【托福社会学类文章专项训练1】
Roman Cultural Influence on Britain(influence是关键)
After the Roman Empire’s conquest of Britain in the first century A.D., the presence of administrators, merchants, and troops(军队)on British soil, along with the natural flow of ideas and goods from the rest of the empire, had an enormous influence on life in the British Isles(岛屿,英国岛). Cultural influences were of three types: the bringing of objects, the transfer of craft workers, and the introduction of massive civil architecture(民用建筑). ////总领全文Many objects were not art in even the broadest sense and comprised utilitarian items of clothing, utensils, and equipment. We should not underestimate the social status associated with such mundane possessions which had not previously been available. ////开始说objects,下文举例子两个red-gloss potteryThe flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery from Gaul (modern-day France), decorated with scenes from Classical mythology, probably brought many into contact with the styles and artistic concepts of the Greco-Roman world for the first time, whether or not the symbolism was understood. Mass-produced goods were accompanied by fewer( more aesthetically impressive objects) such as statuettes. ///such指代前文说的goods和statuette)///Such pieces perhaps first came with officials for their own religious worship; others were then acquired by native leaders as diplomatic gifts or by purchase. Once seen by the natives, such objects created a fashion which rapidly spread through the province.///讲用途
【问题】
1.【单词】mundane的用法,上下文推理可以的出来
2.【细节】对例子提问:问red-gloss pottery例子是哪来干嘛的
3.【段落整体】反向设问
In the most extreme instances, natives literally bought the whole package of Roman culture. ///介绍最极端的栗子The Fishbourne villa, built in the third quarter of the first century A.D., probably for the native client king Cogidubnus, amply illustrates his Roman pretensions. ///总领句子,下文详细分析It was constructed in the latest Italian style with imported marbles and stylish mosaics. It was lavishly furnished with imported sculptures and other Classical objects. ///介绍装饰和家具A visitor from Rome would have recognized its owner as a participant in the contemporary culture of the empire, not at all provincial (省的地方性的偏狭的)in taste. Even if those from the traditional families looked down on him, they would have been unable to dismiss him as uncultured(没有文化的). Although exceptional(尽管例外), this demonstrates how new cultural symbols bound provincials to the identify of the Roman world.(照应开头的句子,证明影响力巨大)
【问题】
4.【单词】lavishly
5.【细节题目】问主人公身份
Such examples established a standard to be copied. ///谈进一步的影响One result was an influx of craft worker, particularly those skilled in artistic media like stone-carving which had not existed before the conquest. ///工人涌入Civilian workers came mostly from Gaul and Germany. The magnificent temple built beside the sacred spring at Bath was constructed only about twenty years after the conquest. Its detail shows that it was carved by artists from northeast Gaul. ///工人来源In the absence of a tradition of Classical stone-carving and building, the desire to develop Roman amenities(便利设施) would have been difficult to fulfill. Administrators thus used their personal contacts to put the Britons in touch with architects and masons(泥瓦匠). As many of the officials in Britain had strong links with Gaul, it is not surprising that early Roman Britain owes much to craft workers from that area. //官员的行动Local workshops did develop and stylistically similar groups of sculpture show how skills in this new medium became widespread. Likewise skills in the use of mosaic, wall painting, ceramic decoration, and metal-working developed throughout the province with the eventual emergence of characteristically Romano-British styles.///融合出新的艺术形式
6.【单词题】sacred
7.【问原因】According to paragraph 3, one factor contributing to success of the earliest Roman-style construction projects in Britain was?(题目中有相关原因类词汇提示)
This art had a major impact on the native peoples, and one of the most importance factors was a change in the scale of buildings. ///引起规模变化Pre-Roman Britain was highly localized, with people rarely traveling beyond their own region. On occasion(偶尔) large groups amassed for war or religious festivals, but society remained centered on small communities. Architecture of this era reflected this with even the largest of the fortified(防御的、加强的) towns and hill forts(山间堡垒) containing no more than clusters of medium-sized structures. The spaces inside even the largest roundhouses were modest, and the use of rounded shapes and organic building materials gave buildings a human scale(人性化尺度). ///说明之前时期建筑空间小,和后文对比But the effect of Roman civil architecture was significant(雄浑壮丽);the sheer size of space enclosed within buildings like the basilica(教堂) of London must have been astonishing. This was an architecture of dominance in which subject(臣服的) peoples were literally made to feel small by buildings that epitomized(浓缩成) imperial power. Supremacy(霸权) was accentuated(强调) by the unyielding(刚毅不屈的) straight lines of both individual buildings and planned settlements since these too provided a marked contrast with the natural curvilinear (曲线的)shapes dominant in the native realm.///建筑的政治含义
8.【问文章逻辑】In paragraph 4, why does the author mention that “Pre-Roman Britain was highly localized, with people rarely traveling beyond their own region”?(问因果)
9.【问词语】The word “modest” in the passage in closest in meaning to?
10.【问原来建筑】According to paragraph 4, people in pre-Roman Britain lived, for the most part, in?
11.【问罗马建筑】11.According to paragraph 4, why did straight lines in buildings and settlements emphasize the dominance of those who introduced them ?
12.【综合筛选】According to paragraph 4, buildings from the pre-Roman period differed sharply from buildings reflection Roman civil architecture in each of the following respects EXCEPT
13.【句子插入题】关注逻辑
14.【主旨题】高难度失分
文章总结:一种文化对另一种文化的影响。篇章结构为并列,阐述方式为对比、举例和分析影响。
This article describes the culture effect of Roman Empire’s conquest to Britain.
The culture impacts are of three types:
①In the first graph:the mass produced good created a fashion which spread though the province
②In the second graph:the transfer of craft worker who are skilled in artistic media like stone-carving
③In the third graph: the introduction of civil architecture change the scale of building from highly localized buildings to significant buildings which epitomized imperial power.