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TOEFL | 艺术主题相关背景材料+习题精练+部分词汇整理

卢旺  收录于  类别 语言学习 和 系列 托福备考学习材料
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史前艺术 (Prehistoric Art) / 旧石器时代雕刻

TPO3-L3: Chauvet Paintings

  • What does the professor mainly discuss?

    • The oldest known cave art
    • How ancient cave art is dated
    • The homes of Paleolithic humans
    • How Paleolithic humans thought about animals

  • Why does the professor mention his daughter?

    • To describe her reaction to seeing the paintings
    • To explain the universal appeal for the Chauvet paintings
    • To demonstrate the size of most Paleolithic cave art
    • To emphasize his point about the age of Chauvet paintings

  • What is the professor’s opinion about the art at the Chauvet cave?

    • It is extremely well done
    • It probably reflected artists’ religious beliefs
    • It is less sophisticated than the art at Lascaux and Altamira
    • It is probably not much older than the art at Lascaux and Altamira

  • According to the professor, what is the significance of charcoal marks on the walls of the Chauvet cave?

    • They suggest that Paleolithic people cooked their food in the cave
    • They prove that people came to the cave long after the paintings were made
    • They show how much light the Paleolithic artists needed for their work
    • They were used in recent times to date the paintings

  • Compared to other Paleolithic art, what is unusual about the animals painted at Chauvet?

    • Most of them are horses
    • Many of them are dangerous
    • Many of them are shown alongside humans
    • All of them are species that are still found in France

  • What are two questions about the Chauvet cave artists that the professor raises but cannot answer?

    • How they lighted their work area
    • How they obtained pigments for their paints
    • Why they chose to paint certain animals and not others
    • Why they placed their art in dark, uninhabited places
TPO3-L3: Chauvet Paintings

Listen to part of a lecture in an Art History class.The professor has been discussing the origins of art.
Professor Some of the world’s oldest preserved art is the cave art of Europe, most of it in Spain and France. And the earliest cave paintings found to date are those of the Chauvet Cave in France discovered in 1994.
Professor And you know, I remember when I heard about the results of the dating of the Chauvet paintings, I said to my wife, “Can you believe these paintings are over 30,000 years old?“and my 3-year-old daughter piped up and said, “Is that older than my great-grandmother?” [amused sounds from audience] But, uh, That was the oldest age she knew. And you know, come to think of it, It’s pretty hard for me to really understandhow long 30,000 years is too.
Professor I mean, we tend to think that people who lived at that time must have been pretty primitive…, but I’m gonna show you some slides in a few minutes, and I think you’ll agree with me that this art is anything but primitive-They are masterpieces.And they look so real, so alive that it’s very hard to imagine that they are so very old.
Professor Now, not everyone agrees on exactly how old. A number of the Chauvet paintings have been dated by a lab to 30,000 or more years ago. That would make them not just older than any other cave art, but about twice as old as the art in the caves at Altamira or Lascaux, which you may have heard of.
Professor Some people find it hard to believe Chauvet is so much older than Altamira and Lascaux, and they noted that only one lab did the dating for Chauvet, without independent confirmation from any other lab.
Professor But be that as it may, whatever the exact date, whether it’s 15,000, 20,000 or 30,000 years ago, the Chauvet paintings are from the dawn of art, so they are a good place to start our discussion of cave painting.
Professor Now, one thing you’ve got to remember is the context of these paintings. Paleolithic humans - that’s the period we are talking about here, the Paleolithic, the early stone age, not too long after humans first arrived in Europe. The climate was significantly colder then, and so rock shelters-shallow caves-were valued as homes protected from the wind and rain.
Professor And in some cases at least, artists drew on the walls of their homes.But many of the truly great cave art sites-like Chauvet-were never inhabited. These paintings were made deep inside a dark cave, where no natural light can penetrate. There’s no evidence of people ever living here-Cave bears, yes, but not humans.
Professor You would have had to make a special trip into the cave to make the paintings, and a special trip to go see it, and each time you’d have to bring along torches to light your way. And people did go see the art-there’s charcoal marks from their torches on the cave walls, clearly dating from thousands of years after the paintings were made, so we can tell people went there.
Professor They came but they didn’t stay. Deep inside a cave like that is not really a place you’d want to stay, so, why? What inspired the Paleolithic artists to make such beautiful art in such inaccessible places? We’ll never really know, of course, though it’s interesting to speculate.
Professor But, um, getting to the paintings themselves. Virtually all Paleolithic cave art represents animals, and Chauvet is no exception. The artists were highly skilled at using-or even enhancing-the natural shape of the cave walls to give depth and perspectives to their drawings. The sense of motion and vitality in these animals-Well, wait till I show you the slides.
Professor Anyway, most Paleolithic cave art depicts large herbivores. Horses are most common overall with deer and bison pretty common too. Probably animals they hunted. But earlier at Chauvet, there is a significant interest in large dangerous animals.
Professor Lots of rhinoceros, lions, mammoth, bears…remember that the ranges of many animal species were different back then, so all these animals actually lived in the region at that time-but the Chauvet artists didn’t paint people. There is a half-man-half-bison creature and there is outlines of human hands, but no depiction of a full human.
Professor So, why these precise animals? Why not birds, fish, snakes? Was it for their religion? Magic? Or sheer beauty? We don’t know, but whatever it was, it was worth it to them to spend hours deep inside a cave with just a torch between them and utter darkness. So…, on that note, let’s dim the lights, so we can see these slides and actually look at the techniques they used.
TPO3-L3: Chauvet Paintings

  • pipe /paɪp/

    n

    【1】 a tube through which liquids and gases can flow 管子；管道

    • hot and cold water pipes 冷、热水管
    • lead/plastic pipes 铅╱塑料管子
    • a leaking gas pipe 漏气的煤气管
    • Copper pipe is sold in lengths. 铜管按长度出售。
    • a burst pipe 有破洞的管子

    【2】 a narrow tube with a bowl at one end, used for smoking tobacco 烟斗；烟袋

    • to smoke a pipe 抽烟斗
    • He puffed on his pipe. 他吸着烟斗。
    • pipe tobacco 烟斗丝

    【3】 a musical instrument in the shape of a tube, played by blowing 管乐器

    【4】 any of the tubes from which sound is produced in an organ （管风琴的）音管

    v

    【1】 to send water, gas, oil, etc. through a pipe from one place to another 用管道输送

    • to pipe oil across the desert 用管子把石油输送过沙漠
    • Water is piped from the reservoir to the city. 水从水库经管子输送到城里。

    【2】 to send sounds or signals through a wire or cable from one place to another 用线路系统传输（或传送）

    • The speech was piped over a public address system. 讲话经广播系统传送出去。

    【3】 to play music on a pipe or the bagpipes, especially to welcome sb who has arrived 用管乐器演奏（尤指迎宾曲）

