Last weekend, two new movies opened in art houses to mixed-to-positive notices. A Place At The Table, a documentary about hunger in America, got kinder reviews overall than Park Chan-wook’s dark coming-of-age film Stoker, with a 68 Metacritic score to Stoker’s 59. And I can understand why the numbers broke down like they did: A Place At The Table provides a lot of good information about the facts and myths behind a problem that affects upward of 50 million people, and it ought to leave any conscientious person seething with outrage. Stoker, for all its directorial flourishes, has trouble overcoming a scenario far more banal than the gothic mystique that swirls around it.
And yet, rhetorically, I can’t understand it at all. I’ve often argued that the “movieness” of movies is undervalued—that we accept the indifferent, workmanlike craft of deliberate mediocrities over flashier, more conspicuous failures. But the “movieness” of documentaries rarely becomes an issue, which only encourages the stereotype of the documentary as a hearty gruel of talking heads and archival footage, spooned out as artlessly as the school lunches A Place At The Table criticizes so vociferously.
The thinking that documentaries need merely to seek or present some kind of truth, regardless of how those truths are presented, strikes me as dated at a time when the elasticity of the format is constantly being tested. Why should documentaries be forgiven any more than fiction films for failing to use the medium expressively or dynamically? Why give a pass to bland info-dumps like A Place At The Table?
“I hate most documentaries,” said Lucien Castaing-Taylor, co-director of the impressionistic new fishing doc Leviathan. “The moment I feel like I’m being told what to think about something, I feel that I want to resist the authority of the documentarian. We’re more interested in making films that are more open-ended, that ask the spectators to make their own conclusions. We’re always implicitly, if not explicitly, fighting against how bad documentary is. Documentary claims to have this privileged purchase on a truthful version of reality—it’s not fiction, this is the real—but most documentaries’ representation of the real is so attenuated and so discourse-based and language-based. We lie and we mystify ourselves with words. Words can only take us so far.”
60. .What is true about A Place At The Table?
61. .Which of the following is the best equivalent to the word “banal”?
62. .In Paragraph 2, the author （ ）.
63. .What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?
64. .Lucien Castaing-Taylor hates documentaries because （ ）.
65. .The reality most documentaries represent is （ ）.
问题1选项
A.It is better received than Stoker.
B.It shows hungry people are angry.
C.It addresses a mysterious problem.
D.It has been seen by around 50 million people.
问题2选项
A.Interesting.
B.Ordinary.
C.Dreadful.
D.Reasonable.
问题3选项
A.believes that artistic value of documentaries should be appreciated
B.encourages the use of stereotypes in documentary movies
C.criticizes the school lunches in the documentary movies
D.approves of the workmanlike style of documentaries
问题4选项
A.The way of making documentaries is out of date.
B.Fiction films take the best use of the medium.
C.People are more tolerant to fiction films.
D.Documentaries should have artistic values.
