综合写作12
Reading
Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the most famous of all English novelists, and today her novels are more popular than ever, with several recently adapted as Hollywood movies. But we do not have many records of what she looked like. For a long time, the only accepted image of Austen was an amateur sketch of an adult Austen made by her sister Cassandra. However recently a professionally painted, full-length portrait of a teenage girl owned by a member of the Austen family has come up for sale. Although the professional painting is not titled Jane Austen, there are good reasons to believe she is the subject.
First, in 1882, several decades after Austen's death, Austen's family gave permission to use the portrait as an illustration in an edition of her letters. Austen's family clearly recognized it as a portrait of the author. So, for over a century now, the Austen family itself has endorsed the claim that the girl in the portrait is Jane Austen.
Second, the face in the portrait clearly resembles the one in Cassandra's sketch, which we know depicts Austen. Though somewhat amateurish, the sketch communicates definite details about Austen's face. Even though the Cassandra sketch is of an adult Jane Austen, the features are still similar to those of the teenage girl in the painting. The eyebrows, nose, mouth, and overall shape of the face are very much like those in the full-length portrait.
Third, although the painting is unsigned and undated, there is evidence that it was painted when Austen was a teenager. The style links it to Ozias Humphrey, a society portrait painter who was the kind of professional the wealthy Austen family would hire. Humphrey was active in the late 1780s and early 1790s, exactly the period when Jane Austen was the age of the girl in the painting.
Listening
Professor:
The evidence linking this portrait to Jane Austen is not at all convincing. Sure, the painting has long been somewhat loosely connected to Austen's extended family and their descendents, but this hardly proves it's a portrait of Jane Austen as a teenager. The reading's arguments that the portrait is of Austen are questionable at best.
First, when the portrait was authorized for use in the 1882 publication of her letters, Jane Austen had been dead for almost 70 years. So the family members who asserted that the painting was Jane had never actually seen her themselves. They couldn't have known for certain if the portrait was of Austen or not.
Second, the portrait could very well be that of a relative of Austen's, a fact that would explain the resemblance between its subject and that of Cassandra's sketch. The extended Austen family was very large and many of Jane Austen's female cousins were teenagers in the relevant period or had children who were teenagers. And some of these teenage girls could have resembled Jane Austen. In fact, many experts believe that the true subject of the portrait was one of those relatives, Marianne Kempian, who was a distant niece of Austen's.
Third, the painting has been attributed to Humphrey only because of the style. But other evidence points to a later date. A stamp on the back of the picture indicates that the blank canvas, you know the actual piece of cloth on which the picture was painted, was sold by a man named William Legg. Record showed that William Legg did not sell canvases in London when Jane Austen was a teenager. He only started selling canvases when she was 27 years old. So it looks like the canvas was used for the painting at a time when Austen was clearly older than the girl in the portrait.
一、阅读听力要点概括
Reading Passage
Main points: Good reasons to believe a painting has come up for sale of Jane Austen.
Sub point 1: Austen family itself has endorsed the claim that girl in portrait is Jane Austen.
Sub point 2: The face in portrait clearly resembles the one in Cassandra’s sketch.
Sub point 3: Evidence shows it was painted when Austen was a teenager.
Lecture
Attitude: Not convincing.
Sub Point 1: Dead by 70 years when authorization. (Family never seen Jane, can’t be sure.)
Sub Point 2: Portrait could be a relative of Austen and familiar with Cassandra’s sketch. (Family has many kids look like. Maybe a distance niece of Austen’s.)
Sub Point 3: Painting attributed to Humphrey only cause of style. (The painting cloth is not sold until Austen is 27.)
Answers
二、范文逐段赏析
Paragraph 1
The reading passage suggests that three pieces of evidence provide support that a portrait recently commissioned for sale by a member of the Austen family is of a teenage Jane Austen. However, the lecturer rejects the assertion and argues that the painting cannot be a portrait of Jane Austen.
此段功能：
(Listening passage后文提到用L代替)
(Reading passage后文用R代替)
以L的观点为主要观点，先复述R认为有三样证据证明奥斯丁家族一副快要出售的肖像画是简奥斯丁本人。但是L不同意并且认为这幅画不可能是简(Jane)。
此段结构：
作者在开头段先总结了R的观点，随后表达了反对情绪，并复述了L的观点，为展开论述做了充分的铺垫。
Paragraph 2
First, the lecturer argues that the portrait was commissioned by the Austen family 70 years after Jane Austen’s death, suggesting that members of her extended family may have done so without having actually seen her in person. Therefore, the fact that the portrait had been endorsed by her family members does not necessarily prove that it is a portrait of Jane Austen herself.
此段功能：
以L的观点起头，L摆出事实：这幅肖像是在Jane死后70年受奥斯丁家族邀请画的，其实这时候的家族成员都没有亲眼见过Jane本人。所以这就是一幅被家族认可的画并不能证明这是一幅Jane的画像。
此段结构：
此段为分总结构。L为了证明画像不是Jane陈列了相关证据，最后自然的达到证明效应。
Paragraph 3
Second, the lecturer argues that the resemblance between the portrait and an authentic sketch of the adult Jane Austen can be explained by the hypothesis that the portrait is actually of a relative of Jane Austen when the relative was a teenager.
此段功能：
在第二点的论证上，L给出了一种新解释：画像和一副真正Jane的素描的相似之处，是因为画像的真实主人公是一位奥斯丁家族的青少年。言下之意，R的这种看见画像和素描相似就认为是Jane本人这种臆断，毫无可信之处。
此段结构：
分分结构，L只是给出了画像相似之说一种新解释。只要一个反例，就可以把一个绝对的观点推翻。
Paragraph 4
Finally, the lecturer argues that despite the style of the painting, which links it to the exact period when Jane Austen was a teenager, the stamp on the back of the canvas suggests that the portrait was painted at least 27 years after Jane Austen’s birth, indicating that the portrait was not completed before she was an adult.
此段功能：
L继续说，虽然肖像画的画风是符合Jane青少年时期的画派风格。但是画像帆布(canvas)背后的印章意味着画像是Jane逝世27年后作的，这意味Jane在世时候画像没有完成。
此段结构：
分分结构，L给出了一个合理的疑点，指出就算画风相同，也不能证明画像是Jane本人。
三、范文全篇总评
1、 逻辑结构
全文遵从总分结构，开头段说明论证会有3个点展开。
在随后的论段中，L通过给出在时间顺序上的新证据，或者给出第二解释，或者给出合理疑点，巧妙了使R的证明不成立，达到了反对目的。
2、语言表达
全文阅读和听力中都有较多生词，可能会造成阅读障碍，不过通过上下文还是能读懂大致意思，其中可以借鉴的词句有：
1. Commissioned： 受委任的
/Accredited/Licensed/
He was commissioned at general at age 50.
2. Endorsed: 赞同，支持
/Accept/Certify/
I cannot endorse your opinion.
3. Authentic: 真实的，可靠的，
/Real/Dependable/
This is an authentic letter from the president.