考研英语阅读理解精读100篇【社会文化类】

考研英语阅读理解精读100篇之社会文化类

Unit 15

It was a brief, shining moment in Egypt's history--a time of epochal change presided over by a Pharaoh named Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti. During his 17-year reign the old gods were cast aside, monotheism was introduced, and the arts liberated from their stifling rigidity. Even Egypt's capital was moved to a new city along the Nile called Akhetaten (modern Amarna). But like Camelot, it was short-lived, and its legacy was buried in the desert sands.

Now Akhenaten's 3,400-year-old world has been brilliantly recalled in an exhibit titled "Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen," which opens this week at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Part of the city's eight-month tribute to ancient Egypt (operas, ballet and an IMAX film), it is a unique assemblage of more than 250 objects from Egypt's 18th dynasty, some of which have languished unseen in storerooms and private collections for decades. They range from larger-than-life statues of Akhenaten to exquisitely sculpted reliefs and dazzling jewelry to such poignant reminders of everyday life as a perfectly preserved child's sandal.

The exhibit illuminates a murky period in Egyptian history that curator Rita Freed describes as having "all the elements of a soap opera." When Amenhotep IV, as he was originally called, ascended the throne in 1353 B.C., Egypt was a flourishing empire, at peace with its neighbors. Yet there were troubling signs. His father Amenhotep III had already challenged the powerful priesthood by proclaiming the sun god Aten as foremost among Egyptian deities and himself as his living incarnation.

His son shook things up even more, not only changing his name to honor the new god (Akhenaten means "one who serves Aten") but also banishing the older gods, especially the priestly favorite Amen. Some scholars believe Akhenaten's monotheism, a historic first, inspired the Hebrew prophets, but it had the more immediate effect of freeing Egypt's artists. They could now portray the Pharaoh and the voluptuous Nefertiti (who may have shared the throne with him) in a far more casual, realistic way. Akhenaten's cone-shaped head, elongated face, fingers and toes, pot belly and flaring hips have led some scholars to suggest that he had hydrocephalus or Marfan's syndrome.

He was certainly a revolutionary, propelled either by madness or by great vision. Still, his changes did not endure. After his death, his son-in-law (and perhaps son) Tutankhamen moved the political and religious capitals back to Memphis and Thebes respectively and reinstated the old gods. Egyptian art returned to its classic, ritualized style. And like Camelot, Akhenaten's once bustling capital became only a mythic memory. "Pharaohs of the Sun" will remain in Boston until February, then travel to Los Angeles, Chicago and Leiden, the Netherlands.

注（1）：本文选自Time；11/22/99, p78；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2004年真题text 4；

1.       Which of the following event did not happen during Akhenaten’s reign over Egypt?

[A] He banished the older gods.
[B] People had to worship one god--- the sun god Aten.
[C] Egyptian artists suffered from a more casual, realistic way of portraying.
[D] He built a new capital along the Nile.

2.       We can learn from the text that in Boston, many activities are held as tribute to ancient
Egypt except ________.

[A] pageant
[B] ballet
[C] operas
[D] movie

3.       The views of Akhenaten and his father on the sun god Aten are _____.

[A] opposite
[B] controversial
[C] complementary
[D] similar

4.       Tutankhamen, according to the text, probably ________.

[A] moved the political capital back to Thebes
[B] gave the older gods back their previous position
[C] might had got some disease that made his face longer than the healthy people
[D] moved the religious capital back to Memphis

5.       What can we learn about the exhibit on ancient Egypt’s 18th dynasty?

[A] It mainly consists of statues of the pharaohs of that time.
[B] It will last for eight months in Boston.
[C] It is very enlightening for people to know that period.
[D] The objects on the exhibit used to be stored in private collection.

