托福阅读真题解析：拉斯科岩洞画

exists for this opinion becauseseveral animals in the pictures are wounded by arrows and spears. This opinion also attemptsto solve the overpainting by explaining that an animal’s picture had no further use after thehunt.

　　A third opinion takes psychological motivation much further into the realm of tribalceremonies and mystery: the belief that certain animals assumed mythical significance asancient ancestors or protectors of a given tribe or clan. Two types of images substantiate thistheory: the strange, indecipherable geometric shapes that appear near some animals, and thefew drawings of men. Wherever men appear they are crudely drawn and their bodies areelongated and rigid. Some men are in a prone position and some have bird or animal heads.Advocates for this opinion point to reports from people who have experienced a trance state,a highly suggestive state of low consciousness between waking and sleeping. Uniformly, thesepeople experienced weightlessness and the sensation that their bodies were being stretchedlengthwise. Advocates also point to people who believe that the forces of nature are inhabitedby spirits, particularly shamans* who believe that an animal’s spirit and energy is transferred tothem while ina trance. One Lascaux narrative picture, which shows a man with a birdlike headand a wounded animal, would seem to lend credence to this third opinion, but there is stillmuch that remains unexplained. For example, where is the proof that the man in the picture isa shaman? He could as easily be a hunter wearing a headmask. Many tribal hunters, includingsome Native Americans, camouflaged themselves by wearing animal heads and hides.

　　Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the caveimages, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists, and by itsexistence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, andsensitivity.

　　Shamans: holy people who act as healers and diviners

　　Paragraph 1 In Southwest France in the 1940’s, playing children discovered Lascaux Grotto, aseries of narrow cave chambers that contain huge prehistoric paintings of animals. Many ofthese beasts are as large as 16 feet (almost 5 meters). Some follow each other in solemnparades, but others swirl about, sideways and upside down. The animals are bulls,