As a historian, who’s always searching for the text or the image that makes us re-evaluate the past. I’ve become preoccupied with looking for photographs that show our Victorian ancestors smiling (what better way to shatter the image of 19th-century prudery?). I’ve found quite a few, and—since I started posting them on Twitter—they have been causing quite a stir. People have been surprised to see evidence that Victorians had fun and could, and did, laugh. They are noting that the Victorians suddenly seem to become more human as the hundred-or-so years that separate us fade away through our common experience of laughter.

Of course, I need to concede that my collection of “Smiling Victorians” makes up only a tiny percentage of the vast catalogue of photographic portraiture created between 1840 and 1900, the majority of which show sitters posing miserably and stiffly in front of painted backdrops, or staring absently into the middle distance. How do we explain this trend?

During the 1840s and 1850s, in the early days of photography, exposure times were notoriously long: the daguerreotype photographic method (producing an image on a silvered copper plate) could take several minutes to complete, resulting in blurred images as sitters shifted position or adjusted their limbs. The thought of holding a fixed grin as the camera performed its magical duties was too much to contemplate, and so a non-committal blank stare became the  norm.

But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction of the Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’s digital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smiles were relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for an explanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile.

One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesy grin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victorian maxim, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouths were often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean, regular “pearly whites” was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve of the super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).

A toothy grin (especially when there were gaps or blackened gnashers) lacked class: drunks, tramps, prostitutes and buffoonish music hall performers might gurn and grin with a smile as wide as Lewis Carroll’s gum-exposing Cheshire Cat, but it was not a becoming look for properly bred persons. Even Mark Twain, a man who enjoyed a hearty laugh, said that when it came to photographic portraits there could be “nothing more damning than a silly, foolish smile fixed forever”.

1.According to Paragraph 1, the author’s posts on Twitter _________.

A illustrated the development of Victorian photography

B highlighted social media’s role in Victorian studies

C re-evaluated the Victorian’s notion of public image

D changed people’s impression of the Victorians

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。第一段第二句指出，作者将微笑的维多利亚人的照片发布到推特上后，持续引发热议。随后具体阐述：人们惊讶地发现，维多利亚时代的人玩得很开心而且确实会笑；人们注意到维多利亚时代的人似乎突然变得更有人情味儿了。这都表明人们对维多利亚时代人的印象发生了改变，故选D。

2.What does the author say about the Victorian portraits he has collected?

A They are rare among photographs of that age.

B They show effects of different exposure times.

C They mirror 19th-century social conventions.

D They are in popular use among historians.

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。根据题干关键词Victorian portraits he has collected定位至第二段第一句。该句指出，“我”收集的“微笑的维多利亚人”只占了1840至1900年间大量的肖像照的极小一部分，故选A。

3.What might have kept the Victorians from smiling for pictures in the 1890s?

A Their inherent social sensitiveness.

B Their tension before the camera.

C Their distrust of new inventions.

D Their unhealthy dental condition.

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据题干关键词kept the Victorians from smiling和in the 1890s定位至第四段末句。该句指出，19世纪90年代时，自然的微笑已比较容易捕捉，人们拍照时不笑另有他因。第五段继而提出一种可能解释“露齿笑显得有失尊严”并借由古箴言追溯时代背景“当时牙科学尚未诞生，人们的牙齿卫生状况极差”。可见，90年代的人拍照不笑是因为“微笑会暴露牙齿的不健康状态，有失尊严”，故选D。

4.Mark Twain is quoted to show that the disapproval of smiles in pictures was _________.

A a deep-root belief

B a misguided attitude

C a controversial view

D a thought-provoking idea

解析：选A。A 细节理解题。题干问及作者引用马克·吐温之言的目的，应到马克·吐温的话语之外寻找作者观点，由此锁定第六段首句。该句首先指出，露齿笑有失身份，也即拍照时不应该笑，随后对比两类人（drunks, tramps, and music hall performers和properly bred persons）指出，粗俗之人才会咧嘴大笑，而（大笑）这种举止与教养良好的人并不相称。再结合马克·吐温的例子“尽管他喜欢纵情大笑，却认为拍照时微笑是愚蠢之举”，可见在维多利亚时代，拍照时不得微笑的观念已根深蒂固、深入人心，故选A。

5.Which of the following questions does the text answer?

A Why did most Victorians look stern in photographs?

B Why did the Victorians start to view photographs?

C What made photography develop slowly in the Victorian period?

D How did smiling in photographs become a post-Victorian norm?

解析：选A。A 主旨大意题。本文首段介绍作者发现“不少维多利亚人面带微笑的照片”；第二段陈述事实“当时的肖像照中，面带微笑者仅占少数，多数被拍摄者姿势僵硬、表情淡漠”并提岀问题“如何解释这一现象? ”；第三至六段分别阐释了三个原因“早期的相机曝光时间过长，人们难以保持微笑；当时人们牙齿卫生极差，露齿笑有失尊严；社会普遍认为露齿笑有失身份、缺乏教养”。综合可知，全文旨在剖析“为何大部分维多利亚时代的人拍照不笑/表情严肃”（第二段段末问句即为文章主题），故选A。