《新概念英语》第二册第26集：The best art critics

Lesson 26 The best art critics

First listen and then answer the question.

Who is the student's best critic?

I am an art student and I paint a lot of pictures. Many people pretend that they understand modern art. They always tell you what a picture is 'about'. Of course, many pictures are not 'about' anything. They are just pretty patterns. We like them in the same way that we like pretty curtain material. I think that young children often appreciate modern pictures better than anyone else. They notice more. My sister is only seven, but she always tells me whether my pictures are good or not. She came into my room yesterday.

'What are you doing?' she asked.

'I'm hanging this picture on the wall,' I answered. 'It's a new one. Do you like it?'

She looked at it critically for a moment. 'It's all right,' she said, 'but isn't it upside down?'

I looked at it again. She was right! It was!

New words and expressions

生词和短语

art  n. 艺术

critic [ˈkrɪtɪk]  n.批评家;评论家;评论员;批评者;挑剔的人

crit 判断 + ic 人 → 判断〔别人的是非〕的人 → 批评家

Mather was film critic on the Daily Telegraph for many years...

马瑟多年来一直担任《每日电讯报》的影评人。

The last thing we need are words of wisdom from an armchair critic

我们最不需要的是纸上谈兵的评论家发表的“智慧”言论。

paint  v. 画

pretend  v. 假装

pattern [ˈpætərn]  n.图案;模式;方式;范例;典范;榜样;样板;花样;式样 vt.构成图案(或花样);使形成，促成(某行为模式)

changing patterns of behaviour

行为变化模式

a shirt with a floral pattern

一件花衬衣

curtain  n. 窗帘，幕布

material  n. 材料

appreciate [əˈpriːʃieɪt]  v.欣赏;赏识;重视;感激;感谢;欢迎;理解;意识到;领会

ap 表加强 + preci 价值 + ate 动词后缀 →〔因为欣赏〕反复评价 → 评价；欣赏

You can't really appreciate foreign literature in translation.

看翻译作品不能真正欣赏到外国文学原著的美妙之处。

I don't appreciate being treated like a second-class citizen.

我不愿被人当作二等公民。

notice  v. 注意到

whether  conj. 是否

hang  v. 悬挂，吊

critically  adv. 批评地

upside down 上下颠倒地

参考译文

我是个学艺术的学生，画了很多画。有很多人装成很懂现代艺术的样子，总是告诉你一幅画的“意思”是什么。当然，有很多画是什么“意思”也没有的。它们就是些好看的图案，我们喜爱它们就像我们喜欢漂亮的窗帘布一样。我觉得小孩子们往往比任何人都更能欣赏现代绘画，他们观察到的东西更多。我的妹妹只有7岁，但她总能说出我的画是好还是坏。昨天她到我房里来了。

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