考满分 toefl

1 .Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.

请听艺术史课上的一段讲座内容。

1 .Today we'll be discussing something many people might not think of as art at all, quilting. A quilt is a textile made of three layers that are stitched together, a decorative top layer, a simple bottom layer, and a layer of what's called batting in between. Batting is usually made of cotton or wool or a blend of fibers. It's what gives the quilt thickness and warmth. Historically, that layer of a quilt featured patterns of geometric shapes, squares, triangles, and so forth. Quilts were generally made as bed covers, and given such a practical purpose, they were generally categorized as craftwork rather than artwork. However, quilts can also be used solely for aesthetic purposes. Many people display these art quilts on the wall like a painting.

今天我们要讨论一种许多人根本不会视为艺术的东西 —— 拼布 quilting。拼布是一种由三层缝合而成的纺织品：装饰性的表层、简单的底层，以及中间一层所谓的 “夹层棉絮”（batting）。夹层棉絮通常由棉花、羊毛或混合纤维制成，赋予拼布厚度和保暖性。从历史上看，拼布的图案以几何形状为主，如正方形、三角形等。拼布通常被制作成床罩，由于其实用功能，它们通常被归类为手工艺品而非艺术品。然而，拼布也可以纯粹用于审美目的，许多人会像挂画一样把这些 “艺术拼布” 陈列在墙上。

1 .The history of quilting goes back to ancient Egypt. But today we'll concentrate on art quilts in the United States. In the late 1800s, quilters influenced by English embroidery and Japanese art began experimenting with high quality fabrics like silks and satins to create quilts with strong visual appeal, with interesting, unusual patterns, embellished with fancy embroidery, stitches, beads, lace. These lavish creations came to be known as crazy quilts. Since crazy quilts don't have that inner layer of batting, they can't be used as bed covers for warmth. They clearly were created just for display.

拼布的历史可以追溯到古埃及，但今天我们将聚焦于美国的艺术拼布。19 世纪末，受英国刺绣和日本艺术影响的拼布师开始尝试使用丝绸、缎面等高品质面料，创造具有强烈视觉吸引力的拼布：图案有趣且独特，并用精致的刺绣、针脚、珠子、蕾丝进行装饰。这些奢华的作品后来被称为 “疯狂拼布”（crazy quilts）。由于疯狂拼布没有夹层棉絮，无法作为保暖床罩使用，显然它们完全是为陈列而创作的。

1 .Much later in the 1970s, some academically trained artists noticed relationships between the geometric patterns of traditional quilts, and the geometric patterns of certain types of abstract art in painting and sculpture that were popular at the time. In fact, these abstract artists studied patterns used in traditional quilts and then made quilts of their own, applying their formal training in painting and sculpture to develop their own quilting styles. They wanted to distinguish their works from traditional utilitarian quilts. They were the ones who promoted the term art quilt. Naturally, these art quilters wanted to see their quilts in museums and galleries. The conventional art world showed little interest, even though many aspects of the quilts, such as their use of geometric designs, aligned with the principles of various modern art movements. One group that did show interest was collectors. Typically, though they collected antique quilts, which were valuable, mostly due to their age. But some began purchasing these new art quilts, hoping that their value would increase. This financial support enable many early art quilters to thrive, and eventually to create formal training programs for quilters. They began promoting and selling their work through exhibitions.

很久之后，在 20 世纪 70 年代，一些科班出身的艺术家注意到传统拼布的几何图案与当时流行的某些抽象绘画和雕塑中的几何图案存在关联。事实上，这些抽象艺术家研究了传统拼布的图案，然后结合自己在绘画和雕塑方面的专业训练，创作了属于自己的拼布风格，希望将作品与传统实用拼布区分开来。正是他们推广了 “艺术拼布”（art quilt）这一术语。自然，这些艺术拼布师希望自己的作品能进入博物馆和画廊。尽管拼布的许多元素（如几何设计的运用）与各种现代艺术运动的理念相符，但传统艺术界对此兴趣寥寥。真正表现出兴趣的群体是收藏家 —— 不过他们通常收藏古董拼布（其价值主要源于年代），但有些人开始购买这些新的艺术拼布，期待其升值。这种资金支持让许多早期艺术拼布师得以发展，并最终为拼布师创建了正规的培训项目。他们开始通过展览推广和销售自己的作品。

1 .Today, art quilts are exhibited in major art museums across the United States. Quilt making techniques have become so sophisticated that many can be mistaken for a painting until you get up close. For example, one of the quilts pictured in your textbook, the one titled splash, from a distance it's easily mistaken for an abstract painting. Like it was made by simply splashing different colored paints onto a canvas. And that's just one of a multitude of styles.

如今，艺术拼布已在美国各大艺术博物馆展出。拼布制作工艺变得如此精湛，以至于许多作品在远处看会被误认为是绘画，直到走近才能分辨。例如，你们课本中的一幅拼布作品《飞溅》（Splash），从远处看很容易被当作抽象画，就像把不同颜色的颜料直接泼洒在画布上一样。而这只是众多风格中的一种。

1 .Nonetheless, there have been a few trends that some contemporary quilters are following. One was started by quilter Anna Williams. As I mentioned, most contemporary quilters only discovered quilting after their conventional training in art. By contrast, Williams learned to quilt in early childhood by watching her mother and grandmother who used left fabric scraps to make bed covers. As an adult, Williams continued quilting, but without following any pattern, hers was a more spontaneous, improvised approach. Before starting a new work, Williams would simply close her eyes and visualize the end result. Then she'd stitched together small, geometric, or irregularly shaped pieces of fabric that she'd cut freehand.

尽管如此，一些当代拼布师正在追随几种趋势。其中一种由拼布师安娜・威廉姆斯（Anna Williams）开创。如前所述，大多数当代拼布师是在接受传统艺术训练后才接触拼布，而威廉姆斯则是在童年时期通过观察母亲和祖母用剩余布料制作床罩学会了拼布。成年后，她继续拼布，但不遵循任何图案，采用更即兴、自由的创作方式。开始新作前，威廉姆斯只需闭上眼睛，在脑海中勾勒出最终效果，然后将徒手剪裁的几何或不规则形状的小布片缝合在一起。

1 .Williams' quilts have been hailed as visually complex, vibrant works of art. This so-called freestyle approach. This set her apart from the vast majority of other art quilters. When they discovered Williams' work, many quilters also began using a freer approach, following their creative instincts, rather than any standard or preconceived formula for a design. Today, art quilters, technical mastery is at a peak, but perfecting technique isn't enough to keep any genre of art invigorated to keep it moving forward. In the future, I'd love to see art quilters going even further in expressing their creativity, exploring new approaches with new materials, who knows what the next generation of quilters might come up with.

威廉姆斯的拼布被誉为视觉复杂、充满活力的艺术作品。这种所谓的 “自由风格” 使她与绝大多数其他艺术拼布师区别开来。许多拼布师在发现她的作品后，也开始采用更自由的方式，遵循创作直觉，而非任何标准或预设的设计公式。如今，艺术拼布师的技术已达到巅峰，但完善技术不足以让任何艺术流派保持活力并持续前进。未来，我希望看到艺术拼布师在表达创造力方面走得更远，用新材料探索新方法 —— 谁知道下一代拼布师会带来什么惊喜呢？