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　　As a historian who’s always searching for the text or the image that makes us re-evaluate the past, I’ve become preoccupied with looking for photographs that show our Victorian ancestors smiling (what better way to shatter the image of 19th-century prudery?). I’ve found quite a few, and—since I started posting them on Twitter—they have been causing quite a stir. People have been surprised to see evidence that Victorians had fun and could, and did, laugh. They are noting that the Victorians suddenly seem to become more human as the hundred-or-so years that separate us fade away through our common experience of laughter.

　　Of course, I need to concede that my collection of ‘Smiling Victorians’ makes up only a tiny percentage of the vast catalogue of photographic portraiture created between 1840 and 1900, the majority of which show sitters posing miserably and stiffly in front of painted backdrops, or staring absently into the middle distance. How do we explain this trend?

　　During the 1840s and 1850s, in the early days of photography, exposure times were notoriously long: the daguerreotype photographic method (producing an image on a silvered copper plate) could take several minutes to complete, resulting in blurred images as sitters shifted position or adjusted their limbs. The thought of holding a fixed grin as the camera performed its magical duties was too much to contemplate, and so a non-committal blank stare became the norm.

　　But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction of the Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’s digital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smiles were relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for an explanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile.

　　One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesy grin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victorian saying, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouths were often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean, regular ‘pearly whites’ was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve of the super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).

　　A toothy grin (especially when there were gaps or blackened teeth) lacked class: drunks, tramps, and music hall performers might gurn and grin with a smile as wide as Lewis Carroll’s gum-exposing Cheshire Cat, but it was not a becoming look for properly bred persons. Even Mark Twain, a man who enjoyed a hearty laugh, said that when it came to photographic portraits there could be “nothing more damning than a silly, foolish smile fixed forever”.

　　31. According to Paragraph 1, the author’s posts on Twitter

　　A. changed people’s impression of the Victorians.

　　B. highlighted social media’s role in Victorian studies.

　　C. re-evaluated the Victorians’ notion of public image.

　　D. illustrated the development of Victorian photography.

　　32. What does author say about the Victorian portraits he has collected?

　　A. They are in popular use among historians.

　　B. They are rare among photographs of that age.

　　C. They mirror 19th-century social conventions.

　　D. They show effects of different exposure times.

　　33. What might have kept the Victorians from smiling for pictures in the 1890s?

　　A. Their inherent social sensitiveness.

　　B. Their tension before the camera.

　　C. Their distrust of new inventions.

　　D. Their unhealthy dental condition.

　　34. Mark Twain is quoted to show that the disapproval of smiles in pictures was

　　A. a deep-root belief.

　　B. a misguided attitude.

　　C. a controversial view.

　　D. a thought-provoking idea.

　　35. Which of the following questions does the text answer?

　　A. Why did most Victorians look stern in photographs?

　　B. Why did the Victorians start to view photographs?

　　C. What made photography develop slowly in the Victorian period?

　　D. How did smiling in photographs become a post-Victorian norm?

　　【正确答案】：31A 32 B 33 D 34 A 35 A

　　【解析】

　　文章概述：本篇文章作为阅读板块的第三篇文章，无论是在词汇难度和题材背景方面明显要高于前两篇文章。选项难度一般。

　　31题A. 此题为细节题，根据题干关键词Twitter，可定位到第一段第二句话。本句解释了作者把维多利亚时期的照片放到网上引起轰动。此后第三第四句，都以轰动的内容和原因进行展开，正确答案特征是句间意义的概括总结。B属于无中生有;C偷换概念;D与题干无关。文中并没有提及公共形象，社交媒体对于研究的作用以及维多利亚时期照片的演变。

　　32题B. 此题为细节题，根据题干关键词the Victorian portraitshe has collected 对应第二段my collection以及portraiture。文中说到，我的收藏仅占到非常小的一部分，文中tiny与选项B中rare 同义替换，A和C无中生有，D属于下段落内容与题干无关。

　　33题D.干中1890s定位到第四段，但是答案出处并不在第四段，第五段句首解释为什么不爱笑的原因，文章出现dentistry，和选项中D属于原词复现。ABC都属于与题干无关。

　　34题A. 定位最后一段最后一句，该句句首出现even 可知前后句有可能是递进关系;最后一句中马克吐温虽然爱笑但是依然接受不了拍照的时候露出牙齿。根据前后句逻辑可以得知，在维多利亚时期露齿大笑是有教养的人所不齿的。此题考察考生对于句间逻辑以及概括总结能力。BCD与题干无关。

　　35题A.考察文章主旨大意，题干的问法与之前的主旨大意题略有不同。通过前四道题目的内容，我们可知，答案应为A。BCD都可以通过排除法排除选项，文章并未提及post-Victorian。

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