Cecilia Beaux托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Cecilia Beaux托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Cecilia Beaux托福听力原文：

Narrator:Listen to part of a discussion in an art history class.Male Professor:All right,let’s continue our discussion of portrait artists and portraiture.Who remembers,uh,any of the important points we made last time?Sandra?Female Student:Um,well,artists have done portraits of people for centuries,of famous people and regular people,and ah…most portraits convey the artist’s—uh,personal vision,like their feelings and insights about a person.Male Professor:Great.That’s a crucial point,and I’d like to explore that a little today.A great example of that–that vision in portraiture is Cecilia Beaux.Cecilia Beaux was born in 1855,and after learning to paint and studying with several important artists of the time,Beaux became known as one of the best portrait painters in the United States.

She was very successful–she even did portraits of the wife and children of Theodore Roosevelt while he was president.So,it didn’t get much more prestigious than that.Now,those portraits also reflect the kind of subjects that Beaux tended to use,which was mostly women and children.For example,in her first major work her subjects were,uh…the painting featured her sister and her nephew.Yes,Mark?

Male Student:Yeah,it just seems interesting…um,I was wondering if that was unusual,to have a portrait artist who was a woman become so well known and successful in the nineteenth century.

Male Professor:Great question.Yeah,she really stood out back in the eighteen-hundreds,and today she’s still considered one of the greatest portrait painters of her time,male or female.In fact,she was the first full-time female instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,and she was a full member of the National Academy of Design.

These were pretty important institutions.So,yeah,she definitely made headway for women artists.OK,so…let’s look at one of her portraits now.This painting is called The Dreamer,it’s one of my favorites,and I think it’s especially characteristic of Beaux’s work.So what you see here is a portrait of a close friend of Cecilia Beaux’s.So tell me,what’s the first thing that draws you to this painting,what catches your eye first?Female Student:Well,for me it’s her face and hands.I think they’re really expressive,and also,they make the woman seem very contemplative.Seems like she’s thinking pretty seriously about something.

Male Student:Yeah,her eyes kind of draw you in,but what strikes me is the contrasting colors,the-the white dress and the dark background.It kinda reminds me of that painting we discussed a few weeks ago,by um,uh,John Singer Sargent.I think it was called Madame X?Male Professor:I agree,good point.Yes,Beaux had high regard for Sargent’s work.And this is something,a technique,that you’ll find in both of their work.Ok,but,the painting is called“The Dreamer.”What do you see that’s dream-like about it? 

Female Student:Well the background,behind the woman—it’s pretty vague.Like maybe there’s,there’s no real context,like,no definite surroundings,especially compared to the woman herself,since she’s so clear and well defined.Male Professor:Yes,the unclear background definitely contributes to that dreaminess.It’s meant to show a sense of isolation,I think,where the woman is deep in a daydream and not really aware of anything else.This painting shows how insightful Cecilia Beaux was as a portrait artist.Besides her excellent technical skills—like her use of brush strokes and color to make an impression—Beaux’s perspective comes through,her portraits reveal her own interpretation of her subject’s state of mind.This is what it’s all about,not just likenesses.

Now,the undefined background also shows how Cecilia Beaux was influenced by the French Impressionists,who believed—like Beaux—in a personal rather than conventional approach to their subject matter…Beaux used some Impressionist techniques and shared much of their philosophy,but her style—it was all her own.

二、Cecilia Beaux托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听艺术史课上的部分讨论。男教授：好的，让我们继续讨论肖像画家和肖像画。谁还记得我们上次提到的要点？桑德拉？女学生：嗯，好吧，几个世纪以来，艺术家们一直在画人物肖像，名人和普通人的肖像，啊……大多数肖像都传达了艺术家的——呃，个人视觉，比如他们对一个人的感受和见解。男教授：太好了。这是一个关键点，今天我想对此进行一点探讨。这方面的一个很好的例子是塞西莉亚·博克斯的肖像画。塞西莉亚·博克斯出生于1855年，在学习绘画并与当时几位重要的艺术家一起学习之后，博克斯成为美国最优秀的肖像画家之一。

她非常成功——她甚至为西奥多·罗斯福任总统期间的妻子和孩子们画像。所以，它没有比这更有声望。现在，这些肖像也反映了Beaux倾向于使用的主题类型，主要是女性和儿童。例如，在她的第一部主要作品中，她的主题是，呃……这幅画以她的姐姐和侄子为主角。是的，马克？

