Many people take for granted that all art should be beautiful. We may as well face the question squarely since it is basic to our whole attitude toward art. Why are there so many “ugly” works of art? There are several possible answers. We might reply that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. In other words, beauty subjective, and your personal taste leads you to reject things that might be beautiful to others. Both “beautiful” and “ugly” imply aesthetic value judgments.
This possibility depends on the assumption that the artist’s proper aim is the creation of beauty. But there is another possibility. Perhaps the works are successes by artists who were sincerely aiming at something other than conventional, physical beauty. Would an artist intentionally make something ugly? And what, actually, do we mean by the words “ugly” and “beautiful”?
Over the centuries numerous writers have grappled with the concept of beauty and tried to understand it. One of the most entertaining was the 18th-century British statesman Edmund Burke, who wrote an essay called “The Sublime and the Beautiful”. In the essay Burke defined beauty as a positive and striking quality that produces pleasure by being small, smooth, gradually or gently varied, delicate, softly and variable colored. It is submissive and may arouse love. Beauty is not related to proportion, said Burke, not to functional fitness, nor even to perfection. All these things are found apart from beauty.
The sublime, by contrast, is vast even to infinity, difficult, magnificent, dark and rugged. According to Burke, it will “fill the mind with that sort of delightful horror, which is the most genuine effect and earliest test of the sublime”. A thing may be ugly and yet sublime if it is “united with such qualities as excite a strong terror”. Burke made it clear that greatness lies on the side of sublime, not of the beautiful.
This is quite a useful idea. Let’s keep it in mind while we look at Ivan Albright’s painting Ida. Albright’s work is not smooth, delicate, or soft, and it is not likely to arouse love. For most people, though, it would evoke delightful horror. What is the artist aiming at? A common reaction is to say that the artist is showing us a person who is physically and mentally—even spiritually-exhausted. According to this interpretation, Albright teaches us about spiritual decay. Every bulge, every wrinkle, every wart stands for a nasty blow that.
1. We can see from the first two paragraphs that _____.
2. Which of the following statements might Burke have agree with?
3. Which of the following can be said of Albright’s painting?
4. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
5. The author wrote this article to _____.
问题1选项
A.beauty and ugliness are two concepts embodied in different forms
B.neither beauty nor ugliness can be definitely defined
C.beauty and ugliness are opposite artistic expressions
D.beauty is subjective while ugliness is objective
问题2选项
A.The sublime might not be beautiful but the beautiful must be the sublime.
B.Delightful horror derives from the sublime.
C.The beautiful is of a positive quality while the sublime is of a negative one.
D.The ugly may not necessarily be the sublime.
问题3选项
A.It destroys people’s hopes in life.
B.It is in most viewers’ eyes, a beautiful piece of art.
C.It presents something sublime in Burke’s view.
D.It defines any interpretation.
