2013年8月17日托福阅读真题解析.doc

2013年8月17日托福阅读真题解析
第一篇：
TOPIC 欧洲艺术创新的兴起
主要讲欧洲4万年前艺术创新的兴起，以及和周边国家包括非洲等的关系。
解析：本文与考古学及艺术相关，是托福阅读中较少考察的话题。下文阐释为何在四万年前欧洲艺术兴起。
Why and how art was suddenly born 40,000 years ago in Europe
Art was born suddenly, about 40,000 years ago, in the Ice Age of Europe. That art could be so old was not indeed realised until 1879, when the cave paintings of bison at Altamira in North Spain were first recognised and authenticated. The cave paintings of France and Spain can only be visited there, at the famous sites like Lascaux (in the Dordogne) and Altamira. But the remarkable small carvings on bone or ivory which are found in such caves, often of animals or the celebrated “Venus” figurines of nude women, are more portable, and they have been found more widely . A wonderful selection of these from the museums of Europe is now on show at the British Museum, in the exhibition “Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind”.
It is now well established that our species, Homo sapiens, emerged in Africa some 200,000 years ago, and that the out-of-Africa expansion of humankind leading eventually to the population of the world, began in earnest some 60,000 years ago. And although there are some remains of Ice Age art in Australia, and just a few in Africa, it was in Europe that the “creative explosion” took place, shortly after 40,000 years ago, generating these vivid carvings and engravings on stone