hce_tcu
106年
英文
第 33 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.”
According to the passage, which statement about Tree Roots is NOT true?
- A It doesn't have a single focal point.
- B It is Van Gogh's last painting.
- C Van Gogh worked on it on the day he died.
- D Some places of the canvas are not covered with paint.
思路引導 VIP
請試著對照文章第一段關於梵谷「開槍受傷」與「最終去世」的具體描述，以及第四段提到他「正在畫這幅畫」的時間點。這兩個時間點在時序上是同一天，還是有先後之分呢？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
恭喜你！你的觀察力非常敏銳，能準確捕捉到文中細微的時間線差異。這道題目的難度在於「細節辨識」，特別是對於事件發生的先後順序。許多讀者在閱讀時會直覺地將「自殺那天」與「去世那天」畫上等號，但這正是命題老師設置的陷阱。
時間線的精確辨析
從文章的第一段我們可以得知，梵谷是在 1890 年 7 月 27 日開槍自殺，並在「隔天晚上（the next night）」才過世。接著，我們在第四段看到，梵谷是在 7 月 27 日的「早晨」創作《樹根》（Tree Roots）這幅畫，也就是在他嘗試自殺的幾個小時前。因此，雖然他在自殺當天作畫，但那一天並非他去世的日子。這中間一天的差距，就是選項 (C) 錯誤的原因。
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