作为Chinese，这些托福阅读中的背景知识你get到了吗？- 戴玥

      托福阅读材料秉承着“无差异背景”的原则，无论你是什么学术背景或者专业特长，你也不可能不去理解文章而直接做题。当然，如果你“博采众长”又“术业有专攻”，在阅读材料中若看到熟悉的名词术语、故事人物、历史线索，都会让你对这篇文章增加亲切感，拿下题目来也更加有信心。

     那么，作为我们中国学生，若在托福阅读考试中，碰到考察中国历史和文化的题目，是不是就该偷着乐了呢？等等，先别高兴的太早，别忘了我们的“无差异背景”的阅读原则。

       在TPO10中有一篇经典的中国历史背景的考察，我们先来做一道题感受一下：

    The tradition of religious sculpture extends over most historical periods but is less clearly delineated than that of stone wares or porcelains, for it embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics with later religious images and architectural ornament.

    Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence(Paragraph 3) in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A.While stone wares and porcelains are found throughout most historical periods, religious sculpture is limited to the ancient period.

B.Religious sculpture was created in most periods, but its history is less clear than that of stone wares or porcelains because some old forms continued to be used even when new ones were developed.

C.While stone wares and porcelains changed throughout history, religious sculpture remained uniform in form and use.

D.The historical development of religious sculpture is relatively unclear because religious sculptures sometimes resemble earthenware architectural ornaments.

      这是一道句子简化题，着重考察同学们分析长难句（抓主干信息SVO）和逻辑关系的能力。

      例题原话的意思是说“宗教雕塑的传统在大部分历史时期中都有延续，但是没有石器和瓷器质地的雕塑描绘的那么清晰，因为有一种古老的习俗是将刻着新的宗教形象和建筑装饰的陶器作为陪葬品。” 这句话逻辑关系主要是因果关系，其中包含了一个转折，所以从结构上说只有B和D可能正确。但是根据我们对文章的理解和知识背景的补充，D错在原文说石器和瓷器是比宗教雕塑描绘的更清楚的（The tradition of religious sculpture is less clearly delineated than that of stone wares or porcelains），但没说religious sculpture不清楚，所以排除D。所以正解为B选项。

       如果你对中国瓷器的历史发展和知识有所了解或研究，不少名词对你来说也是“手到擒来”的，比如说 porcelain (n.) 瓷器，earthenware (n./adj.) 陶器／陶制的，ceramics (n.) 陶瓷制品／工艺，ornament (v./n.) 装饰。

      对于世界来说，China不仅代表中国，也是瓷器的含义。作为全世界个掌握瓷器制作技术的国家，中国被视作瓷之国，中国的瓷器很长一段时间被西方贵族们疯狂追捧，拥有中国瓷器是荣耀的象征，当时中国最主要的贸易出口产品就是瓷器。

     遇到做题时的难篇，可以采用下面的方法分析出每一段的逻辑关系，加强段落之于全文的理解：

TPO 10 P1 Chinese Pottery

文章结构：总分结构——

从中国悠久历史入手，探讨陶瓷的功能和地位（p2：The function and status of ceramics inChina varied from dynasty to dynasty, so they may be utilitarian, burial, trade-collectors', or even ritual objects, according to their quality and the era in which they were made.）；

瓷器从时间和空间方面的演化发展：六朝时期的中国北方，到明朝时期用于陪葬的瓷器。

中国瓷器在中西方贸易往来中所扮演的角色：用于宗教与日常生活。（p6：From early times pots were used in both religious and secular contexts. ）

Chinese Pottery

China has one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations — despite invasions and occasional foreign rule. A country as vast as China with so long-lasting a civilization has a complex social and visual history, within which pottery and porcelain play a major role.

文章的主旨句点明陶瓷在中国悠久历史中扮演重要作用。

The function and status of ceramics in China varied from dynasty to dynasty, so they may be utilitarian, burial, trade, collectors' or even ritual objects, according to their quality and the era in which they were made. The ceramics fall into three broad types—earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain-for vessels, architectural items such as roof tiles, and modeled objects and figures. In addition, there was an important group of sculptures made for religious use, the majority of which were produced in earthenware.

每个朝代的陶瓷的作用和地位是不同的，例如宗教用途的雕塑多数是陶制的。

The earliest ceramics were fired to earthenware temperatures, but as early as the fifteenth century B C, high-temperature stonewares were being made with glazed surfaces. During the Six Dynasties period (A.D.265-589), kilns in north China were producing high-fired ceramics of good quality. White wares produced in Hebei and Henan provinces from the seventh to the tenth centuries evolved into the highly prized porcelains of the Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279), long regarded as one of the high points in the history of China's ceramic industry. The tradition of religious sculpture extends over most historical periods but is less clearly delineated than that of stonewares or porcelains, for it embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics with later religious images and architectural ornament. Ceramic products also include lead-glazed tomb models of the Han dynasty, three-color lead-glazed vessels and figures of the Tang dynasty, and Ming three-color temple ornaments, in which the motifs were outlined in a raised trail of slip., as well as the many burial ceramics produced in imitation of vessels made in materials of higher intrinsic value.

