Official 47 Passage 1

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Roman Cultural Influence on Britain

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Paragraph 1 supports which of the following ideas about contacts that existed between Britain and the Roman Empire before the Roman conquest of Britain?

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  • A
    They were sufficient for native Britons to become familiar with everyday Roman objects.
  • B
    They were not sufficient for even very basic aspects of the culture of the Roman Empire to find their way into British life.
  • C
    They were not sufficient for British to have heard of the power of the Roman Empire.
  • D
    They were sufficient for individual Britons to become very interested in trying to participate in the culture of the Roman Empire.
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正确答案: B

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  • After the Roman Empire's conquest of Britain in the first century A.D., the presence of administrators, merchants, and troops on British soil, along with the natural flow of ideas and goods from the rest of the empire, had an enormous influence on life in the British Isles. Cultural influences were of three types: the bringing of objects, the transfer of craft workers, and the introduction of massive civil architecture. Many objects were not art in even the broadest sense and comprised utilitarian items of clothing, utensils, and equipment. We should not underestimate the social status associated with such mundane possessions which had not previously been available. The flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery from Gaul (modern-day France), decorated with scenes from Classical mythology, probably brought many into contact with the styles and artistic concepts of the Greco-Roman world for the first time, whether or not the symbolism was understood. Mass-produced goods were accompanied by fewer more aesthetically impressive objects such as statuettes. Such pieces perhaps first came with officials for their own religious worship; others were then acquired by native leaders as diplomatic gifts or by purchase. Once seen by the natives, such objects created a fashion which rapidly spread through the province.



    In the most extreme instances, natives literally bought the whole package of Roman culture. The Fishbourne villa, built in the third quarter of the first century A.D.,probably for the native client king Cogidubnus, amply illustrates his Roman pretensions. It was constructed in the latest Italian style with imported marbles and stylish mosaics. It was lavishly furnished with imported sculptures and other Classical objects. A visitor from Rome would have recognized its owner as a participant in the contemporary culture of the empire, not at all provincial in taste. Even if those from the traditional families looked down on him, they would have been unable to dismiss him as uncultured. Although exceptional, this demonstrates how new cultural symbols bound provincials to the identity of the Roman world.



    Such examples established a standard to be copied. One result was an influx of craft worker, particularly those skilled in artistic media like stone-carving which had not existed before the conquest. Civilian workers came mostly from Gaul and Germany. The magnificent temple built beside the sacred spring at Bath was constructed only about twenty years after the conquest. Its detail shows that it was carved by artists from northeast Gaul. In the absence of a tradition of Classical stone-carving and building, the desire to develop Roman amenities would have been difficult to fulfill. Administrators thus used their personal contacts to put the Britons in touch with architects and masons. As many of the officials in Britain had strong links with Gaul, it is not surprising that early Roman Britain owes much to craft workers from that area. Local workshops did develop and stylistically similar groups of sculpture show how skills in this new medium became widerspread. Likewise skills in the use of mosaic, wall painting, ceramic decoration, and metal-working developed throughout the province with the eventual emergence of characteristically Romano-British styles.



    This art had a major impact on the native peoples, and one of the most important factors was a change in the scale of buildings. Pre-Roman Britain was highly localized, with people rarely traveling beyond their own region. On occasion large groups amassed for war or religious festivals, but society remained centered on small communities. Architecture of this era reflected this with even the largest of the fortified towns and hill forts containing no more than clusters of medium-sized structures. The spaces inside even the largest roundhouses were modest, and the use of rounded shapes and organic building materials gave buildings a human scale. But the effect of Roman civil architecture was significant. The sheer size of space enclosed within buildings like the basilica of London must have been astonishing. This was an architecture of dominance in which subject peoples were literally made to feel small by buildings that epitomized imperial power. Supremacy was accentuated by the unyielding straight lines of both individual buildings and planned settlements since these too provided a marked contrast with the natural curvilinear shapes dominant in the native realm.


