高三英语阅读理解：早起的摄影图像

　　In the 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia, one scene shows an American newspaper reporter eagerly snapping photos of men robbing a damaged train. One of the robbers, Chief Auda abu Tayi of the Howeitat clan, suddenly notices the camera and snatches it. “Am I in this?” he asks, before smashing it open. To the dismayed reporter, Lawrence explains, “He thinks these things will steal his virtue. He thinks you’re a kind of thief.”

　　As soon as colonizers and explorers began taking cameras into distant lands, stories began circulating about how native peoples saw them as tools for black magic. The “ignorant natives” may have had a point. When photography first became available, scientists welcomed it as a more objective way of recording faraway societies than early travelers’ exaggerated accounts. But in some ways, anthropological(人类学的) photographs reveal more about the culture that holds the camera than the one that stares back. Up into the 1950s and 1960s, many ethnographer(人种学者) sought “pure” pictures of “primitive” cultures, routinely deleting modern articles for daily use such as clocks and Western dress. They paid men and women to re-enact rituals or to pose as members of war or hunting parties, often with little regard for truthfulness. Edward Curtis, the legendary photographer of North American Indians, for example, got one Makah man to pose as a whaler with a spear in 1915 --- even though the Makah had not hunted whales in a generation.

　　These photographs reinforced widely accepted stereotypes that native cultures were isolated, primitive, and unchanging. For instance, National Geographic magazine’s photographs have taught millions of Americans about other cultures. As Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins point out in their 1993 book Reading National Geographic, the magazine since its founding in 1888 has kept a tradition of presenting beautiful photos that don’t challenge white, middle-class American conventions. While dark-skinned women can be shown without tops, for example, white women’s breasts are taboo. Photos that could unsettle or disturb, such as areas of the world torn apart by war or famine, are discarded in favor of those that reassure, to conform with the society’s stated pledge to present only “kindly” visions of foreign societies. The result, Lutz 高三阅读理解题In the 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia one sceneand Collins say, is the display of “an idealized and exotic world relatively free of pain or class conflict.”

　　Lutz actually likes National Geographic a lot. She read the magazine as a child, and its lush imagery influenced her eventual choice of anthropology as a career. She just thinks that as people look at the photographs of other cultures, they should be alert to the choice of composition and images.

　　66. The main idea of the passage is _______.

　　A. Photographs taken by Western explorers reflect more Westerners’ perception of the native cultures and the Western values.

　　B. There is a complicated relationship between the Western explorers and the primitive peoples.

　　C. Popular magazines such as National Geographic should show pictures of the exotic and idealized worlds to maintain high sales.

　　D. Anthropologists ask the natives to pose for their pictures, compromising the truthfulness of their pictures.

　　67. We can infer from the passage that early travelers to the native lands often _______.

　　A. took pictures with the natives

　　B. gave exaggerated accounts of the native lands

　　C. ask for pictures from the natives

　　D. gave the natives clocks and Western dresses

　　68. The author mentions the movie Lawrence of Arabia to _______.

　　A. show how people in the native societies are portrayed by Westerners.

　　B. illustrate how people from primitive societies see cameras as tools of black magic that steal their virtues.

　　C. show how anthropologists portray untruthful pictures of native people.

　　D. show the cruel and uncivilized side of the native people.

　　69. In paragraph2, the underlined part refers to _______.

　　A. the native culture B. the Western culture

　　C. the academic culture D. the news business culture

　　70. With which of the following statements would Catherine Lutz most probably agree?

　　A. Reporters from the Western societies should routinely delete modern elements in pictures taken of the native societies.

　　B. The primitive cultures are inferior to the more advanced Western culture.

　　C. The western media are not presenting a realistic picture of the faraway societies.

　　D. People in the Western news business should try not to challenge the well-established white middle-class values.

　　答案 66-70 ABBAC