Section C: Reading Comprehension
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
What is the place of art in a culture of inattention? Recent visitors to the Louvre report that tourists can now spend only a minute in front of the Mona Lisa before being asked to move on. Much of that time, for some of them, is spent taking photographs not even of the painting but of themselves with the painting in the background.
One view is that we have democratised tourism and gallery-going so much that we have made it effectively impossible to appreciate what we’ve travelled to see. In this oversubscribed society, experience becomes a commodity like any other. There are queues to climb Mt. Jolmo Lungma as well as to see famous paintings. Leisure, thus conceived, is hard labour, and returning to work becomes a well-earned break from the ordeal.
What gets lost in this industrialised haste is the quality of looking. Consider an extreme example, the late philosopher Richard Wollheim. When he visited the Louvre he could spend as much as four hours sitting before a painting. The first hour, he claimed, was necessary for misperceptions to be eliminated. It was only then that the picture would begin to disclose itself. This seems unthinkable today, but it is still possible to organise. Even in the busiest museums there are many rooms and many pictures worth hours of contemplation which the crowds largely ignore. Sometimes the largest crowds are partly the products of bad management; the Mona Lisa is such a hurried experience today partly because the museum is being reorganised. The Uffizi in Florence, another site of cultural pilgrimage, has cut its entry queues down to seven minutes by clever management. And there are some forms of art, those designed to be spectacles as well as objects of contemplation, which can work perfectly well in the face of huge crowds.
Olafur Eliasson’s current Tate Modern show, for instance, might seem nothing more than an entertainment, overrun as it is with kids romping (喧闹地玩耍) in fog rooms and spray mist installations. But it’s more than that: where Eliasson is at his most entertaining, he is at his most serious too, and his disorienting installations bring home the reality of the destructive effects we are having on the planet—not least what we are doing to the glaciers of Eliasson’s beloved Iceland.
Marcel Proust, another lover of the Louvre, wrote: “It is only through art that we can escape from ourselves and know how another person sees the universe, whose landscapes would otherwise have remained as unknown as any on the moon.” If any art remains worth seeing, it must lead us to such escapes. But a minute in front of a painting in a hurried crowd won’t do that.
46. What does the scene at the Louvre demonstrate according to the author?
47. Why did the late philosopher Richard Wollheim spend four hours before a picture?
48. What does the case of the Uffizi in Florence show?
49. What do we learn from Olafur Eliasson’s current Tate Modern show?
50. What can art do according to Marcel Proust?
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Every five years, the government tries to tell Americans what to put in their bellies. Eat more vegetables. Dial back the fats. It’s all based on the best available science for leading a healthy life. But the best available science also has a lot to say about what those food choices do to the environment, and some researchers are annoyed that new dietary recommendations of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) released yesterday seem to utterly ignore that fact.
Broadly, the 2016-2020 dietary recommendations aim for balance: More vegetables, leaner meats and far less sugar.
But Americans consume more calories per capita than almost any other country in the world. So the things Americans eat have a huge impact on climate change. Soil tilling releases carbon dioxide, and delivery vehicles emit exhaust. The government’s dietary guidelines could have done a lot to lower that climate cost. Not just because of their position of authority: The guidelines drive billions of dollars of food production through federal programs like school lunches and nutrition assistance for the needy.
On its own, plant and animal agriculture contributes 9 percent of all the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s not counting the fuel burned in transportation, processing, refrigeration, and other waypoints between farm and belly. Red meats are among the biggest and most notorious emitters, but trucking a salad from California to Minnesota in January also carries a significant burden. And greenhouse gas emissions aren’t the whole story. Food production is the largest user of fresh water, largest contributor to the loss of biodiversity, and a major contributor to using up natural resources.
All of these points and more showed up in the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s scientific report, released last February. Miriam Nelson chaired the subcommittee in charge of sustainability for the report, and is disappointed that eating less meat and buying local food aren’t in the final product. “Especially if you consider that eating less meat, especially red and processed, has health benefits,” she says.
