TPO-41
Navajo Art
The Navajo, a Native American people living in the southwestern United States, live in small scattered ttlements. In many respects, such as education, occupation, and leisure activities, their life is like that of other groups that contribute to the diver social fabric of North American culture in the twenty-first century. At the same time, they have retained some traditional cultural practices that are associated with particular art forms. For example, the most important traditional Navajo rituals include the production of large floor paintings. The are actually made by pouring thin, finely controlled streams of colored sands or pulverized vegetable and mineral substances, pollen, and flowers in preci patterns on the ground. The largest of the paintings may be up to 5.5 meters in diameter and cover the entire floor of a room. Working from the inside of the design outward, the Navajo artist and his assistants will sift the black, white, bluish-gray, orange, and red materials through their fingers to create the finely detailed imagery. ■ The paintings and cha
nts ud in the ceremonies are directed by well-trained artists and singers who enlist the aid of spirits who are impersonated by masked performers. ■ The twenty-four known Navajo chants can be reprented by up to 500 sand paintings. ■The complex paintings rve as memory aids to guide the singers during the performance of the ritual songs, which can last up to nine days.■
The purpo and meaning of the sand paintings can be explained by examining one of the most basic ideals of Navajo society, embodied in their word hozho (beauty or harmony, goodness, and happiness). It coexists with hochxo ("ugliness," or "evil," and "disorder") in a world where opposing forces of dynamism and stability create constant change. When the world, which was created in beauty, becomes ugly and disorderly, the Navajo gather to perform rituals with songs and make sand paintings to restore beauty and harmony to the world. Some illness is itlf regarded as a type of disharmony. Thus, the restoration of harmony through a ceremony can be part of a curing process.
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头痛是什么病Men make sand paintings that are accurate copies of paintings from the past. The songs sung over the paintings are also faithful renditions of songs from the past. By recreating the arts, which reflect the original beauty of creation, the Navajo bring beauty to the prent world. As relative newcomers to the Southwest, a place where their climate, neighbors, and rulers could be equally inhospitable, the Navajo created the art forms to affect the world around them, not just through the recounting of the actions symbolized, but through the beauty and harmony of the artworks themlves. The paintings generally illustrate ideas and events from the life of a mythical hero, who, after being healed by the gods, gave gifts of songs and paintings. Working from memory, the artists re-create the traditional form of the image as accurately as possible.
The Navajo are also world-famous for the designs on their woven blankets. Navajo women own the family flocks, control the shearing of the sheep, the carding, the spinning, and dying of the thread, and the weaving of the fabrics. While the men who make faithful copies of sand paintings from the past reprent the principle of stability in Navajo thought, women embody dynamism and create new designs for every weaving they mak
北京社保中心e. Weaving is a paradigm of the creativity of a mythic ancestor港澳珠大桥 named Spider, woman who wove the univer as a cosmic web that united earth and sky. It was she who, according to legend, taught Navajo women how to weave. As they prepare their materials and weave, Navajo women imitate the transformations that originally created the world.
Working on their looms, Navajo weavers create images through which they experience harmony with nature. It is their means of creating beauty and thereby contributing to the beauty, harmony, and healing of the world. Thus, weaving is a way of eing the world and being part of it.
1. The word “preci” is clost in meaning to
A. colorful
B. exact
C. delicate
D. complex
辣椒炒鸭肉2. The word “enlist" in the passage is clost in meaning to
A. assist
B. require
C. describe
dnf男气功装备D. recruit
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3. What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the Navajo ritual chants?
A. There is a large number of them.
B. Each of them corresponds to a particular sand painting.
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C. They are difficult to remember.
D. They do not take long to perform.就地过节
4. According to paragraph 1, all of the following are true of many important Navajo rituals
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EXCEPT:
A. They involve the creation of large, detailed images.
B. They include performers who faces are covered.
C. They take place indoors.
D. They are performed without elaborate planning.
5. It can be inferred from the discussion of illness and curing in paragraph 2 that
A. the Navajo consider illness to always have a supernatural cau
B. rituals involving songs and sand paintings may be ud to treat an illness
C. when a Navajo is ill, ugly and disorderly sand paintings are made
D. after a rious illness, a Navajo will take part in a ceremony
6. The word “faithful” in the passage is clost in meaning to
A. modern
B. accurate
C. wonderful
D. simplified
7. Which of the ntences below best express the esntial information in the highlighted ntence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out esntial information.
A. The Navajo ud the symbolism and beauty of their works of art to improve their life in an often inhospitable environment.