    • Passengers were piped aboard ship at the start of the cruise. 游客在管乐迎宾曲中登船开始水上游。
    • a prize for piping and drumming 笛鼓演奏奖

    【4】 to speak or sing in a high voice or with a high sound 尖声地说（或唱）；尖声啼鸣

    • Outside a robin piped. 外面有一只知更鸟在啼鸣。

    【5】 to decorate food, especially a cake, with thin lines of icing, etc. by squeezing it out of a special bag or tube 裱花（用裱花袋把糖霜等裱在糕点上）

    • The cake had ‘Happy Birthday’ piped on it. 蛋糕上裱了“生日快乐”的字样。

    [PHRASAL VERB]

    • ˌpipe ˈdown

      (informal) used especially in orders, to tell sb to stop talking or to be less noisy 安静些；别说话；别嚷嚷

    • ˌpipe ˈup (with sth)

      (informal) to begin to speak 开始说；说起来

      • The person next to me piped up with a silly comment. 我旁边那位愚蠢地评论起来。
      • ‘I know the answer,’ piped up a voice at the back of the room. “我知道答案。”房间后边有个声音叫起来。

  • primitive /ˈprɪmətɪv/

    adj

    【1】 belonging to a very simple society with no industry, etc. 原始的；远古的

    • primitive tribes 原始部落
    • primitive beliefs 原始的信仰

    【2】 belonging to an early stage in the development of humans or animals 原始的；人类或动物发展早期的

    • primitive man 原始人

    【3】 very simple and old-fashioned, especially when sth is also not convenient and comfortable 发展水平低的；落后的

    • The methods of communication used during the war were primitive by today’s standards. 按今天的标准，大战时期使用的通讯方法非常落后。
    • The facilities on the campsite were very primitive. 营地的设施非常简陋。

    【4】 very strong and not based on reason, as if from the earliest period of human life 原始本能的

    • a primitive instinct 原始本能

    n

    【1】 an artist of the period before the Renaissance; an example of work from this period 文艺复兴前的艺术家（或作品）

    【2】 an artist who paints in a very simple style like a child; an example of the work of such an artist 原始派画家（或作品）

  • dawn /dɔːn/

    n

    【1】 the time of day when light first appears 黎明；拂晓；破晓

    • They start work at dawn. 天一亮他们就开始干活了。
    • It’s almost dawn. 天快亮了。
    • We arrived in Sydney as dawn broke (= as the first light could be seen). 黎明时分我们到达了悉尼。
    • I woke up just before dawn. 我正好在拂晓前醒来。
    • summer’s early dawns 夏日早到的黎明
    • He works from dawn till dusk (= from morning till night). 他从早到晚地工作。

    【2】 the beginning or first signs of sth 开端；曙光；萌芽

    • the dawn of civilization/time/history 文明╱时代╱历史的开端
    • Peace marked a new dawn in the country’s history. 和平使这个国家的历史翻开了新的一页。

    v

    【1】 to begin 开始

    • The following morning dawned bright and warm. 第二天一大早阳光和煦。
    • A new technological age had dawned. 新技术时代已经开始。

    【2】 to become obvious or easy to understand 变得明朗；开始清楚

    • Slowly the awful truth dawned. 可怕的事实慢慢地清晰起来。

    [PHRASAL VERB]

    • ˈdawn on sb

      if sth dawns on you, you begin to realize it for the first time 使开始明白；使渐渐领悟；使开始理解

      • Suddenly it dawned on me that they couldn’t possibly have met before. 我突然明白他们以前不可能见过面。

  • penetrate /ˈpenətreɪt/

    verb to go into or through sth 穿过；进入

  • inhabit /ɪnˈhæbɪt/

    verb (formal) to live in a particular place 居住在；栖居于

  • charcoal /ˈtʃɑːkəʊl/ noun

    a black substance made by burning wood slowly in an oven with little air. Charcoal is used as a fuel or for drawing. 炭，木炭（可作燃料或供作画）

  • torch /tɔːtʃ/ n

    【1】 a small electric lamp that uses batteries and that you can hold in your hand 手电筒

    • Shine the torch on the lock while I try to get the key in. 我插钥匙时，请用手电筒照着锁头。

    【2】 a long piece of wood that has material at one end that is set on fire and that people carry to give light 火炬；火把

    • a flaming torch 燃烧着的火炬
    • the Olympic torch 奥林匹克火炬
    • (figurative) They struggled to keep the torch of idealism and hope alive. 他们为使理想主义和希望的火炬不熄灭而奋斗。

    [IDIOMS]

    • put sth to the ˈtorch

      (literary) to set fire to sth deliberately 将…付之一炬

  • speculate /ˈspekjuleɪt/ verb

    to form an opinion about sth without knowing all the details or facts 推测；猜测；推断

  • bison /ˈbaɪsn/ noun

    a large wild animal of the cow family that is covered with hair. There are two types of bison, the N American (also called buffalo ) and the European. 野牛（分北美野牛和欧洲野牛两类）

  • precise /prɪˈsaɪs/ adjective

    clear and accurate 准确的；确切的；精确的；明确的

  • religion /rɪˈlɪdʒən/ noun

    the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them 宗教；宗教信仰

  • 古希腊最有名的艺术成就是各种雕塑，体现人体的完美性 (idealization of the human body), 比如，大家熟悉的《米洛斯的维纳斯》。
  • 古希腊雕塑分为三个时期：古风时期(Archaic)、 古典时期(Classical)、希腊化时期(Hellenistic), 风格越来越成熟，而最杰出的希腊化时期的代表作就是《米洛斯的维纳斯》和《拉奥孔》。
  • 古罗马人非常欣赏古希腊的雕塑，甚至会刻意做仿制品。但是，古罗马虽然创造力稍微弱一点，但是也有自己的独特之处。古罗马的雕塑主要是为了战争和政治服务，传达权力信息，比如：罗马帝国皇帝屋大维，又称Augustus的雕塑。
  • 在建筑方面，古希腊和古罗马也取得了辉煌的成就：古希腊的代表建筑是帕特农神庙 (Parthenon Temple), 而古罗马的代表建筑是万神殿 (Pantheon)。
  • 万神殿由前面的方形神殿和后面的圆形穹顶组成，这座圆形穹顶直径43.4米，很长一段时间都是世界之最，穹顶中央有一个9米宽的圆洞。整个神殿没有窗户，全靠圆洞透光照亮厅堂。万神殿中还葬着文艺复兴时期的大师——拉斐尔。
TPO42-L2: Greek and Roman Statues

  • Why does the professor mention statues created by Renaissance artists in fifteenth-century Europe?

    • To emphasize the importance of color in Renaissance works of art
    • To help explain the method used to determine the age of a statue
    • To point out the origin of the belief that ancient marble statues were monochrome
    • To point out that Renaissance artists used other materials besides marble to create statues

  • What is the main purpose of the lecture?