So what happened? The official response is that sustainability falls too far outside the guidelines’ official scope, which is to provide “nutritional and dietary information.”
Possibly the agencies in charge of drafting the decisions are too close to the industries they are supposed to regulate. On one hand, the USDA is compiling dietary advice. On the other, their clients are US agriculture companies.
The line about keeping the guidelines’ scope to nutrition and diet doesn’t ring quite right with researchers. David Wallinga, for example, says, “In previous guidelines, they’ve always been concerned with things like food security—which is presumably the mission of the USDA. You absolutely need to be worried about climate impacts and future sustainability if you want secure food in the future.”
51. Why are some researchers irritated at the USDA’s 2016-2020 Dietary Guidelines?
52. Why does the author say the USDA could have contributed a lot to lowering the climate cost through its dietary guidelines?
53. What do we learn from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s scientific report?
54. What may account for the neglect of sustainability in the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines according to the author?
55. What should the USDA do to achieve food security according to David Wallinga?
Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)
Passage One
46. B。解析：题干问“作者认为卢浮宫的场景证明了什么？”第一段描述了卢浮宫蒙娜丽莎画前游客只停留一分钟，甚至只顾自拍的场景。第二段首句对此进行了总结：“One view is that we have democratised tourism and gallery-going so much that we have made it effectively impossible to appreciate what we’ve travelled to see.”（一种观点认为，我们将旅游和参观画廊大众化得如此之多，以至于实际上不可能欣赏我们大老远跑来看的东西）。这说明在大众旅游时代，欣赏艺术变得几乎不可能。因此选 B。
47. A。解析：题干问“为什么已故哲学家理查德·沃尔海姆在一幅画前花四个小时？”第三段提到他花四小时看画，并解释了原因：“The first hour, he claimed, was necessary for misperceptions to be eliminated. It was only then that the picture would begin to disclose itself.”（他声称，第一个小时对于消除错觉是必要的。只有在那时，这幅画才会开始显露它自己。）这说明充分欣赏一幅艺术作品是需要花大量时间的。因此选 A。
48. C。解析：题干问“佛罗伦萨乌菲兹美术馆的例子说明了什么？”第三段后半部分提到：“The Uffizi in Florence... has cut its entry queues down to seven minutes by clever management.”（佛罗伦萨的乌菲兹美术馆……通过巧妙的管理，将入场排队时间缩短到了七分钟。）前面一句也提到蒙娜丽莎的匆忙体验部分是由于“bad management”，所以乌菲兹的成功例子说明良好的管理是处理大客流的关键。因此选 C。
49. B。解析：题干问“我们从奥拉维尔·埃利亚松目前在泰特现代美术馆的展览中了解到了什么？”第四段指出：“...might seem nothing more than an entertainment... But it’s more than that: where Eliasson is at his most entertaining, he is at his most serious too...”（……似乎只不过是一种娱乐……但这不仅仅是娱乐：埃利亚松在最具娱乐性的地方，也是他最严肃的地方……）。这说明将娱乐与欣赏严肃艺术结合起来是可能的。因此选 B。
50. C。解析：题干问“根据马塞尔·普鲁斯特的说法，艺术能做什么？”最后一段引用了他的话：“It is only through art that we can escape from ourselves and know how another person sees the universe...”（只有通过艺术，我们才能逃离我们自己，并知道另一个人是如何看待这个宇宙的……）。“知道另一个人如何看待宇宙”就意味着从不同的视角看世界。因此选 C。
Passage Two