男学生：是的，看起来很有趣……嗯，我想知道这是否不同寻常，一位女性肖像画家在十九世纪变得如此知名和成功。

男教授：好问题。是的，她在十八世纪确实很突出，今天她仍然被认为是她那个时代最伟大的肖像画家之一，无论男女。事实上，她是宾夕法尼亚美术学院的第一位全职女教师，也是美国国家设计学院的正式成员。

这些都是相当重要的机构。所以，是的，她在女性艺术家方面确实取得了进步。好吧，那么……现在让我们看看她的一幅肖像。这幅画叫《梦想家》，是我最喜欢的画之一，我认为这是Beaux作品的特色。那么，你在这里看到的是塞西莉亚·博克斯的一位密友的肖像。那么，告诉我，这幅画吸引你的第一件事是什么，是什么首先吸引了你的眼球？女生：对我来说，是她的脸和手。我认为它们真的很有表现力，而且，它们让女人看起来很沉思。看来她在认真考虑一些事情。

男生：是的，她的眼睛有点吸引你，但让我印象深刻的是对比鲜明的颜色，白色的裙子和深色的背景。这让我想起了几周前我们讨论过的那幅画，作者是约翰·辛格·萨金特。我想它叫X夫人？男教授：我同意，说得好。是的，博克斯很尊重萨金特的工作。这是一种技巧，你可以在他们的作品中找到。好吧，但是，这幅画叫做“梦想家”你觉得这是什么样的梦；

女学生：嗯，背景，在女人的背后，它是相当模糊的。就像可能的那样，没有真实的背景，没有明确的环境，尤其是与女人自己相比，因为她是如此清晰和明确。男教授：是的，不清楚的背景肯定是造成这种梦幻的原因。我认为，这是为了表现出一种孤独感，在这种孤独感中，女人深深地陷入了白日梦，而没有真正意识到其他任何事情。这幅画展示了塞西莉亚·博克斯作为肖像画家的洞察力。除了她高超的技巧，比如她使用笔触和颜色来给人留下印象，博克斯的视角也能体现出来，她的肖像也揭示了她自己对拍摄对象心理状态的解释。这就是一切，而不仅仅是肖像。

现在，未定义的背景也显示了塞西莉亚·博克斯是如何受到法国印象派画家的影响的，这些印象派画家相信，博克斯对他们的主题采用的是个人而非传统的方法……博克斯使用了一些印象派技巧，并分享了他们的许多哲学，但她的风格完全是她自己的。

三、Cecilia Beaux托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the purpose of the discussion?

A.To compare the portrayal of different subjects in Cecilia Beaux's portraits

B.To examine the influence of women artists in the nineteenth century

C.To explain how The Dreamer differs from Impressionist art

D.To demonstrate how Cecilia Beaux's point of view is reflected in her art

Q2:2.What evidence does the professor cite to illustrate Cecilia Beaux's reputation as an artist?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.The instructors that she studied art with

B.Her role in professional art organizations

C.Her connection with an important politician's family

D.The features of her work that the Impressionists imitated

Q3:3.What do the speakers say about Cecilia Beaux's use of contrasting colors in The Dreamer?

A.The technique was unusual in portraits of the period.

B.The technique was used by an artist that she respected.

C.Several modern artists copied the technique.

D.The function of the technique is to unify several parts of the painting.

Q4:4.What point do the speakers make about the background of The Dreamer?

A.It is a good example of Beaux's unusual style of brushstroke.

B.It resembles the backgrounds of other Beaux portraits.

C.Its lack of clarity emphasizes the theme of the painting.

D.It is meant to suggest that the woman is in a dark room.

Q5:5.Based on the discussion,what is the professor’s attitude toward portraiture?

A.The artist's technical skill is the most important aspect of a portrait.

B.An artist is seldom able to create an exact likeness of a subject.

C.A good portrait portrays the subject in an informal setting.

D.A good portrait portrays more than a physical image.

Q6:6.Why does the professor mention the French Impressionists?

A.To identify other artists who often painted women and children

B.To point out one of the influences on Cecilia Beaux's work

C.To question the importance of Impressionism in portraiture

D.To contrast their view of art with Cecilia Beaux's vision

四、Cecilia Beaux托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：D

A2:正确答案：BC

A3:正确答案：B

A4:正确答案：C

A5:正确答案：D

A6:正确答案：B