【文章內容簡介】 。它存續(xù)至今，是因為讀者欣賞爽身怡心的刺激和不拘謙恭的告誡，它提醒讀者，他們生活的世界里充滿了陳腐的思想意識、低俗的道德說教和愚蠢的哲學理念。諷刺作品雖然很少代表真理促成行動，但它卻能使人們感悟到真理。諷刺作品常常告訴人們，他們在大眾媒體中所看到的、聽到的、讀到的大多是偽裝善良、多愁善感或只有部分真實。生活只在很小的程度上與大眾對它的印象相符。士兵們很少擁有電影賦予他們的理想，而普通老百姓也決不會把自己的生命無私地奉獻給人道主義服務。聰明人知道這些事實，但是當周圍人不談起時，他們常常會忘記掉。Passage 2 American Folk ArtWhat we today call American folk art was, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday1 “folks” who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds, and especially for of prosperous, essentially middleclassrepublics—whetherancientRomans, seventeenthcentury Dutch burghers, or nineteenthcentury Americans—have always shown a marked taste for in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing number of such people, and of the artists who could meet their earliest American folk art portraits e, not surprisingly, from New England — especiallyConnecticut and Massachusetts—for this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft a few decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, and the portrait painters could be found at work in western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and through its first century2 as a nation, the United States’ population had increased roughly five times, and eleven new states had been added to original these years, the demand for portraits grew and grew, eventually to be satisfied by 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted again an original portrait became a luxury, missioned by the wealthy and executed by the in the heyday of portrait painting—from the late eighteenth century until the 1850’s — anyone with a modicum of artistic ability could bee a limner, as such a portraitist3 was craftspeople—sign, coach, and house painters—began to paint portraits as a profitable sideline。sometimes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits。artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvasses, and brushes and to travel the countryside, often bining house decorating with portrait everyday: 意為monplace, ordinarymidway through its first century: 美國獨立后50年間portraitist：譯為“畫師”，以和前面的limner（畫家）相區(qū)別。Key 美國民間藝術我們所說的美國民間藝術是由普通百姓所擁有、創(chuàng)造并享受的藝術。隨著財富和閑暇與日俱增，他們創(chuàng)造了各種藝術的市場，特別是肖像繪畫。家境殷實的、主要是中產階級的市民——不管他們是古羅馬人，或是17世紀荷蘭自治城市富裕居民，抑或是19世紀的美國人——都對肖像繪畫藝術表現(xiàn)出突出的愛好。從18世紀晚期開始，美國這一群體的數(shù)量不斷增加，而且滿足畫像要求的藝術家也不斷地增加。勿需驚奇，美國最早的民間藝術畫像來自于新英格蘭地區(qū)————因為這一地區(qū)富裕、人口稠密，而且是濃厚藝術傳統(tǒng)的中心。1776年《獨立宣言》宣布后的幾十年中，人口不斷西徙，在紐約州西部、俄亥俄州、肯塔基州、伊利諾斯州、密蘇里州，人們隨處可見肖像畫師繪畫的身影。美國獨立后50年間，人口增加了近5倍，原先13個州又增加了11個。在這些歲月里，肖像繪畫的要求不斷增長，直到有了照相機才算得到滿足。1839年銀版照相法傳入美國，攝影時代開始，而且，在不超過一代人的時間內，手工畫像就不再風靡了。從此，人物畫像又成為了奢侈品——有錢人提出繪畫要求，專業(yè)畫家來完成繪畫。但是在肖像繪畫的全盛時期——從18世紀晚期到19世紀50年代——任何有一點藝術才能的人都可以成為“畫家”，當時的肖像畫師就是這么被人稱呼的。當?shù)厮嚾恕獦伺啤ⅠR車、房屋的畫師——也開始畫人物肖像作為一個賺錢的副業(yè)。有時候有繪畫天賦的男子或婦女一開始只給家庭成員勾勒畫像，很快在當?shù)芈曌u鵲起，然后很多人前來要求畫像；藝術家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們收拾起顏料、畫布、畫筆去各地巡游，既做房屋裝飾又畫人物肖像，是一件非常值得的事情。Passage 3 CrowsCrows are probably the most frequently met and easily identifiable members of the native fauna of the United great number of tales, legends, and myths about these birds indicates that people have been exceptionally interested in them for a long the other hand, when it es to substantive─particularly behavioral─information, crows are less well known than many parably mon species and, for that matter, not a few quite unmon ones, the endangered California condor, to cite one obvious are practical reasons for are notoriously poor and aggravating subjects for field observers and quick learners, they are astute about the intentions of other creatures, including researchers, and adept at avoiding they are so numerous, active, and monochromatic, it is difficult to distinguish one crow from , radio transmitters, or other identifying devices can be attached to them, but this of course requires catching live crows, who are among the wariest and most untrappable of difficulties aside, crow research is daunting because the ways of these birds are so plex and preeminent generalists, members of this species ingeniously exploit a great range of habitats and resources, and they can quickly adjust to changes in their so educable, individual birds have markedly different interests and inclinations, strategies and example, one pet crow learned how to let a dog out of its kennel by pulling the pin on the the dog escaped, the bird went into the kennel and ate its 烏鴉烏鴉可能是美國本土動物中最常見、也是最容易識別的成員（物種）。關于它的奇聞異事和神話傳說（故事、傳說和神話）流傳眾多，可見，人們對它的濃厚興趣由來已久。另一方面，在提及對它的本性——特別是行為方面的了解時，與其他同樣普通和一些非常罕見的物種——一個顯而易見的例子是加州瀕臨滅絕的禿鷲——相比，它更鮮為人知。這其中有一些實際的原因。眾所周知，野外的烏鴉研究成果甚少，并讓研究者苦惱不已。它們觀察敏銳，領悟快捷，善于分辨其他動物和研究人員的意圖，并能巧妙地避開他們。由于烏鴉數(shù)量眾多、顏色單一、機警靈活，人們很難把它們區(qū)分開來。人們當然可以把腳環(huán)、無線電發(fā)射機和其他識別裝置縛在烏鴉身上，但這卻要滿足一個前提，那就是活抓烏鴉——但這卻是最為機警、最難抓到的鳥類之一。烏鴉的研究之所以令人卻步，撇開技術上的困難不談，其原因之一便是它們生活方式復雜多變。它們是超凡的多面手，其種族中的一些成員創(chuàng)造性地開發(fā)了大量的棲息地、利用大量的資源，而且能很快適應環(huán)境的變化。由于善于學習，每個烏鴉個體都有迥然不同的興趣、愛好，策略和花招。比如，有一只寵物烏鴉，學會將狗窩上的門閂拉開放狗出窩。狗出窩后，它便進去，享用了狗的美食。Passage 4 Life on EarthLife originated in the early seas less than a billion years after the Earth was another three billion years were to pass before the first plants and animals appeared on the ’s transition from the sea to the land was perhaps as much of an evolutionary challenge as was the genesis of forms of life were able to make such a drastic change in lifestyle The traditional view of the first terrestrial organisms is based on megafossilsrelatively large specimens of essentially whole plants and plants, related to modern seed plants and ferns, left the first prehensive megafossil of this, it has been monly assumed that the sequence of terrestrialization reflected the evolution of modern terrestrial this view, primitive vascular plats first colonized the margins of continental waters, followed by animals that fed on the plants, and lastly by animals that preyed on the , the megafossils suggest