51. D。解析：题干问“为什么一些研究人员对美国农业部2016-2020年饮食指南感到恼火？”第一段最后指出：“...some researchers are annoyed that new dietary recommendations of the USDA... released yesterday seem to utterly ignore that fact.”（……一些研究人员感到恼火的是，美国农业部昨天发布的新饮食建议似乎完全忽视了那个事实）。这里的“that fact”指代前文的“what those food choices do to the environment”（这些食物选择对环境有什么影响）。因此选 D（它没有注意到对环境的潜在影响）。
52. A。解析：题干问“为什么作者说美国农业部本可以通过其饮食指南为降低气候成本做出很大贡献？”第三段后半部分解释了原因：“Not just because of their position of authority: The guidelines drive billions of dollars of food production through federal programs...”（不仅仅是因为它们的权威地位：这些指南通过联邦项目推动了数十亿美元的食品生产……）。position of authority（权威地位）对应 capacity（能力），billions of dollars（数十亿美元）对应 financial resources（财政资源）。因此选 A。
53. D。解析：题干问“我们从饮食指南咨询委员会的科学报告中了解到了什么？”第四段列举了食品生产对环境的影响，并在最后指出：“Food production is the largest user of fresh water... and a major contributor to using up natural resources.”（食品生产是淡水的最大使用者……也是耗尽自然资源的主要因素）。第五段首句紧接着说：“All of these points and more showed up in the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s scientific report...”（所有这些观点甚至更多都出现在了……科学报告中）。因此选 D（农业消耗了我们的大部分自然资源）。
54. C。解析：题干问“根据作者的观点，是什么导致了美国农业部饮食指南中对可持续性的忽视？”第七段指出了可能的原因：“Possibly the agencies in charge of drafting the decisions are too close to the industries they are supposed to regulate... On the other, their clients are US agriculture companies.”（可能负责起草决定的机构与它们本应监管的行业走得太近了……另一方面，它们的客户是美国农业公司）。too close to the industries 对应 close ties with the agriculture companies。因此选 C。
55. B。解析：题干问“根据大卫·瓦林加的说法，美国农业部应该做些什么来实现粮食安全？”最后一段大卫·瓦林加指出：“You absolutely need to be worried about climate impacts and future sustainability if you want secure food in the future.”（如果你想在未来获得安全的食物，你绝对需要担心气候影响和未来的可持续性）。这意味着为了粮食安全，必须关注和确保农业的可持续发展。因此选 B。
核心搭配与高分句型
【核心搭配与高频短语】
move on：继续前进，继续下去（before being asked to move on）
bring home：清楚地说明，使深刻认识到（bring home the reality of the destructive effects）
dial back：减少，减弱（Dial back the fats）
using up：用尽，耗尽（a major contributor to using up natural resources）
in charge of：负责（the subcommittee in charge of sustainability）
close to：与...亲近，关系密切（too close to the industries they are supposed to regulate）
【亮点句型解析】
So... that... 结果状语从句：
"we have democratised tourism and gallery-going so much that we have made it effectively impossible to appreciate what we’ve travelled to see."
（我们将旅游和参观画廊大众化得如此之多，以至于实际上不可能欣赏我们大老远跑来看的东西。）经典的 `so... that...` 句型，强调了旅游大众化带来的负面结果；同时使用了 `make it + adj + to do` 的形式宾语结构，句式非常高级。
"we have democratised tourism and gallery-going so much that we have made it effectively impossible to appreciate what we’ve travelled to see."
（我们将旅游和参观画廊大众化得如此之多，以至于实际上不可能欣赏我们大老远跑来看的东西。）经典的 `so... that...` 句型，强调了旅游大众化带来的负面结果；同时使用了 `make it + adj + to do` 的形式宾语结构，句式非常高级。
It is only... that... 强调句型：
"It is only through art that we can escape from ourselves and know how another person sees the universe..."
（只有通过艺术，我们才能逃离我们自己，并知道另一个人是如何看待这个宇宙的……）通过强调介词短语 `through art`，极大地凸显了艺术在人类精神世界中不可替代的桥梁作用。
"It is only through art that we can escape from ourselves and know how another person sees the universe..."
（只有通过艺术，我们才能逃离我们自己，并知道另一个人是如何看待这个宇宙的……）通过强调介词短语 `through art`，极大地凸显了艺术在人类精神世界中不可替代的桥梁作用。