Question

Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something that has not been said before. He hopes the public will listen and understand what he wants to teach them, and what he wants them to learn from him.

What visual(視覺的)artists like painters want to teach is easy to make out but difficult to explain,

because painters translate their experience into shapes and colours, not words. They seem to feel that a

certain selection of shapes and colours, out of countless billions of, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us. Without their work we should never have noticed these particular Shapes and colours. or have felt the delight which they brought to the artist.

Most artists take their shapes and colours from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and at rest; their choices indicate(指示)that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary(當代的)artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.

If one painter chooses to paint a decaying(腐爛)leg and another a lake in moonlight, each of them is directing our attention to a certain aspect of the world. Each painter is telling us something, showing us something, emphasizing something-all of which means that, consciously(有意識地)or unconsciously, he is trying to teach us.

1.An artist hopes that the public will .

A.understand him and learn from him

B.notice only shapes and colours in his work

C.teach him something

D.believe what he says in his work

2.It is hard to explain what a painter is saying because he/she .

A.does not express himself/herself well

B.uses unusual words and phrases

C.uses shapes and colours instead of words

D.does not say anything clearly

3.The writer points out that the contemporary artists might say their choices of subject .

A.carry a message to the public

B.only provide interesting pattern

C.have no pattern or form

D.teach the public important truths

4.What do you know from the passage?

A.A painting is more easily understood that music.

B.Art is merely the arranging of shape and colours.

C.Every artist tries to say something consciously to the public.

D.One must look beyond shape and colour to find what the artist is saying.

Answer 1