In the following article, some sentences have been removed.For Questions 4145, choose the most suitable one from the list AG to fit into each of the numbered blank.There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)
Theories of the value of art are of two kinds, which we may call extrinsic and intrinsic.The first regards art and the appreciation of art as means to some recognized moral good, while the second regards them as valuable not instrumentally but as objects unto themselves.It is characteristic of extrinsic theories to locate the value of art in its effects on the person who appreciates it.(41).
The extrinsic approach, adopted in modern times by Leo Tolstoy in Chto takoye iskusstvo? (1896; What Is Art?), has seldom seemed wholly satisfactory.Philosophers have constantly sought for a value in aesthetic experience that is unique to it and that, therefore, could not be obtained from any other source.The extreme version of this intrinsic approach is that associated with Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, and the French Symbolists, and summarized in the slogan “art for art’s sake.” (42).
Between those two extreme views there lies, once again, a host of intermediate positions.We believe, for example, that works of art must be appreciated for their own sake, but that, in the act of appreciation, we gain from them something that is of independent value.(43).
The analogy with laughterwhich, in some views, is itself a species of aesthetic interestintroduces a concept without which there can be no serious discussion of the value of art: the concept of taste.(44).
Similarly, we regard some works of art as worthy of our attention and others as not.In articulating this judgment, we use all of the diverse and confusing vocabulary of moral appraisal; works of art, like people, are condemned for their sentimentality, coarseness, vulgarity, cruelty, or selfindulgence, and equally praised for their warmth, compassion, nobility, sensitivity, and truthfulness.(The same may apply to the object of natural beauty.) Clearly, if aesthetic interest has a positive value, it is only when motivated by good taste; it is only interest in appropriate objects that can be said to be good for us.(45).
[A] Thus a joke is laughed at for its own sake, even though there is an independent value in laughter, which lightens our lives by taking us momentarily outside ourselves.Why should not something similar be said of works of art, many of which aspire to be amusing in just the way that good jokes are?
[B] All discussion of the value of art tends, therefore, to turn from the outset in the direction of criticism: Can there be genuine critical evaluation of art, a genuine distinction between that which deserves our attention and that which does not? (And, once again, the question may be extended to objects of natural beauty.)
[C] Art is held to be a form of education, perhaps an education of the emotions.In this case, it becomes an open question whether there might not be some more effective means to the same result.Alternatively, one may attribute a negative value to art, as Plato did in his Republic, arguing that art has a corrupting or diseducative effect on those exposed to it.
[D] Artistic appreciation, a purely personal matter, calls for appropriate means of expression.Yet, it is before anything a process of “cultivation”, during which a certain part of one’s “inner self” is “dug out” and some knowledeg of the outside world becomes its match.
[E] If I am amused it is for a reason, and this reason lies in the object of my amusement.We thus begin to think in terms of a distinction between good and bad reasons for laughter.Amusement at the wrong things may seem to us to show corruption of mind, cruelty, or bad taste; and when it does so, we speak of the object as not truly amusing, and feel that we have reason on our side.
[F] Such thinkers and writers believe that art is not only an end in itself but also a sufficient justification of itself.They also hold that in order to understand art as it should be understood, it is necessary to put aside all interests other than an interest in the work itself.
Sample Two
Directions:
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order.For Questions 4145, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list AG to fill in each numbered box.The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)
\[A\] Is that what the American viewing public is getting? Perhaps 10% of primetime network programming is a happy combination of entertainment and enrichment.There used to be televisionmovies rich in human values, but they have now become an endangered species.I find television too much concerned with what people have and too little concerned with who they are, very concerned with taking care of No.1 and not at all concerned with sharing themselves with other people.All too often it tells us the half truth we want to hear rather than the whole truth we need to hear.
\[B\] Why is television not more fully realizing its humanizing potential? Is the creative community at fault? Partially.But not primarily.I have lived and worked in that community for 32 years, as both priest and producer.As a group, these people have values.In fact, in Hollywood in recent months, audience enrichment has become their thing.A coalition of media companies has endowed the Humanitas Prize so that it can recognize and celebrate those who accomplish it.
\[C\] Every good story will not only captivate its viewers but also give them some insight into what it means to be a human being.By so doing, it can help them grow into the deeply centered, sovereignty free, joyously loving human being God made them to be.Meaning, freedom and love are the supreme human values.And this is the kind of human enrichment the American viewing public has a right to expect from those who make its entertainment.
\[D\] The problem with American TV is not the lack of storytellers of conscience but the commercial system within which they have to operate.Television in the U.S.is a business.In the past, the business side has been balanced by a commitment to public service.But in recent years the fragmentation of the mass audience, huge interest payments and skyrocketing production costs have combined with the FCC’s abdication of its responsibility to protect the common good to produce an almost total preoccupation with the bottom line.The networks are struggling to survive.And that, the statistics seem to indicate, is mindless, heartless, escapist fare.If we are dissatisfied with the moral content of what we are invited to watch, I think we should begin by examining our own consciences.When we tune in, are we ready to plunge into reality, so as to extract its meaning, or are we hoping to escape into a sedated world of illusion? And if church leaders want to elevate the quality of the country’s entertainment, they should forget about boycotts, production codes and censorship.They should work at educating their people in media literacy and at mobilizing them to support quality shows in huge numbers.
\[E\] It is not a question of entertainment or enrichment.These are complementary concerns and presuppose each other.The story that entertains without enriching is superficial and escapist.The story that enriches without entertaining is simply dull.The story that does both is a delight.
\[F\] That is the only sure way to improve the moral content of America’s entertainment.
\[G\] Despite questions of the motivation behind them, the attacks by the President and the Vice President on the moral content of television entertainment have found an echo in the chambers of the American soul.Many who reject the messengers still accept the message.They do not like the moral tone of American TV.In our society only the human family surpasses television in its capacity to communicate values, provide role models, form consciences and motivate human behavior.Few educators, church leaders or politicians possess the moral influence of those who create the nation’s entertainment.
