2010年10月9日托福机经英文版原文(康老师)

　　2010年10月09日北美（原文原题）

　　2. 美国西北土著艺术文化
　　西北某地物产资源丰富，人们衣食无忧，不用为食物疲于奔命（题）。而且大树巨多，他们又从外面搞到了steel knives，于是开始艺术创作，形式繁多。他们各个tribe都有自己的神灵，但他们都相信一个S的神，他能治病救人（有题）、风调雨顺什么的。他们众多的艺术创作，并不仅仅为了表达对S的景仰，很多时候别有用途。譬如，他们每个tribe有leader，然后每个tribe都obliged（有题）跟外族通婚，这样就没有可能出现一只独大，然后保证leader席位公平竞争。但竞争是残酷的，大多时候拼的是财富（有题）。这时候T Pole就有用了，牛X的有27米多高，显示你家有钱、家族显赫什么的（题）。这个The totem pole是biosym的，图案从下到上是有继承性（上面的衍生于下面的）。但是他们有个很有趣的习俗，越是给予，越显示你大拿（有题）。于是，经常出现两个死对头，一个把巨牛X的T Pole赠给他的死对头。他的死对头不可能回赠，于是就会发现好多The totem pole被丢弃了（有题）。

　　Totem Pole, memorial object, usually in the form of a large, carved tree trunk. Totem poles were originally produced by several groups of indigenous peoples along the Pacific Coast from southern Alaska to British Columbia. These striking art objects, sometimes occurring as carved wooden planks or house posts as well as tall poles, were decorated with painted carvings. Totem poles were erected by a family head or clan chief as a memorial to deceased ancestors and to confirm the lineage and status of the pole’s owner. The design usually contained a representation of the owner's guardian totemic animal, and for this reason the memorial eventually was given the name of totem pole.

　　Totem poles, as we know them today, originated relatively recently. The first accounts by Captain James Cook and other 18th-century explorers of the Pacific Coast do not mention totem poles, although descriptions of carved and painted house fronts, doorways, and posts occur in their writings. The first erection of tall totem poles appears to date from the early 19th century and was stimulated by contact with Europeans. The sale of sea otter pelts to the Europeans brought new wealth to the tribal chieftains. Elaborately carved totem poles were a new means for tribal leaders to display their prestige and status, which had traditionally been demonstrated through the potlatch ceremony and other customs. Skilled carvers, using steel blades and tools introduced by the Europeans, were in demand to create taller and more complex poles. Many houses had several poles, while some major villages boasted over 70.

　　This surge of wealth and the accompanying burst of creativity peaked in the mid-1860s. By then, the trade in sea otter furs had ended and epidemics had reduced the native population along the entire coast. Christian missionaries discouraged the carving of totem poles and the Canadian government outlawed potlatch ceremonies. Villages were abandoned; their totem poles decayed or were felled and cut up for firewood. Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of totem poles were removed and shipped to museums or collectors throughout the world. However, beginning in 1950, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, initiated a totem pole restoration project to find and to restore the remaining standing totem poles and to encourage the carving of new ones. Schools were established to teach traditional carving techniques. Today there is a growing interest in the totem pole as a cultural tradition and art form.

　　People in that northwest area along the pacific coast live on fishing, hunting, so they don’t have to cultivate food or feed animal. After metal tools were introduced to the area through fur trade, spruce and cedar trees are used to make totem poles. They are made of the whole tree, 90 feets tall ( 27.4m ). The society was balanced by requiring each man and woman to marry sb out of their clan. So there is no one predominating family. The pics sculpted on the totem poles are family inherited signs. They are made in artistic tradition, not related to spiritual. Totem poles are first used for funerary function, but latter on they were put outside the leaders’ house as exterior decoration. All the totem poles are bilateral symmetrical and all the animals on the pic are looking upwards (or upward related).

　　QUESTIONS:

　　a) Which is right about the way they make a living? – don’t have to cultivate

　　b) Which explains why they make social balance? – marry outside their clan

　　c) What was the original use of totem pole? – memorize died ppl

　　d) What are the characteristics of the totem pole pics? – bilateral symmetrical, integrated as whole, & upward oriented

　　以上机经是康老师2011年10月－12月托福预测范围里的。