    • To explain why a particular statue of a Roman emperor is so famous
    • To discuss how classical Greek and Roman statues looked in ancient times
    • To describe the types of pigments Greek and Roman artists applied to statues
    • To explain a shift from monochrome to polychrome statues in ancient times

  • According to the professor, what are two reasons that ancient statues may no longer have any visible traces of paint?

    • The paint was eroded away.
    • The marble absorbed the paint over time.
    • Museum curators intentionally removed the paint.
    • The paint was accidentally removed during cleaning.

What is the professor’s opinion about ancient statues that were once painted?

  • They should be judged by their form rather than their color.
  • They should be interpreted with the artists’ intentions in mind.
  • They should be fully restored to their original colors.
  • They probably represent only a small minority of classical statues.

According to the professor, what is significant about the paint on the statue of Augustus? - It helped protect the statue from erosion. - The different colors were made from valuable pigments. - The color of the armor indicated the youth of Augustus. - The color of the cloak symbolized authority.

What does the professor imply that art historians should do? - Try to preserve deteriorating ancient pigments with an organic surface treatment. - Educate the public about the damage caused by cleaning works of art. - Study the remaining traces of pigments on as many ancient sculptures as possible. - Try to re-create the mineral-based paints that were used in ancient times.

TPO42-L2: Greek and Roman Statues
Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.
Profosser I’m sure you’ve all been to a museum where you’ve seen beautiful white marble statues sculpted by the Greeks and Romans… or at least that you’ve seen photos of such statues, right? We have come to expect these classical Greek and Roman statues to be monochrome-just one color…white skin, white hair, white eyes, white everything-the natural color of the marble they’re carved from.
Profosser Now, the ideal of plain, white sculpture goes back to fifteenth-century Europe, when Renaissance artists rediscovered ancient Greek and Roman culture. They were inspired by sculptures that appeared monochrome, so they created white marble statues. The impact of these Renaissance statues, such as Michelangelo’s David, gave rise to new standards for sculpture, standards that emphasized form rather than color.
Profosser But what if many of those ancient statues were originally polychrome-colored from head to toe? Early in the nineteenth century, archaeologists found traces of paint on ancient sculptures. And since then, classical art historians have begun to realize that Greek and Roman marble sculptures were originally colored.
Profosser Even if an ancient marble statue doesn’t have any visible traces of paint, that does not mean it was originally monochrome. In many cases, the pigment would have simply deteriorated—ancient artists used mineral-based paints with organic binding media that would’ve disintegrated on its own over time. In other cases, the pigment may have been weathered away while exposed to the elements… or someone may have rigorously cleaned the statues and unknowingly removed the last traces of pigment.
Profosser So…the fact is we do have evidence of polychrome sculptures from Greece and Rome from the seventh century B.C.E. all the way through at least the third or fourth century C.E. It’s now generally accepted that most—maybe even all—marble sculptures from that time period received some kind of surface treatment like the application of pigments, colored stones, or metals that would’ve modified their color.
Profosser So do we interpret a statue differently if we know it had originally been polychrome? I feel strongly when it comes to this. A marble sculpture that had been colored has another layer of meaning that was meant to affect the viewer.
Profosser As art historians, we must try to interpret the intentions of the artists—what were the artists trying to achieve? Certain features of the sculpture were highlighted through color, were made to stand out….
Profosser In other words, they caused the viewer to focus on certain features. And certain colors represented certain things to the ancient artists and cultures: a color might symbolize heroism, divinity, or youth.
Profosser One example to consider is the statue of Roman Emperor Augustus.
Profosser This particular statue of Augustus that I’m referring to was discovered just outside of Rome in 1863, and was in terrific condition. It’s about two meters tall-just larger than life-size. It was made from an expensive, high-quality type of marble, and was obviously carved by an expert.
Profosser Now… it still had visible traces of color on the hair, eyes, and its clothing and armor.The paints have been very carefully studied, and it turns out that the colors weren’t just from any pigments—they were from expensive pigments. The use of these pigments showed the importance of Augustus and that he should be honored.
Profosser And let’s consider the extensive traces of a red pigment that were found on the statue’s cloak. The cloak’s a special garment that was traditionally worn by an emperor on the battlefield, and in real life was a red color which, to the Romans, signified the emperor’s authority—military and political authority.
Profosser OK…I won’t point out any further details about the colors on the Augustus statue, because you can already begin to see that there was cultural importance associated with the colors—symbolism which should help us understand the statue better.
Profosser There are many, many more sculptures that have traces of pigments left on them, and we have the technology these days to be able to carry out effective studies of these pigments. There’s a lot of work to be done. But it needs to be done fast. Like I said before, these pigments deteriorate rapidly. So we really need to do the research before the traces are gone, so that we can increase our understanding of ancient polychrome sculptures and the cultures which created them.
  • 从5世纪到15世纪，长达1000年时间，被称为中世纪，是欧洲历史三大阶段（古典时期、中世纪、近代）的中间阶段
  • 中世纪一直被看作“黑暗时期”，这一时期的生活和文化都带有强烈的宗教(religion)色彩
  • 中世纪的艺术品中，有下面这些内容需要了解、关注：

    • 歌剧(opera)在意大利诞生，并且逐渐在法国、英国传播

    • 羊皮纸(parchment)是人们常用的书写材料，重复书写的羊皮纸被称为重写纸(palimpsest)

    • 键盘乐器(keyboard instrument), 例如管风琴(organ)以及钢琴的前身——大键琴(harpsichord) 出现并逐渐流行起来

      Keyboard instruments existed long before the piano—the organ, which dates back to the Middle Ages, as do other keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord which is still popular today with some musicians.

    • 教堂使用彩色玻璃(stained glass)进行装饰

    • 香料(spice)开始被用于食物的烹调，但因为昂贵，只能由贵族(aristocracy)享用

    • 法国的Golden Age是什么

TPO12-L4: Opera

  • What is the lecture mainly about? Click on 2 answers.

    • Some changes that took place in the early years of opera.
    • Difference between opera and other forms of music.
    • Italy’s musical influence throughout Europe.
    • Reasons that early French and Italian opera did not survive.

  • According to the professor, what happened after the Italian language replaced Latin in Italian opera?

    • Operas became much longer.
    • Operas begin to express secular ideas.
    • Music in opera became more complex.
    • Opera was used to teach technology to the general public.

  • Why does the professor mention ancient Greek theater?

    • To give an example of a culture that adopted opera from the Italians.
    • To describe the type of setting in which opera was typically performed.
    • To point out a precursor of opera.
    • To explain how opera was introduced into French society.

  • What does the professor say about music in French opera?

    • It resembled sacred church music.
    • It often inspired French novelists to write great piece of literature.
    • It revolved mainly around solo pieces.
    • It was secondary to the rhythmic flow of language.

  • What does the professor say this: The English made a major adjustment to opera and exported what they had done to opera back to Italy.