上釉的高温陶瓷的出现，显示出陶瓷高超技艺的发展水平。宋瓷的出现被认为是中国陶瓷发展的时期之一。

Trade between the West and the settled and prosperous Chinese dynasties introduced new forms and different technologies. One of the most far-reaching examples is the impact of the fine ninth-century AD. Chinese porcelain wares imported into the Arab world. ■ So admired were these pieces that they encouraged the development of earthenware made in imitation of porcelain and instigated research into the method of their manufacture . ■ From the Middle East the Chinese acquired a blue pigment—a purified form of cobalt oxide unobtainable at that time in China—that contained only a low level of manganese. Cobalt ores found in China have a high manganese content, which produces a more muted blue-gray color. ■ In the seventeenth century, the trading activities of the Dutch East India Company resulted in vast quantities of decorated Chinese porcelain being brought to Europe, which stimulated and influenced the work of a wide variety of wares, notably Delft. ■ The Chinese themselves adapted many specific vessel forms from the West, such as bottles with long spouts, and designed a range of decorative patterns especially for the European market.

西方的经济发展与中国贸易也促使双方引进新的形式和技术。例如中国瓷器出口到阿拉伯国家，使中东获得了一种蓝色颜料。而贸易也刺激了多种多样瓷器的生产。

Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative, whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots. To twentieth-century eyes, Chinese pottery may appear merely decorative, yet to the Chinese the form of each object and its adornment had meaning and significance. The dragon represented the emperor, and the phoenix, the empress; the pomegranate indicated fertility, and a pair of fish, happiness; mandarin ducks stood for wedded bliss; the pine tree, peach, and crane are emblems of long life; and fish leaping from waves indicated success in the civil service examinations. Only when European decorative themes were introduced did these meanings become obscured or even lost.

本段主要探讨瓷器的功能性，希腊陶器和中国瓷器一样，一般往往兼具装饰与美好的寓意。

From early times pots were used in both religious and secular contexts. The imperial court commissioned work and in the Yuan dynasty ( A.D. 1279-1368) an imperial ceramic factory was establish at Jingdezhen. Pots played an important part in some religious ceremonies. Long and often lyrical descriptions of the different types of ware exist that assist in classifying pots, although these sometimes confuse an already large and complicated picture.

陶瓷器皿在宗教和日常生活中的广泛应用。

试答一道相关的细节题吧 ——

Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative, whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots. To twentieth-century eyes, Chinese pottery may appear merely decorative, yet to the Chinese the form of each object and its adornment had meaning and significance. The dragon represented the emperor, and the phoenix, the empress; the pomegranate indicated fertility, and a pair of fish, happiness; mandarin ducks stood for wedded bliss; the pine tree, peach, and crane are emblems of long life; and fish leaping from waves indicated success in the civil service examinations. Only when European decorative themes were introduced did these meanings become obscured or even lost.

Paragraph 5 suggests which of the following about the decorations on Chinese pottery?

A.They had more importance for aristocrats than for ordinary citizens.

B.Their significance may have remained clear had the Chinese not come under foreign influence.

C.They contain some of the same images that appear on Greek pots

D.Their significance is now as clear to twentieth century observers as it was to the early Chinese.

解析：从段落中的“...in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots.” 可以判断出，Chinese pottery的特点，结合背景知识，应该是丰富且具有时代寓意的，不同的图案和花纹可以表达美好的祝愿。A选项的ordinary citizens和aristocrat文章中并没有提到，排除；

要注意B选项中同义转述原文的理解，Their significance may have remained clear had the Chinese not come under foreign influence 使用了虚拟语气的倒装形式，在if 虚拟条件句中，含有should, were, had等时，可以将if省略，将should, were, had提前到句子开头，所以原句即为Their significance may have remained clear if the Chinese had not come to under foreign influence. Foreign influence做关键词定位至最后一句，Chinese pottery直到引入欧洲之后中国原有的装饰的意思才被模糊化，甚至遗失，所以B选项正确；

C没有提及；D与原文意思矛盾，应该是ancient更为熟知。

托福阅读中与中国相关的真题还有 ——

TPO 17 Europe’s Early Sea Trade with Asia    

TPO 48 Chinese Population Growth  

附带中国历史王朝简记：夏商与西周，东周分两段，春秋和战国。一统秦两汉，三分魏蜀吴，两晋前后延。南北朝并立，隋唐五代传。宋元明清后，王朝就此完。

在这个时间让我们静下心来，感受中国文化，好好刷题才是王道啊！