1427新托福TPO10阅读原文及译文(一)Chinese Pottery

2021年1月19日发(作者：收官战)




新托福
TPO10
阅读原文
(
一
):Chinese Pottery
TPO10-1
：
Chinese Pottery


China has one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations
—
despite invasions
and
occasional
foreign
rule.
A
country
as
vast
as
China
with
so
long-lasting
a
civilization
has
a
complex
social
and
visual
history,
within
which
pottery
and
porcelain play a major role.


The function and status of ceramics in China varied from dynasty to dynasty, so
they
may
be
utilitarian,
burial,
trade- collectors',
or
even
ritual
objects,
according
to
their quality and the era in which they were made. The ceramics fall into three broad
types
—
earthenware,
stoneware,
and
porcelain
—
for
vessels,
architectural
items
such
as
roof
tiles,
and
modeled
objects
and
figures.
In
addition,
there
was
an
important
group of sculptures made for religious use, the majority of which were produced in
earthenware.


The earliest ceramics were fired to earthenware temperatures, but as early as the
fifteenth
century
B.C.,
high-temperature
stonewares
were
being
made
with
glazed
surfaces. During the Six Dynasties period (AD 265-589), kilns in north China were
producing
high-fired
ceramics
of
good
quality.
Whitewares
produced
in
Hebei
and
Henan provinces from the seventh to the tenth centuries evolved into the highly prized
porcelains
of
the
Song
dynasty
(AD.
960-1279),
long
regarded
as
one
of
the
high
points in the history of China's ceramic industry. The tradition of religious sculpture
extends
over
most
historical
periods
but
is
less
clearly
delineated
than
that
of
stonewares
or
porcelains,
for
it
embraces
the
old
custom
of
earthenware
burial
ceramics
with
later
religious
images
and
architectural
ornament.
Ceramic
products
also
include
lead-glazed
tomb
models
of
the
Han
dynasty,
three-color
lead- glazed
vessels and figures of the Tang dynasty, and Ming three-color temple ornaments, in
which the motifs were outlined in
a raised trail of slip
—
as well as the many burial
ceramics produced in imitation of vessels made in materials of higher intrinsic value.






Trade
between
the
West
and
the
settled
and
prosperous
Chinese
dynasties
introduced
new
forms
and
different
technologies.
One
of
the
most
far-reaching
examples
is
the
impact
of
the
fine
ninth-century
AD.
Chinese
porcelain
wares
imported into the Arab world. So admired were these pieces that they encouraged the
development
of
earthenware
made
in
imitation
of
porcelain
and
instigated
research
into the method of their manufacture. From the Middle East the Chinese acquired a
blue
pigment
—
a
purified
form
of
cobalt
oxide
unobtainable
at
that
time
in
China
—
that
contained
only
a
low
level
of
manganese.
Cobalt
ores
found
in
China
have a high manganese content, which produces a more muted blue-gray color. In the
seventeenth century, the trading activities of the Dutch East India Company resulted
in
vast
quantities
of
decorated
Chinese
porcelain
being
brought
to
Europe,
which
stimulated
and
influenced
the
work
of
a
wide
variety
of
wares,
notably
Delft.
The
Chinese
themselves
adapted
many
specific
vessel
forms
from
the
West,
such
as
bottles with long spouts, and designed a range of decorative patterns especially for the
European market.


Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative,
whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their
meaning
was
clear,
so
it
is
with
Chinese
pots.
To
twentieth-century
eyes,
Chinese
pottery may appear merely decorative, yet to the Chinese the form of each object and
its adornment had meaning and significance. The dragon represented the emperor, and
the
phoenix,
the
empress;
the
pomegranate
indicated
fertility,
and
a
pair
of
fish,
happiness; mandarin ducks stood for wedded bliss; the pine tree, peach, and crane are
emblems
of
long
life;
and
fish
leaping
from
waves
indicated
success
in
the
civil
service
examinations.
Only
when
European
decorative
themes
were
introduced
did
these meanings become obscured or even lost.


From
early
times
pots
were
used
in
both
religious
and
secular
contexts.
The
imperial
court
commissioned
work
and
in
the
Yuan
dynasty
(A.D.
1279-1368)
an
imperial ceramic factory was established at Jingdezhen. Pots played an important part