答案：CADBC

篇章剖析
本篇文章以正在波士顿举办的一场展览为引子，采用叙述的写法，带领读者重温了3400年前古埃及一段辉煌的历史。第一段简介了太阳神法老统治时期埃及社会发生的变化，接着在第二段中说明波士顿正在举办古埃及周，其中包括一场展览，第三、四段详细说明两任法老所做的变革，最后一段说变革持续时间不长。

词汇注释
epochal: [] adj. 划时代的
monotheism: [] n. 一神论
languish: [] v. 持续不前；毫无进展
poignant: [] adj. 深刻的；伤感的
murky: []] adj. 昏暗的；不明朗的
curator: [] n.（美术馆）馆长
incarnation: [] n. 化身
banish: [] v. 抛弃；废除
voluptuous: [] adj. 妖冶的；性感的
hydrocephalus: [] n. 脑积水
Camelot: [] 传说中的地名，在英格兰西南部，阿瑟和他的武士们曾居住于此

难句突破
1. Part of the city’s eight-month tribute to ancient Egypt (operas, ballet and an IMAX film), it is a unique assemblage of more than 250 objects from Egypt’s 18th dynasty, some of which have languished unseen in storerooms and private collections for decades.( Line 3, Paragraph 2)
主体句式：it is a unique assemblage…
结构分析：这是一个包含同位语和定语从句的长简单句。其中 “Part of the city’s…”是主语it（指展览）的同位语，定语从句  “some of which have ….”修饰名词 objects。
句子译文：这次展览只是波士顿为期8个月的致意古埃及活动中的一部分（其它形式还有歌剧、芭蕾、一部IMAX电影）。这次独特的展览展出了埃及第18个王朝的250多件物品，其中有些物品几十年来一直深藏于博物馆或为私人所藏而不得面世。
2. They range from large-than-life statues of Akhenaten to exquisitely sculpted reliefs and dazzling jewelry to such poignant reminders of everyday life as a perfectly preserved child’s sandal.
主体句式： They range from … to … and … to such … as …
句子分析：其中最后一个to接的是“such…as”短语。
句子译文：展品包罗万象，既有阿肯纳坦比真人还大的雕像，做工精致的浮雕，又有令人眼花缭乱的珠宝首饰，甚至还有日常生活起居用品，比如一只保存完好的童鞋。

题目分析
1．答案是C， 属事实细节题。第一段提到“liberated from their stifling rigidity”，解放了埃及艺术, 第四段提到“They could portray … in a far more casual, realistic way”, 使艺术家可以更真实随意的画像，而不是束缚他们。
2. 答案是A, 属事实细节题。第二段提到庆祝形式有operas, ballet 和an IMAX film, 未提pageant。
3．答案是D，属判断推理题。从第三、四段可以看出他们都只推崇太阳神。
4. 答案是B, 属事实细节题。从最后一段“Tutankhamen moved the political and religious capitals back to Memphis and Thebes respectively and reinstated the old gods.”可以看出。注意respectively的意思是“分别”。另外，得脑积水的是Akhenaten.
5. 答案是C，属事实细节题。从第二段可知展品的具体情况。从最后一句可知展览持续到明年二月份。

参考译文
这是埃及历史上短暂辉煌的时期，是法老阿肯纳坦和他美丽的妻子奈菲提提统治下发生划时代变革的时期。在他17年的统治期间，以往的多神论被摒弃，一神论被引入，艺术也从令人窒息的一成不变中解脱出来，甚至埃及的首都也迁到尼罗河边的新城市阿肯纳坦（现阿玛纳）。不过同卡蒙洛的结局一样，这个时期持续时间不长，其遗迹也淹没于漫漫黄沙。

现在，3400年前阿肯纳坦时代的辉煌将在波士顿美术馆被人们重温。这儿正举办“太阳神法老：阿肯纳坦、奈菲提提、塔坦卡门”展览。这次展览只是波士顿为期8个月的致意古埃及活动中的一部分（其它形式还有歌剧、芭蕾、一部IMAX电影）。这次独特的展览展出了埃及第18个王朝的250多件物品，其中有些物品几十年来一直深藏于博物馆或为私人所藏而不得面世。展品包罗万象，既有阿肯纳坦比真人还大的雕像，做工精致的浮雕，又有令人眼花缭乱的珠宝首饰，甚至还有日常生活起居用品，比如一只保存完好的童鞋。

