艺术是托福阅读文章题材中比较常见的类型，本系列为大家汇总整理了多篇托福阅读艺术类文章，大家在托福备考时可以有针对性的进行复习，本篇为大家带来的是The earliest American folk art portraits，并附有相应的练习，希望大家都能顺利拿下托福阅读高分。
The earliest American folk art portraits
Keywords: portraits, portraiture, artists, craft tradition, an original portrait
What we today call America folk art was, indeed, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday"folks" who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds,and especially for portraits. Citizens of prosperous, essentially middle-class republicswhether ancient Romans, seventeenth-century Dutch burghers, or nineteenth-century Americans-have always shown a marked taste for portraiture. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing numbers of such people, and of the artists who could meet their demands.
The earliest American folk art portraits come, not surprisingly, from New Englandespecially Connecticut and Massachusetts-for this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft tradition. Within a few decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, and portrait painters could be found at work in western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. Midway through its first century as a nation, the United States' population had increased roughly five time, and eleven new states had been added to the original thirteen. During these years the demand for portraits grew and grew, eventually to be satisfied by the camera. In 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits. Once again an original portrait became a luxury, commissioned by the wealthy and executed by the professional.
But in the heyday of portrait painting-from the late eighteenth century until the 1850'sanyone with a modicum of artistic ability could become a limner, as such a portraitist was called. Local crafts people-sign, coach, and house painters-began to paint portraits as a profitable sideline; sometimes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits; artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvases, and brushes and to travel the countryside, often combining house decorating with portrait painting.
39. In lines 4-5 the author mentions seventeenth-century Dutch burghers as an example of a group that
(A) consisted mainly of self taught artists
(B) appreciated portraits
(C) influenced American folk art
(D) had little time for the arts
40. The word "marked" in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) pronounced
(B) fortunate
(C) understandable
(D) mysterious
41. According to the passage, where were many of the first American folk art portraits painted?
(A) In western New York
(B) In Illinois and Missouri
(C) In Connecticut and Massachusetts
(D) In Ohio
42. The word "this" in line 9 refers to
(A) a strong craft tradition
(B) American folk art
(C) New England
(D) western New York
43. How much did the population of the United States increase in the first fifty years
following independence?
(A) It became three times larger.
(B) It became five times larger.
(C) It became eleven times larger.
(D) It became thirteen times larger.
44. The phrase "ushering in" in line 17 is closest in meaning to
(A) beginning
(B) demanding
(C) publishing
(D) increasing
45. The relationship between the daguerreotype (line 16) and the painted portrait is similar to the relationship between the automobile and the
(A) highway
(B) driver
(C) horse-drawn carriage
(D) engine
46. According to the passage, which of the following contributed to a decline in the demand for painted portraits?
(A) The lack of a strong craft tradition
(B) The westward migration of many painters
(C) The growing preference for landscape paintings
(D) The invention of the camera
47. The word "executed" in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) sold
(B) requested
(C) admired
(D) created
48. The author implies that most limners (line 22)
(A) received instruction from traveling teachers
(B) were women
(C) were from wealthy families
(D) had no formal art training
49. The word "sketching" in line 25 is closest in meaning to
(A) drawing
(B) hiring
(C) helping
(D) discussing
50. Where in the passage does the author provide a definition?
(A) Lines 3-6
(B) Lines 8-10
(C) Lines 13-15
(D) Lines 21-23
参考答案：CACBB ACDAD AD
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