托福阅读真题Official 47 Passage 1（二）

托福阅读真题Official 47 Passage 1（二）

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 3 of 14

Paragraph 1 supports which of the following ideas about contacts that existed between Britain and the Roman Empire before the Roman conquest of Britain?

A.They were sufficient for native Britons to become familiar with everyday Roman objects.

B.They were not sufficient for even very basic aspects of the culture of the Roman Empire to find their way into British life.

C.They were not sufficient for British to have heard of the power of the Roman Empire.

D.They were sufficient for individual Britons to become very interested in trying to participate in the culture of the Roman Empire.

正确答案：B

题目详解题型分类：事实信息题

原文定位：根据关键词contacts that existed between Britain and the Roman定位到原文The flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery form Gaul(modern-day France)...probably brought many into...for the first time,whether or not the symbolism was understood。

选项分析：

本句说红色陶器的大量涌入，让英国人第一次接触到这些希腊罗马文化，说明之前了解不充分，对应选项B：...not sufficient...basic...culture...Roman Empire...British life。

A选项，这些东西足以让土生土长的英国人熟悉日常的罗马物品。并未提到熟悉物品，无中生有。

C选项，这对于英国人来说还不足以听说罗马帝国的力量，无中生有。

D选项，他们足以使每个英国人对参与罗马帝国的文化产生浓厚的兴趣，无中生有。

Question 4 of 14

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

A.exclusively

B.additionally

C.appropriately

D.richly

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：词汇题

选项分析：

原句意思“那里lavishly摆满了进口雕塑和其他古典物品”，推测出lavishly的意思是丰富地，奢华地，D选项richly“丰富地”符合语境。

A选项，独家地。

B选项，另外地。

C选项，适当地。

带入原文均不符合语境。