Part Four
Many things make people think artists are weird and the weirdest may be this: artists' only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad.
This wasn't always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere in the 19th century, more artists began seeing happiness as insipid, phony or, worst of all, boring as we went from Wordsworth's daffodils to Baudelaire's flowers of evil.
You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen such misery. But it's not as if earlier times didn't know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happiness in the world today.
After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology.
People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in peril and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too.
Today the messages your average Westerner is bombarded with are not religious but commercial, and forever happy. Fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, smiling. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. And since these messages have an agenda--to lure us to open our wallets to make the very idea of happiness seem unreliable. "Celebrate!" commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks.
What we forget--what our economy depends on is forgetting--is that happiness is more than pleasure without pain. The things that bring the greatest joy carry the greatest potential for loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need someone to tell us as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It's a message even more bitter than a clove cigarette, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.
16. By citing the example of poets Wordsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to show that___
A. Poetry is not as expressive of joy as painting or music.
B. Art grow out of both positive and negative feeling.
C. Poets today are less skeptical of happiness.
D. Artist have changed their focus of interest.
17. The word “bummer” （Line 5. paragraph 5）most probably means something____
A. religious B. unpleasant C. entertaining D. commercial
18. In the author’s opinion, advertising___
A. emerges in the wake of the anti-happy part.
B . is a cause of disappointment for the general peer
C. replace the church as a major source of information
D. creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.
19. We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes____
A. Happiness more often than not ends in sadness.
B. The anti-happy art is distasteful by refreshing.
C. Misery should be enjoyed rather than denied.
D. The anti-happy art flourishes when economy booms
20. Which of the following is true of the text ?
A. Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.
B. Art provides a balance between expectation and reality.
C. People feel disappointed at the realities of morality.
D. mass media are inclined to cover disasters and deaths.
Unit 13（2006）Part 4
重點(diǎn)詞匯：
1. weird a. 不自然的，怪異的，非傳統(tǒng)的
2. perpetual a. 永遠(yuǎn)的，永恒的
3. skeptical （+ about/ of） a. phr. 對……不肯相信的，對……常懷疑的相關(guān)詞 skeptic n. 懷疑論者skepticism n. 懷疑態(tài)度；懷疑論
4. disaster n. 災(zāi)難，天災(zāi)人禍
5. massacre n. *，慘敗
6. track ① vt. 跟蹤，追蹤② n. 足跡，蹤跡；路徑，小路，路線；搭配track down跟蹤，追蹤; 對……追查到底； off track（比喻）停止，出軌；on track （比喻）按期；未出差錯； on the right/ wrong track 想法（或做法）對頭/不對頭；yield the track to 屈服于；track meet 田徑運(yùn)動會； track man田徑運(yùn)動員ideology n. 思想體系；思想意識
