D
Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before. He hopes the public will listen and understand ----he wants to teach them, and he wants them to learn from him.
What visual artists like painters want to teach is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because they translate their experiences into shapes and colors, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colors, out of the countless billions possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us. Without their work we should never have noticed these particular shapes and colors, or have felt the delight which they brought to the artist.
Most artists take their shapes and colors from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and response: their choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is noting more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.
If one painter chooses to paint a decaying(腐烂的) leg and another a lake in moonlight, each of them is directing our attention to a certain aspect of the world. Each painter is telling us something, showing us something, emphasizing something—all of which means that, consciously or unconsciously, he is trying to teach us.
46. It is hard to understand a painting because_____
A. the artist wants to teach the others 
B. a painter uses shapes and colors instead of words.
C. the painter doesn’t express his idea well enough
D. the painting is meaningless
47. A painter uses certain shapes and colors because he feels that they ____.
A. haven’t been used before            B. are not worth showing to the public
C. are interesting to them                   D. haven’t been noticed by the public
48 Implied but not stated_____.
A. paintings are more easily understood than music.
B. to find what the artist is saying we must look beyond the shape and color
C. painting is only the arranging of shape and color
D. all artists are trying to teach something to the public
49. Why do what painters want to teach is easy to make out but difficult to explain?
A. Because painters cannot express themselves clearly in words.
B. Because painters change their into shapes and colors, not words.
C. Because people cannot understand painters’ words.
D. Because people are not interested in what painters want to tell us.  
50. Where do most artists take their shapes and colors?
A. From nature                                        B. From human bodies in motion and response.
C. From artists’ own imagination.                 D. Both A and B

科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 较易