托福阅读真题Official 47 Passage 1（一）

托福阅读真题Official 47 Passage 1（一）

Roman Cultural Influence on Britain

After the Roman Empire’s conquest of Britain in the first century A.D.,the presence of administrators,merchants,and troops on British soil,along with the natural flow of ideas and goods from the rest of the empire,had an enormous influence on life in the British Isles.Cultural influences were of three types:the bringing of objects,the transfer of craft workers,and the introduction of massive civil architecture.Many objects were not art in even the broadest sense and comprised utilitarian items of clothing,utensils,and equipment.We should not underestimate the social status associated with such mundane possessions which had not previously been available.The flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery from Gaul(modern-day France),decorated with scenes from Classical mythology,probably brought many into contact with the styles and artistic concepts of the Greco-Roman world for the first time,whether or not the symbolism was understood.Mass-produced goods were accompanied by fewer more aesthetically impressive objects such as statuettes.Such pieces perhaps first came with officials for their own religious worship;others were then acquired by native leaders as diplomatic gifts or by purchase.Once seen by the natives,such objects created a fashion which rapidly spread through the province.

In the most extreme instances,natives literally bought the whole package of Roman culture.The Fishbourne villa,built in the third quarter of the first century A.D.,probably for the native client king Cogidubnus,amply illustrates his Roman pretensions.It was constructed in the latest Italian style with imported marbles and stylish mosaics.It was lavishly furnished with imported sculptures and other Classical objects.A visitor from Rome would have recognized its owner as a participant in the contemporary culture of the empire,not at all provincial in taste.Even if those from the traditional families looked down on him,they would have been unable to dismiss him as uncultured.Although exceptional,this demonstrates how new cultural symbols bound provincials to the identity of the Roman world.

Such examples established a standard to be copied.One result was an influx of craft workers,particularly those skilled in artistic media like stone-carving which had not existed before the conquest.Civilian workers came mostly from Gaul and Germany.The magnificent temple built beside the sacred spring at Bath was constructed only about twenty years after the conquest.Its detail shows that it was carved by artists from northeast Gaul.In the absence of a tradition of Classical stone-carving and building,the desire to develop Roman amenities would have been difficult to fulfill.Administrators thus used their personal contacts to put the Britons in touch with architects and masons.As many of the officials in Britain had strong links with Gaul,it is not surprising that early Roman Britain owes much to craft workers from that area.Local workshops did develop and stylistically similar groups of sculpture show how skills in this new medium became widespread.Likewise skills in the use of mosaic,wall painting,ceramic decoration,and metal-working developed throughout the province with the eventual emergence of characteristically Romano-British styles.

This art had a major impact on the native peoples,and one of the most important factors was a change in the scale of buildings.Pre-Roman Britain was highly localized,with people rarely traveling beyond their own region.On occasion large groups amassed for war or religious festivals,but society remained centered on small communities.Architecture of this era reflected this with even the largest of the fortified towns and hill forts containing no more than clusters of medium-sized structures.The spaces inside even the largest roundhouses were modest,and the use of rounded shapes and organic building materials gave buildings a human scale.But the effect of Roman civil architecture was significant.The sheer size of space enclosed within buildings like the basilica of London must have been astonishing.This was an architecture of dominance in which subject peoples were literally made to feel small by buildings that epitomized imperial power.Supremacy was accentuated by the unyielding straight lines of both individual buildings and planned settlements since these too provided a marked contrast with the natural curvilinear shapes dominant in the native realm.

Question 1 of 14

The word“mundane”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.material

B.ordinary

C.valued

D.useful

正确答案：B

题目详解

题型分类：词汇题

选项分析：

原文说“我们不应低估与这种mundane财产相关的社会地位，而这种财产以前是不可获得的”通过such mundane possessions推测出前文一定讲到一些复数名词，定位前一句Many objects were not art in even the broadest sense and comprised utilitarian items of clothing,utensils,and equipment，即“这些物品从广泛意义上不是艺术品，这些物品包括实用性的衣物、餐具和设备”。推测mundane的意思为ordinary：普通的，平凡的。因此，选项B符合题干词意。

A选项，材料的。

C选项，有价值的。

D选项，有用的。

带入原文均不符合语境。

Question 2 of 14

Paragraph 1 suggests that one benefit for British natives in buying such items as red-gloss pottery made in Gaul was

A.improved quality of utilitarian items

B.understanding the symbolism of Classical mythology

C.higher social standing

D.learning to mass-produce pottery for a profit

正确答案：C

题目详解

题型分类：推论题

原文定位：根据题干red-gloss pottery定位到We should not underestimate the social status associated with such mundane possessions which had not previously been available.The flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery form Gaul...。

选项分析：

原文说我们不能低估这些物品的社会地位，可以推测英国当地人购买红色陶器是为了彰显更高的社会地位的。因此选C。

A选项，提高实用物品的质量，原文没有提到提高质量，与原文无关。

B选项，理解古典神话的象征意义，本句中指的是红色陶器上刻着Classical mythology，而不是去理解古典神话，与原文无关。

D选项，本句中没有提到英国人学习陶器是为了赚钱，无中生有。