The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photography’s fidelity to appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be a fine art, as distinct from merely a practical art. Throughout the nineteenth century, the defense of photography was identical with the struggle to establish it as a fine art. Against the charge that photography was a soulless, mechanical copying of reality; photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.
Ironically, now that photography is securely established as a fine art, many photographers find it pretentious or irrelevant to label it as such. Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art. In the nineteen century, photography’s association with the real world placed it in an ambivalent relation to art; late in the twentieth century, an ambivalent relation exists because of the Modernist heritage in art. That important photographers are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art, shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.
Photographers’ disclaimers of any interest in making art tell us more about the harried status of the contemporary notion of art than about whether photography is or not art. For example those photographers who suppose that, by taking pictures, they are getting away from the pretensions of art as exemplified by painting remind us of those Abstract Expressionist painters who imagined they were getting away from the intellectual austerity of classical Modernist painting by concentrating on the physical act of painting.
Photography, however, has developed all the anxieties and self-consciousness of a classic Modernist art. Many professionals privately have begun to worry that the promotion of photography as an activity subversive of the traditional pretensions of art has gone so far that the public will forget that photography is a distinctive and exalted activity—in short, an art.
1. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with ______.
2. According to the author, the nineteenth-century defenders of photography mentioned in the passage stressed that photography was ______.
3. Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in the last sentence of the second paragraph?
4. According to the passage, which of the following best explains the reaction of serious contemporary photographers to the question of whether photography is an art?
5. The author introduce Abstract Expressionist painters in order to ______.
问题1选项
A.defining the Modernist attitude toward art
B.explaining the attitudes of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context
C.defining how photography emerged as a fine art after the controversies of the nineteenth century
D.defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward the art and assessing the value of each of those approaches
问题2选项
A.a technologically advanced activity
B.an art for observing the world impartially
C.an art comparable to painting
D.an art that would eventually replace the traditional arts
问题3选项
A.Objective
B.Mechanical
C.Dramatic
D.Paradoxical
问题4选项
A.The photographers’ belief that their reliance on an impersonal machine to produce their art requires the surrender of the authority of their personal vision.
B.The photographers’ fear that serious photography may not be accepted as an art by the contemporary art public.
C.The Photographers’ belief that the best art is subversive of art as it has previously been defined.
D.The notorious difficulty of defining art in its relation to realistic representation.
问题5选项
A.set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters
B.provide a contrast against serious contemporary photographers
C.provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, not and should not pretend to be an art
D.provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art
第1题:B
第2题:C
第3题:D
第4题:C
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with ______. 在这篇文章中，作者主要关心的是______。
A. defining the Modernist attitude toward art A. 定义现代主义对艺术的态度
B. explaining the attitudes of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context B. 解释当代严肃摄影师对摄影艺术的态度，并将这些态度放在他们的历史背景中
C. defining how photography emerged as a fine art after the controversies of the nineteenth century C. 定义摄影如何在19世纪的争议之后成为一门艺术
D. defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward the art and assessing the value of each of those approaches D. 定义当代严肃摄影师对艺术采取的各种方法，并评估每一种方法的价值
【考查点】观点态度题
【解题思路】结合全文内容可知，文章主要讲述摄影师为摄影是否是艺术而争辩，为否定其是艺术而努力。故作者主要是为了解释当代严肃摄影师对摄影被认为是艺术的态度，把他们这些态度放在历史的进程中来观察。所以选项B正确。
【干扰项排除】A、C、D选项不能通过全文内容推理出来。
第2题:
【选项释义】
According to the author, the nineteenth-century defenders of photography mentioned in the passage stressed that photography was ______. 根据作者的说法，文中提到的十九世纪摄影的辩护者强调摄影是______。
A. a technologically advanced activity A. 一种技术上的先进活动
B.an art for observing the world impartially B. 一种公正地观察世界的艺术
C.an art comparable to painting C. 一种可与绘画相媲美的艺术
D.an art that would eventually replace the traditional arts D. 一种最终会取代传统艺术的艺术
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据第一段的最后一句：Photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.（在十九世纪，有人指责摄影是没有灵魂的、机械地复制现实；摄影师们断言，这是一种特殊的观看方式，是对普通视觉的反抗，其实摄影是可与绘画媲美的艺术。）可知选项C符合原文。
【干扰项排除】A、B、D选项在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following adjectives best describes ‘the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in the last sentence of the second paragraph? 以下哪一个形容词最好地描述了作者在第二段最后一句中所表达的“现代主义的胜利所强加的艺术概念”？
A. Objective A. 客观的
B. Mechanical B. 机械的
C. Dramatic C. 戏剧性的
D. Paradoxical D. 自相矛盾的
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】根据第二段最后一句：The better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.（艺术越好，对艺术传统目的的破坏越大。）由此可推测，这种概念是矛盾的。所以选项D正确。
【干扰项排除】A、B、C选项不能根据文章信息推理出来。
第4题:
【选项释义】
According to the passage, which of the following best explains the reaction of serious contemporary photographers to the question of whether photography is an art? 根据文章，以下哪一个选项最好地解释了当代严肃摄影师对摄影是否是一门艺术这个问题的反应？
A. The photographers’ belief that their reliance on an impersonal machine to produce their art requires the surrender of the authority of their personal vision. A. 摄影师们相信，他们依靠没有人情感的机器来创作艺术，需要放弃个人视觉的权威。
B. The photographers’ fear that serious photography may not be accepted as an art by the contemporary art public. B. 摄影师担心严肃的摄影可能不会被当代艺术大众所接受。
C. The Photographers’ belief that the best art is subversive of art as it has previously been defined. C. 摄影师们相信，最好的艺术是颠覆艺术之前的定义。
D. The notorious difficulty of defining art in its relation to realistic representation. D. 在艺术与现实表现的关系中定义艺术是出了名的困难。
【考查点】事实细节题
【解题思路】根据第二段最后一句：That important photographers are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art, shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art.（重要的摄影师不再愿意争论摄影是不是一门艺术，他们只是宣称自己的作品与艺术无关，这表明他们在多大程度上把现代主义的胜利强加给他们的艺术概念视为理所当然：艺术越好，它就越颠覆传统的艺术目标。）可知选项C符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
A选项，文中第一段提到：Photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting.（摄影师们断言，相反，这是一种特殊的观察方式，是对普通视觉的反抗，是不亚于绘画的艺术。）可知摄影师没有放弃视觉的权威，属于反向干扰；
B、D选项在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The author introduce Abstract Expressionist painters in order to ______. 作者介绍抽象表现主义画家是为了______。
A. set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters A. 将抽象表现主义画家和古典现代主义画家之间进行类比。
B. provide a contrast against serious contemporary photographers B. 与当代严肃的摄影师形成对比。
C. provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, not and should not pretend to be an art C. 解释为什么严肃的摄影，像其他当代视觉形式一样，不是也不应该假装是一门艺术。
D. provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art D. 提供一个艺术家的例子，其像严肃的当代摄影师一样，否定了传统上接受的现代艺术的目标。
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】根据第三段的内容可知，那些认为通过拍照可以摆脱绘画所表现的艺术的摄影家，使我们想起那些抽象表现主义画家，他们通过专注于绘画的物理行为，想象自己摆脱了古典现代主义绘画的思想禁锢。由此可知，作者举抽象表现主义画家的例子是为了说明他们像严肃的当代摄影师一样，拒绝承认传统上被接受的现代艺术目标。选项D符合原文。
【干扰项排除】A、B、C选项不能根据文章信息推理出来。