这次展览向世人展示了埃及历史上一段不为人所熟知的时期，一段被馆长瑞塔•弗瑞称为拥有“肥皂剧全部要素”的时期。当阿蒙赫特普四世——阿肯纳坦本来叫这名字——公元1353年上台执政时，埃及国运昌盛，同邻国友好相处。但也有征兆表明要出乱子。他的父亲阿蒙赫特普三世已经质疑势力强大的教会。他宣称太阳神阿坦是埃及诸神中最具威力的神灵。他本人则是太阳神的转世化身。

他儿子做的更甚。他不仅把自己的名字改为阿肯纳坦（意为阿坦的仆人）以表示对太阳神的敬意，而且不许人们崇拜以往的神灵，特别是教会的至爱阿门神。有些学者认为阿肯纳坦倡导的一神论——历史上前无古人的做法——启发了希伯来先知，但它对埃及的艺术发展则有更为直接的影响。它解放了埃及艺术家。现在他们可以更为真实随意的描画法老和妖艳性感的奈菲提提（或许曾和阿肯纳坦共同执政）。阿肯纳坦的头圆锥形，脸、手指和脚趾较常人略长，大腹便便，臀部肥大，这使得某些学者认为他曾得过脑积水。

不管他的所作所为是疯狂所致还是由于远见卓识，他都称得上一位变革者。但这变革却没能持久。在他死后，他的女婿（或许也是儿子）塔坦卡门把政治中心移回孟斐斯，宗教中心移回底比斯。那些被摒弃的旧神重新归位，埃及艺术又回到拘泥呆板的古典风格。正如卡蒙洛一样，阿肯纳坦时曾经繁华熙攘的首都现在只是神话中的记忆罢了。“太阳神法老”展览在波士顿持续到二月份，然后在前往洛杉玑、芝加哥、荷兰的雷登市。
考研英语阅读理解精读100篇unit16
Unit 16
Amy High is decked out in the traditional pink dress and golden stole of ancient Rome. She bursts into a third-grade classroom and greets her students: "Salvete, omnes!" (Hello, everyone!) The kids respond in kind, and soon they are studying derivatives. "How many people are in a duet?" High asks. All the kids know the answer, and when she asks how they know, a boy responds, "Because duo is 'two' in Latin." High replies, "Plaudite!" and the 14 kids erupt in applause. They learn the Latin root later, or side, and construct such English words as bilateral and quadrilateral. "Latin's going to open up so many doors for you," High says. "You're going to be able to figure out the meaning of words you've never seen before."

High teaches at Providence Elementary School in Fairfax City, Va., which has a lot riding on the success of her efforts. As part of Virginia's high-stakes testing program, schools that don't boost their scores by the year 2007 could lose state funding. So Fairfax City, just 18 miles southwest of the White House, has upgraded its two crumbling elementary schools with new high-tech television studios, computer labs and one very old feature--mandatory Latin.

Here lies one of the more counterintuitive developments of the standardized-testing movement: Though some critics complain that teachers are forced to dumb down their lessons and "teach to the test," some schools are offering more challenging course work as a way of engaging students. In the past three years, scores of elementary schools in high-stakes testing states such as Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts have added Latin programs. Says Allen Griffith, a member of the Fairfax City school board: "If we're trying to improve English skills, teaching Latin is an awfully effective, proved method."

This is not your father's Latin, which was taught to elite college-bound high schoolers and drilled into them through memorization. Its tedium and perceived irrelevance almost drove Latin from public schools. Today's growth in elementary school Latin has been spurred by new, interactive oral curriculums, enlivened by lessons in Roman mythology and culture. "One thing that makes it engaging for kids is the goofy fun of investigating these guys in togas," says Marion Polsky, author of First Latin: A Language Discovery Program, the textbook used in Fairfax City.

Latin enthusiasts believe that if young students learn word roots, they will be able to decipher unfamiliar words. (By some estimates, 65% of all English words have Latin roots.) Latin is an almost purely phonetic language. There are no silent letters, and each letter represents a single sound. That makes it useful in teaching reading. And once kids master the grammatical structure of Latin--which is simple, logical and consistent--they will more easily grasp the many grammatical exceptions in English.

