Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers is a celebration of an everyday object — the book, represented here in almost three hundred artworks from museums around the world. The image of the reader appears throughout history, in art made long before books as we now know them came into being. In artists’ representations of books and reading, we see moments of shared humanity that go beyond culture and time.

In this “book of books”, artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures. We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. Adults are portrayed (描绘) alone in many settings and poses — absorbed in a volume, deep in thought or lost in a moment of leisure. These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments we can all relate to.

Books themselves may be used symbolically in paintings to demonstrate the intellect (才智), wealth or faith of the subject. Before the wide use of the printing press, books were treasured objects and could be works of art in their own right. More recently, as books have become inexpensive or even throwaway, artists have used them as the raw material for artworks — transforming covers, pages or even complete volumes into paintings and sculptures.

Continued developments in communication technologies were once believed to make the printed page outdated. From a 21st-century point of view, the printed book is certainly ancient, but it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader. To serve its function, a book must be activated by a user: the cover opened, the pages parted, the contents reviewed, perhaps notes written down or words underlined. And in contrast to our increasingly networked lives where the information we consume is monitored and tracked, a printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, “off-line” activity.

1.1. Where is the text most probably taken from?

A An introduction to a book.

B An essay on the art of writing.

C A guidebook to a museum.

D A review of modern paintings.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据第一段第一句“Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers is a celebration of an everyday object — the book, represented here in almost three hundred artworks from museums around the world.” (《阅读艺术:书籍爱好者的艺术》是对日常物品书的颂扬，在这本书中展示了来自世界各地博物馆的近300件艺术品)以及第二段的第一句“In this ‘book of books’, artworks are selected and arranged in a way that emphasizes these connections between different eras and cultures.”(在这本“书中的书”里，艺术品的选择和排列方式强调了不同时代和文化之间的这些联系)。由此可推断，本文是对《阅读艺术:书籍爱好者的艺术》这本书的介绍，是书中导言的一部分。故选A。

2.2. What are the selected artworks about?

A Wealth and intellect.

B Home and school.

C Books and reading.

D Work and leisure.

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据文章第二段中的“ We see scenes of children learning to read at home or at school, with the book as a focus for relations between the generations. Adults are portrayed (描绘) alone in many settings and poses—absorbed in a volume, deep in thought or lost in a moment of leisure.(我们可以看到孩子们在家里或学校学习阅读的场景，书是代际关系间的焦点。在很多场景和动作中，成年人都被描绘成独自一人——全神贯注地看书，陷入沉思，或者沉浸在片刻的休闲中)”可知，《阅读艺术:书籍爱好者的艺术》这本书中选定的艺术品是关于书籍和阅读的。故选C。

3.3. What do the underlined words “relate to” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A Understand

B Paint

C Seize

D Transform

解析：选A。A 词义猜测题。根据第二段最后一句“These scenes may have been painted hundreds of years ago, but they record moments we can all relate to.”这些场景可能是数百年前绘制的，但它们记录了我们都能联想到的时刻。These scenes指的是前文中孩子和成年人读书的场景，虽然这些场景可能是数百年前绘制的，但这些时刻我们是能理解并感同身受的。故选A。

4.4. What does the author want to say by mentioning the e-reader?

A The printed book is not totally out of date.

B Technology has changed the way we read.

C Our lives in the 21st century are networked.

D People now rarely have the patience to read.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。通过文章最后一段的“it remains as interactive as any battery-powered e-reader (它仍然像任何电池供电的电子阅读器一样具有互动性)”以及“printed book still offers the chance of a wholly private, ‘off-line’ activity (印刷书籍仍然提供了完全私人的“离线”活动的机会)”可推知，本文作者提到电子阅读器，想表达的是印刷书籍并没有完全过时。故选A。