Text 2
Extraordinary creative activity has been characterized as revolutionary, flying in the face of what is established and producing not what is acceptable but what will become accepted. According to this formulation, highly creative activity transcends the limits of an existing form and establishes a new principle of organization. However, the idea that extraordinary creativity transcends established limits is misleading when it is applied to the arts, even though it may be valid for the sciences. Differences between highly creative art and highly creative science arise in part from a difference in their goals. For the sciences, a new theory is the goal and end result of the creative act. Innovative science produces new propositions in terms of which diverse phenomena can be related to one another in more coherent ways. Such phenomena as a brilliant diamond or a nesting bird are relegated to the role of data, serving as the means for formulating or testing a new theory. The goal of highly creative art is very different: the phenomenon itself becomes the direct product of the creative act.
Shakespeare‘s Hamlet is not a tract about the behaviour of indecisive princes or the uses of political power; nor is Picasso‘s painting ―Guernica‖ primarily a propositional statement about the Spanish Civil War or the evils of fascism. What highly creative artistic activity produces is not a new generalization that transcends established limits, but rather an aesthetic particular. Aesthetic particulars produced by the highly creative artist extend or exploit, in an innovative way,the limits of an existing form, rather than transcend that form.
This is not to deny that a highly creative artist sometimes establishes a new principle of organization in the history of an artistic field; the composer Monteverdi, who created music of the highest aesthetic value, comes to mind. More generally, however, whether or not a composition establishes a new principle in the history of music has little bearing in its aesthetic worth. Because they embody a new principle of organization, some musical works, such as the operas of the Florentine Camerata, are of signal historical importance, but few listeners or musicologists(音乐学者) would include these among the great works of music. On the other hand, Mozart‘s The Marriage of Figaro is surely among the masterpieces of music even though its modest innovations are confined to extending existing means. It has been said of Beethoven that he toppled(推翻) the rules and freed music from the stifling(令人窒息的) confines of convention. But a close study of his compositions reveals that Beethoven overturned no fundamental rules. Rather, he was an incomparable strategist who exploited limits—the rules, forms, and conventions that he inherited from predecessors such as Haydn and Mozart, Handel and Bach—in strikingly original ways.
The author considers a new theory that coherently relates diverse phenomena to one another to be the ________.
根据文章第一段中倒数第三句 “Innovative science produces new propositions in terms of which diverse phenomena can be related to one another in more coherent ways”， 不难看出： 具有创造性的科研活动的结果就是把不同现象合理地联系起来， 只有 D 符合原文的意思。
The author implies that Beethoven‘s music was strikingly original because Beethoven ________.
细节题。 由末段尾句“he was an incomparable strategist who exploited limits—the rules, forms, and conventions that he inherited from predecessors such as Haydn and Mozart, Handel and Bach—in strikingly original ways”，可知， 他是一个无与伦比的战略家， 善于以令人瞩目 的独特方式利用各种局限——即他从诸如海顿和莫扎特、 亨德尔和巴赫这些前辈那里继承而来的各种规则、 形式和传统。 由此得出答案为 D。
The passage states that the operas of the Florentine Camerata are ________.
细节题。 文章第三段第三句 “Because they embody a new principle of organization, some musical works, such as the operas of the Florentine Camerata, are of signal historical importance, but few listeners or musicologists would include these among the great works of music.”清楚表明， 尽管该作品很有历史意义， 但很少有听众或音乐家将其归入伟大的音乐作品一列。 由此得出， B 项最符合题意。
The passage supplies information for answering all of the following questions except ________.
文中的第一句话就回答了选项 A 的问题。 文中最后一句话回答了选项 B 的问题。 根据第三段中的“On the other hand,…existing means” 可以找到选项 C 的答案。 第三段的第一句话中只提到了“Monteverdi, who created music of the highest aesthetic value”， 因此 D 选项的问题没有得到回答。
The author regards the idea that all highly creative artistic activity transcends limits with ________.
根据第一段第三句 “However, the idea that extraordinary creativity transcends established limits is misleading when it is applied to the arts…”中的 misleading 一词可以推断作者对这一观点是持怀疑态度的。