    • To show difference between English and Italian opera.
    • To give one instance in the evolution of opera.
    • To discuss the popularity of opera in England at the time.
    • To point out that English and Italian opera companies often worked together.

  • What does the professor imply when he says this: George Champon wrote about opera, “If an extraterrestrial being or two appear before us and say, what is your society like, what is this Earth thing all about, you could do worse than take that creature to an opera.” Because opera does, after all, begin with a man and a woman and any emotion.

    • He agrees with Chapman about opera and society.
    • He thinks Chapman’s approach to opera is confusing.
    • He is concerned that Chapman’s ideas are often misunderstood.
    • He thinks Chapman’s questions are difficult to answer.
TPO12-L4: Opera

Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class. The professor has been discussing Opera.
Professor: The word opera means “work.” Actually, it means “works.” It’s the plural 复数 of the word “opus” from the Latin. And in Italian it refers in general to works of art. “Opera lyrica,” or lyric opera, refers to what we think of as opera, the musical drama.
Professor: Opera was commonplace 普遍的 in Italy for almost thousands of years before it became commercial as a venture 创新冒险. And during those years several things happened primarily linguistic or thematic 主题的 and both involving secularization 世俗化/政教分离.
Professor: Musical drama started in the churches. It was an educational tool. It was used primarily as a vehicle for teaching religion and was generally presented in Latin, the language of the Christian Church, which had considerable influence in Italy at that time.
Professor: But the language of everyday life was evolving in Europe, and at a certain point in the Middle Ages, it was really only merchants, aristocrats 贵族, and clergy 神职人员 who can deal with Latin.
Professor: The vast majority of the population used their own regional vernacular 方言 in all aspects of their lives, and so, in what is now Italy, operas quit being presented in Latin and started being presented in Italian.
Professor: And once that happened, the themes of the opera presentations also started to change, and musical drama moved from the church to the plaza 广场 right outside the church. And the themes again, the themes changed, and opera was no longer about teaching religion as it was about satire 讽刺, and about expressing the ideas of society or government without committing yourself to writing and risking imprisonment 监禁 or persecution 迫害 or what have you.
Professor: Opera, as we think of it, is of course a resurrected 复活 form. It is the melodious 清脆 悠扬的 drama of ancient Greek theater, the term “melodious drama” being shortened eventually to “melodrama” because operas frequently are melodramatic, not to say unrealistic.
Professor: And the group that put the first operas together that we have today then, were, well… it was a group of men that included Galileo’s father Vincenzo, and they met in Florence. He and a group of friends of the Count of Bardi and they formed what is called the Giovanni de’ Bardi. And they took classical theater and reproduced it in the Renaissance time. This… uh… this produced some of the operas that we have today.
Professor: Now, what happened in the following centuries is very simple. Opera originated in Italy but was not confined to Italy any more than Italians were. And so as the Italians migrated to across Europe, they carried theater with them and opera specifically because it was an Italian form.
Professor: What happened is that the major divide in opera that endures today took place. The French said opera ought to reflect the rhythm and cadence 节奏 of dramatic literature, bearing in mind that we are talking about the golden age in French literature.
Professor: And so the music was secondary, if you will, to the dramatic cadence of language, to the way the rhythm of language was used to express feeling and used to add drama, and of course as a result, instead of arias 歌剧, or solos which would come to dominate Italian opera, the French relied on what the Italians called “recitativo” or “recitative” in English, the lyrics were spoken… frequently to the accompaniment of a harpsichord 大键琴.
Professor: The French said, “You really can’t talk about real people who lived, in opera.” And they relied on mythology 神话 to give them their characters and their plots. Mythology, the pastoral 牧歌 田园诗 traditions the… the… novels of chivalry 骑士精神, or the epics of chivalry out of the Middle Ages.
Professor: The Italians said, “No, this is a great historical tool, and what better way to educate the public about Nero or Attila, or any number of people than to put them into a play they can see and listen to.”
Professor: The English appropriated opera after the French. Opera came late to England because all theaters, public theaters were closed, of course, during their civil war. And it wasn’t until the restoration in 1660 that public theaters again opened and opera took off.
Professor: The English made a major adjustment to opera and exported what they had done to opera back to Italy. So that you have this circle of musical influences. The Italians invented opera. The French adapted it. The English adopted it. The Italians took it back.
Professor: It came to America late and was considered too elitist 精英的 for the general public, but Broadway musicals fulfilled a similar function for a great long while. John J. Chapman wrote about opera, “If an extraterrestrial being or two appear before us and say, ‘What is your society like? What is this Earth thing all about?’ you could do worse than take that creature to an opera”. Because opera does, after all, begin with a man and a woman and an emotion.
TPO18-L4: Role of Spices

  • What is the main purpose of the lecture?

    • To explore the use of spices in cooking in the Middle Ages
    • To explain the significance of spices for medieval society
    • To describe how the spice trade evolved in medieval Europe
    • To examine changes in the role that spices played in the Middle Ages

  • Based on the lecture, indicate whether each of the following is true about spices in medieval Europe. Click in the correct box for each phrase

    Yes No
    They had to be imported. √
    They were unaffordable for many people. √
    They were used to preserve meat during the winter. √
    They were believed to have medicinal properties. √
    Their sale in public markets was closely regulated. √

  • What two factors explain why medieval Europeans did not use spices to cover the taste of spoiled meat?

    • Fresh meat was less expensive than spices were.
    • Spices were mainly used in incense and perfume.
    • The sale of spoiled food was prohibited.
    • Salt was cheaper than most spices were.

  • Why does the professor mention the collapse of the Roman Empire?

    • To indicate that the spice trade became more direct
    • To explain why the price of pepper suddenly increased
    • To indicate that spices were not available in Europe for centuries
    • To explain why the origins of spices became more mysterious

  • What does the professor say about European explorers during the age of discovery?

    • Their discoveries caused the price of certain spices to increase.
    • They were responding to the demand for spices.
    • They did not expect to find spices during their explorations.
    • Their main goal was to discover unknown lands.

  • Why does the professor say this: He wanted 5000 pounds of gold among other things but he also wanted 3000 pounds of pepper. Maybe that would give you an idea of exactly where pepper stood at the time.

