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As a historian

who’s always searching for the text or the image that makesus re-evaluate the past, I’ve become preoccupied with looking for photographsthat show our Victorian ancestors smiling (what better way to shatter the imageof 19th-century prudery?). I’ve found quite a few, and—since I started postingthem on Twitter—they have been causing quite a stir. People have been surprisedto see evidence that Victorians had fun and

could, and did, laugh. They arenoting that the Victorians suddenly seem to become more human as thehundred-or-so years that separate us fade away through our common experience oflaughter.

Of course, I need to concede that my collection of ‘Smiling Victorians’makes up only a tiny percentage of the vast catalogue of photographicportraiture created between 1840 and 1900, the majority of which show sittersposing miserably and stiffly in front of painted backdrops, or staring absentlyinto the middle distance. How do we explain this trend?

During the 1840s and 1850s, in the early days of photography, exposuretimes were notoriously long: the daguerreotype photographic method (producing animage on a silvered copper plate) could take several minutes to complete,resulting in blurred images as sitters shifted position or adjusted their limbs.The thought of holding a fixed grin as the camera performed its magical dutieswas too much to contemplate, and so a non-committal blank stare became thenorm.

But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction ofthe Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’sdigital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smileswere relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for anexplanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile.

One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesygrin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victoriansaying, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouthswere often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean,regular ‘pearly whites’ was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve ofthe super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).

A toothy grin (especially when there were gaps or blackened teeth) lackedclass: drunks, tramps, and music hall performers might gurn and grin with asmile as wide as Lewis Carroll’s gum-exposing Cheshire Cat, but it was not abecoming look for properly bred persons. Even Mark Twain, a man who enjoyed ahearty laugh, said that when it came to photographic portraits there could be“nothing more damning than a silly, foolish smile fixed forever”.

31. According to Paragraph 1, the author’s posts on Twitter

A. changed people’s impression of the Victorians.

B. highlighted social media’s role in Victorian studies.

C. re-evaluated the Victorians’ notion of public image.

D. illustrated the development of Victorian photography.

32. What does author say about the Victorian portraits he hascollected?

A. They are in popular use among historians.

B. They are rare among photographs of that age.

C. They mirror 19th-century social conventions.

D. They show effects of different exposure times.

33. What might have kept the Victorians from smiling for pictures in the1890s?

A. Their inherent social sensitiveness.

B. Their tension before the camera.

C. Their distrust of new inventions.

D. Their unhealthy dental condition.

34. Mark Twain is quoted to show that the disapproval of smiles in pictureswas

A. a deep-root belief.

B. a misguided attitude.

C. a controversial view.

D. a thought-provoking idea.

35. Which of the following questions does the text answer?

A. Why did most Victorians look stern in photographs?

B. Why did the Victorians start to view photographs?

C. What made photography develop slowly in the Victorian period?

D. How did smiling in photographs become a post-Victorian norm?

正确答案：31. A 32.B 33. D 34. A 35. A

31. 本题定位在第一段，关键词为post,twitter,具体定位在第一段的第四、五行，通过第五行我们可以看到作者在twitter上放维多利亚时期的人物照片，引起了很大的轰动(stir)，而且第五行最后一个surprise告诉了我们，大家对于维多利亚时期人物微笑的照片是感到非常惊讶的，和原来自己的认识不同，这也就说明了这些照片实际上是改变了人们原来对维多利亚时期人们的印象，对应的是答案A(changedpeople’s impression of the Victorians.);Twitter的确是一种socialmedia(社交媒体)，但是这里仅仅是作者发布维多利亚时期人物照片的一个媒介，作者根本没有提到用它来做研究。属于无中生有。故B选项排除;Re-evaluated位于第一行，而我们刚刚确定的定位句在第四五行，属于定位错误，故C选项排除;the development of Victorian photography第一段中没有出现原词，通读第一段四五行我们可以发现twitter上的照片不是为了阐释当时摄影技术的发展，故排除。

32.本题关键词为Victorian portraits, collected, 通过这两个词可以定位到文章第二段，第二行that mycollection makes up only a tiny percentage…可以看到这些作者搜集的肖像画是很少的，对应的是B选项中的rare,故正确答案为B;第二段中没有提到historians, 更没有提到in popular use, 同时也没有提到socialconventions属于无中生有，故排除A, C;选项D中的exposuretime出现在第三段，属于定位错乱，而且是解释为什么很多维多利亚时期的人拍照时不笑的原因，故排除。

33.in the 1890s可以帮助我们定位到第四段的最后一句，第五段开头one explanation明显是解释原因，是我们需要重点关注的内容，第五、六段反复出现的词有grin，teeth, dental, mouth, toothy,通过这些词我们可以看到原因都是和口腔，牙齿有关的，故选D;A.中的social sensitiveness,B中的tension，C中的distrust都没有提到，故排除;

34. 根据题干可以定位到文章最后一段，举马克吐温的例子，就是为了证明在当时a toothygrin缺乏教养，不是教养良好的人适合的表情——这一维多利亚时期人们的观点，甚至连喜欢大笑的名人马克吐温也这样认为，所以这是一个根深蒂固的信念，故选A。文章中没有提到拍照时反对微笑这一个观点是误导的(misguided)、有争议的(controversial)、引人深思的(thought-provoking)的，故排除B、C、D。

35.本题是一个概括类题目，类似于本文的题目title是什么，回答此类题目，需要我们理清整篇文章的逻辑，第一段是引入话题，第二段最后一句How dowe explain this trend?trend即维多利亚时期人们拍照时呆滞没有微笑，就是文章一直在回答的问题。Stern在这里是严厉的，严峻的，不笑的，故选答案A;答案B,为什么维多利亚时代的人开始看照片, 无中生有，故排除;C，文章中只是说到了维多利亚时期摄影exposuretime很长是人们拍照没有微笑的一个原因，没有说摄影发展缓慢。D中的a post-Victorian norm，没有提到，故排除。