TPO44阅读文本及答案解析

2. The Use of theCamera Obscura

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

Did some of the great masters of painting, then, trace their imagesusing a camera obscura? Some ait historians are now looking for clues ofartists' use of such devices. One of the artists whose paintings are beinganalyzed from this point of view is the great Dutch master, Jan Vermeer, wholived from 1632 to 1675 during the flowering of art and science in theNetherlands, including the science of optics. Vermeer produced only about 30known paintings, including his famous The Art of Painting. The room shown in itclosely resembles the room in other Vermeer paintings, with lighting comingfrom 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 theforeground. The map hung on the opposite wall was a real map in Vermeerspossession, reproduced in such faithful detail that some kind of tracery issuspected. When one of Vermeer’s paintings was X-rayed, it did not have anypreliminary sketches on the canvas beneath the paint, but rather the completeimage drawn in black and white without any trial sketches. Vermeer did not haveany students, did not keep any records, and did not encourage anyone to visithis studio, facts that can be interpreted as protecting his secret use of acamera obscura.

In recent times the British artist David Hockney has published hisinvestigations into the secret use of the camera obscura, claiming that for upto 400 years, many of Western art’s great masters probably used the device toproduce almost photographically realistic details in their paintings. Heincludes in this group Caravaggio, Hans Holbein, Leonardo da Vinci, DiegoVelazquez, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Agnolo Bronzino, and Jan van Eyck.From an artist’s point of view, Hockney observed that a camera obscuracompresses the complicated forms of a three-dimensional scene intotwo-dimensional shapes that can easily be traced and also increases thecontrast between light and dark, leading to the chiaroscuro effect seen in manyof these paintings. In Jan van Eyck’s The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini andGiovanna Cenami, the complicated foreshortening in the chandelier and theintricate detail in the bride’s garments are among the clues that Hockneythinks point to the use of the camera obscura.

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

1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about Giovanni BattistaDella Porta's contribution to the camera obscura?

A. He translated a Chinese description of the use of the cameraobscura and made the technique available to artists.

B. His convex lens made the projected image easier to trace.

C. His version of the camera obscura allowed for the later additionof a mirror.

D. His improvements relied heavily on design changes proposedearlier by Leonardo da Vinci.

2. The word “portable” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. valuable

B. practical

C. moveable

D. popular

3. The word "projected" in the passage is closest inmeaning to

A. whole

B. corrected

C. enlarged

D. shown

4. Paragraph 2 answers which of the following questions aboutpaintings by Vermeer?

A. What characteristics of Vermeer’s paintings suggest that he mayhave used a camera obscura?

B. Why did Vermeer produce only about 30 paintings?

C. Do Vermeer's paintings in general suggest that he was unable topaint accurately without using a camera obscura?

D. Why did Vermeer need to draw an image on the canvas of thepainting that was X-rayed if he was using a camera obscura?

5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essentialinformation in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choiceschange the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A. One artist with a particularly interesting point of view aboutthe use of the camera obscura in painting was Jan Vermeer, who lived in theNetherlands from 1632 to 1675.

B. Historical analyses suggest that Dutch masters were interested inthe science of optics, so they may have used the camera obscura to traceimages.

C. The use of the camera obscura is being analyzed in the paintingsof Jan Vermeer, who lived in the Netherlands when art and science wereflourishing there.

D. One view held by historians is that most Dutch masters were asinterested in art as they were in science, and that provides clues about thetechniques used in their paintings.

6. What does paragraph 2 indicate about Vermeer’s The Art ofPainting ?

A. It is the first in a series of about 30 paintings that hecreated.

B. It may have been painted by one of his students.

C. it was in his possession until his death in 1675.

D. It has the same setting as several other works of his.

7. The word "faithful" in the passage is closest inmeaning to

A. unusual

B. extensive

C. exact

D. historical

8. Why does the author provide the information that 'When one ofVermeer's paintings was X-rayed, it did not have any preliminary sketches onthe canvas beneath the paint, but rather the complete image drawn in black andwhite without any trial sketches"?

A. To provide an example of a way to learn about the practices ofartists 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 usinga camera obscura

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

9. According to paragraph 3, Hockney believes that all of thefollowing indicate use of a camera obscura EXCEPT

A. very detailed, realistic work

B. increased contrast between light and dark

C. oversimplification of forms when the image is traced

D. complicated foreshortening of objects

10. The word "ntricate” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. surprising

B. complex

C. beautiful

D. clear

11. The word “diminish" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. reduce

B. affect

C. reflect

D. determine

12. According to paragraph 4，what doesHockney argue about the use of the camera obscura in producing art?

A. Works produced using a camera obscura do not deserve as muchrespect as those produced without it.

B. The camera obscura was probably used primarily as a trainingdevice, rather than used in producing finished works.

C. Use of the camera obscura by Western art’s great masters wasprobably relatively rare.

D. While the use of the camera obscura may have helped artists, theystill needed to have significant artistic ability.

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the followingsentence could be added to the passage.

All these developments helped artists to create accurate images ofobjects, people, and scenes.

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add thesentence to the passage

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

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To removean answer choice, click on it.

To review the passage, click VIEW TEXT

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

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

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

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

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

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

F. The artist David Hockney has speculated that artists probablycombined the use of the camera A with their own original observations fromlife.