    • To indicate that pepper was commonly used as payment
    • To indicate where pepper could be found at the time
    • To emphasize the high value of pepper at the time
    • To suggest that pepper was nearly as plentiful as gold
TPO18-L4: Role of Spices

Listen to part of a lecture in a European history class.
Professor: In order to really study the social history of the Middle Ages, you have to understand the role of spices. Now, this might sound a little surprising, even a little strange, but what seem like little things now were, back then, actually rather big things. So, first let’s define what a spice is.
Professor: Technically speaking, a spice is part of an aromatic plant that is not a leaf, or herb. Spices can come from tree bark, like, ah, cinnamon, plant roots like ginger, flower buds like cloves. And in the Middle Ages, Europeans were familiar with lots of different spices, the most important being pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg. These spices literally dominated the way Europeans lived for centuries— how they traded and, uh, even how they used their imaginations.
Professor: So why this medieval fascination with spices? We can boil it down to three general ideas, briefly. One was cost and rarity, ah, two was exotic taste and fragrance, and third, mysterious origins and a kind of mythical status.
Professor: Now, for cost and rarity: Spices aren’t native to Europe, and they had to be imported.Spices only grew in the East Indies, and of course transportation costs were astronomical. So spices were incredibly valuable, even from the very beginning. Here’s an example, um, in 408 A.D., the Gothic general who’d captured Rome demanded payment.
Professor: He wanted 5,000 pounds of gold, among other things, but he also wanted 3,000 pounds of pepper. Maybe that’ll give you an idea of exactly where pepper stood at the time. By the Middle Ages, spices were regarded as so important and expensive, they were used in diplomacy— as gifts by heads of state and ambassadors.
Professor: Now, for the taste, the diet then was relatively bland compared to today’s. There wasn’t much variety. Uh, especially the aristocracy, who tended to eat a lot of meat, um, they were always looking for new ways to prepare it— new sauces, new tastes, and this is where spices came in.
Professor: Now this is a good point to mention one of the biggest myths about spices: It’s commonly said that medieval Europeans wanted spices to cover up the taste of spoiled 变质的 meat, but this isn’t really true. Anyone who had to worry about spoiled meat couldn’t afford spices in the first place.
Professor: If you could afford spices, you could definitely afford fresh meat. We also have evidence that various medieval markets employed a kind of police, to make sure that people didn’t sell spoiled food.
Professor: And if you were caught doing it, you were subject to various fines, humiliating public punishments. So, what actually was true was this: In order to have meat for the winter, people would preserve it in salt— not a spice. Spices, actually, aren’t very effective as preservatives.
Professor: And, uh, throughout winter they would eat salted meat, but the taste of the stuff could grow really boring and, and depressing after a while. So the cooks started looking for new ways to improve the taste, and spices were the answer.
Professor: Which brings us to mysterious origins and mythical status. Now the ancient Romans had a thriving spice trade, and they sent their ships to the east and back. But when Rome collapsed in the fifth century and the Middle Ages began, um, direct trade stopped, and, uh, so did that kind of hands-on knowledge of travel and geography.
Professor: Spices now came by way of the trade routes, with lots of intermediaries between the producer and the consumer. So these spices took on an air of mystery. Their origins were shrouded in exotic travels; they had the allure of the unknown, of wild places.
Professor: Myths grew up of fantasy lands, magical faraway places made entirely of food and spices.Add to that, spices themselves had always been considered special, or magical— not just for eating— and this was already true in the ancient world where legends about spices were abundant.
Professor: Spices inspired the medieval imagination, they were used as medicines to ward off diseases, and mixed into perfumes, incense. They were used in religious rituals for thousands of years.
Professor: They took on a life of their own, and they inspired the medieval imagination, spurred on the age of discovery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: When famous explorers like Columbus and Da Gama and Magellan left Europe in their ships, they weren’t looking for a new world; they were looking for spices. And we know what important historical repercussions some of those voyages had.

,TPO15-L3,TPO16-L2,TPO16-L4,TPO18-L3

  • 文艺复兴是14-16世纪欧洲的一场启蒙运动。当时的人想要“复兴”古希腊(ancient Greek)和古罗马(ancient Roman)的艺术形式

  • 第一个提出文艺复兴概念的是意大利艺术史学家瓦萨里(Giorgio Vasari) , 他在《艺苑名人传》(Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects)中第一次提到了“文艺复兴三杰”，他们确立了绘画的古典体系——透视(perspective) 正确，写实创作，人物生动。 -达 ·芬奇 (Da Vinci)：文艺复兴时期最著名的艺术家，他的代表作有肖像画《蒙娜丽莎》(Mona Lisa)，藏于卢浮宫(Louvre)，壁画《最后的晚餐》(The Last Supper) -米开朗基罗 (Michelangelo)：瓦萨里书中用了最长的篇幅来描述他，并将其作为评估其他艺术家的标尺(benchmark)，他的代表作是梵蒂冈(Vatican)西斯廷教堂天顶(Sistine Chapel ceiling)的壁画和位于佛罗伦萨(Florence)学院美术馆的雕塑《大卫》(David)

    • 拉斐尔(Raphael)：文艺复兴三杰中最年轻的一位，被誉为画圣，他为罗马教皇创作了大型的壁画(frescos)，其中最出名的是《雅典学院》(The School of Athens)

  • 艺术技法

    • 对立式平衡法(contrapposto)：通过展示身体形态上的的轻微扭曲(slight twist) 来增加艺术人物的真实性。雕塑《大卫》就使用了这样的技法。但是这种方法一旦使用不好，模拟出的人体形态容易让整个人看起来不太自然(unnatural) , 所以Alberti建议艺术家应该模拟人类的骨头结构，从而能够准确地确定人物的身体比例
    • 线性单点透视(liner one-point perspective)：画一些平行的直线，这些直线会从画作的最前端一直延续到背景形成一个视觉上的消失点(vanishing point)。通过使用这样的方法，艺术家可以在平面上创造出立体的效果，作品会更真实

  • 文艺复兴时期的花园是面积很大，非常奢华的(lavish)庭院，是一种体现花园主人地位的象征。这些花园里面有很多的机关(tricks)和迷宫(maze)用来吸引人们，花园越有名气，花园的主人越有地位。

TPO37-L3,TPO41-L3,TPO45-L1,TPO33-L2

  • 公元5世纪到15世纪，欧洲经历了被基督教统治的中世纪 (Medieval)，而16世纪之后，随着文艺复兴 (Renaissance) 的到来，尽管该时期依然是具有宗教色彩的时期，但欧洲文明开始从宗教化向世俗化(secularization) 转变。这种转变在歌剧和绘画中均有体现
    • 最初，歌剧用拉丁语(Latin)写成，被当成教授宗教教义(teach religion)的工具。但是，拉丁语只被少数权贵阶层所掌握：贵族(aristocrat)、神职人员(clergy)和商人(merchant)。而在文艺复兴时期，意大利人开始用意大利语 (Italian)写剧，使得平民百姓也可以解到歌剧。随着语言的变化，歌剧的主题也从教授宗教教义转变成反映世俗话题，甚至出现了讽刺剧(satire), 表达人们对社会和政府的看法。意大利人强调歌剧的纪实性 (historical)以及旋律性。但是传入法国后，法国人更强调歌剧朗诵时的抑扬顿挫 (cadence), 并认为歌剧不应该使用真实的人物形象作为主人公。
    • 文艺复兴时期，艺术家不再将绘画的主题(subject matter)局限于宗教故事和宗教人物，而开始描绘真实世界(natural world), 通过画人物肖像(portrait)和自然风景(landscape)，反映真实世界。

      The Renaissance was still a pretty religious period, and that’s reflected in the artwork of that time. But artists were starting to experiment with a more secular point of view as well, a tendency to also use the natural world as the subject matter for their art.