注（1）：本文选自Time；12/11/2000, p61；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2002年真题text 4；

1.       From the first Paragraph we learn that _____.

[A] the students show little interest in learning Latin
[B] the students say hello to their teacher in Latin
[C] Amy High teaches the students to read Bible in Latin
[D] learning English is unnecessary if you have perfectly mastered Latin

2.       Which of the following statements is not true according to the text?

[A] The testing program is crucial to the schools.
[B] Latin is compulsory to the elementary schools students in Fairfax City.
[C] Providence Elementary School will not get state funding this year.
[D] Fairfax City government had done a lot to equip its elementary schools.

3.       According to Allen Griffith, Latin _______.

[A] has little to do with English
[B] is very helpful to one’s learning English
[C] will replace English in the near future
[D] should be taught to kids even when they are in elementary school

4.       Which of the following best defines the word “plaudite”?

[A] Great.
[B] Sorry.
[C] Class is over.
[D] Sad.

5.       One reason for Latin enthusiasts to support young students’ learning Latin is _______.

[A] Latin has a longer history than English
[B] Latin has less word roots
[C] every letter in English word represent a single sound
[D] it is easier to grasp Latin grammar

答案：BCBAD

篇章剖析
本篇文章以一堂生动的小学拉丁语课开始，通过实际例子和专家的看法，得出学拉丁语可以帮助学好英语的结论。第二段指出某些州的小学为了继续得到州政府的财政支持，不得不在小学增添拉丁语。第三段讲虽然有人批评这种考察学校的制度，但强制学拉丁语的学校考试成绩确实提高了很多。第四段指出现在和过去学习拉丁语的不同点。最后一段列出支持学拉丁语的原因。

词汇注释
deck: [] v. 装饰，点缀
stole: [] n. 披肩
high-stake adj. 高风险的
mandatory: [] adj. 强制的，命令的
dumb down 简单化
goofy: [] adj. 好玩的
toga: [] n. （古罗马男子穿的）宽松长袍
decipher: [] v. 解释

难句突破
So Fairfax City, just 18 miles southwest of the White house, has upgraded its two crumbling elementary schools with new high-tech television studios, computer labs and one very old feature--- mandatory Latin.
主体句式：Fairfax City has upgraded its elementary schools…
结构分析：这是一个包含同位语的简单句。句子主干是“Fairfax City… has upgraded its …schools with….”
句子译文：所以白宫西南方18英里的费凡思市更新了两所破落小学的设备，新添了高科技的视听室，电脑试验室，还有非常老套的一招——强制学习拉丁语。

题目分析
1．答案是B, 属事实细节题。从第一段可看出学生对拉丁语很感兴趣。”in kind” 的意思是“同样的”。
2．答案是C，属事实细节题。细读第二段可发现所有细节。“high-stake” 指“高风险的”，有可能失去很多，也有可能得到很多； “mandatory”指“强制的，命令的”。
3．答案是B，属推理判断题。从“If we’re trying to improve English skills, teaching Latin is an awfully effective, proved method.” 可以清楚知道他的看法。
4．答案是A，属猜测意义题。从“…the 14 kids erupt in applause” 可以看出他答对了，老师应该是表扬他。
5．答案是D，属归纳推理题。从最后一段可知，大多数英语单词都有拉丁词根，拉丁语中的每个字母都发音，拉丁语法更简单，有逻辑。

参考译文
艾米•海身着古罗马传统的粉色外套，金色披肩，冲进三年级教室和学生打招呼: “Salvete, omnes!” （大家好！）学生们也用同样的语言向她问好，然后他们开始学习派生词。“Duet指几个人？”海问道。孩子们都知道答案, 海问他们怎么知道。一个男孩答到：“因为拉丁语duo意思是‘两个’”。“真棒！”海说道。14个孩子使劲鼓掌。他们又学了拉丁词根later（意思是“边”），并且组成了英语单词bilateral（双边的）和 quadrilateral（四边的）。“拉丁语会为你们打开许多扇门”， 海说，“即使你碰到从未见过的词，你也能猜出它的意思。”