  • 在公元一世纪罗马帝国征服不列颠之后,行政官员、商人和军队在不列颠土地上的存在,以及来自帝国其他地区的思想和商品的自然流动,对不列颠岛屿上的生活产生巨大的影响。文化影响分为三种类型:物品的引入、工艺师的迁移以及宏大行政建筑的引入。许多物品甚至按照最宽泛的广义都算不上是艺术品,包括衣物、餐具、设备等实用功能物品。我们不应该低估这些以前不可能获得的世俗所有物和社会身份地位之间的关系。来自高卢(现在的法国)的散发红色光泽的陶器大量涌入,这些陶器饰以古典神话中的场景,第一次让很多不列颠人接触到希腊罗马世界的的风格和艺术观念,不管他们是否能够理解其象征意义。伴随大规模生产商品的还有少数审美上更令人印象深刻的物品,例如微型雕像。大部分这些微型雕像也许是官员们携带来的,这些官员用它们进行宗教活动。其他的微型雕像是通过本地领导人接受外交馈赠或购买所获得。一旦被当地人看到,这样的物品就成为时尚,在整个不列颠省迅速蔓延。

    在最极端的情况下,当地人简直接受了一整套的罗马文化。Fishbourne别墅,建于公元一世纪中后期,可能是为本地客户Cogidubnus国王建造的,充分表明了他对罗马的向往。该建筑依据最新的意大利风格建造,用的是进口大理石和时尚的马赛克。它采用豪华进口雕塑和其他古典艺术品装饰。来自罗马的客人会将它的主人看作帝国当代文化的参与者,没有任何本省乡下人的气息。即使那些来自传统的家庭的人看不起他,他们也无法蔑视他为没有文化教养。虽然异乎寻常,该案例表明新的文化符号是如何将本省居民和罗马世界的身份绑定起来的。

    这样的例子建立了一个学习模仿的标准。一个结果就是大量的工艺师的流入,尤其是那些有艺术材料技能的,如石头雕刻手艺的工匠,这样的手艺在罗马征服前是没有的。民间的工艺师大多来自高卢和德国。巴斯城圣泉旁建造的宏伟庙宇,是在征服后仅仅二十年左右就建造的。它的细节说明它是由东北高卢艺术家雕刻的。在缺乏石材雕刻和建筑传统的情况下,开发罗马化设施的欲望本来是很难满足的。因此,官员们运用他们的私人关系让英国人接触外来的建筑师和石匠。因为许多英国官员与高卢联系紧密,早期罗马化不列颠要归功于来自那个地区的工艺师就不足为奇了。当地的手工作坊发展了,风格类似的雕塑群表明这一新媒体技术已经变得如何普遍。同样的,使用马赛克、壁画、陶瓷装饰和金属加工的技巧也在整个省区得到发展,典型的罗马英国风格最终形成了。

    这种艺术对当地居民有着重大的影响,其中最重要的因素之一是建筑规模的变化。前罗马时代的英国是高度本地化的,很少有人旅行到自己的地区以外。有时候,会有大群的人为了战争或者宗教节日而聚集,但社会生活仍然以小社区为中心。这个时代的建筑反映了这个特点,即使最大的设防城镇和山地城堡所包含的也不过是几个中型建筑的聚集。即使最大的圆形碉楼里的空间是也是不大的,圆形和有机建筑材料的使用赋予建筑平易近人的规模。但罗马行政建筑具有宏大的效果。建筑所封闭的绝对空间尺寸肯定让当时的人们叹为观止,例如伦敦的方形教堂。这是一中建筑的统治力,让臣民在体现帝国权力的建筑中切实感觉到自己的渺小。至高无上感被单个建筑和规划定居建筑的放肆的直线所加强,因为这些与本土自然曲线形状形成鲜明的对比。
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    题型分类:事实信息题

    题干分析:关键词:contacts that existed between Britain and the Roman

    选项分析:从第一段可知,罗马帝国在征服英国之后,在方方面面对英国的生活产生了巨大的影响。原文提及The flooding of Britain with red-gloss pottery form Gaul (modern-day France)... probably brought many into contact with the styles and artistic concepts of the Greco-Roman world for the first time, whether or not the symbolism was understood.”说这些商品的涌入让英国当地人第一次接触到了希腊罗马文化,所以罗马征服英国之前,两国没有足够的接触,英国人甚至不了解最基本的罗马文化因此选项B符合句意。

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