相关TPO 篇目： TPO12-L3,TPO45-L1

TPO45-L5: Early Pottery

  • What is the main purpose of the lecture?

    • To explore possible solutions to an anthropological mystery
    • To analyze the results of a nutritional experiment
    • To explain why human beings first started creating ceramics
    • To examine changes in the dietary preferences of an ancient culture

  • According to the professor, why would the ceramic vessels used by ancient Arctic people be likely to break?

    • Ancient Arctic people used cooking techniques unsuitable for ceramic pots.
    • Ancient Arctic people were frequently moving from place to place.
    • The vessels were not made with high-quality clay.
    • The vessels were often exposed to extreme temperatures.

  • Why does the professor mention that the Arctic climate is cold and wet?

    • To explain why ancient Arctic people found warm food appealing
    • To explain why ancient Arctic people required a diet that was rich in meat
    • To explain the difficulties of manufacturing pottery in such a climate
    • To explain why some foods could not be stored in clay pots

  • What does the professor imply about ancient Arctic people’s food preferences?

    • They liked raw foods better than minimally cooked foods.
    • They enjoyed eating foods that had been prepared in contrasting ways.
    • Their preferences changed dramatically over time.
    • They liked foods cooked in ceramic vessels better than foods cooked in other types of containers.

  • According to the professor, why did ancient Arctic people cook using small fires?

    • Their pottery could not withstand intense heat.
    • Small fires made it easier to control cooking speed.
    • Cooking had to be done indoors.
    • Fuel was difficult to obtain.

  • Why does the student say this: But you’re saying they did make ceramic cooking pots.

    • He wants to make sure the professor is referring to the past and not the present.
    • He does not understand why making ceramics in the Arctic is considered challenging.
    • He thinks the fact that ancient Arctic people made ceramics requires some explanation.
    • He does not believe the ancient Arctic people actually made ceramics.
TPO45-L5: Early Pottery

Listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class.
Profosser: OK, today we’re going to be moving on and we’re going to be talking about early pottery 陶器. But rather than me just giving you a broad overview of how pots—or ceramic vessels—were developed and used in different regions of the world, we’re going to consider a specific example—a case study.
Profosser: And we’re going to focus on ceramic cooking vessels from just one part of the world. So the question I want to look at today concerns the use of ceramic cooking vessels—clay pots—in the Arctic 北极 during ancient times. Why were they developed and used there?
Profosser: So, to begin with, we don’t know for sure when human beings first started creating pottery, but we have evidence of it from over 15,000 years ago. And in the Arctic, ceramic cooking pots didn’t appear there until some 2,500 years ago.
Profosser: Now, it’s not surprising that they appeared relatively late there. In fact, what’s been something of a mystery is why they were used at all—in the Arctic, I mean. Ken?
Student: Why wouldn’t they use pottery?
Profosser: Good question. What would some of the drawbacks of ceramic containers be—for ancient people groups in the Arctic? [Pause, while waiting for an answer that doesn’t come… then hinting] Ancient Arctic societies were nomadic, right?
Student: I get it. Clay pots are fragile. So if people were moving around all the time, well, the pots would probably keep breaking.
Profosser: Precisely. Ceramic cooking vessels can’t be transported easily. That’s one thing. And think of how ceramics are produced. You need water and clay, of course…you need to make the pot, allow it to dry for a long time—warm, dry locations work best for this, of course—and then you need to fire it… uh, bake it.
Profosser: So you can see the role that climate would play in whether or not ancient people created and used ceramic cooking pots—and that’s why manufacturing pottery would have been a challenge, actually quite difficult for people in the Arctic.
Student: But you’re saying they did make ceramic cooking pots.
Profosser: Yes. So the question is, given all these clear disadvantages, why would Arctic people choose to make and use ceramic cooking vessels. Sue?
Student: I read somewhere that, by cooking food in clay pots, people increased the, uh…well, they made food easier to digest. Something about making the nutritional components of foods more accessible.
Profosser: That’s definitely true as far as many nutrients are concerned. But some nutrients, like vitamin C, are destroyed by cooking. But the ancient Arctic people ate a diet that consisted almost entirely of raw or only minimally cooked meat and fish or shellfish.
Student: I saw something on television once…a documentary that talked about how healthy the diet was—how it provided all the nutrients they needed. I guess that would include vitamin C as well. But then what I don’t understand is, why would they have cooked their food at all?
Profosser: Ah, here’s where we need to look beyond obvious factors and consider things like culinary 烹饪 厨艺 preferences. Although the diet of ancient Arctic people mainly consisted of raw and minimally cooked food, it was carefully prepared. It was based on an interplay of contrasts—uh, different temperatures…or hard and soft textures. Sometimes meat was only partially defrosted 解冻. For example, one way of preparing meat was to boil it briefly, leaving the center frozen.
Profosser: So cooked food…or partially cooked food, for ancient Arctic people, was a matter of social preference. So again, the question is why did they use ceramic pots to cook their food. That’s not the only way to cook food, and we’ve already looked at some disadvantages of ceramic pots. So why use them?
Profosser: Well, first of all, wood for cooking fires was in short supply. And because of the extreme climate, food had to be prepared inside, indoors, most of the year. Therefore, fires had to be small and cooking methods had to be efficient. So in regions of the Arctic where wood was scarce, and where the houses could not withstand large fires and did not have good ventilation, we do find advantages associated with ceramic pots.
  • 表现主义 (Expressionism)：艺术家在绘画中描绘主观情感(subjective emotions) , 通过绘画来表现自我，绘画的形象会被夸张(exaggerated) 和 扭曲(distorted) 。
  • 表现主义的代表人物是爱德华 ·蒙克 (Edvard Munch), 代表作《呐喊》,用画面中人物扭曲的脸表达出内心的呼喊。
  • 达达主义 (Dadaism)：艺术家在第一次世界大战中看到了世界的混乱(chaotic) 、随机 (random), 在1916年的苏黎世 (Zurich), 达达主义诞生。
  • 达达主义在绘画、雕塑、戏剧方面均有体现，具有2大特点：
    1. 彻底反对古典艺术理念，反对逻辑(logic)、 理性 (reason)、 美 (beauty);
    2. 认为生活是随机的(random) , 在艺术创作中充满随机性。
    • 代表人物如马歇尔 ·杜尚 (Marcel Duchamp), 作品泉 (Fountain)。
  • 立体主义 (Cubism)：立体主义是在二维平面上用几何图形从不同的角度去描述一个事物。小猪佩奇两只眼睛在同一侧出现就是利用了立体主义的绘画方法。其核心理念有2点：
    • 用几何图案对事物进行抽象表达，这一理念传承自保罗 ·塞尚
    • 从不同的角度描述同一个事物
  • 毕加索(Picasso) 和布拉克 (Braque) 是立体主义的创始人毕加索的立体主义拼贴画代表作 Glass and botte ofSuze在 TOEFL 考试中反复出现。
  • 未来主义 (Futurism)：未来主义起源于1909年的意大利，由马里内蒂 (Marinetti) 在1909年发表了一篇名为《未来主 义的创立和宣言》,正式提出未来主义这一主张。
  • 未来主义喜欢在作品中体现当时的技术所带来的生活上的变化，比如快的生活节奏。这些作品的灵感源于立体主义(cubism)。 未来主义也用不同的角度去绘画一个物体，每个角度都会有所展开。而未来主义创作的作品不仅有展开，而且会反映出事物的动态，例如未来主义代表人物Giacomo Balla的绘画作品《被拴住的狗的动态》。这幅画中，狗的腿和尾巴是模糊的，这是为了体现出狗在跑的动态感。未来主义另外一位代表人物是翁贝托 ·薄邱尼 (Umberto Boccioni) 。
TPO34-L2: Dadaism

