Question

 

Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business!

In 2005,the American artist Richard Prince’s photograph of a photograph,Untitled (Cowboy),was sold for $1 248 000.

Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called “found photographs”—a loose term given to everything from discarded(丟棄的)prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements or amateur photographs from a stranger’s family album.The German artist Joachim Schmid,who believes “basically everything is worth looking at”,has gathered discarded photographs,postcards and newspaper images since 1982.In his on-going project,Archiv,he groups photographs of family life according to themes:people with dogs;teams;new cars;dinner with the family;and so on.

Like Schmid,the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion(捍衛)found photographs.One of them,called simply Found,was born one snowy night in Chicago,when Davy Rothbard returned to his car to find under his wiper(雨刷)an angry note intended for someone else:“Why’s your car HERE at HER place?”The note became the starting point for Rothbard’s addictive publication,which features found photographs sent in by readers,such as a poster discovered in your drawer.

The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions.Perhaps one of the most difficult is:can these images really be considered as art?And,if so,whose art?Yet found photographs produced by artists,such as Richard Prince,may raise endless possibilities.What was the cowboy in Prince’s Untitled doing?Was he riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone?Or how did Prince create this photograph?It’s anyone’s guess.In addition,as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found photographs artists,like Schmid,have collated(整理),we also turn toward our own photographic albums.Why is memory so important to us?Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children,our parents,our lovers,and ourselves?Will they mean anything to anyone after we’ve gone?

In the absence of established facts,the vast collections of found photographs give our minds an opportunity to wander freely.That,above all,is why they are so fascinating.

1.The first paragraph of the passage is used to_______.

A.remind readers of found photographs

B.advise readers to start a new kind of business

C.ask readers to find photographs behind sofas

D.show readers the value of found photographs

2.According to the passage,Joachim Schmid_______.

A.is fond of collecting family life photographs

B.found a complaining note under his car wiper

C.is working for several self-published art magazines

D.wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs

3.The underlined word “them”in Paragraph 4 refers to“_______”.

A.the readers

B.the editors

C.the found photographs

D.the self-published magazines

4.By asking a series of questions in Paragraph 5,the author mainly intends to indicate that_______.

A.memory of the past is very important to people

B.found photographs allow people to think freely

C.the back-story of found photographs is puzzling

D.the real value of found photographs is questionable

5.The author’s attitude toward found photographs can be described as_______.

A.critical                                  B.doubtful

C.optimistic                                D.satisfied

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

解析:這是一道推斷題。根據第一段Richard Prince的一張照片拍出了很高的價錢。說明回收的圖片還是非常值錢的。

2.A

解析:這是一道推斷題。根據第三段的“he groups photographs of family life according to themes:”可知Joachim Schmid搜集家庭照片。

3.D

解析:這是一道指代題。根據后面的“called simply Found,was born one snowy night in Chicago,”可知Found是一個雜志的名字,them 指代的是自己發行的雜志。

4.B

解析:這是一道推斷題。從這幾個問題中可以發行搜集到的別人廢棄的照片帶來了很多疑問,給人很多想象的空間。

5.C

解析:這是一道歸納題。從文中的第一句就可以看出搜集沙發后的舊照片是個大生意,說明作者對搜集廢照片還是樂觀的。