英语阅读练习4

阅读4

  • questioned 质疑
  • embedded 根深蒂固的，嵌入
  • consciousness 意识，知觉
  • push back on 质疑
  • hypothesis 假说
  • pleasing 满意的
  • symmetry 对称
  • exhibits 展现
  • warrant 保证
  1. Statements, like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder (观看者)”, are rarely questioned. They’ve become so embedded in our consciousness that people think it’s absurd to think otherwise. It might be useful, however, to at least push back on this assumption because people evaluate environmnent, situations, and people aesthetically. We may find that we still believe it is correct, but we may also find that there is a lot more to the situation than we suppose.
  2. A recent study exploring aesthetic taste was published in Cognition. The results from this study show that people agree very much in their aesthetic evaluation of natural objects, but they disagree more about artifacts, or human-made objects.
  3. The study found that shared taste was most common for faces and natural landscapes, but least common among works of architecture and art. The hypothesis is the commonly pleasing features, like proportion or symmetry, are at work.
  4. Preferences for natural scenes might be learned through life experiences. Factors like habitability, safety, and openness might be preferred as people develop. Some of the details of landscapes change, but the basics are more common, e.g. water, open spaces, and signs of care.
  5. Art and architecture, unlike natural spaces, do not have the same level of exposure. So, people do not have the same level of shared taste.
  6. It’s possible that the lower amount of agreement in the shared taste of artifacts has to do more with elements of style, rather than “behavioral consequences”.
  7. All of the consequences seem reasonable (or at least possible), but I think there might be an interesting philosophical conclusion that they did not draw. It seems that there is an objective ground to our aesthetic preferences or evaluations. I am not saying this would mean beauty is completely objective, just that there could possibly be general objective principles at work, i.e., beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder.
  8. Nature exhibits some of the universal aesthetic features, such as raddiance, in a common way throughout the world. It’s not exactly the same everywhere, but it is common. For example, a sunset is similar enough in different places to warrant almost universal appeal.
  9. Possible universal principles of beauty - such as proportion, fittinggness, radiance, and others - are general categories, which allow for a wide array of embodiments. When people get involved in making artifacts in architecture or art, they apply these very general concepts in unique ways. But the way they applied the principle may not have universal appeal.
  10. This is why it’s important to experience diverse cultures and their artifacts because it opens us up to different ways of approaching or constructing beauty. And it is always good toquestion our assumptions.

问题

  • dispute 争论
  • surpass 超越
  • pleasing to the eyes 赏心悦目
  • subject 受…支配
  1. What does the passage say about the statement “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?
    A. It has hardly ever been disputed.
    C. Many people have found it absurd.
    B. It can be interpreted aesthetically.
    D. People have long been misled by it.
  2. What does a recent study exploring aesthetic taste show?
    A. Aesthetic tastes tend to differ from person to person.
    B. Natural beauty is rarely surpassed by artificial beauty.
    C. There is less consensus on objects shaped by human craft.
    D. There is general agreement on what is pleasing to the eye.
  3. Why do people differ in their aesthetic appraisal of artifacts?
    A. They come out in a great variety of designs.
    B. They lead to varying behavioral consequences.
    C. They take up much less natural space than landscapes.
    D. They come into people’s view less often than natural spaces.
  4. What does the example of sunset tell about nature?
    A. It creates a powerful appeal through its brilliant radiance.
    B. It displays aesthetic traits in a similar way the world over.
    C. It embodies beauty with a wide array of aesthetic features.
    D. It establishes the principles of beauty in a number of ways.
  5. Why do artifacts not always hold universal appeal?
    A. The appreciation of their beauty is not subject to objective standards.
    B. The universal principle of beauty prevents a wide array of embodiments.
    C. The way their creators apply the principle of beauty may not be pleasing to everybody.
    D. Their creators interpret the universal principle of beauty each in their preferred way.

翻译

  1. 诸如“情人眼里出西施”这样的说法很少受到质疑。这些说法在我们的意识中根深蒂固，以至于人们认为如果不这么想是荒谬的。然而，至少对这种假设提出质疑可能是有用的，因为人们会从审美角度对环境、情况和人进行评估。我们可能会发现我们仍然认为它是正确的，但我们也可能会发现情况比我们想象的要复杂得多。
  2. 最近一项关于审美品味的研究发表在《认知》杂志上。这项研究的结果表明，人们在对自然物体的审美评价上非常一致，但在对人造物品上的评价差异更大。
  3. 研究发现，对于面部和自然景观，共同的品味最为常见，但在建筑和艺术作品中则最不常见。假设是常见的令人愉悦的特征，如比例或对称性在起作用。
  4. 对自然景观的偏好可能是通过生活经验习得的。随着人们的发展，宜居性、安全性和开放性等因素可能会更受青睐。景观的一些细节会发生变化，但基本要素更为常见，例如水、开阔空间和有人照料的迹象。
  5. 与自然空间不同，艺术和建筑没有相同程度的曝光度。因此，人们没有相同程度的共同品味。
  6. 人造物品的共同品味一致性较低可能更多地与风格元素有关，而不是“行为后果”。
  7. 所有这些后果似乎都是合理的（或者至少是可能的），但我认为可能有一个他们没有得出的有趣的哲学结论。似乎我们的审美参考或评价有一个客观的基础。我并不是说这意味着美是完全客观的，只是说可能有一般的客观原则在起作用，即，美并不只是在观看者的眼中。
  8. 大自然以一种普遍的方式在世界各地展现出一些普遍的审美特征，如光辉。虽然并非在每个地方都完全相同，但很常见。例如，不同地方的日落足够相似，几乎具有普遍的吸引力。
  9. 可能的普遍美的原则——如比例、适宜性、光辉等——是一般的类别，允许有各种各样的体现。当人们参与建筑或艺术中的人造物品制作时，他们以独特的方式应用这些非常一般的概念。但他们应用原则的方式可能没有普遍的吸引力。
  10. 这就是为什么体验不同的文化及其人造物品很重要，因为它让我们接触到不同的接近或构建美的方式。并且质疑我们的假设总是好的。

答案

  1. A

Statements, like “beauty is in the eye of the beholder (观看者)”, are rarely questioned. They’ve become so embedded in our consciousness that people think it’s absurd to think otherwise.

  1. C

The study found that shared taste was most common for faces and natural landscapes, but least common among works of architecture and art.

  1. D

Art and architecture, unlike natural spaces, do not have the same level of exposure. So, people do not have the same level of shared taste.

  1. B

Nature exhibits some of the universal aesthetic features, such as raddiance, in a common way throughout the world. It’s not exactly the same everywhere, but it is common. For example, a sunset is similar enough in different places to warrant almost universal appeal.

  1. C

When people get involved in making artifacts in architecture or art, they apply these very general concepts in unique ways. But the way they applied the principle may not have universal appeal.