  • What is the main purpose of the lecture?

    • To explain the historical conditions that inspired Dada artists
    • To discuss examples of Dada paintings and sculptures
    • To describe how Dada was presented theatrically
    • To show the influence of Dada on today’s performing artists

  • Why does the professor mention a stool with a bicycle wheel mounted on top?

    • To give an example of what Dadaists were reacting against
    • To show something that Dadaists would consider beautiful
    • To illustrate how Dadaists rejected the traditional definition of art
    • To explain the Dadaists’ practice of creating sculptures from everyday objects

  • According to the professor, why did some Dadaists write poetry by pulling words out of a hat?

    • To reflect the randomness they saw in the world
    • To illustrate the connection between poetry performances and magic shows
    • To indicate that Dada should not be taken too seriously
    • To demonstrate that Dadaists did not need much formal training

  • What does the professor identify as aspects of a traditional play?

    • Characters each have their own motivation.
    • A plot is developed.
    • The play consists of several acts.
    • Actors ignore the audience.

  • According to the professor, what contributed to the chaotic nature of the performances at the Cabaret Voltaire?

    • There were no professional actors.
    • The script was torn up and allowed to fall to the floor during the performance.
    • Different art forms shared the same stage.
    • The performances varied from night to night.

  • Why does the professor say this:
    So now let’s take a look at how Dadaist ideas were presented to audiences in highly unconventional…I’m not even sure to categorize these theatrical events. I suppose you’d just have to call them.

    • He does not approve of all the aspects of the shows.
    • He does not think the events can be easily defined.
    • He does not consider the shows to be authentic Dada.
    • He does not know enough about the events to categorize them.
TPO34-L2: Dadaism

Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.
Professor: Alright, so last week, we started talking about the painters and sculptors who were part of the art movement called Dada. But I don’t want you to think the ideas we introduced last time were limited to painting, sculpture, that sorta thing.
Professor: So today, I want to move beyond the visual arts and talk a bit about Dada in the performing arts, in theater. But let’s start by reviewing what Dada is, OK?
Professor: As you’ll recall, Dada began in Switzerland, in the city of Zurich,in 1916. The artists who started it were reacting against traditional notions of uh—of beauty, of reason, of progress, which had been the standards of Western thought since the eighteenth century.
Professor: They looked around and …well, I mean, the First World War was raging, so they didn’t see much beauty, reason, or progress in the world. Instead, they saw a world that was chaotic, random…a world that didn’t make sense. And if that’s the way the world was…well, they wanted their art to reflect that.
Professor: So let’s-let’s review a couple of key ideas that were the backbone of Dada art. First, the Dadaists wanted to completely reject the Classical idea of art. Classical ideas like proportion, balance, all the things you think about when you think about great art.
Professor: “Great art” involved the reason, the logic, the beauty that the Dadaists wanted to overthrow. So, uh, well, y’know, to—to a Dadaist, Classical artwork was a reflection of outdated thinking. That’s why Dadaists created sculptures like the ones we saw last week. Remember the stool with the bicycle wheel mounted on top? I wouldn’t exactly call that beautiful, would you? But of course it wasn’t meant to be. That was the point.
Professor: OK, so another key Dada idea we talked about was the embracing of randomness, right? Uh, if life is random, said the Dadaists, why would we make art that has order and logic? And so we have that collage we looked at where the artist took different, y’know, cut-out squares of colored paper, threw them onto the canvas, and wherever they landed, that was the composition of the work.
Professor: Another favorite of the Dadaists was something called chance poetry. A chance poet would pull words out of a hat, and that would be, well, that would make up the—the poem. And this idea of chance and randomness was a key element of Dadaism because the whole world seemed so random to them.
Professor: So now let’s take a look at how Dadaist ideas were presented to audiences in highly unconventional… well, I’m not even sure how to categorize these theatrical events. I suppose you’d just have to call them shows. These shows started in Zurich, in a place called the Cabaret Voltaire.
Professor: The rejection of Classical Western art—well, you see this in the nature of what took place at the Cabaret Voltaire. They didn’t put on plays or operas there. What they did was throw out all conventions; they mixed everything and anything together.
Professor: They would…­ it might start with somebody reading a poem, then somebody else playing an instrument, followed by a display of paintings, followed by somebody else chanting, followed by somebody else banging on a big drum, and someone dressed in a robot costume, uh, jumping up and down.
Professor: So it’s not like a play … there’s no real plot development here, like you’d find in a traditional theatrical performance.
Professor: The performers at the Cabaret Voltaire would also get the audience involved, which was extremely unusual. Think about a traditional play…the action’s self-contained. The actors act as if there’s no one watching, right? It’s like a world unto itself.
Professor: Well, at the Cabaret Voltaire, audience members could get up on stage and dance or chant, or shout and sing from their seats. And every night would be different because there would be a different audience and a different set of acts and displays.
Professor: So all this could get pretty chaotic: No barriers between the performers and the audience. And no barriers between kinds of art, either. Think about it. Poetry, paintings, music, dance…all on the same stage, and often at the same time!
Professor: This is what the Dadaists had in mindwhen they set out to make art that reflected their own idea of reality. It didn’t make sense. But why should it?
  • 电影里的声音 (sound in the film)：电影中一开始没有声音，称为无声电影(silent film)。后来， 电影人(film maker)把声音加入电影，电影渐渐过渡到有声电影(sound film)。
    • 起初，电影里的声音和荧幕内容不相关，后来声音和内容开始相关。例如，喜剧使用轻快的音乐。20世纪20年代，随着录制技术的进步， 录制好的声音(recorded sound)会作为电影的一部分一起播放，这种声音属于同步声(synchronous sound) , 所听即所见。
    • 后来，人们觉得电影要更有创造性、表达性，所以创造了非同步声(nonsynchronous sound) , 即声音和画面不匹配，例如：画面是听众，听到的是演讲者的声音。
  • 电影和音乐人 (film and musician)：20世纪初， 电影产业(film industry)给音乐人(musician) 提供了大量的工作，尤其是在无声电影时代(silent- film era) , 电影产业对音乐人的需求大。
    • 后来， 风琴(organ) 可以模仿很多乐器， 一个人就能代替整个乐团。所以，电影产业需要的音乐家数量开始减少。
    • 20世纪30年代初，随着技术不断发展，剧院安装音响系统(sound system)。
    • 同时， 播音室(studio) 开始为电影公司工作，大的电影公司往往有固定的音乐人来负责生产。行业对音乐人的要求不断提高，音乐人的就业机会减少。
  • 基于社群的电影 (community-determined film)：20世纪70年代， 人类学(anthropology) 开始使用电影进行研究。人种学电影(ethnographic film-making) 被 创 造 出 来 ， 使 用 的 方 法 叫社 区 决 定(community-determined approach), 所以又称基于社群的电影(community-determined film)。
    • 《舌尖上的中国》正是基于社区决定拍出来的。基于社群的电影以反映社区群众的真实想法和价值观为中心。
    • 电影制作团队往往要待在村子里几个月，与当地民众建立信任感，才能拍得一部好电影。作为被采访者(interviewee) , 社区群众占据主导权，他们决定谈论的话题、可以使用的镜头、以及语言。
    • 如果有人担心当地语言 (native language)不被观众理解，那么影片里会加入字幕(subtitle)。

