C
Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers is a celebration of an everyday object — the book, represented here in almost three hundred artworks from museums around the worl
d.The image of the reader appears throughout history, in art made long before books as we now know them came into being. In artists’ representations of books and reading, we see moments of shared humanity that go beyond culture and time.
In this “book of books,” artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. Adults are portrayed (描绘) alone in many settings and poses —absorbed in a volume, deep in thought or lost in a moment of leisure. These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments we can all relate to.
Books themselves may be used symbolically in paintings to demonstrate the intellect (才智), wealth or faith of the subject. Before the wide use of the printing press, books were treasured objects and could be works of art in their own right. More recently, as books have become inexpensive or even throwaway, artists have used them as the raw material for artworks — transforming covers, pages or even complete volumes into paintings and sculptures.
Continued developments in communication technologies were once believed to make the printed page outdated.From a 21st-century point of view, the printed book is certainly ancient, but it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader. To serve its function, a book must be activated by a user: the cover opened, the pages parted, the contents reviewed, perhaps notes written down or words underlined.And in contrast to our increasingly networked lives where the information we consume is monitored and tracked, a printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, “off-line” activity.
Where is the text most probably taken from?
推理判断题。In this “book of books,” artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. (在这本“书之书”中，艺术品的选择和排列方式强调了不同时代和文化之间的联系)”以及第三段“Books themselves may be used symbolically in paintings to demonstrate the intellect, wealth or faith of the subject. (书籍本身可以在绘画中象征性地用来展示智慧，主体的财富或信仰)”和最后一段“From a 21st-century point of view, the printed book is certainly ancient, but it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader. (从21世纪的角度来看，这本印刷书无疑是古老的，但它仍然像任何电池供电的电子阅读器一样具有互动性)”可推知，本文最有可能出自一本印刷书的扉页，即对该书的介绍。故选A。
What are the selected artworks about?
细节理解题。通过文章第二段“artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. (艺术品的选择和排列方式强调了不同时代和文化之间的联系。我们看到孩子们在家里或学校学习阅读的场景，这本书是几代人之间关系的焦点)”可知，选定的艺术品是关于书籍和阅读的。故选C。
What do the underlined words “relate to” in paragraph 2 mean?
词句猜测题。根据画线词上文“artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. (艺术品的选择和排列方式强调了不同时代和文化之间的联系。我们看到孩子们在家里或学校学习阅读的场景，这本书是几代人之间关系的焦点)”以及“These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments (这些场景可能是数百年前绘制的，但它们记录了一些时刻)”可推知，此处指书籍是人类之间相互联系和理解的纽带，故与画线短语“relate to”意思最相近的为A项“理解、认识到”。故选A。
What does the author want to say by mentioning the e-reader?
推理判断题。通过文章最后一段“it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader (它仍然像任何电池供电的电子阅读器一样具有互动性)”以及“printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, “off-line” activity (印刷书籍仍然提供了完全私人的“离线”活动的机会)”可推知，本文作者提到电子阅读器想表达的是印刷书籍并没有完全过时。故选A。