7. reminder n. 令人回憶起……的東西，提醒人……的東西相關(guān)詞 remindful（that +從句），牢記（從句）。例：He is remindful that he owes his friend money. 他牢記欠朋友的錢。remind about 就……提醒某人； remind sb.of sth.使（默認(rèn)）想起某事；remind sb.that （+從句） 提醒某人（+從句）
8. literacy n.讀寫能力
9. opposite a. 相對的，相反的
10. bombard vt. be bombarded with
11. beaming a. = happy and cheerful 面露喜色的
12. celebrity n. （尤指娛樂界的）名人，名流；名聲，名譽(yù)
13. lure ① n.吸引力 （+for）; 誘惑物② lure sb.to do sth. vt. phr. =attract; tempt 吸引；引誘；誘惑insipid a. 無味的，乏味的，單調(diào)的
14. phony a. =not real or genuine 假的，偽造的
15. daffodil n. 黃水仙花
16. peril n. 極大的危險，招致危險的事物/原因；相關(guān)詞 perilous a.=hazardous, very dangerous bummer =a bad or disappointing experience 失望的、不愉快的經(jīng)歷重要詞組
17. be in peril 處在危險中
18. given all this［狀語或插入語］= if so如果這樣
試題解析：
16.【正確答案】［D］artists have changed their focus of interest.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】該問提到兩位詩人的目的何在。原文舉這兩位詩人是為了說明藝術(shù)家的轉(zhuǎn)變：過去描述幸福，后來描述不幸。因此［D］為正確答案。
17.【正確答案】［B］unpleasant.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道詞義推斷題。
【試題解析】從上下段可以看出過去人不好過日子，所以選詞義表示“負(fù)面的、不好的”選項。四個選項中，只有［B］“令人不快的”符合題意。
18.【正確答案】［D］creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道作者語氣判斷題。
【試題解析】由原文可知，如今的廣告給人造成幸福的幻覺，而非真的幸福，那么［D］為正確答案。
19.【正確答案】［B］The antihappy art is distasteful by refreshing.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】注意原文“we need someone to tell us ..., yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.” （憂愁的藝術(shù)告訴我們的盡管苦澀，卻帶來一股令我們清醒的清新氣息。本句中someone就是指本篇討論的現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)，而現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)的本質(zhì)是anti-happy的。看看［B］more bitter“對應(yīng)”distasteful；“a breath of fresh air”對應(yīng)“refreshing”。 而that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it中的代詞this /it 都是指人生的unhappiness，意思也就是 misery， 這句話的意思是幸福不在于否認(rèn)生活中有misery, 而是應(yīng)該去接受或容忍它。命題者將這句話前錯后對地改寫了，Misery should be enjoyed rather than denied. 這里enjoy作者用了個非常具有干擾性的詞。注意：live with = put up with sth. unpleasant （accept or tolerate接受和忍受不愉快的事情） 怎么可能等同于enjoy呢！
20.【正確答案】［A］Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道主旨大意題。
【試題解析】由文中可知，宗教在過去提醒人們苦難的存在，如今宣傳不幸的藝術(shù)起著同樣的作用。［A］說到了宗教的這一作用，為正確答案。
全文翻譯：
許多事情讓人們認(rèn)為藝術(shù)家是怪人，而且最奇怪的莫過于此：藝術(shù)家的工作就是探索情感，然而，他們的選擇聚焦于那些他們感覺很糟的情感。
事實(shí)并非常常如此，最早的藝術(shù)形式，像繪畫和音樂，是那些最適合表達(dá)喜悅的藝術(shù)，但是在19世紀(jì)的某個地方，許多藝術(shù)家開始把幸福看作是淡而無味的、虛假的——更糟的是，看作是令人厭煩的，這點(diǎn)可以從威廉?華茲華斯的《水仙花》到波德萊爾把鮮花描述為邪惡的轉(zhuǎn)變之中看出。
你可能會堅持認(rèn)為藝術(shù)之所以對幸福產(chǎn)生更大的懷疑是因為現(xiàn)代社會也已經(jīng)歷了太多的不幸，但是這并不意味著早期的時代沒有經(jīng)歷戰(zhàn)亂、災(zāi)難和對無辜者的屠殺。事實(shí)上，原因可能恰恰相反：如今的世界存在過多的該詛咒的幸福。
畢竟，現(xiàn)代社會幾乎完全用來描述幸福的語言是什么？是廣告。反幸福的藝術(shù)的興起幾乎和大眾傳媒的興起如出一轍；由于它的緣故，在商業(yè)廣告文化中，幸福不僅僅是一種理想，還是一種思想觀念。
早期時代的人們被貧困的事物包圍著，他們一直工作到筋疲力盡為止，生活中幾乎無安全可言，而且英年早逝。在西方，在大眾傳播工具出現(xiàn)以及人們學(xué)會讀寫以前，最有力的傳播媒介就是教堂，它告誡禮拜者他們的靈魂處于危險之中，它們有一天會成為螻蟻之餐。倘若這些說法成立的話，他們也就完全不需要藝術(shù)以成為流浪者。
今天，普通西方人不是被宗教所包圍，而是受到商業(yè)廣告的轟擊，他們始終是幸福的。吃快餐者、新聞節(jié)目主持人、文本發(fā)送者，大家都面帶微笑，都在笑。我們的雜志以光彩照人的名人、住著完美宅邸的幸福家庭為主角。由于這些信息含有這樣的真實(shí)企圖——就是誘使人們打開他們的錢夾子，以便使得幸福的真正含義變得不可靠。治療關(guān)節(jié)炎的藥物Celebrex曾一度暗示人們“慶祝吧！”不久我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這種藥可能增加心臟病發(fā)作的危險！
我們所忘記的——而我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)就是依賴于忘記——是：幸福并不等于沒有痛苦的快樂。那些帶來喜悅的事物潛藏著的損失和失望的隱患。今天，身處輕松幸福的許諾的包圍之中，我們需要有人來提醒我們——如同從前宗教所做的那樣——“死亡的象征”：記住我們會死亡，萬事皆有終了時；幸福不是來源于否認(rèn)這點(diǎn)，而是與其共生。這種信息甚至要比丁香味的香煙更苦澀，然而，無論如何，它不失為一股新鮮空氣。
Many things make people think artists are weird and the weirdest may be this: artists' only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad.