相关TPO篇目：TPO22-L4,TPO53-L1,TPO39-L2 重点词条： silent film, sound film, synchronous sound, nonsynchronous sound, community-determined film

TPO53-L2: Sounds In The Film

  • What is the lecture mainly about?

    • The influence of theater on early sound films
    • Conflicting views on uses of sound during the early days of sound films
    • The great progress in cinema after the development of sound
    • Viewer reactions to early sound films

  • According to the professor, what types of sound were used in silent film theaters?

    • Live music performed in the theater
    • Sound effects created in the theater
    • Recorded sound tracks played with the film
    • Live narration during the film
    • Musical entertainment offered before the film

  • What is the professor’s attitude toward early movie producers?

    • He is critical of their influence on films.
    • He thinks they had little influence on films.
    • He thinks they understood what audiences wanted.
    • He acknowledges that they made progress possible.

  • According to the professor, what was characteristic of sound films in the 1920s?

    • Dialogues between characters were kept to a minimum.
    • Many films were closely based on theater plays.
    • Musical sound tracks were added to most films.
    • Sounds were recorded separately and added to films later.

  • What is an example of synchronous sound in a film?

    • A character hearing a train that is not visible
    • A past conversation being replayed in a character’s mind
    • A character playing guitar and singing on screen
    • A song playing at the end of a film as credits appear on the screen

  • What does the professor imply about filmmakers who expressed their opposition to sound in films?

    • They did not think that sound could advance cinema as an art form.
    • They changed their minds when they saw how popular sound films were.
    • They thought that audiences were often confused by sound in films.
    • They were only opposed to certain ways that sound was used in films.
TPO53-L2: Sounds In The Film

Listen to part of a lecture in a film studies class.
Professor: Nowadays, we take sound in films for granted—I mean, you still might see black and white films occasionally, but you‘ll hardly ever see silent films anymore. So it’s interesting to note that the use of recorded sound was originally controversial.
Professor: And some directors, uh, some filmmakers even thought it shouldn’t be used. That it would destroy the purity of cinema, somehow reverse all the progress that had been made in the art of cinema. Abby?
Student: What about all the sounds you hear in some silent movies? Like, you know, er… a loud sound when somebody falls down or something?
Professor: OK, you’re talking about a soundtrack added much later, which has, over time, become part of the film we know. But this recorded track didn’t exist then. And it’s not that most people didn’t want sound in films; it’s just that the technology wasn’t available yet.
Professor: Don’t forget that instead of recorded sound there was often live music that accompanied movies in those days—like a piano player or a larger orchestra in the movie theater.
Professor: Also, think of the stage, the live theater—it has used wonderful sound effects for a long time. And if wanted, these could be produced during the viewing of a film. You know, the rolling of drums for thunder or whatever. But that wasn’t as common.
Professor: Oh, and another thing, that they might have in movie theaters in the early days, was a group of live actors reading the parts to go along with the film. Or, and this seems a particularly bad idea to us now, one person narrating the action… an early example of a long tradition of movie producers, the ones concerned mostly about making money, not having much confidence in their audience, thinking that people somehow couldn’t follow the events otherwise.
Professor: So, it finally became possible to play recorded sound as part of the film in the 1920s. Trouble was, it wasn’t always used to very good effect. First, it was, you know, amazing to see somebody’s mouth move at the same time you hear the words… or hear a door close when you see it closing on-screen. But that luster wears off, of course, and if you’re a director, a filmmaker, what’s the next step?
Student: Well, use sound to enhance the movie, right? Bring something more to it that wasn’t possible…
Professor: Yes, that’s exactly what directors who were more interested in cinema as art, not commerce, were thinking. But they also predicted that there would be a problem that sound would be misused and, boy, was it ever…
Professor: Because the commercial types, the producers and so on, were thinking, “OK, now that sound is possible, let’s talk as much as possible and forget about the fact that we’re making a movie, that we have this powerful visual medium.”
Professor: So, many of the films of the twenties were basically straight adaptations of successful shows from the stage, theater. The name they used for sound films then was “talking films”, and that was on the mark, since, well, all they pretty much did was talk. And talk. So, the remedy?
Professor: Well, what was proposed by a number of filmmakers and theorists was the creative, expressive use of sound, what they generally called nonsynchronous sound. OK, synchronous sound means basically that what we hear is what we see. Everything on the soundtrack is seen on the screen.
Professor: And everything was recorded simultaneously, which, well, since the sound technicians working on films often had experience with live radio, that made sense to them. Recording the sound separately and adding it in afterward, that idea was less obvious.
Professor: Anyway, synchronous sound means the source of the sound is the image on the screen. Nonsynchronous sound then, is…
Student: The sound doesn’t match the picture?
Professor: Right. Now we can look at this in various ways, but let’s take it as literally as possible.
Professor: Music, unless we see the radio or the orchestra, that’s nonsynchronous. If the camera shot is of the listener rather than the speaker, that’s nonsynchronous. If we hear, say, background sounds that aren’t on the screen, that’s nonsynchronous.
Professor: So, that doesn’t seem so radical, does it? But, again, those early producers didn’t think their audiences could keep up with this.
Student: Excuse me, but did you say earlier that some filmmakers actually advocated not using sound at all?
Professor: Well, yes, but that was a bit of an exaggeration, I guess. What I meant to say was that some filmmakers thought that the way the film sound was actually used was setting the art of filmmaking back.
Professor: But everyone agreed that sound solved some very difficult issues, and offered potentially exciting tools.
更新于 2024-04-21
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