小站备考
托福
托福听力
Official51听力真题

OFFICIAL51 What are Audubon's "mystery birds"?

展开
Tip:单击查看句义;划选/双击查生词

[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class. [00:03.17] The professor has been discussing illustrated books.[00:07.00]MALE PROFESSOR: I want to take a look at one particular book to give you an idea about what was involved in publishing illustrated books in the 1800s. [00:15.00] The book's called The Birds of America, and the illustrator was John James Audubon.[00:21.00]So … The Birds of America … four volumes which contained illustrations of nearly every bird in the United States: over 400 birds, all hand-colored, all painted life-sized, the larger birds printed on the largest printing paper available at that time …. [00:40.00]This required a lot of dedication, [00:42.77]and Audubon is best remembered as an incredibly meticulous, accurate artist … a very accomplished illustrator of the natural world.
[00:51.00]And while there were other artists working on similar projects at the same time, Audubon's book remains the most well-known and successful of its kind.[01:00.90]But, uh, let's talk a bit about Audubon himself first.[01:05.00]First of all, Audubon was not a traditional painter …[01:10.00]and by this, I mean that he didn't work in oils. [01:12.90] He preferred to use watercolor and pastel crayons, [01:16.13]and he worked on paper instead of on canvas.[01:19.66]The thing is, Audubon considered the illustrations in his book, not the original watercolors, to be the finished product. [01:28.30]His watercolors were merely preparatory studies, most of which were painted while he was observing birds in the wild. [01:35.00] These watercolors were then sent to his printer, who created the final prints for the book. [01:40.30] And Audubon was so concerned with accuracy that he often scribbled notes to the printer around the edges of these original watercolors.[01:48.80]In fact, you might question whether producing a work of art was even Audubon's goal. [01:54.00]Now, when I look at an Audubon illustration, I see a work of art. [01:59.00] But it may make more sense to consider Audubon first and foremost as a naturalist … as a scientist. [02:06.50]See, the early nineteenth century when Audubon was painting was a time of major scientific inquiry. [02:12.86]And an essential way of spreading scientific knowledge was through illustrated books.
[02:19.00]FEMALE STUDENT: So what did Audubon consider himself? An artist or a scientist?[02:24.72]MALE PROFESSOR: I'm not sure the distinction between the two was all that clear in the 1800s. [02:29.60] I think we can accurately state that … that the driving force in his art was getting the science right. [02:36.55]And this was perhaps a point that critics of his artwork at the time just didn't appreciate.[02:41.80]Audubon also studied birds in ways that didn't directly inform his art. [02:47.30]Uh, you know what bird banding is, right? [02:50.00]A bird has a band attached to its foot so we can learn about things like migration patterns. [02:55.30]Well, the first recorded instance of anyone doing that—it was Audubon. [03:00.30]Another example … a common belief at the time was that vultures use their sense of smell to find food. [03:07.00] Audubon didn't believe that, [03:08.71] so he tested it. [03:10.06] He put a large painting of a dead sheep in a field, and sure enough: vultures found it and started pecking at it.
[03:18.00]Now, Audubon's work was very accurate, and we know this because we can compare his illustrations to the birds around us. [03:26.30]But sometimes it's not possible to check. [03:26.30]There’re actually several birds in his book that no one's ever seen. [03:33.30]These are sometimes called Audubon's “mystery birds,” because even though he drew them, there's no evidence that they exist in the wild.
[03:42.00]For someone who's respected as a naturalist, isn't it strange to think that he drew some birds that don't appear to be real?[03:50.30]For example, there’s an illustration that appears to be a type of warbler—a small bird. [03:56.00]It has a white ring around its eyes and white bars on its wings. [03:59.90]No one’s ever seen a warbler like this, so some people wonder if Audubon maybe forgot certain details about this bird when he painted it—or that he copied another artist's work. [04:10.90]But considering that Audubon was such a meticulous artist … well, there might be a better answer. 
[04:18.10] Hybridization is something that's well known in birds. [04:22.20]And it definitely explains a rather unique-looking duck Audubon painted. [04:27.00]He himself suggested that maybe it wasn't an unknown species, but a hybrid, born from two different species. [04:34.00]Since then, this particular crossing of species has actually been recorded, both in the wild and in captivity, [04:41.10]so it turns out that Audubon was right, [04:43.39] and this duck actually was a hybrid.

5.What are Audubon's "mystery birds"?

你的答案:
正确答案:B
题目解析:
 后才能查看题目解析,还没有账号? 马上注册
此题出处是: Professor: There are actually several birds in his book that no one has ever seen. These are sometimes called Audubon’s mystery birds, because even though he drew them, there is no evidence that they exist in the wild. 这里教授很清楚地讲到,Audubon的神秘鸟类是指现实中不被人知道的鸟。选项B正确。选项A说是已经丢失的Audubon的鸟类插画,选项C说是用一种一反常态的粗糙方式画出来的插画,选项D是说Audubon所画的偏向想象而不是偏向现实的插画。选择B。

学习页面

Medi

terr

anean

加强 + 政府 + 名词后缀

加强的政府——管理

原文例句

加入生词

本文生词 0

色块区域是你收藏过的生词;

查询次数越多,颜色越深哦~

显示文中生词

登录后才能收藏生词哦,现在登录注册>

本文重点词 45

文中加粗单词为本文重点词;

根据词频与核心词范围精心挑选,托福考试必掌握词汇。

显示文中重点词
学习本文词汇

文中划选/双击的生词、加粗重点词已收纳至词盒

可随时点击词盒查看哦~

只有在词句精学模式下才能开启词盒功能哦~

我知道了

词盒
收藏
笔记
我的笔记
5000
保存
反馈