单选题
Picture-taking is a technique both for reflecting the
objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict
objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose
them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament, discovering
itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two
directly opposite ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the
photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second,
photography is the instrument of fearlessness, questing subjectivity and the
photographer is all. These conflicting ideals arise from
uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward
the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a
photographer as observer is attracting because it implicitly denies that
picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut.
What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply,
and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or
the other is always being rediscovered and championed. An
important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent
ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever are the claims that photography
might make to be a form of personal expression just like painting, its
originality is closely linked to the power of a machine. The steady growth of
these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative
formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs
of a bullet hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke.
But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are
tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed,
preferring to submit themselves to the limit imposed by pre-modern camera
technology because a cruder, less high-powered machine is thought to give more
interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For
example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers,
including Walker Evans and Cartier Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment.
These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera as an instrument
of "fast seeing". Cartier Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may
see too fast. This ambivalence toward photographic means
determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing)
alternates over time with the wish to return to a purer past when images had a
handmade quality. This longing for some primitive state of the photographic
enterprise is currently widespread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for
daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial
photographers. Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need
periodically to resist their own knowingness.
单选题
The two directly opposite ideals of photography differ primarily in
the ______.
A. emphasis that each places on the emotional impact of the finished
product
B. degree of technical knowledge that each requires of the
photographer
C. way in which each defines the role of the photographer
D. extent of the power that each requires of the photographer's
equipment
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[考点] 细节归纳题。
[解析] 第1段最后一句写道：“That is, photography has two directly opposite ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of fearlessness, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all. ”(那就是说，关于摄影有两个直接对立的观念：第一种观念认为，摄影是反映世界的，而摄影师只是一个无足轻重的观察者；但第二种观念则主张，摄影是一种探究主观世界的无畏的工具，摄影师决定一切。)由此可见，两种观念的区别就在于对摄影师所起作用的定义不同。故应选C。
单选题
According to paragraph 2, the interest among photographers in each of
the photography's two ideals can be described as ______.
A. steadily growing
B. cyclically recurring
C. continuously altering
D. spontaneously occurring
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[考点] 细节理解题。
[解析] 第2段最后一句写道：“What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed. ”(摄影者所做的事不能简单地定性为掠夺式的，也不能简单地定性为实质上是友好的行善行为。因此，有关照相的这一观念或那一观念总是被重新发现并受到支持。)言外之意，这两种观念中，有时一种观念被发现并受到支持，有时另一种观念被发现并受到支持。可见，摄影师有时对一种观念感兴趣，有时又对另一种观念感兴趣，即这种兴趣是周期性反复出现的。故应选B。D“自发地发生的”不合题意。
注意：这类细节题是难度较大的推断型理解题，要求考生具有很强的逻辑归纳能力。
单选题
The text states all of the following about photographs EXCEPT:
A. They can display a cropped reality
B. They can convey information
C. They can depict the photographer's temperament
D. They can change the viewer's sensibilities
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[考点] 细节辨认题。
[解析] A．They can display a cropped reality. (它们能展示经过剪辑的现实。)第1段第2句中已经谈到：Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, ... B．They can convey information. (它们能传达信息。)第3段第3句中也已提及：The steady growth of these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness... C．They can depict the photographer's, temperament. (它们能够描绘摄影者的性情。)第1段第3句中已写道：And they depict an individual photographer's, temperament... 只有D．They can change the viewer's, sensibilities. (它们能改变观赏者的易受刺激的情感。)文中没有提到。故应选D。
单选题
The author mentions the work of Harold Edgerton in order to provide an
example of ______.
A. the relationship between photographic originality and technology
B. how the content of photographs has changed from the nineteenth century to
the twentieth
C. the popularity of high-speed photography in the twentieth century
D. how a controlled ambivalence toward photography's means can produce
outstanding pictures
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[考点] 逻辑结构题。
[解析] 第3段第3句写道：“The steady growth of these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs. like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullet hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. ”(随着照相机威力的不断增大已有可能拍出许多信息非凡的、富有想象力的、外观漂亮的照片，如Harold Edgerton所拍摄的关于子弹击中目标或网球抽打时产生旋涡的快速照片。)从上面的表述中我们可以看到，作者提到Harold Edgerton的作品是为了提供一个摄影艺术的独创性和技术发展之间关系的例子。故应选A。
单选题
The author is primarily concerned with ______.
A. describing how photographers'individual temperaments are reflected in
their work
B. establishing new technical standards for contemporary photography
C. analyzing the influence of photographic ideals on picture-taking
D. explaining how the technical limitations affect
photographers'work...