This wasn't always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere in the 19th century, more artists began seeing happiness as insipid, phony or, worst of all, boring as we went from Wordsworth's daffodils to Baudelaire's flowers of evil.
You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen such misery. But it's not as if earlier times didn't know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happiness in the world today.
After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology.
People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in peril and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too.
Today the messages your average Westerner is bombarded with are not religious but commercial, and forever happy. Fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, smiling. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. And since these messages have an agenda--to lure us to open our wallets to make the very idea of happiness seem unreliable. "Celebrate!" commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks.
What we forget--what our economy depends on is forgetting--is that happiness is more than pleasure without pain. The things that bring the greatest joy carry the greatest potential for loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need someone to tell us as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It's a message even more bitter than a clove cigarette, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.
16. By citing the example of poets Wordsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to show that___
A. Poetry is not as expressive of joy as painting or music.
B. Art grow out of both positive and negative feeling.
C. Poets today are less skeptical of happiness.
D. Artist have changed their focus of interest.
17. The word “bummer” （Line 5. paragraph 5）most probably means something____
A. religious B. unpleasant C. entertaining D. commercial
18. In the author’s opinion, advertising___
A. emerges in the wake of the anti-happy part.
B . is a cause of disappointment for the general peer
C. replace the church as a major source of information
D. creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.
19. We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes____
A. Happiness more often than not ends in sadness.
B. The anti-happy art is distasteful by refreshing.
C. Misery should be enjoyed rather than denied.
D. The anti-happy art flourishes when economy booms
20. Which of the following is true of the text ?
A. Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.
B. Art provides a balance between expectation and reality.
C. People feel disappointed at the realities of morality.
D. mass media are inclined to cover disasters and deaths.
Unit 13（2006）Part 4
重點(diǎn)詞匯：
1. weird a. 不自然的，怪異的，非傳統(tǒng)的
2. perpetual a. 永遠(yuǎn)的，永恒的
3. skeptical （+ about/ of） a. phr. 對……不肯相信的，對……常懷疑的相關(guān)詞 skeptic n. 懷疑論者skepticism n. 懷疑態(tài)度；懷疑論
4. disaster n. 災(zāi)難，天災(zāi)人禍
5. massacre n. *，慘敗
6. track ① vt. 跟蹤，追蹤② n. 足跡，蹤跡；路徑，小路，路線；搭配track down跟蹤，追蹤; 對……追查到底； off track（比喻）停止，出軌；on track （比喻）按期；未出差錯； on the right/ wrong track 想法（或做法）對頭/不對頭；yield the track to 屈服于；track meet 田徑運(yùn)動會； track man田徑運(yùn)動員ideology n. 思想體系；思想意識
7. reminder n. 令人回憶起……的東西，提醒人……的東西相關(guān)詞 remindful（that +從句），牢記（從句）。例：He is remindful that he owes his friend money. 他牢記欠朋友的錢。remind about 就……提醒某人； remind sb.of sth.使（默認(rèn)）想起某事；remind sb.that （+從句） 提醒某人（+從句）
8. literacy n.讀寫能力
9. opposite a. 相對的，相反的
10. bombard vt. be bombarded with
11. beaming a. = happy and cheerful 面露喜色的
12. celebrity n. （尤指娛樂界的）名人，名流；名聲，名譽(yù)
13. lure ① n.吸引力 （+for）; 誘惑物② lure sb.to do sth. vt. phr. =attract; tempt 吸引；引誘；誘惑insipid a. 無味的，乏味的，單調(diào)的
14. phony a. =not real or genuine 假的，偽造的
15. daffodil n. 黃水仙花
16. peril n. 極大的危險，招致危險的事物/原因；相關(guān)詞 perilous a.=hazardous, very dangerous bummer =a bad or disappointing experience 失望的、不愉快的經(jīng)歷重要詞組
17. be in peril 處在危險中
18. given all this［狀語或插入語］= if so如果這樣
試題解析：
16.【正確答案】［D］artists have changed their focus of interest.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】該問提到兩位詩人的目的何在。原文舉這兩位詩人是為了說明藝術(shù)家的轉(zhuǎn)變：過去描述幸福，后來描述不幸。因此［D］為正確答案。
17.【正確答案】［B］unpleasant.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道詞義推斷題。
【試題解析】從上下段可以看出過去人不好過日子，所以選詞義表示“負(fù)面的、不好的”選項。四個選項中，只有［B］“令人不快的”符合題意。
18.【正確答案】［D］creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道作者語氣判斷題。
【試題解析】由原文可知，如今的廣告給人造成幸福的幻覺，而非真的幸福，那么［D］為正確答案。
19.【正確答案】［B］The antihappy art is distasteful by refreshing.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道語意推斷題。
【試題解析】注意原文“we need someone to tell us ..., yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.” （憂愁的藝術(shù)告訴我們的盡管苦澀，卻帶來一股令我們清醒的清新氣息。本句中someone就是指本篇討論的現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)，而現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)的本質(zhì)是anti-happy的。看看［B］more bitter“對應(yīng)”distasteful；“a breath of fresh air”對應(yīng)“refreshing”。 而that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it中的代詞this /it 都是指人生的unhappiness，意思也就是 misery， 這句話的意思是幸福不在于否認(rèn)生活中有misery, 而是應(yīng)該去接受或容忍它。命題者將這句話前錯后對地改寫了，Misery should be enjoyed rather than denied. 這里enjoy作者用了個非常具有干擾性的詞。注意：live with = put up with sth. unpleasant （accept or tolerate接受和忍受不愉快的事情） 怎么可能等同于enjoy呢！
20.【正確答案】［A］Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.
