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Arts and Crafts Movement,并附有相应的练习,希望大家都能顺利拿下托福阅读高分。
Arts and Crafts Movement
Keywords:Arts and Crafts Movement, nineteenth century, artists, decorative arts, Victorian
The Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States was responsible for sweeping changes in attitudes toward the decorative arts, then considered the minor or household arts. Its focus on decorative arts helped to induce United States museums and private collectors to begin collecting furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The fact that artisans, who were looked on as mechanics or skilled workers in the eighteenth century, are frequently considered artists today is directly attributable to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the nineteenth century.
The importance now place on attractive and harmonious home decoration can also be traced to this period, when Victorian interior arrangements were revised to admit greater light and more freely flowing spaces.
The Arts and Crafts Movement reacted against mechanized processes that threatened handcrafts and resulted in cheapened, monotonous merchandise. Founded in the late nineteenth century by British social critics John Ruskin and William Morris, the movement revered craft as a form of art. In a rapidly industrializing society, most Victorians agreed that art was an essential moral ingredient in the home environment, and in many middle-and working-class homes craft was the only form of art. Ruskin and his followers criticized not only the degradation of artisans reduced to machine operators, but also the impending loss of daily contact with handcrafted objects, fashioned with pride, integrity, and attention to beauty.
In the United States as well as in Great Britain, reformers extolled the virtues of hand crafted objects: simple, straightforward design; solid materials of good quality; and sound, enduring construction techniques. Whether abstract, stylized, or realistically treated, the consistent theme in virtually all Arts and Crafts design is nature.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was much more than a particular style; it was a philosophy of domestic life Proponents believed that if simple design, high-quality materials, and honest construction were realized in the home and its appointments, then the occupants would enjoy moral and therapeutic effects. For both artisan and consumer, the Arts and Crafts doctrine was seen as a magical force against the undesirable effects of industrialization.
41. The passage primarily focuses on nineteenth-century arts and crafts in terms of which of the following?
(A)Their naturalistic themes
(B) Their importance in museum collections
(C) Their British origin
(D)Their role in an industrialized society
42. According to the passage, before the nineteenth century, artisans were thought to be
(A) defenders of moral standards
(B) creators of cheap merchandise
(C) skilled workers
(D) artists
43. It can be inferred from the passage that the Arts and Crafts Movement would have considered all of the following to be artists EXCEPT
(A) creators of textile designs
(B) people who produce handmade glass objects
(C) operators of machines that automatically cut legs for furniture
(D) metal workers who create unique pieces of jewelry
44. The word "revered" in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) respected
(B) described
(C) avoided
(D) created
45. According to paragraph 2, the handcrafted objects in the homes of middle-and working-class families usually were
(A) made by members of the family
(B) the least expensive objects in their homes
(C) regarded as being morally uplifting
(D) thought to symbolize progress
46. The word "extolled" in line 20 is closest in meaning to
(A) exposed
(B) praised
(C) believed
(D) accepted
47. The author mentions all of the following as attributes of handcrafted objects EXCEPT
(A) the pride with which they were crafted
(B) the complexity of their design
(C) the long time that they lasted
(D) the quality of their materials
48. The word "consistent" in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) conservative
(B) considerable
(C) constant
(D) concrete
49. According to the passage, which of the following changes occurred at the same time as the Arts and Crafts Movement?
(A) The creation of brighter and more airy spaces inside homes
(B) The rejection of art that depicted nature in a realistic manner
(C) A decline of interest in art museum collections
(D) An increase in the buying of imported art objects
50. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
(A) Private collectors in the nineteenth century concentrated on acquiring paintings.
(B) The Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States, unlike the one in Britain, did not react strongly against mechanized processes.
(C) Handcrafted objects in the United States and Britain in the nineteenth century did not use geometric designs.
(D) The Arts and Crafts Movement believed in the beneficial effect for people from being surrounded by beautiful objects.
以上就是为大家整理的托福阅读艺术类文章之Arts and Crafts Movement,希望能够帮助大家备考。前程百利祝大家都能取得理想的考试成绩。
您还可能关注:

