1 . A study of art history might be a good way to learn more about a culture than is possible to learn in general classes. Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics, and wars. But art history focuses on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also religious beliefs, emotions, and psychology. In addition, information about the daily activities of our ancestors ― or of people very different from our own ― can be provided by art. In short, art expresses the essential qualities of a time and a place, and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding than what can be found in most history books.
In history books, objective information about the political life of a country is presented: that is, facts about politics are given, but opinions are not expressed. Art, on the other hand, is subjective: it reflects emotions and opinions. The great Spanish painter Franciso Goya was perhaps the first truly political artist. In his well-known painting The Third of May, 1808, he criticized the Spanish government for its misuse of power over people. Over a hundred years later, symbolic images were used in Pablo Picasso’s Guernica to express the horror of war. Meanwhile, on another continent, the powerful paintings of Diego Rivera, Jose Clements Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros ― as well as the works of Alfredo Ramos Martinez ― showed these Mexican artists’ deep anger and sadness about social problems.
In the same way, art can reflect a culture’s religious beliefs. Four hundreds of years in Europe, religious art was almost the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religious buildings were filled with paintings that depicted people and stories from the Bible. Although most people couldn’t read, they could still understand biblical stories in the pictures on church walls. By contrast, one of the main characteristics of art in the Middle East was (and still is) its absence of human and animal images. This reflects the Islamic（伊斯兰教的）belief that statues are unholy（不神圣的；亵渎的）.
1. Which of the following sentences is WRONG according to the passage?
| A．Art history concentrates on religious beliefs, emotions and psychology only. |
| B．Art can provide information about the everyday activities of ancient people. |
| C．Information and facts about politics are given objectively in history. |
| D．Franciso Goya was perhaps the first truly political artist. |
2. History books are objective because _____.
| A．personal and emotional opinions are expressed through it |
| B．it will make the viewers angry and sad about history |
| C．it can help us understand historical facts better |
| D．opinions about facts are not expressed |
3. The two pictures The Third of May, 1808 and Guernica mentioned in paragraph 2 show that _____.
| A．art is subjective |
| B．artists are very similar even over a hundred years |
| C．art can reflect political life of a country |
| D．history books present objective information |
4. In paragraph 2, the underlined “another continent” refers to _____.
| A．Europe | B．America |
| C．Mexico | D．Middle East |
5. The passage is mainly discussing _____.
| A．the difference between general history and art history |
| B．the development of art history |
| C．the influence of artists on art history |
| D．what we can learn from art |
6. It may be concluded from this passage that _____.
| A．Islamic artists focus on creating architectural decorations with pictures of flowers or geometric (几何) forms |
| B．history teachers are more objective than artists |
| C．it is more difficult to study art history than general history |
| D．people and stories from the Bible were painted on churches and other buildings in order to popularize the Bible |