海在弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯市的天佑小学任教。由于她的努力，这所学校学生成绩有了很大改观。弗吉尼亚州制订了对学校而言生死攸关的测试计划，其中一条是任何2007年成绩不能提高的学校将得不到州政府的资助。所以白宫西南方18英里的费尔法克斯市更新了两所破落小学的设备，新添了高科技的视听室，电脑试验室，还有非常老套的一招——强制学习拉丁语。

标准化考试运动违背本能的一面即在于此：虽然有批评家抱怨老师被迫简化所讲课程以求人人都能听懂，“只为考试而教学”，可有些学校却讲授更难的课程来吸引学生。过去三年里，一些对州内学校实行生死评价的州，比如得克萨斯州、弗吉尼亚州、马萨诸塞州，他们的小学总评里已经把拉丁语包括在内。费尔法克斯市一位学校董事艾伦•格瑞费思说，“要想提高英语水平，学习拉丁语是一种被证明非常奏效的方法。”

这当然不是你父辈那时的拉丁语。那时学拉丁语的都是想上大学、学习拔尖的高中生，通过死记硬背、反复操练来学习。学起来枯燥乏味，学的人又觉得学了也没多大意义，搞的公立学校几乎都不开拉丁语课了。现在开拉丁语课的小学又多起来，主要是由于新颖互动着重口语的授课模式以及精彩的罗马神话及文化吸引着学生。“孩子们觉得调查那些穿长袍的人有无穷的乐趣，这一点使他们对拉丁语着迷。”莫伦•鲍斯基说。他是目前费尔法克斯市使用的拉丁语教科书《第一拉丁语：语言探索项目》的作者。

热衷学习拉丁语的人认为，如果学生学会词根，认识生词就不成问题。（据估计，65%的英语单词包含拉丁词根。）拉丁语几乎是纯粹的语音语言，即单词中没有不发音的字母，每个字母都有固定的发音。这在教学生阅读时很有用。而且，一旦孩子们掌握了拉丁语的语法结构——简单，有逻辑，前后一致，在学习英语的语法就容易多了。
考研英语阅读理解精读100篇unit17
Unit 17
His bio reads like a rock star's. A precocious talent, he never married because, he said, it would have hurt his career. But he moved his girlfriend in with him while he worked his last gig--then died at the age of 37 from a fever brought on, some said, by carnal excess. The great painter Raphael (1483-1520) was one of the big three of Italy's high Renaissance, along with Leonardo da Vinci (whose work he admired and studied closely) and Michelangelo (with whom he carried on a vigorous, if all too brief, competition to be the Vatican's favorite artist). He didn't seem, however, to have a superstar's attitude. The pope was his patron, and acquaintances described him as "sensible," "well mannered," "genial" and "sweet." On his deathbed, he bequeathed his mistress enough money to live "honorably" for the rest of her life. And he painted her portrait--one of the great paintings of all time, right up there with the "Mona Lisa"--as a final, loving tribute.

At least that's how the legend goes. That portrait--which is touring the United States for the first time--constitutes a one-picture exhibition at the Frick Collection in New York through Jan. 30 (it will travel to Houston and Indianapolis). Certainly, "La Fornarina" ("baker's daughter") comes from the hand of the incomparable Raphael. The gently tilting composition is perfect, the color finely balanced and the lady's skin alabaster and flawless. (Raphael got so good with the then new medium of oil paint that his technique became known as sprezzatura, meaning, roughly, to hide with technical facility exactly how anything is done.) In the classic Venus gesture of simultaneously trying to cover up and to showcase her erotic attributes (including a belly button under gauze), she glances coyly to the side at, one presumes, a lover. "La Fornarina," the renowned art historian and MacArthur fellow Leo Steinberg explains, "is the closest thing to soft porn in the high Renaissance." But whether the seminude lady depicted is actually the baker's daughter who was Raphael's love remains a mystery.

Is Raphael himself the object of her gaze? Most people--including several British critics reviewing the big Raphael exhibition currently at the National Gallery in London--like to think so. Since live women models weren't generally available five centuries ago, the reasoning goes, the lady's posing undressed for Raphael must have been an intimate act. Besides, what else can the artist's proprietary name on her armband mean? But the experts remain divided. With a fine disregard for attendance-boosting hype, Rome museums commissioner Claudio Strinati ("La Fornarina" usually resides at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome) lays out a less titillating hypothesis in a booklet accompanying the Frick display.

