[ 2204阅读 ] 真题 - 2

Posted 2023-02-17 we1less

Olmec Art 
Paragraph 1
The earliest Mesoamerican art and architecture to combine ideological complexity, craft, and permanence was that of the Olmecs, whose civilization flourished between about 1500 B.C. and 100 B.C. The early Olmecs established major ceremonial centers along the rich lowlands of the modern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. At distant Teopantecuanitlan, the Olmecs established a sacred precinct, the first monumental evidence of the Olmecs in the highlands. But the Olmecs had an advanced social and economic system, with networks for commerce extending far to the west and south. The fertile gulf plain probably allowed for an agricultural surplus, controlled by only a handful of individuals. From the art and architecture of their ceremonial centers (we know too little about Olmec domestic life to call their sites cities), it is clear that for the Olmecs, social stratification was sufficiently advanced for their society to place great importance on the records of specific individuals, particularly in the form of colossal heads (enormous stone sculptures of human heads and faces).

        stratification  n. 分层

1. The word “that” in the passage refers to

A. Mesoamerican art and architecture

B. the ideological complexity, craft, and permanence

C. the earliest civilization

D. the permanent art and architecture

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2. Paragraph 1 supports which of the following ideas about Olmec society

A. Major artists and successful traders had roughly equal status.

B. The most important members of Olmec society resided in the highlands.

C. More people were engaged in producing monumental works of art than were engaged in agriculture.

D. There was a well-developed social structure in which some individuals held more power than others.

 S： supports 推理题 选项定位 Olmec society

        D： 

                A：

                B：

                C：

                D：

        S+G： 

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Paragraph 4
The axe (exhibits) many qualities of the style we now call Olmec: precious blue-green translucent jade, worked to reveal a figure in both two and three dimensions. More than half the axe is devoted to the creature's face an open, toothless mouth, and closely set, slanting eyes which has often been likened to the face of a howling human infant. The creature's hands are worked in lower relief, and in them he grasps a miniature version of himself. Feet and toes are indicated only by incision (carved lines), and incision also marks the face, ears, and upper body, perhaps to suggest tattooing, ear ornaments, and a tunic. For over two millennia this large, precious axe was presumably kept as a treasure or heirloom. It was not until 1955, after several seasons of excavation at La Venta had produced many fine jade objects and a convincing series of radiocarbon dates in the first millennium B.C., that objects such as the Kunz axe were at last understood by scholars to embody the principles of the first great art style of Mesoamerica

5. The word “embody” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. utilize

B. reveal

C. incorporate

D. clarify

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6. It can be inferred from paragraph 4 that the author provides a very detailed description of the Kunz axe because

A. the Kunz axe is more like later Mesoamerican art than it is like Olmec art

        Mesoamerican  中美洲;美索美洲

B. the Kunz axe is a characteristic example of Olmec artistic style and principles

C. the Kunz axe is the single most important and valuable piece of Olmec art so far discovered

        so far  目前为止

D. the face of the creature represented on the Kunz axe resembles a human infant

        creature  n. 生物

 S： inferred 推理题 选项定位 because 问原因

        D： 

                A：

                B：

                C：

                D：

        S+G：