首页
登录
职称英语
"Looking at Theatre History" → One of the primary ways
"Looking at Theatre History" → One of the primary ways
游客
2024-01-03
19
管理
问题
"Looking at Theatre History"
→ One of the
primary
ways of approaching the Greek theatre is through archeology, the systematic study of material remains such as architecture, inscriptions, sculpture, vase painting, and other forms of decorative art.A Serious on-site excavations began in Greece around 1870, but W. Dörpfeld did not begin the first extensive study of the Theatre of Dionysus until 1886.B Since that time, more than 167 other Greek theatres have been identified and many of them have been excavated. C Nevertheless, they still do not permit us to describe the
precise
appearance of the
skene
(illustrations printed in books are conjectural reconstructions), since many pieces are irrevocably lost because the buildings in later periods became sources of stone for other projects and what remains is usually broken and scattered.D That most of the buildings were remodeled many times has created great problems for those seeking to date both the parts and the successive versions. Despite these drawbacks, archeology provides the most concrete evidence we have about the theatre structures of ancient Greece. But, if they have told us much, archeologists have not completed their work, and many sites have scarcely been touched.
→ Perhaps the most
controversial
use of archeological evidence in theatre history is vase paintings, thousands of which have survived from ancient Greece. (Most of those used by theatre scholars are reproduced in Margarete Bieber’s The History of the Greek and Roman Theatre.) Depicting scenes from mythology and daily life, the vases are the most graphic pictorial evidence we have. But they are also easy to misinterpret. Some scholars have considered any vase that depicts a subject treated in a surviving drama or any scene showing masks, flute players, or ceremonials to be valid evidence of theatrical practice. This is a highly questionable assumption, since the Greeks made widespread use of masks, dances, and music outside the theatre and since the myths on which dramatists drew were known to everyone, including vase painters, who might well depict the same subjects as dramatists without being indebted to them. Those vases showing scenes unquestionably theatrical are few in number.
→ Written evidence about ancient Greek theatre is often treated as less reliable than archeological evidence because most written accounts are separated so far in time from the events they describe and because they provide no information about their own sources. Of the written evidence, the surviving plays are usually treated as the most reliable. But the oldest surviving manuscripts of Greek plays date from around the tenth century, C.E., some 1500 years after they were first performed. Since printing did not exist during this time span, copies of plays had to be made by hand, and therefore the possibility of textual errors creeping in was magnified. Nevertheless, the scripts offer us our readiest access to the cultural and theatrical conditions out of which they came. But these scripts, like other kinds of evidence, are subject to varying interpretations. Certainly performances embodied a male perspective, for example, since the plays were written, selected, staged, and acted by men. Yet the existing plays feature numerous choruses of women and many feature strong female characters. Because these characters often seem victims of their own powerlessness and appear to be governed, especially in the comedies, by sexual desire, some critics have seen these plays as rationalizations by the male-dominated culture for keeping women segregated and cloistered. Other critics, however, have seen in these same plays an attempt by male authors to force their male audiences to examine and call into question this segregation and cloistering of Athenian women.
→ By far the majority of written references to Greek theatre date from several hundred years after the events they report. The writers seldom mention their sources of evidence, and thus we do not know what credence to give
them
. In the absence of material nearer in time to the events, however, historians have used the accounts and have been grateful to have them. Overall, historical treatment of the Greek theatre is something like assembling a jigsaw puzzle from which many pieces are missing: historians arrange what they have and imagine (with the aid of the remaining evidence and logic) what has been lost. As a result, though the broad outlines of Greek theatre history are reasonably clear, many of the details remain open to doubt.
Glossary
skene: a stage building where actors store their masks and change their costumes [br] Why does the author mention a jigsaw puzzle in paragraph 4?
选项
A、To demonstrate the difficulty in drawing conclusions from partial evidence
B、To compare the written references for plays to the paintings on vases
C、To justify using accounts and records that historians have located
D、To introduce the topic for the next reading passage in the textbook
答案
A
解析
... historical treatment of Greek theatre is something like assembling a jigsaw puzzle of which many pieces are missing." The reference to "missing pieces" is an analogy to the partial evidence for Greek theatre. Choice B is not correct because no comparison is made between written references and the paintings in paragraph 4. Choice C is not correct because the author does not use words and phrases that suggest justification. Choice D is not correct because the last sentence is a summary of the reading passage, not an opening sentence for a new topic.
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3331259.html
相关试题推荐
"HistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1619_20121[/img][br]Howdoest
"ArtHistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1494_20121[/img][br]Whati
"ArtHistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1494_20121[/img][br]Whydo
"ArtHistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1494_20121[/img][br]Accord
"ArtHistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1494_20121[/img][br]Towha
"ArtHistoryClass"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_1494_20121[/img][br]Whati
ArchitectureHistoryofDomesticArchitecture[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_06
ArchitectureHistoryofDomesticArchitecture[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_06
NarratorListentopartofalectureinahistoryclass.Nowgetr
NarratorListentopartofalectureinahistoryclass.Nowgetr
随机试题
(2017年真题)下列工作底稿资料中,属于管理类工作底稿的是( )。A.资产评估
男性,66岁,反复咳嗽、咳痰30余年,进行性呼吸困难10余年,反复双下肢水肿2年
属于化石类药材的是A:龙骨B:赤石脂C:玛瑙D:琥珀E:煤珀
下列中的立体图形①是由立体图形②、③和④组合而成,下列哪一项能够填入问号处?
肾母细胞瘤又名为( )。A.Ewing肉瘤 B.Krukenberg瘤 C
有抗溃疡作用的是A.陈皮 B.木香 C.柴胡 D.乌药 E.丹参
()在申请领取施工许可证时,应当提供建设工程有关安全施工措施的资料。A.建
单位工程施工进度计划编制的依据有( )。A.施工总进度计划 B.合同工期或
女,16岁,患1型糖尿病,因肺部感染,诱发酮症酸中毒接诊时,如出现以下症状,何为
完全再生() A.肉芽组织取代坏死组织过程是 B.邻近健康细胞分裂增生以完成
最新回复
(
0
)