【測試要點(diǎn)】這是一道主旨大意題。
【試題解析】由文中可知，宗教在過去提醒人們苦難的存在，如今宣傳不幸的藝術(shù)起著同樣的作用。［A］說到了宗教的這一作用，為正確答案。
全文翻譯：
許多事情讓人們認(rèn)為藝術(shù)家是怪人，而且最奇怪的莫過于此：藝術(shù)家的工作就是探索情感，然而，他們的選擇聚焦于那些他們感覺很糟的情感。
事實(shí)并非常常如此，最早的藝術(shù)形式，像繪畫和音樂，是那些最適合表達(dá)喜悅的藝術(shù)，但是在19世紀(jì)的某個地方，許多藝術(shù)家開始把幸福看作是淡而無味的、虛假的——更糟的是，看作是令人厭煩的，這點(diǎn)可以從威廉?華茲華斯的《水仙花》到波德萊爾把鮮花描述為邪惡的轉(zhuǎn)變之中看出。
你可能會堅持認(rèn)為藝術(shù)之所以對幸福產(chǎn)生更大的懷疑是因為現(xiàn)代社會也已經(jīng)歷了太多的不幸，但是這并不意味著早期的時代沒有經(jīng)歷戰(zhàn)亂、災(zāi)難和對無辜者的屠殺。事實(shí)上，原因可能恰恰相反：如今的世界存在過多的該詛咒的幸福。
畢竟，現(xiàn)代社會幾乎完全用來描述幸福的語言是什么？是廣告。反幸福的藝術(shù)的興起幾乎和大眾傳媒的興起如出一轍；由于它的緣故，在商業(yè)廣告文化中，幸福不僅僅是一種理想，還是一種思想觀念。
早期時代的人們被貧困的事物包圍著，他們一直工作到筋疲力盡為止，生活中幾乎無安全可言，而且英年早逝。在西方，在大眾傳播工具出現(xiàn)以及人們學(xué)會讀寫以前，最有力的傳播媒介就是教堂，它告誡禮拜者他們的靈魂處于危險之中，它們有一天會成為螻蟻之餐。倘若這些說法成立的話，他們也就完全不需要藝術(shù)以成為流浪者。
今天，普通西方人不是被宗教所包圍，而是受到商業(yè)廣告的轟擊，他們始終是幸福的。吃快餐者、新聞節(jié)目主持人、文本發(fā)送者，大家都面帶微笑，都在笑。我們的雜志以光彩照人的名人、住著完美宅邸的幸福家庭為主角。由于這些信息含有這樣的真實(shí)企圖——就是誘使人們打開他們的錢夾子，以便使得幸福的真正含義變得不可靠。治療關(guān)節(jié)炎的藥物Celebrex曾一度暗示人們“慶祝吧！”不久我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這種藥可能增加心臟病發(fā)作的危險！
我們所忘記的——而我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)就是依賴于忘記——是：幸福并不等于沒有痛苦的快樂。那些帶來喜悅的事物潛藏著的損失和失望的隱患。今天，身處輕松幸福的許諾的包圍之中，我們需要有人來提醒我們——如同從前宗教所做的那樣——“死亡的象征”：記住我們會死亡，萬事皆有終了時；幸福不是來源于否認(rèn)這點(diǎn)，而是與其共生。這種信息甚至要比丁香味的香煙更苦澀，然而，無論如何，它不失為一股新鮮空氣。