问题5选项
A.documentaries are open-ended
B.documentaries make definite conclusions
C.documentaries are often politically motivated
D.documentaries are packed with too much information
问题6选项
A.impressive
B.explicit
C.limited
D.mysterious
第1题:A
第2题:B
第3题:A
第4题:D
第5题:B
第6题:C
第1题:
【选项释义】
What is true about A Place At The Table? 关于《餐桌之上》，正确的说法是什么？
A.It is better received than Stoker. A.它比《斯托克》更受欢迎。
B.It shows hungry people are angry. B.它表现了饥饿的人们的愤怒。
C.It addresses a mysterious problem. C.它解决了一个神秘的问题。
D.It has been seen by around 50 million people. D.约有5000万人观看了这部影片。
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词A Place At The Table可以定位到文章第一段第二句“纪录片《餐桌之上》讲述了美国饥饿问题，整体上得到了比朴赞郁执导的黑暗成长电影《斯托克》更好的评价（got kinder reviews overall than Park Chan-wook’s dark coming-of-age film Stoker）”，说明《餐桌之上》比《斯托克》的评价更好。因此A选项“它比《斯托克》更受欢迎。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“它表现了饥饿的人们的愤怒。”，由A Place At The Table provides a lot of good information about the facts and myths behind a problem that affects upward of 50 million people, and it ought to leave any conscientious person seething with outrage.（《餐桌之上》提供了大量关于影响超过5000万人的问题背后的事实和谬论的信息，任何有责任心的人都应该对此感到愤怒。）可知，文章说的是有责任心的人对《餐桌之上》反映的问题刚到愤怒，而不是它表现了饥饿的人们的愤怒，属于偷换概念；
C选项“它解决了一个神秘的问题。”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项“约有5000万人观看了这部影片。”，由A Place At The Table provides a lot of good information about the facts and myths behind a problem that affects upward of 50 million people（《餐桌之上》提供了大量关于影响超过5000万人的问题背后的事实和谬论的信息）可知，《餐桌之上》反映的饥饿问题影响了超过5000万人，而不是有5000万人观看了这部影片，属于偷换概念。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following is the best equivalent to the word “banal”? 以下哪项与“banal”一词最贴切？
A.Interesting. A.有趣的。
B.Ordinary. B.平凡的。
C.Dreadful. C.可怕的。
D.Reasonable. D.合理的。
【考查点】词汇推断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词banal可以定位到文章第一段最后一句“然而，《斯托克》尽管有导演的华丽表现，却难以克服一个比其神秘氛围更banal的情节”，说明《斯托克》的情节是很平庸的。因此B选项“平凡的。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“有趣的”，C选项“可怕的”和D选项“合理的”在文中均无法体现，属于无中生有。
第3题:
【选项释义】
In Paragraph 2, the author（ ）. 在第 2 段中，作者（ ）。
A.believes that artistic value of documentaries should be appreciated A.认为应该欣赏纪录片的艺术价值
B.encourages the use of stereotypes in documentary movies B.鼓励在纪录片中使用刻板印象
C.criticizes the school lunches in the documentary movies C.批评纪录片中的学校午餐
D.approves of the workmanlike style of documentaries D.赞同纪录片的工匠风格
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Paragraph 2可以定位到文章第二段最后一句“但纪录片的‘电影性’很少成为一个问题，这只会助长人们对纪录片的刻板印象，认为它就是一碗由评论人物和档案镜头组成的混合物，如同《餐桌之上》所激烈批评的学校午餐一样，毫无艺术感地被端上桌面（spooned out as artlessly as the school lunches）”，说明作者认为人们忽略了纪录片的艺术价值。因此A选项“认为应该欣赏纪录片的艺术价值”正确。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“鼓励在纪录片中使用刻板印象”，由But the “movieness” of documentaries rarely becomes an issue, which only encourages the stereotype of the documentary（但纪录片的“电影性”很少成为一个问题，这只会助长人们对纪录片的刻板印象）可知，作者反对使用刻板印象，属于反向干扰；
C选项“批评纪录片中的学校午餐”，由spooned out as artlessly as the school lunches A Place At The Table criticizes so vociferously（如同《餐桌之上》激烈批评的学校午餐一样，毫无艺术感地被端上桌面）可知，作者是用纪录片中的学校午餐来比喻人们对纪录片的刻板印象，而不是批评学校午餐，属于曲解原文；
