The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photograph’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 defence 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. They 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. It 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 is 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. Much of photography’s prestige today derives from the convergence of its aims with those of recent art, particularly with the dismissal of abstract art implicit in the phenomenon of Pop painting during the 1960’s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist painting—that is, abstract art as developed in different ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse—presupposes highly developed skills of looking and a familiarity with other paintings and the history of art. Photography, like Pop painting, reassures viewers that art is not hard; photography seems to be more about its subjects than about art.

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.

What is the author mainly concerned with? The author is concerned with

[A]. defining the Modernist attitude toward art.

[B]. explaining how photography emerged as a fine art.

[C]. explaining the attitude of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context.

[D]. defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward their art and assessing the value of each of those approaches.

Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in lines 12—13?

[A]. Objective [B]. Mechanical. [C]. Superficial. [D]. Paradoxical.

Why does the author introduce Abstract Expressionist painter?

[A]. He wants to provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted aims of modern art.

[B]. He wants to set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters.

[C]. He wants to provide a contrast to Pop artist and others.

[D]. He wants to provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, is not and should not pretend to be an art.

How did the nineteenth-century defenders of photography stress the photography?

[A]. They stressed photography was a means of making people happy.

[B]. It was art for recording the world.

[C]. It was a device for observing the world impartially.

[D]. It was an art comparable to painting.

第二节：完形填空(共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A Happy Discovery

Antique shops have a special fascination to a great many people. The more expensive kind of antique shop, where rare objects are beautifully   36     in glass cases to keep them free from dust, is usually a forbidding place.    37   no one has to muster up courage to enter a less pretentious(装腔作势的) antique shop. There is always   38   that a real rarity(珍品) will be found among the piles of assorted junk in its labyrinth(迷宫) of dirty, dark,   39   rooms.

My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often   40   to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere ￡ 50. One Saturday morning, Frank visited a common    41   shop in my neighborhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to    42    him. The morning passed   43   and Frank was about to leave   44   he noticed a large packing-case   45   on the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he could not be   46   to open it. Frank    47   him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents were   48  . The box was full of crockery(陶器), much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature painting at the bottom of the packing-case. As its composition and line   49   him of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him that it was    50   ￡ 50. Frank could hardly hide his excitement, for he knew that he had made a real    51  . The tiny painting    52   to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have   53   , and   54  , the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as   55   as the dealer. Like a scientist bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be greatly rewarded.

36. A. displayed        B. got                    C. played              D. dismissed

37. A. So             B. But                   C. Unless              D. If

38. A. name           B. fame                 C. hope             D. campaign

39. A. clean           B. tidy                   C. beautiful            D. disordered

40. A. smiled           B. described              C. talked            D. laugh

41. A. paint            B. book                 C. antique           D. butcher

42. A. value           B. interest               C. fear                D. enjoy

43. A. rapidly        B. slowly                C. frankly           D. happily

44. A. until          B. after                  C. before            D. when

45. A. laying           B. walking               C. lying               D. floating

46. A. reminded        B. bothered              C. encouraged          D. interested

47. A. begged        B. demanded             C. recommended       D. forced

48. A. exciting         B. disappointing          C. satisfying           D. amazing

49. A. reflected       B. told                  C. stopped           D. reminded

50. A. worth         B. worthy                C. worthwhile        D. cost

51. A. difference      B. invention              C. discovery           D. expectation

52. A. proved          B. provided              C. purchased           D. preferred

53. A. benefit          B. reward                C. passion             D. patience

54. A. fairly           B. rarely                 C. however           D. above all

55. A. adorable       B. accessible             C. knowledgeable     D. acceptable

【2011·金沙前中国际分校模拟】

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A Happy Discovery

Antique shops have a special fascination to a great many people. The more expensive kind of antique shop, where rare objects are beautifully   36   in glass cases to keep them free from dust, is usually a forbidding place.   37   no one has to gather courage to enter a less pretentious(装腔作势的) antique shop. There is always   38   that a real rarity(珍品) will be found among the piles of junk in the dirty, dark,   39   rooms.

My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often   40   to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere £50. One Saturday morning, Frank visited a(n)   41   antique shop in my neighborhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to   42   him. The morning passed   43   and Frank was about to leave   44   he noticed a large packing-case lying on the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he could not be   45   to open it. Frank   46   him to do so and the dealer reluctantly opened it. The contents were   47  . The box was full of crockery(陶器), much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature painting at the bottom of the packing-case. As its composition and line   48   him of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it   49  , the dealer told him that it was worth £50. Frank could hardly   50   his excitement, for he knew that he had made a real   51  . The tiny painting   52   to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have   53  , and   54  , the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as   55   as the dealer. Like a scientist bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be greatly rewarded.

36. A. displayed        B. put               C. played              D. placed

37. A. So                 B. But             C. Unless                     D. And

38. A. certainty       B. luck              C. hope                   D. promise

39. A. deserted          B. tidy                C. beautiful              D. disordered

40. A. smiled            B. described                C. talked                    D. remarked

41. A. familiar              B. usual              C. common            D. casual

42. A. value                B. interest            C. fear                   D. enjoy

43. A. rapidly             B. slowly           C. freely               D. happily

44. A. until                 B. after               C. before               D. when

45. A. reminded                 B. bothered      C. encouraged            D. interested

46. A. begged            B. demanded       C. recommended             D. forced

47. A. exciting              B. disappointing    C. satisfying             D. annoying

48. A. reflected          B. told               C. informed              D. reminded

49. A. carefully          B. briefly           C. excitedly               D. blindly

50. A. hide                B. find                C. show                  D. describe

51. A. difference        B. invention        C. discovery           D. expectation

52. A. proved              B. turned             C. happened              D. seemed

53. A. courage              B. imagination    C. passion                 D. patience

54. A. in all                  B. after all           C. at all                     D. above all

55. A. adorable           B. responsible       C. knowledgeable       D. respectable