A recent cleaning of the painting reveals a wedding ring on the lady's left hand; Raphael's final and most prominent patron, the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, had just been married to one Francesca Ardeasca. Raphael's name on the armband, Strinati says, is a tribute to Chigi. He concludes that "La Fornarina" is Ardeasca. Unfortunately, no other portraits of Chigi's bride exist to confirm the ID. As Steinberg says, "It's all an attractive myth, and like all myths it depends for interpretation on levels of reliable gossip." Whatever one believes, "La Fornarina" is still a sweetheart of a painting.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；12/13/2004, p68-68；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2002年真题text 3；

1.       The mystery of the woman lies in her ______.

[A] beauty
[B] unknown identity
[C] seminude body
[D] intimate relationship with Raphael

2.       It can be inferred from the text that ______.

[A] Raphael behaved like a superstar
[B] Raphael died young because of overwork
[C] Raphael enjoyed greater popularity than Michelangelo
[D] one of his paintings achieves as great fame as “Mona Lisa”.

3.       The vivid descriptions of the painting “La Fornarina” show that _____.

[A] Raphael is good at soft porn
[B] Raphael develops a special feeling towards the baker’s daughter.
[C] oil paint was not popular then
[D] Raphael’s painting technique has reached maturity in the painting

4.       We can draw a conclusion from the third paragraph that______.

[A] there is sound evidence to believe there exists an intimacy between Raphael and the woman in the painting
[B] live women models were nowhere to find in Raphael’s time
[C] nude models were easily available in Italy in Renaissance
[D] it is generally agreed between experts that the woman is Raphael’s mistress

5.       From the text, we can see that the writer _____.

[A] shows curiosity towards the identity of the woman in the painting
[B] is a Renaissance art historian
[C] strongly support the idea that “La Fornarina” is one of Raphael’s mistress
[D] thinks low of Raphael’s technique in the painting

篇章剖析
本文以对画坛巨匠拉斐尔的简介开始，重点讨论了他的画作《福尔娜瑞娜》中神秘女郎的身份问题。第一段简单介绍了拉斐尔及其在画坛上的地位，并引出油画《福尔娜瑞娜》。第二段对这幅画进行了细腻描写。第三段列出人们对画中女郎身份的不同看法。第四段指出无论画中女郎是谁，这幅画都是一幅精品。

词汇注释
precocious: [] adj. 早熟的
gig: [] n. 为生计而做的工作
carnal: [] adj. 肉体的；性的
genial: [] adj. 和蔼可亲的
bequeath:[] v. 遗赠
alabaster: [] adj. （皮肤）光滑细腻的
erotic: [] adj.  挑逗的；性感的
gauze:[] n. 薄纱
proprietary: [] adj. 专有的；所属的
titillate: [] v. 挑逗，使人兴奋

难句突破
1.       The gently tilting composition is perfect, the color finely balanced and the lady’s skin
alabaster and flawless.
主体句式：the …composition is perfect, the color … balanced and … skin alabaster and flawless.
结构分析：这句后半句是独立主格结构。分别在“finely”和 “skin”后省略了“is”。
句子译文：那微微倾斜的身体，那明暗协调的色彩，那光滑细嫩、白玉无暇的肌肤，一切都那么完美。
2.       In the Venus gesture of simultaneously trying to cover up and to showcase her erotic attributes (including a belly button under gauze), she glances coyly to the side at, one presumes, a lover.
主体句式：she glances … to the side at … a lover.
结构分析：这句话中，“cover up” 和“showcase”并列，它们的宾语是“erotic attributes”；主句中“one presume”是插入语。  
句子译文：画中女郎经典的维纳斯式手势既试图遮掩又意欲表现自己的性感一面。（还有薄纱下面若隐若现的肚脐。）她害羞地朝一侧望去。有人猜测是看她的情人。

