reverse the projected images...。若將插入句放此處，發(fā)展并沒有全部說完，和插入句中的All these developments不銜接。

Question 14 of 14

Directions:An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below.Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.This question is worth 2 points.

The camera obscura is a darkened enclosure into which light is admitted through a lens in a small hole.

Answer Choices:

A.

Evidence that the use of the camera obscura has long been known is provided by its description in many sources,including works dating back to Chinese writers from the fifth century B.C.

B.

The camera obscura was most widely used by artists in seventeenth-century Netherlands,a period when art and science thrived.

C.

Some historians who have studied paintings by Western masters have found clues indicating that the masters may have secretly used the camera obscura in their works.

D.

The unique features of Vermeer’s The Art of Painting make it unlikely that it was made with a camera obscura,as opposed to his other works.

E.

It is now widely believed that the use of the camera obscura led to the development of a style of photographic realism in Western art.

F.

The artist David Hockney has speculated that artists probably combined the use of the camera obscura with their own original observations from life.

正確答案：ACF

題目詳解

題型分類：文章總結(jié)題

題干分析：選擇概括性的正確選項。

選項分析：

A選項是第一段的重要信息。the use of the camera obscura has long been known is provided by its description in many sources對應(yīng)第一段的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...，including works dating back to Chinese writers from the fifth century B.C.對應(yīng)第一段的This technique was known as long ago as the fifth century B.C.in China。

C選項是第二段的重要信息。the masters may have secretly used the camera obscura in their works對應(yīng)第二段的前三句。第二段后面是對其中一個藝術(shù)家Vermeer很可能使用暗箱的證據(jù)說明。

F選項是第四段的重要信息。artists probably combined the use of the camera obscura with their own original observations from life對應(yīng)第四段的最后一句。

B選項The camera obscura was most widely used by artists in seventeenth-century Netherlands。在第二段中說了...from 1632 to 1675 during the flowering of art and science in the Netherlands...但并未說廣泛使用暗箱。無中生有。

D選項與第二段中對于Vermeer’s The Art of Painting的描述恰恰相反，該畫作是畫家使用暗箱的證據(jù)之一，和他的其他畫作也相似。因此與原文描述不符。

E選項說the use of the camera obscura led to the development of a style of photographic realism inWestern art而原文第三段中說many of Western art’s great masters probably used the device to produce almost photographically realistic details in their paintings。暗箱是photographically realistic details創(chuàng)作的一個工具，而沒有表達暗箱導(dǎo)致了photographic realism的發(fā)展。

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