GRE作文范文 Issue-34

“The function of art is not to keep pace with science and technology but rather to provide an escape from these forces.”

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

Art has long been a favorite topic for debate within a society. Questions such as “What is art?” and “Is this a work of art?” have been around for millennia. The purpose of art is to entertain, and in some cases, to educate. As a form of entertainment and escape, art does in some ways must keep up with science and technology, but in most aspects the true value of art lies in its ability to free the mind from the fast pace of a modern high-tech society.

In the first place, one needs to simply look at the most valuable art in the world to see that its main function does not lie merely in keeping up with technology. Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and “Last Supper” were painted around five hundred years ago, but they are still cited as some of the best examples of “true” art in the world and are visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year. Michelangelo’s sculpture “David”, as well as his incredible paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, were also produced around five hundred years ago, but are still revered as some of the absolute pinnacles of artistic achievement. Although technology has changed incredibly in the last half millennium, these enduring works of art still capture the spirit and imagination of millions of people worldwide.

Of course, it follows that as technology has advanced, new art forms have been developed as the ability to express oneself has found new outlets for creativity. Michelangelo and da Vinci could never have imagined having the ability to create works of art in the mediums of television or computer imagery, for example. Modern day avant-garde artists use video, computers, lasers and other high technology to create works of art, while more traditional artists still use the traditional methods of paint, canvas and paintbrush or stone and chisel. It is not the function of art to keep up with science and technology, rather the facility of art to do so that is important. The main purpose of art is still to allow the viewer to escape from what science and technology has wrought upon us.

A further example of the escapism quality that is inherent in art can be found in the art of making a movie. Although some so-called “art purists” might object to calling most of today’s cinematic productions a form of art, there is no denying that there is an artistry involved in the making of at least some of today’s movies. With this art form more so than any other, art does the fine balancing act of keeping pace with science and technology while simultaneously fulfilling its main function - that of entertaining the masses of society. Moviegoers do not pay out relatively large sums of money just to see the state of the art technology of the latest movies; they go to the theatres expecting to be entertained. Proof of this fact can be found in the colossal box office failures of some of the most technologically advanced movies that nevertheless lack entertainment value due to the lack of a good story. If it were purely science and technology that audiences wanted to see, they would pay half the price and go to a planetarium, for example.

Finally, art, science and technology can complement each other in a multitude of different ways, such as the display of famous works of art on the Internet for all to see. But the main function of art is to allow for an escape from the drudgery of day-to-day life that has been created by the combined forces of science and technology.

(611 words)

參考譯文

藝術(shù)的功能不是緊隨科技的步伐，而是提供一種逃離這些力量的方式。

藝術(shù)一直是各個社會群體熱衷爭論的話題。諸如“什么是藝術(shù)?”以及“這是一件藝術(shù)品嗎?”等問題，已經(jīng)存在近千年了。藝術(shù)的目的在于娛樂，在某些情況下還進行教育。作為一種娛樂和逃避的方式，藝術(shù)的確在某種意義上必須緊隨科技的步伐。然而，在多數(shù)情況下，藝術(shù)的真正價值在于把人的頭腦從現(xiàn)代高科技社會的快速節(jié)奏中解放出來。

首先，我們只要看一下世界上最珍貴的藝術(shù)便可知道，藝術(shù)的主要功能不是與技術(shù)進步保持一致。達(dá)?芬奇《蒙娜?麗莎》和《最后的晚餐》是約500年前創(chuàng)作的，但在今天它們?nèi)员徽J(rèn)為是世界上“真正的”藝術(shù)典范，并且每年有成千上萬的人前去觀賞它。米開朗琪羅的雕塑《大衛(wèi)》以及他在梵帝岡西斯廷教堂里不可思議的天庭畫，同樣是在約五百年前創(chuàng)作的，但今天仍被認(rèn)為是藝術(shù)成就的登峰造極之作。盡管技術(shù)在過去的五百年中發(fā)生了不可思議的變化，這些具有永久魅力的藝術(shù)品仍然吸引著世界上成千上萬的人們。

當(dāng)然，順理成章的是，隨著科技取得了很大的進步，新的藝術(shù)形式也應(yīng)運而生，因為表現(xiàn)自我的能力為創(chuàng)造力找到了新的渲泄渠道。例如米開朗琪羅和達(dá)?芬奇決不可能想像到借助電視或計算機圖像為手段來創(chuàng)作藝術(shù)品。現(xiàn)代先鋒派藝術(shù)家用錄像、電腦、激光以其它高科技手段進行藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作，而較傳統(tǒng)的藝術(shù)家仍然用油料、油畫布和畫筆或者用石料和鑿子等傳統(tǒng)的方法從事創(chuàng)作。緊跟科技的步伐并不是藝術(shù)的功能，而是藝術(shù)的工具，這一點是重要的。藝術(shù)的主要目的，仍然是幫助受眾逃離科技施加于我們的枷鎖。

另舉一例來證明逃避是藝術(shù)的內(nèi)在本質(zhì)，這就是電影制作藝術(shù)。雖然一些所謂的“純粹藝術(shù)者”會拒絕把今天的電影看作是一種藝術(shù)形式，然而，不可否認(rèn)，在今天某些電影里的確包含著藝術(shù)性。這一藝術(shù)形式比其它任何藝術(shù)形式更緊密地跟隨著科技的步伐，同時完成著它的主要功能，即娛樂社會大眾，這樣，藝術(shù)得以保持某種平衡。電影觀眾要想欣賞一下最近電影的藝術(shù)技巧，并不需要付出昂貴的費用。他們來到電影院，期待著被娛樂。有事實證明，技術(shù)上最先進的電影也會因為故事性差而缺乏娛樂價值以致于票房收入失敗。倘若觀眾想觀賞的只是純粹的科技，他們會只付一半的錢去參觀(比如說)天文館了。

總而言之，藝術(shù)和科技可以以許多方式相互補充，例如在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上展出著名的藝術(shù)品以便讓大家都能欣賞它們。但是，藝術(shù)的主要功能是為我們提供一個機會，逃避科技力量所產(chǎn)生的日常生活的枯燥乏味。