D选项“赞同纪录片的工匠风格”，由I’ve often argued that the “movieness” of movies is undervalued—that we accept the indifferent, workmanlike craft of deliberate mediocrities（我经常说，电影的“电影性”被低估了——我们接受了不怎么样的、工匠般的拙劣制作），说明作者不喜欢纪录片的工匠风格，属于反向干扰。
第4题:
【选项释义】
What can be inferred from Paragraph 3? 从第三段可以推断出什么？
A.The way of making documentaries is out of date. A.制作纪录片的方式已经过时。
B.Fiction films take the best use of the medium. B.虚构电影是对媒介的最佳利用。
C.People are more tolerant to fiction films. C.人们对虚构电影更宽容。
D.Documentaries should have artistic values. D.纪录片应具有艺术价值。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Paragraph 3可以定位到文章第三段第一句“认为纪录片只需要寻求或展现某种真实，而不考虑这些真实是如何呈现的（regardless of how those truths are presented），这种想法在我看来已经过时了，特别是在这个形式的弹性不断受到考验的时代”，说明作者认为纪录片也应该考虑呈现出真相的形式，也就是注重纪录片的艺术性。因此D选项“纪录片应具有艺术价值。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“制作纪录片的方式已经过时。”，由The thinking that documentaries need merely to seek or present some kind of truth, regardless of how those truths are presented, strikes me as dated at a time（认为纪录片只需要寻求或展现某种真实，而不考虑这些真实是如何呈现的，这种想法在我看来已经过时了）可知，过时的是认为纪录片只需要寻求或展现某种真实，而不考虑这些真实是如何呈现的想法，而不是制作纪录片的方式，属于偷换概念；
B选项“虚构电影是对媒介的最佳利用。”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“人们对虚构电影更宽容。”，由Why should documentaries be forgiven any more than fiction films（为什么纪录片要比虚构电影更容易得到原谅）可知，人们对纪录片更宽容，属于反向干扰。
第5题:
【选项释义】
Lucien Castaing-Taylor hates documentaries because（ ）. 卢西安•卡斯坦-泰勒讨厌纪录片是因为（ ）。
A.documentaries are open-ended A.纪录片是开放式的
B.documentaries make definite conclusions B.纪录片有明确的结论
C.documentaries are often politically motivated C.纪录片往往有政治动机
D documentaries are packed with too much information D.纪录片包含太多信息
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Lucien Castaing-Taylor可以定位到文章第四段第一、二句“‘我讨厌大多数纪录片，’印象派风格新作《利维坦》的联合导演卢西安•卡斯坦-泰勒说。‘当我觉得有人告诉我对某件事情的看法时（I’m being told what to think about something），我就想反抗制片人的权威’”，说明卢西安•卡斯坦-泰勒讨厌纪录片是因为纪录片会告诉他一个明确的结论看法。因此B选项“纪录片有明确的结论”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“纪录片是开放式的”，由The moment I feel like I’m being told what to think about something, I feel that I want to resist the authority of the documentarian.We’re more interested in making films that are more open-ended, that ask the spectators to make their own conclusions.（当我觉得有人告诉我对某件事情的看法时，我就想反抗制片人的权威。我们更有兴趣制作那些更具开放性的电影，让观众自行得出结论。）可知，纪录片不是开放式的，属于反向干扰；
C选项“纪录片往往有政治动机”和D选项“纪录片包含太多信息”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第6题:
【选项释义】
The reality most documentaries represent is（ ）. 大多数纪录片所表现的现实是（ ）。
A.impressive A.令人印象深刻的
B.explicit B.明确的
C.limited C.有限的
D.mysterious D.神秘的
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词The reality most documentaries represent可以定位到文章最后一段倒数第一、二、三句“但大多数纪录片对真实的表现是如此的弱化，如此的基于话语和语言（so discourse-based and language-based）。我们说谎，用言语迷惑自己（mystify ourselves with words）。言语只能带我们走这么远（Words can only take us so far）”，说明纪录片大部分靠言语呈现，而言语能表现的东西是有限的。因此C选项“有限的”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“令人印象深刻的”和D选项“神秘的”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
B选项“明确的”，由We’re always implicitly, if not explicitly, fighting against how bad documentary is.（我们总是含蓄地或明确地与糟糕的纪录片作斗争。）可知，文章说的是人们明确地与糟糕的纪录片作斗争，而不是纪录片所表现的现实是明确的，属于曲解原文。