问题4选项
A.the author is a strong supporter of Burke’s aesthetic theory
B.the author is worried about the so many ugly works of art produced today
C.Albright’s painting has aroused controversy
D.beauty doesn’t lie in works of art themselves
问题5选项
A.differentiate the beautiful and the ugly
B.describe to us Albright’s painting
C.introduce to us Burke’s aesthetic theory
D.teach us the right way to evaluate works of art
第1题:B
第2题:B
第3题:C
第4题:D
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
We can see from the first two paragraphs that _____. 我们可以从前两段看出_____。
A. beauty and ugliness are two concepts embodied in different forms A. 美与丑是两个概念，表现形式不同
B. neither beauty nor ugliness can be definitely defined B. 美和丑都无法明确界定
C. beauty and ugliness are opposite artistic expressions C. 美与丑是对立的艺术表现形式
D. beauty is subjective while ugliness is objective D. 美是主观的，丑是客观的
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到原文的前面两段，第一段最后两句“换句话说，美是主观的（beauty subjective）……美和丑都蕴含着审美价值判断（aesthetic value judgments）”，以及第二段第三句“也许这些作品是艺术家们的成功之作，他们真诚地追求传统的、外在的美之外（other than conventional, physical beauty）的东西”和本段最后一句提出的问题“那么，我们所说的‘丑陋’和‘美丽’到底是什么意思呢？”由此可知，美丑是没有绝对的定义的，选项B正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“美与丑是两个概念，表现形式不同”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“美与丑是对立的艺术表现形式”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项“美是主观的，丑是客观的”，原文第一段只提到了“美是主观的（beauty subjective）”，并没有提到选项后半部分的内容，属于曲解原文。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following statements might Burke have agree with? 伯克可能同意下列哪一种说法？
A. The sublime might not be beautiful but the beautiful must be the sublime. A. 崇高可能不美丽，但美丽一定是崇高。
B. Delightful horror derives from the sublime. B. 令人愉快的恐怖源于崇高。
C. The beautiful is of a positive quality while the sublime is of a negative one. C. 美是积极的，而崇高是消极的。
D. The ugly may not necessarily be the sublime. D. 丑陋未必就是崇高。
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到原文第四段第一、二句“崇高（sublime）是巨大的，甚至是无限的，艰难的，宏伟的，黑暗的和崎岖的。根据伯克（Burke）的说法，它会让大脑充满那种令人愉快的恐怖（delightful horror）”，由此可知，选项B符合伯克的说法。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“崇高可能不美丽，但美丽一定是崇高”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“美是积极的，而崇高是消极的”，第三段第三句提到了“伯克将美（beauty）为一种积极的（positive）、引人注目的品质”，但是原文没有说“崇高是消极的”，该选项属于曲解原文；
D选项“丑陋未必就是崇高”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following can be said of Albright’s painting? 关于奥尔布赖特的画，下列哪项是可说的？
A. It destroys people’s hopes in life. A. 它摧毁了人们对生活的希望。
B. It is in most viewers’ eyes, a beautiful piece of art. B. 在大多数观众的眼中，它是一件美丽的艺术品。
C. It presents something sublime in Burke’s view. C. 它呈现了伯克眼中的崇高。
D. It defines any interpretation. D. 它定义了任何解释。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到最后一段三、四句“奥尔布赖特（Albright）的作品既不流畅，也不细腻，也不柔软，不太可能引起爱。然而，对大多数人来说，它会引起愉快的恐惧（evoke delightful horror）”上文提到的令人产生愉快的恐惧指的是崇高，所以选项C正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
It can be inferred from the passage that _____. 从文章中可以推断出_____。
A. the author is a strong supporter of Burke’s aesthetic theory A. 作者是伯克美学理论的坚定支持者
B. the author is worried about the so many ugly works of art produced today B. 作者对今天产生的这么多丑陋的艺术作品感到担忧
C. Albright’s painting has aroused controversy C. 奥尔布赖特的画引起了争议
D. beauty doesn’t lie in works of art themselves D. 美并不存在于艺术作品本身
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据原文，作者首先提出“美”与“丑”都蕴涵着审美价值判断，然后用Burke的言论和Albright的画讲述了崇高和美丽之间的关系，说明作者认为美不在于艺术品本身，而在于艺术家想要表达或传递的情感。所以选项D正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The author wrote this article to _____. 作者写这篇文章是为了_____。
A. differentiate the beautiful and the ugly A. 区分美与丑
B. describe to us Albright’s painting B. 向我们描述一下奥尔布赖特的画
C. introduce to us Burke’s aesthetic theory C. 向我们介绍伯克的美学理论
D. teach us the right way to evaluate works of art D. 教我们用正确的方法评价艺术品
【考查点】主旨大意题。
【解题思路】通读全文可知，作者的观点是美不在于艺术品本身，而在于艺术家想要表达或传递的情感，作者写这篇文章的目的在于教我们正确评价艺术作品的方法。选项D符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项都不属于作者的写作意图，属于曲解原文。
