2010 Text 1

Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-reaching has been the inexorable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage.

在过去的四分之一个世纪中在英语报纸上发生的所有变化中，最深远的变化可能就是艺术部分的严肃性和范围性不可避免的退步。

It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big city newspapers. Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews. To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies.

对于平均年龄四十岁以下的读者很难想象高质量的艺术评论可以在大都市报纸上见到。然而二十世纪出版的相当多数量的最重要的评论刊物是报纸评论。今天再看到这些书，让人惊叹他们学的内容会被认为适合再大众读物上发行。

We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the tum of the 20th century and the eve of World War II, at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament to the publications in which it appeared. In those far-off days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered. Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Bernard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. "So few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism, "Newman wrote, "that I am tempted to define 'journalism' as 'a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are'."

至于从二十世纪之初到第二次世界大战前夕出版的风格自由的报纸评论，我们就更不感兴趣了，当时这些出版物还十分便宜，人们认为时尚的艺术评论是一种装饰品。在那些遥远的日子里，人们理所当然地认为，主要报纸地评论员应该详而又详地写下发生的事件。他们的工作是一个严肃的事业，即使是像 George Bernard Shaw和  Ernest Newman这种以深入浅出的方式展示自身学问的评论家，也可相信他们知道自己在写什么。这些人相信新闻业对他们来说是一种使命，他们以在每日新闻上发自己的文章感到自豪。“很少有作者有足够的头脑和文学天赋保持自己在新闻业的水准直至结束”，Newman这样写道，“我很想把‘新闻业’定义‘为一个不向真正读过书的作家使用的蔑视用语’。”

Unfortunately, these critics are virtually forgotten. Neville Cardus, who wrote for the Manchester Guardian from 1917 until shortly before his death in 1975, is now known solely as a writer of essays on the game of cricket. During his lifetime, though, he was also one of England's foremost classical-music critics, and a stylist so widely admired that his Autobiography (1947) became a best-seller. He was knighted in 1967, the first music critic to be so honored. Yet only one of his books is now in print, and his vast body of writings on music is unknown save to specialists.

很不幸，现在的这些评论家几乎都忘了 Newman 说的话。 Neville Cardus从1917年直到1975年去世前不久一直为Manchester Guardian 写作，但是现在他仅以写板球比赛文章而闻名。尽然，在他的一生中，他曾是英国最重要的古典音乐评论家之一，他还是一位备受尊敬的造型师，他的自传（1947）也成为了畅销书。1967年他被授予骑士荣誉，他是第一位获此殊荣的音乐评论家。然而，他现在只出版了一本书，他大量的音乐著作除专家外无人知晓。

Is there any chance that Cardus's criticism will enjoy a revival? The prospect seems remote. Joumalistic tastes had changed long before his death, and postmodern readers have little use for the richly upholstered Vicwardian prose in which he specialized. Moreover, the amateur tradition in music criticism has been in headlong retreat.

有什么机会让 Cardus的评论重新回来吗？前景渺茫。在他去世之前很久新闻品味就变了，后现代的读者对他所擅长的华丽的维多利亚式散文不怎么感兴趣。而且，音乐评论的业余传统也在迅速退步。

本文主要说明了20世纪严肃艺术评论了没落的现象。

本文开篇点题，指出严肃艺术评论衰落的事实；

第二段借古说今，通过追溯报纸艺术评论过去的辉煌，反向说明如今的没落，并暗示其没落的原因；

第三段承上启下，以时间为轴，继续回顾过去报纸艺术评论的鼎盛时期，并暗示其没落的原因；

第四段，以Neville Cardus为例，直叙如今报纸艺术评论的衰颓之势；

第五段，继续以Neville Cardus为例，指明报纸艺术评论衰落的根本原因：一是新闻行业的风格已变，二是音乐评论的业余传统的衰落。

纵观全文，本文的论证结构为"先总体阐述现象，再以个例具体展示"。

做题时注意偷换概念，断章取义，避重就轻；如将艺术评论的衰落说成新闻业的衰落，将艺术评论的衰落说成彻底消失；文中说报纸评论的质量，选项中说报纸的质量；文中说Cardus如今以板球评论闻名，意在以人为例道出艺术评论衰落的现象，选项中却说Cardus的成就有所争议（就好像我说我杀人不眨眼，结果你问我眼睛干不干QAQ）。