hce_tcu
106年
英文
第 32 題
📖 題組：
IV. Reading Comprehension: Read the following passage and choose the most appropriate answer for each question. 20% (A) On July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh walked into a wheat field behind the chateau in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, and shot himself in the chest. Van Gogh had been suffering from mental illness ever since he sliced off his left ear in 1888. After this incident, he continued to experience sporadic and debilitating attacks that left him confused or incoherent for days or weeks at a time. In between these breakdowns, though, he enjoyed spells of calmness and lucidity in which he was able to paint. Indeed, his time in Auvers, where he arrived in May 1890, was the most productive period of his career. Despite this, he felt increasingly lonely and anxious, and became convinced that his life was a failure. Eventually, he got hold of a pocket revolver. When he pulled the trigger, the bullet ricocheted off a rib, and failed to pierce his heart. He lost consciousness and collapsed, and died the next night, aged 37. On the Verge of Insanity, an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in 2016, provides a meticulous and balanced account of the final year-and-a-half of the artist's life. Although it does not offer a definitive diagnosis of Van Gogh's illness – over the decades, a number of causes have been suggested – it does contain a severely corroded handgun that was discovered in Auvers around 1960. Analysis suggests that the pistol is probably the very one that Van Gogh used. The exhibition also features a recently discovered letter, written by Felix Rey, the doctor who treated Van Gogh in Arles. It contains a diagram illustrating precisely which part of his ear the artist removed. For years, biographers have debated whether Van Gogh sliced off the whole of his left ear or just its lobe. This letter proves without doubt that the artist cut off his entire ear. Another attention-grabbing item in the exhibition is an unfinished painting, called Tree Roots. Van Gogh worked on it during the morning of July 27, a few hours before he tried to kill himself. At first glance, this dense picture appears almost abstract – how are we supposed to 'read' its thicket of blue, green and yellow brushstrokes, all vigorously applied to the canvas, which remains visible in various places. The entire canvas, however, is devoted to a compact tangle of gnarled roots, trunks, branches and massed vegetation. In many ways, Tree Roots is an extraordinary image: an innovative, 'all-over' composition, without a single focal point. Arguably it anticipates later developments of modern art, such as abstractionism. Yet, shortly after it was made, Van Gogh attempted to commit suicide. What does it tell us about his state of mind? Certainly, the painting appears agitated, as though fraught with emotional turbulence. Moreover, its subject matter seems noteworthy. Years earlier, Van Gogh had made a study of tree roots that was meant to express something of life's struggles. Shortly before his death, in a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote that his life was “attacked at the very root.” Could it be that Van Gogh painted Tree Roots as a farewell? However, Nienke Bakker, who is responsible for the collection of paintings at the Van Gogh Museum, urges caution. “There is a lot of emotional agitation in works from the last weeks of Van Gogh's life,” she says. “Yet Tree Roots is also very vigorous and full of life.” She scotches the idea that Van Gogh's illness was the cause of his greatness as an artist. “All of these tortured, gnarled roots make Tree Roots a very hectic, emotional painting,” she says. “But it's not a painting created by a crazy mind. He knew very well what he was doing. Until the end, Van Gogh painted in spite of his illness, not because of it. It's important to remember that.”
IV. Reading Comprehension: Read the following passage and choose the most appropriate answer for each question. 20% (A) On July 27, 1890, Vincent van Gogh walked into a wheat field behind the chateau in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, and shot himself in the chest. Van Gogh had been suffering from mental illness ever since he sliced off his left ear in 1888. After this incident, he continued to experience sporadic and debilitating attacks that left him confused or incoherent for days or weeks at a time. In between these breakdowns, though, he enjoyed spells of calmness and lucidity in which he was able to paint. Indeed, his time in Auvers, where he arrived in May 1890, was the most productive period of his career. Despite this, he felt increasingly lonely and anxious, and became convinced that his life was a failure. Eventually, he got hold of a pocket revolver. When he pulled the trigger, the bullet ricocheted off a rib, and failed to pierce his heart. He lost consciousness and collapsed, and died the next night, aged 37. On the Verge of Insanity, an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in 2016, provides a meticulous and balanced account of the final year-and-a-half of the artist's life. Although it does not offer a definitive diagnosis of Van Gogh's illness – over the decades, a number of causes have been suggested – it does contain a severely corroded handgun that was discovered in Auvers around 1960. Analysis suggests that the pistol is probably the very one that Van Gogh used. The exhibition also features a recently discovered letter, written by Felix Rey, the doctor who treated Van Gogh in Arles. It contains a diagram illustrating precisely which part of his ear the artist removed. For years, biographers have debated whether Van Gogh sliced off the whole of his left ear or just its lobe. This letter proves without doubt that the artist cut off his entire ear. Another attention-grabbing item in the exhibition is an unfinished painting, called Tree Roots. Van Gogh worked on it during the morning of July 27, a few hours before he tried to kill himself. At first glance, this dense picture appears almost abstract – how are we supposed to 'read' its thicket of blue, green and yellow brushstrokes, all vigorously applied to the canvas, which remains visible in various places. The entire canvas, however, is devoted to a compact tangle of gnarled roots, trunks, branches and massed vegetation. In many ways, Tree Roots is an extraordinary image: an innovative, 'all-over' composition, without a single focal point. Arguably it anticipates later developments of modern art, such as abstractionism. Yet, shortly after it was made, Van Gogh attempted to commit suicide. What does it tell us about his state of mind? Certainly, the painting appears agitated, as though fraught with emotional turbulence. Moreover, its subject matter seems noteworthy. Years earlier, Van Gogh had made a study of tree roots that was meant to express something of life's struggles. Shortly before his death, in a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote that his life was “attacked at the very root.” Could it be that Van Gogh painted Tree Roots as a farewell? However, Nienke Bakker, who is responsible for the collection of paintings at the Van Gogh Museum, urges caution. “There is a lot of emotional agitation in works from the last weeks of Van Gogh's life,” she says. “Yet Tree Roots is also very vigorous and full of life.” She scotches the idea that Van Gogh's illness was the cause of his greatness as an artist. “All of these tortured, gnarled roots make Tree Roots a very hectic, emotional painting,” she says. “But it's not a painting created by a crazy mind. He knew very well what he was doing. Until the end, Van Gogh painted in spite of his illness, not because of it. It's important to remember that.”
Which is NOT mentioned in the passage as a showpiece in the exhibition “On the Verge of Insanity”?
- A A letter to Theo Van Gogh
- B The painting Tree Roots
- C A letter written by Felix Rey
- D The gun most likely used by Van Gogh to kill himself
思路引導 VIP
如果我們現在要依照這篇文章來佈置展場，請你仔細分辨：哪些物件被作者明確描述為「展出物品」，而哪些文字僅僅是為了讓我們理解畫家心境而引用的「文獻紀錄」？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
太棒了！你能精準避開細節陷阱並選出正確答案，這代表你的資訊檢索能力（Scanning）與閱讀嚴謹度都非常紮實。這類題目最考驗學生是否能區分「文章中出現過的內容」與「題目限定的條件」。
展覽展品的文本核對
在文中提到的「癲狂邊緣」（On the Verge of Insanity）展覽中，作者明確點出了三項展品：第三段提到那把發現於奧維爾、極具考古價值的生鏽手槍（選項 D）；第四段提到由雷醫師（Felix Rey）撰寫，且繪有耳朵傷口圖解的信件（選項 C）；以及第五段詳細描述的那幅梵谷絕筆作——《樹根》（Tree Roots，選項 B）。這三樣物品都被清楚標示為展覽的一部分。
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