题目分析
1．答案是B，属推理判断题。从最后两段可以清楚知道对画中女郎的身份有各种不同的猜测。
2．答案是D，属推理判断题。从第一段对Raphael的细节介绍中可得出答案。
3．答案是D，属推理判断题。对这幅油画精品的细致描写只有一个目的，就是展示的天才般的绘画技巧。从第二段“Raphael got so good with the then new medium of oil paint that his technique became known as….”一句中可以读出。
4．答案是A，属事实细节题。从第三段可以知道，500年前，女模特还不普遍，画中半裸的女郎很容易被认为和画家有亲密关系。
5．答案是A，属推理判断题。全文一直在探讨画中女郎的身份，列出两种不同的观点，但并没有结论。文章最后一句更能帮助理解。

参考译文
他的传记读起来像摇滚歌星的传记。一个早熟的天才，他终生未娶。据他说，这会影响事业的发展。但他还是在创作最后一幅油画时，请女友过来和他同住。然后在37岁时因为发烧不幸辞世。有人说，他发烧是由纵欲过度引起的。伟大的画家拉斐尔（1483—1520）是意大利文艺复兴繁荣时期三大画家之一，和达芬奇、米开朗基罗齐名。他欣赏达芬奇的作品并仔细研究。在谁是梵蒂冈最受欢迎的画家这个问题上，他和米开朗基罗争得不相上下，只可惜他去世太早。不过，看上去他可没有明星的高傲派头。教皇是他的赞助人。认识他的人都说他“明智”、“有教养”、“和蔼”、“令人愉快”。在弥留之际，他给情妇留下足够钱财，让她“体面地”度过余生。他还为她画了肖像，作为最后的爱的信物。这张肖像一直被认为是一幅伟大的杰作，和蒙娜•丽莎齐名。

至少故事是这么说的。那张肖像正在美国巡展。为此纽约弗瑞克收藏店专为这一张油画举办了展览，展览持续到１月31日（之后再去休斯顿和印地安纳波里）。《福尔娜瑞娜》（“面包师的女儿”）确实出自无与伦比的拉斐尔之手。那微微倾斜的身体，那明暗协调的色彩，那光滑细嫩、白玉无暇的肌肤，一切都那么完美。（当时油画还属新兴事物，但拉斐尔对绘画掌握已十分纯熟，以至于他的技巧被称为sprezzatura，大意是作画过程被技巧准确地掩盖。）画中女郎经典的维纳斯式手势既试图遮掩又意欲表现自己性感的一面。（还有薄纱下面若隐若现的肚脐。）她害羞地朝一侧望去。有人猜测是看她的情人。“《福尔娜瑞娜》是文艺复兴繁荣时期最接近色情的作品，”著名的艺术史学家麦克阿瑟研究会会员里奥•斯坦伯格说道。但画中这位半裸的女子是不是拉斐尔所爱的面包师的女儿，仍然是个谜。

拉斐尔是不是她凝视的对象？大部分人都乐于这样想，包括几名正在伦敦国家美术馆研究拉斐尔作品的批评家们。理由是，五百年前，女模特还不普遍。从画中女子半裸的姿态可以推断出她和拉斐尔关系非常亲密。而且，画家的名字出现在她的袖带上还有别的意思吗：但有些专家对此持有不同意见。罗马博物馆主管克劳第奥•斯提纳地（《福尔娜瑞娜》平时收藏在罗马的Palazzo Barberini美术馆）就不理会媒体大肆报导的观众蜂拥而入的盛况，他在弗瑞克展览会上发放的一本小册子提出了一个不那么令人浮想联翩的假设。

最近在清理这幅油画时，发现画中女郎的左手戴着婚戒；拉斐尔最后一位也是最重要的一位赞助人，塞尼思银行家阿果思提诺•齐格，那时刚与弗朗西斯卡•阿迪斯卡结婚。斯提纳地说，袖带上拉斐尔的名字是向齐格表示敬意。他的结论是，油画《福尔娜瑞娜》中的女郎就是阿迪斯卡。不幸的是，齐格的新娘没有其他肖像来证明自己就是画中女郎。正如斯坦伯格所说，“画中女郎是谁是人人都想破解的谜，就像其他谜一样，它的解释取决于传言的可信度。”不管人们相信那种说法，油画《福尔娜瑞娜》仍是人们的至爱。

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